There is a growing awareness amongst Christians that the Church in America has often become a place of meeting for the healthy and privileged.  Nadia’s church, House of All Sinners and Saints, deliberately fights against this habit, reaching out to the culturally disenfranchised–the alcoholics, the homeless, the queer and transgendered.  Reading about her passion (based on her history as a conservative Christian turned Wiccan alcoholic turned Lutheran pastor) was completely invigorating.

What really impressed me, though, was that her knowledge of God’s love doesn’t stop there.  As an outsider, it is easy for her to love outsiders.  But when her church started attracting middle-class suburban men and women, she felt many of the same emotions of disgust and tight-lipped smiles that are usually directed for her crowd.  What is amazing about Bolz-Weber is her commitment to live out her faith, no matter how hard or how long she spends fighting against it.  So against her natural inclinations, she welcomed the “normal” people into her church and created space for conversations between the different groups of people.  What resulted–friendships and healing relationships between two often opposed groups of people–was absolutely beautiful to read about.  Continue reading →