21 Comments
Dec 25, 2022Liked by Nadia Bolz-Weber

I lost my very frail but much beloved Mum on Wednesday evening to dementia and heart failure. We were with her and it was as peaceful as it could be, but the poem you shared above was such a comfort. Thank you so much. I have shared it with my family. What a gift. 🙏🏻❤️

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May her memory be for blessing.

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Thank you 🙏🏻❤️

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So sorry for your loss

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Thank you 🙏🏻❤️

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I’m very sorry for your loss.

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Dec 25, 2022Liked by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Merry Christmas Nadia. This year you helped me find my faith and your words illuminate much needed Grace and Truth. My heartfelt thanks.

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Dec 25, 2022Liked by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Merry Christmas! This morning I created a folder on my gmail entitled Nadia. Sometimes I just cannot bear to delete your emails! Thank you and God Bless.

Much love,

Kat

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Dec 25, 2022Liked by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Thank you for being a blessing in my life for many years. I finally got to meet you in person when you visited Miami at Coral Gables. Your book Accidental Saints helped me so much, I’m so grateful for your ministry .

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Dec 25, 2022Liked by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Merry Christmas! I am thankful for this group! You support all thinking and support each of us! A special thank you, Nadia!

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Thank you for a beautiful service, one I won’t attend in the Church of my upbringing.

I am not a fan of most social media, although it is a necessary evil, if you will, that I find I must use for much in modern society. But I will thank the Lord that I can receive Nadia’s “The Corners” on fb, and actually hear her beautiful prayers, poetry readings, and sermons rather than just reading them.

Liked the prayer, although prayers are a bit of a mixed bag for me ; not good at saying them, and need to take time to see how, or if they resonate with me.

The Alex Feldman NPR piece was quite funny. My favorite image was of the bear with a dreidel ; seems I was just talking about something like that with a good friend lately.

Iconography is quite a fascinating art style, though the similarity of images goes a long way.

Found the poem, “How the Light Comes” to resonate with me, but had a few lines that held me tight ;

“That it loves

searching out what is hidden,

what is lost,

what is forgotten,

or in peril,

or in pain.

That it has a fondness

for the body,

for finding its way

toward flesh,

for tracing the edges

of form,

for shining forth

through the eye,

the hand,

the heart.

I cannot tell you

how the light comes,

but that it does.

That it will.

That it works its way

into the deepest dark

that enfolds you,

though it may seem

long ages in coming

or arrive in a shape you did not foresee.”

Like completely opening a somewhat closed heart, or exposing a deepest desire hidden within the soul.

REALLY can’t stand Christmas music anymore. It’s been horrendously “interpreted”by so many C&W and Pop singers to indecency toward traditional songs, or even real singing, leeching out any sacredness or religiosity, and I have heard the same old standard renditions for SO long that I have come to believe Satan perpetually plays Christmas music in Hell; his most exquisite torture being “White Christmas”, and Bing Crosby is THERE !! And tell those drummer boys to knock it off with the damn “pumpa pa pum” cutsie noise ! And those 12 days of Christmas thing ; it’s either decadent American advertising promoting rampant consumerism, or a Gentile thing at trying to compete with, and surmount the 8 days of Hanukah ; shameless ! So, the Lofi smooth jazz music was a blessing to me, as I like smooth jazz, much to my kids’ dislike.

So that’s my unsolicited take on things you are into, Nadia. Thanks for “The Corners” ; great insight into the person you are that you can share with us fans. You are a continuing joy ; Inshallah.

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Merry Christmas! I’m relaxing in the living room now. Mom is holding the book, Shameless, in her hand. I love that that was what she wanted for Christmas.

Being a part of this community is a blessing.

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OK I'll try this again.

Merry Christmas Nadia! Sorry if that's redundant. My knuckle hit the blue arrow before but I don't see it.

My sister me a Christmas card in which she thanked me for "everything [I] did for Elaine" our sister-in-law. She was referring to the fact that her husband, our brother, died recently. Yet I didn't do anything except be there. I also visited my brother as he lay dying, and before that when he was super-sick. It was God's mercy that he died in that there was nothing ahead for him but more suffering and he knew it.

This seems to be my role in this family. Being there. My sister didn't visit him because she won't get vaccinated and the hospital had rules. I told her they weren't checking, but no, she never went even though she had a shorter drive.

When my other brother was in prison I was the only one who had the patience and persistence to navigate the red tape and get on his visitors list. So again, I was there when no one else was.

Sorry if I tire you with this but her comment brought it all home to me and as such she gave me an unexpected gift by acknowledging what I have been doing, that is, being there.

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What's that line about '95% of life is just showing up'? Being there is is an enormous blessing and gift. Blessings to you for keeping on keeping on.

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Merry Christmas! Thank you for your your faith, and the work you do with incarcerated women. ✨

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Merry Christmas! Thanks for posting the poem by Jan Richardson! She's one of my favorutes. Blessings to all!

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Merry Christmas!

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thank you as always for your beautiful contributions. merry Christmas!

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When I don’t know what to believe anymore, I get hope from your sermons, The Corners, this community. And that poem! Thank you.

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Thank you for How the Light Comes ❤️

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Thank you for all these gifts, Nadia. Merry Christmas.

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