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4 days ago | 
thecorners.substack.com | Nadia Bolz-weber
Anyone who has read my work can assure you that I am not native to the land of “give thanks and praise to God”. Even though for the last 1,800 years or so Christians have said these words when gathering around the table:Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our GodPeople: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
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2 weeks ago | 
thecorners.substack.com | Nadia Bolz-weber
When I was a girl, my mother wisely would warn me, “don’t get your hopes up. You don’t want to be disappointed”. She’s right of course. She didn’t want me to build something up in my mind to the point that the reality of the thing could only disappoint. Getting your hopes up, she would tell me, is a sure way of being let down. I see where she’s coming from now that I have raised children of my own. I hate to see them disappointed and would love to help them manage to not have that experience.
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2 weeks ago | 
thecorners.substack.com | Nadia Bolz-weber
(I preached this at the women’s prison a couple weeks ago and have been so busy with the tour that I’m just now getting around to posting it)Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Bethesda,which has five porticoes. In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
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3 weeks ago | 
thecorners.substack.com | Nadia Bolz-weber
I was 29 years old and 6 months pregnant with our first child when my (former) husband and I moved to dry land wheat farming country for his first job as a Lutheran pastor; a town of 5,000 people in Eastern Washington, several hours drive from anything like a yoga class. I remember thinking that since the town had a library, a gym and access to an NPR station, I could make a go of it. Maybe.
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1 month ago | 
thecorners.substack.com | Nadia Bolz-weber
It’s been such a joy to meet so many of you since the Red State Revivals Tour began - to hear your stories and get your hugs and hear your singing and hand you cookies. Here are some new dates - as well as a couple speaking events.
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1 month ago | 
thecorners.substack.com | Nadia Bolz-weber
Almighty God, Creator of all things, including all those Spring flowers that I haven’t spent enough time appreciating because I think for some reason that doom-scrolling is a better use of my time,I’ve cut down some, but it doesn't seem to be enough, so I beseech thee to grant me the will to get off the internet more. You and I both know that the last thing I need is to watch another inane video, read another hot take, or buy any more shit I absolutely do not need.
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1 month ago | 
thecorners.substack.com | Nadia Bolz-weber
Pastor Samm and Vicar Sa7ah were already on the other side of the metal detector when I got to the women’s prison yesterday. I signed in and joined them as quickly as I could, grabbing a couple bags of sopapillas to help lighten their load. We are allowed, just a couple times a year, to bring a special meal in to be shared with New Beginnings church council, and as is our tradition, we like to share a Mother’s Day dinner together.
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1 month ago | 
thecorners.substack.com | Nadia Bolz-weber
Yesterday, as Eric and I were driving past the park by our house, two people stood there holding each other. Not a hug, an extended embrace. The kind someone gives you when the unspeakable escapes trembling from your lips. “She died”“He asked for a divorce”“The cancer is back”You know the kind of words. These two were in and out of my visual field in a moment, but I haven’t shaken the image of them. There are moments in our lives that call for an embrace that can hold our heaving sobs.
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2 months ago | 
thecorners.substack.com | Nadia Bolz-weber
John 20:19-31The 20th chapter of John happens to be my very favorite chapter in all of the Gospels. I mean—Mary Magdalene, empty tombs, angels, the risen Christ, and Thomas the tactile learner all packed into one chapter. It’s such a banger. So yeah, the 20th chapter of John is my favorite. Which makes it weird that John 20 also happens to contain my least favorite verse in the Gospels.
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2 months ago | 
thecorners.substack.com | Nadia Bolz-weber
An excerpt from my book, Accidental Saints; Finding God In All The Wrong People (2105)I couldn’t see the dogs, but I could definitely hear them as they violently strained against the chain-link fence, their barking tearing at my nerves. I steadied myself and quietly pulled a few bundles of purple tulips from my blue Honda while my intern, Alex, carefully unloaded House for All Sinners and Saints’ large crucifix.