I first heard of Nadia Bolz-Weber from K.J. Ottinger four-and-a-half years ago with this post, which is amazing: To Be the Chaplain, a quasi-review of Bolz-Weber’s books “Accidental Saints” and “Pastrix“. It’s a post well worth reading, and you should. However, I didn’t keep up on Bolz-Weber because although some of her writings are brilliant, she’s not always my “cup of tea” and I think some of it comes down to the fact that I feel like I’m living the life that she rebelled against.
However, I was doing a search for “saints” on Substack, and I noticed that she has a site over there. I clicked over, and found this, which is brilliant: Resurrection is Messy. It’s an Easter sermon that she gave at a men’s prison. Wow.
I’m not going to recap the piece, because I don’t think that there’s much that I can say that wouldn’t detract from the original. However, one of the lines she uses, describing Christians as an “Easter people” – the depth of that is incredible. Yes, the Christian faith hinges on Christ’s incarnation, death, and Resurrection, and I think those parts have been preached about a lot; they are fundamental to the understanding of Christianity as a faith.
This isn’t exactly the tact that Bolz-Weber’s piece takes, but it’s close enough that I think it is the corollary to what she did write. She speaks about how Christ still bore the scars of crucifixion after His Resurrection, not because God couldn’t have “healed” those as well, but that they serve as a testimony to the pain that suffering Christ went through, but that He overcame that; it’s not where His story ended. It speaks to hope, the hope in Him that does not disappoint, His love for us, and the expectation of “the resurrection from the dead, and the life of the world to come”. Joy, if you will. Even if these times are extremely difficult right now. We are Easter People, and it is the light that we carry even in the darkest times.
Breath of Hallelujah 
Hey, thanks! It was such a pleasant surprise to see this mention! I went back and read my old post, which is always such a trip. Half the time I honestly don’t feel like I’m reading my own writing. What does that say about my memory???
For whatever reason, I’m not able to like your posts. Or comment? I’ll try here…
Hope you are well!
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I think when I set up this blog that I hit a setting that the first comment someone made to the blog had to be approved so as to cut down on all the “Your article was quite interesting – please click on my spam link that will destroy your computer” type comments from showing up. However, I do still have to approve every single link I make to my own blog before it will track back – apparently I’m high-risk or something!
The post about standing in the presence of God for the sake of others has always kind of stuck with me. It puts into words something that, as you say, is part of the Christian vocation. I have felt that, and I feel that in certain situations, and it’s incredibly humbling. Somewhat related, Abbot Tryphon was the speaker at a retreat a few years back and he talks about (if I have this correctly together in my head) how we, as Christians, are representative of the incarnate Christ, and that sometimes we are called to be angels for others. It’s a long video, but it can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oSOxaj-E-Y .
Things have been quite difficult, but I can’t exactly say a whole lot about the biggest thing here. I’d love to make it out West this summer – Idaho would be great – but at this point central MN or western WI would be a victory in itself. By God’s grace, we keep going. Our hope is in Him.
It’s good to see you blogging again! 🙂
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I’m headed to Idaho (ultimately) for a road trip with my oldest this summer to visit a friend of hers! Actually, that’s probably the biggest trip I’ll take this year. This is our year of trying to stay close to home for our vacations. We’ll see. How that goes! I hope you make it at least to gool ol’ Wisco!
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If you head up to the north, make sure to visit the churches in Post Falls and Bonners Ferry. Both were fantastic, and I miss being part of that community a lot!
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Will do!
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