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My Review of "Accidental Saints"

Nadia Bolz-Weber has become a voice to whom I listen when she preaches.  And her Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People is an amazing book that takes the reader through the intimacies of parish ministry, sharing story after beautiful/painful story about the weirdness that is running a church.  I'm not going to give any of them away in this review; but I can say as a pastor's wife, she's telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  So don't let the tattoos throw you off.  If you work on a church staff of any denominational variety, this is a must read.

Her's is a pastoral voice about grace without strings.  I needed that voice to be grounded in scripture without apologies, not to shy away from Christ or his cross.  I needed it to be strong and articulate.  And, knowing me, I needed some honest, salty language thrown in.

All of that is embodied in Nadia Bolz-Weber.  And her message in this book is simple:  We live as sinners forgiven by a merciful God.

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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