"This is why we have Christian community. So that we can stand together under the cross and point to the gospel. A gospel that Bonhoeffer said is 'frankly hard for the pious to understand'."
And by that, I mean a grace-alone, non-pietistic, beer drinking, Luther-tongued, damn the religious authorities, desperate for Word and sacraments kind of Lutheran, as down and dirty in my faith as the streets of 16th century Wittenberg.
Accidental Saints knows a good deal about each of those, but what struck me about the book was Nadia's bold language about grace -- raw, honest grace, and grace in the rawest of places. Which means in my heart and yours, as well as in the lives of those who, to some, may look like spiritual misfits and losers. She also curses, which bothers not a few people. But as a kid who grew up in the South, that doesn't bother me -- at all.
Her style may not be mine -- I hardly curse at all. And I despise tattoos. I'm not thrilled with progressivism, either. But Nadia makes me think there's more to each of those than I might so quickly dismiss.
Which is another way of saying: Nadia's central theme -- that we can find God in all the wrong people -- rings true here. This is a book that did more than convince me, though. It moved me. In all the way that Gospel stories are supposed to move us.
All of that to say: This is the 2015 book about Christian living you can't miss.
I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.
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