On Tuesday, October 11st, Nadia Bolz-Weber came to Augsburg to speak about her experience, strength, and hope with her religion and her recovery. She came to speak at the Augsburg Convocation during the day and then at 5PM she came up into the StepUP girl’s flat to speak with all of us students. I have nothing but good things to say about this woman; she is a strong independent woman in recovery, a woman leader in the religious community, and she is an all-around kind and loving person. Her story is incredible, and she is clearly a great pastor because when she was speaking with us, all of our attention was on her only. She can somehow manage to speak to every single person in the room and acknowledge everyone’s presence.
I am so grateful for people like Nadia because it’s so common for people to have negative experiences in religion and/or recovery, so as a reaction to that, people will just write them off and it can be quite damaging. Nadia had a negative first experience in her religion and she grew up to embrace a new one in her own tattooed and cynical way. People who struggle with being accepted can come to her congregation and be welcomed with open and loving arms. People who used to be atheist, queers, addicts and alcoholics, and just the average Joe are all part of her church.
Nadia is based in Colorado, but she is making a huge impact all over the country, so pretty soon I bet we’ll be seeing a lot of congregations similar to hers. She travels a lot, speaking to different communities, and she has a few different books out and is working on another one! Nadia is making a huge impact in so many people’s lives and StepUP was lucky enough to experience her, and we are all really happy about that. If you get a chance, check out her website– it’s filled with so much cool stuff!