Cranky, Beautiful Faith

I've just finished reading Cranky, Beautiful Faith by Nadia Bolz-Weber. It's an autobiography packed with stories of faith, hope and honesty. Honesty,  being real is what undergirds this book and makes it so interesting and challenging. Nadia bears her soul and much more.

The book imparts  spiritual truths and insights that reflect the love and grace of our Savior.

Here are a few quotes:

"God's grace is a gift freely given to us. We don't earn a thing when it comes to God's love, and we only try to live in response to the gift."

"Grace is not God being forgiving to us  even though we sin. Grace is when God is a source of wholeness, which makes up for my failings. My failings hurt me and others and even the planet, God's grace to me is that my brokenness is not the final word...instead God makes beautiful things out of even my shit".

"Grace is not God creating humans as flawed beings and then acting all hurt when we inevitably fail and then stepping in like a hero to grant us grace- like saying 'it's ok, I'll be a good guy and forgive you'. Grace is God saying 'I love the world too much to let your sin  define you and be the final word. I am a God who makes all things new".

Nadia stresses that the Christian message is one of death and resurrection. We need to die to our selves, our addictions, our selfish desires and rise to a new life in Christ.

She also numerates the Lutheran ethos in which she is grounded.

- No one is climbing the spiritual ladder. We don't continually improve until we are so spiritual we no longer need God. We die and are made new, but that's different from spiritual self-improvement.

- We are simultaneously sinner and saint, 100% both, all the time.

- The Bible is not God. The Bible is simply the cradle that holds Christ. Anything in the Bible that does not hold up to the Gospel  of Jesus Christ simply does not have the same authority?

- The movement in our relationship with God is always from God to us. Always. We can't, through our piety or goodness move closer to God. God is always coming near to us. Most especially in the Eucharist and in the stranger.


Here's her take on preaching:

"The job of the preacher: to find some good news for people. Good news about who God is, and how God works, and what God has done and what God will do. What passes for preaching in many cases is more ' here's the problem, and here's what you can do about it' - this is not good news."

On suffering:

"There is no knowable answer to the question of why there is suffering. But there is meaning. And that
meaning is related to Jesus - Emmanuel 'God with us'. We want to go to God for answers, but sometimes what we get is God's presence."

On repentance:

"Repentance, 'thinking differently afterward', is what happens to me when the truth of who I am and the truth of who God is scatter the darkness of competing ideas".

I highly recommend Cranky, Beautiful Faith - it's down to earth full of stories that recount the lives of ordinary ( and not so ordinary) people who are on a journey of faith, like us they haven't yet made it, but they often limp their way through life by the grace of God. This book is packed with beautiful poignant gems that could and possibly will change your life.