Feb 7, 2022·edited Feb 7, 2022Liked by Nadia Bolz-Weber
I wanted to thank you this morning for the sermon. I'm a sailor in deep ocean exploration so lights started to come on as I began to read it and through the last couple of challenging years, it is my faith and community that has kept me afloat. We'd been in a mad dash to get back to "the deep", meeting deadlines was creating strain, anxiety was high amongst the crew but we were all looking forward to it & then COVID came up and delayed us, "and yet" we just rolled our eyes and hit the pause button & took a breath. We used the extra time as a moment to slow down mentally & physically, focus on making our ship look pretty and catching up on things that needed to be done so we could set sail in an even better mental space. SO thanks Ms. Nadia
k. am absolutely SURE this is a Divine appointment for me tonight. I found this email in my junk folder while looking for something else... THE HORROR!!!!!....and I just sat down and read it.
Yes. EXHAUSTED. Last weekend my dear dear friend and security person in Haiti was murdered. Ambushed and gunned down. I spent no less than 4 weeks every year for over a decade with this man. He was truly one of my safest people. Not gonna burden anyone with the details of the rest of my fatigue. Just know it's shitty. and DEEP.
And then, just like that [oh. no. I really didn't intend it- but it works! eek.], I felt SEEN and understood in that BIG (like the ocean is BIG water, as they say in Ayiti Cheri) and DEEPest way. Cradled by my Creator. You, Nadia, are His eyes today. Thank you.
I'm sitting here in my home office when I should be working, and I am watching the sermon you preached yesterday five thousand miles away and I am in tears. This is my measure for the truth. If something moves me to tears it has moved my soul.
Yes. That prayer. My wife is in hospital and needed a 'rapid response team' this afternoon. She is somewhat better now. The deep indeed. However, gratitude might be the stuff of steel.
Bill Wilson wrote, “Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the light, even though for the moment you do not see.” While I think Bill could be as full of shit as anyone, this quote is something that has stuck with me from the first time I read it. (It can be found in "As Bill Sees It.") It's murky as hell out here in the deep, and frightening. AND YET, the act of turning my face in the direction I think the light might be coming (even if I'm wrong) is a profound act of faith. It's also the best I can do.
I haven't watched Don't Look Up, and most likely won't simply because lots of people are watching it. In this horrid time, being an extreme introvert, I am not bothered by only being able to contact non-family members electronically. I can understand how this can be difficult for the mass of people who aren't like me.
I'm surprised that Grace can be so much on display on something I would not expect to have a Faith base. Maybe this is an explanation of Faith. Something was heard years ago, in another contexts, and it stuck. Jesus Found me when I had no idea I needed Finding. I was raised outside the Church, possibly because of my Grandmothers being upset that my parents 'left the church' [I had no idea what that meant]. Evangelical Faith has always been puzzling to me.
I found this years ago. At some level, it speaks to me:
Heidelberg Catechism
Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?
A. The almighty and ever present power of God by which God upholds, as with his hand,
heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—
all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.
Q. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?
A. We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing in creation will separate us from his love. For all creatures are so completely in God’s hand that without his will
they can neither move nor be moved.
I don't believe COVID was sent by Creator; nor that this time is some sort of test by Creator. Creator of the entire Universe is aware just how shitty Earth is. Shitty because people not us, for reasons we cannot fathom, created a shitty Earth. I am uncomfortable with my 3 year old grandson having to live in this world. Especially since 'existentialist thinking' probably won't begin to happen in his brain for another decade.
People who came before us, some of whom we have loved, are responsible for the consequences of their lives; we have to live with these consequences. A century ago, there was a global pandemic. Apparently, not enough people wanted to live with this reality, and ignored consequences.
The question we need to answer is how are we willing to live amidst tragedy we haven't personally had to live with before?
For the sake of my grandson, who is living outside of Faith, I need to become less of an extreme introvert; and continually figure out ways that I can bring Faith into his life.
Yes Nadia yes. I haven’t stopped thinking about a sound bite from you earlier that god does not inflict our suffering, god is within and beside us through the suffering. I’m one of your horrid optimist friends and it’s not easy for me right now. But when I go to the deep well within, I find the draught of grace there always. Always. Bless you and keep you! God be with you!
I just reread this…I’m feeling emotionally drained, empty…and here this was. May we face whatever is to come in your divine will with courage and open hearts of acceptance…
Funny how you get just what you need, just when you need it.
Thank you! I connected profoundly with the prayer (and ending) of "Don't Look Up"; used it in my sermon the week after I saw it and still think about all it provoked in me.
Here we go, folks. Monday morning. Sending love and prayers for us all. xo
I wanted to thank you this morning for the sermon. I'm a sailor in deep ocean exploration so lights started to come on as I began to read it and through the last couple of challenging years, it is my faith and community that has kept me afloat. We'd been in a mad dash to get back to "the deep", meeting deadlines was creating strain, anxiety was high amongst the crew but we were all looking forward to it & then COVID came up and delayed us, "and yet" we just rolled our eyes and hit the pause button & took a breath. We used the extra time as a moment to slow down mentally & physically, focus on making our ship look pretty and catching up on things that needed to be done so we could set sail in an even better mental space. SO thanks Ms. Nadia
k. am absolutely SURE this is a Divine appointment for me tonight. I found this email in my junk folder while looking for something else... THE HORROR!!!!!....and I just sat down and read it.
Yes. EXHAUSTED. Last weekend my dear dear friend and security person in Haiti was murdered. Ambushed and gunned down. I spent no less than 4 weeks every year for over a decade with this man. He was truly one of my safest people. Not gonna burden anyone with the details of the rest of my fatigue. Just know it's shitty. and DEEP.
And then, just like that [oh. no. I really didn't intend it- but it works! eek.], I felt SEEN and understood in that BIG (like the ocean is BIG water, as they say in Ayiti Cheri) and DEEPest way. Cradled by my Creator. You, Nadia, are His eyes today. Thank you.
I'm sitting here in my home office when I should be working, and I am watching the sermon you preached yesterday five thousand miles away and I am in tears. This is my measure for the truth. If something moves me to tears it has moved my soul.
Yes. That prayer. My wife is in hospital and needed a 'rapid response team' this afternoon. She is somewhat better now. The deep indeed. However, gratitude might be the stuff of steel.
Bill Wilson wrote, “Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the light, even though for the moment you do not see.” While I think Bill could be as full of shit as anyone, this quote is something that has stuck with me from the first time I read it. (It can be found in "As Bill Sees It.") It's murky as hell out here in the deep, and frightening. AND YET, the act of turning my face in the direction I think the light might be coming (even if I'm wrong) is a profound act of faith. It's also the best I can do.
You've beautifully captured the sheer exhaustion of the moment, Nadia, and how to move forward. Thank you.
I haven't watched Don't Look Up, and most likely won't simply because lots of people are watching it. In this horrid time, being an extreme introvert, I am not bothered by only being able to contact non-family members electronically. I can understand how this can be difficult for the mass of people who aren't like me.
I'm surprised that Grace can be so much on display on something I would not expect to have a Faith base. Maybe this is an explanation of Faith. Something was heard years ago, in another contexts, and it stuck. Jesus Found me when I had no idea I needed Finding. I was raised outside the Church, possibly because of my Grandmothers being upset that my parents 'left the church' [I had no idea what that meant]. Evangelical Faith has always been puzzling to me.
I found this years ago. At some level, it speaks to me:
Heidelberg Catechism
Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?
A. The almighty and ever present power of God by which God upholds, as with his hand,
heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—
all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.
Q. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?
A. We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing in creation will separate us from his love. For all creatures are so completely in God’s hand that without his will
they can neither move nor be moved.
I don't believe COVID was sent by Creator; nor that this time is some sort of test by Creator. Creator of the entire Universe is aware just how shitty Earth is. Shitty because people not us, for reasons we cannot fathom, created a shitty Earth. I am uncomfortable with my 3 year old grandson having to live in this world. Especially since 'existentialist thinking' probably won't begin to happen in his brain for another decade.
People who came before us, some of whom we have loved, are responsible for the consequences of their lives; we have to live with these consequences. A century ago, there was a global pandemic. Apparently, not enough people wanted to live with this reality, and ignored consequences.
The question we need to answer is how are we willing to live amidst tragedy we haven't personally had to live with before?
For the sake of my grandson, who is living outside of Faith, I need to become less of an extreme introvert; and continually figure out ways that I can bring Faith into his life.
Yes Nadia yes. I haven’t stopped thinking about a sound bite from you earlier that god does not inflict our suffering, god is within and beside us through the suffering. I’m one of your horrid optimist friends and it’s not easy for me right now. But when I go to the deep well within, I find the draught of grace there always. Always. Bless you and keep you! God be with you!
Thank you, love this words for the soul
I just reread this…I’m feeling emotionally drained, empty…and here this was. May we face whatever is to come in your divine will with courage and open hearts of acceptance…
Funny how you get just what you need, just when you need it.
Amen. Just listened. Reading this was good. 2 weeks later listening was very very very good. Thank you Nadia.
Thank you. I did not even realize how exhausted I was until I read this. So good to let it be, to stop resisting, to let go of what I cannot change.
Loved this, thank you for sharing
Thank you! I connected profoundly with the prayer (and ending) of "Don't Look Up"; used it in my sermon the week after I saw it and still think about all it provoked in me.
Wow just wow! Thank you.