Try Less Hard, with Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber

What if wholeness and freedom came from trying less hard, and embracing who we truly are?

You are invited to a lunch and talk from Rev. Bolz-Weber, a time of Questions and Opinions (Nadia thinks we're sometimes too focused on answers from "experts"), and a book signing will be held.

About Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber

New York Times bestselling author Reverend Nadia Bolz-Weber has been called “a pastor for America’s outsiders” (BBC). She will be the first to attest that she doesn’t look like most people’s idea of a pastor, but the community of faith she founded in Denver, Colorado—House for All Sinners and Saints—is a haven for a diverse community seeking affirmation and acceptance. Krista Tippett, who interviewed Bolz-Weber for her public radio show On Being, described House for All Sinners and Saints this way: “These days, convicted felons and elected officials join teenagers with pink hair at this church and others like it—redefining what church is—and with a deep reverence for tradition.”

But Bolz-Weber’s gospel is not just for spiritual seekers. In a time when institutions of every kind—governments, corporations, universities, churches—are struggling to exert influence and maintain relevance, her House for All Sinners and Saints continues to thrive, especially among Millennials. In her books and talks, she makes the deeply felt argument that honesty and human connection are key to creating and sustaining community.

In her latest book, The New York Times bestseller Shameless: A Case for Not Feeling Bad About Feeling Good (About Sex), Bolz-Weber reclaims the conversation around sexuality, shame, and desire for a new generation of believers. Drawing on her own experiences and those of her parishioners, she reexamines the church’s teachings on patriarchy, gender, and sexuality with a refreshing combination of candor and hope. Shameless offers no simple amendments or polite compromises but with her trademark vulnerability, humor, and honesty Bolz-Weber dispenses grace, liberation, and healing to those wounded by shaming sexual messages in religion.

In the New York Times bestselling memoir Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint, Bolz-Weber “takes readers on the engaging and accessible journey” (Booklist) from her roots as a hard-drinking standup comic to an ordained Lutheran pastor. The book earned raves from everyone from the lead singer of the Violent Femmes to the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who said, “Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber speaks the truth of our humanity that we too often want to deny.”

Bolz-Weber continues to explore the sometimes hilarious and often messy intersections of faith and humanity in her most recent memoir, Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People, also a New York Times bestseller. From a felonious bishop to an agnostic who can’t get enough of church, Accidental Saints introduces us to people who set our teeth on edge—but who just might bring us closer to God.

Recently, she has been offering life-changing advice in her video series Have a Little Faith, from the MAKERS: Women Who Make America documentary series. With titles like “Forgive Assholes,” “Separating Self from Selfie,” and “Welcome to the Apocalypse,” her take remains consistently frank, funny, and irreverent.

Her podcast, The Confessional with Nadia Bolz-Weber, a partnership with PRX and The Moth. Praised by The Denver Post as “a frank, sometimes profane interrogation of faith and second chances that can be a strong complement to 12-step programs and therapy (trust me) — or just make for riveting listening”, the podcast brings together stories from diverse walks of life and celebrates human transformation by normalizing conversations about their failings. As Bolz-Weber puts it, “The Confessional is a place where other people’s stories can be a road map to freedom from our own shame.” She has also built community through the newsletter, The Corners. As she says, “I love the corners. I always have. It is where I will always choose to sit, because I love outcasts, queers and the girls who talk too loud.… I love sober drunks, single dads, sex workers and the guy who lost a leg in the war. These are my people.”

Bolz-Weber has been featured in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, NPR’s Morning Edition, Fresh Air, and on CNN and the BBC World Service. In 2017, she won the coveted Audience Award at the Nantucket Project. Her first book, Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television, is a snappy, nuanced take on 21st-century televangelism and its influence. Her first memoir, Pastrix, has been optioned by ABC Signature to be made into a TV show.

"When I saw Pastor Nadia speak I was absolutely transfixed and I ended up following her around for the next 7 hours like a trained puppy. The fact that she affected me in this way is especially remarkable since my denomination is (or at least was) longstanding Jewish Atheist. Since that day I have become addicted to her words and I have forwarded various sermons of hers to my friends and family! I’m as certain as I can be that hers is a universal message that can and should be heard by audiences throughout the world."

—Jason Flom, Founder, Lava Records

"It’s been a week, and our campus is still buzzing about your time with us at our Writer’s Symposium By The Sea. We were all struck by your depth, humor, willingness to engage any topic, and your theological grounding. Most members of our School of Theology faculty were at the evening interview, and they raved about your breadth of wisdom, knowledge of scripture, careful interpretation, and perspective."

—Symposium Director, Point Loma Nazarene University

"A foul-mouthed champion to people sick of being belittled as not Christian enough for the right or too Jesus-y for the left."

—The Washington Post

"Engaging and accessible… Bolz-Weber is clear-eyed about the personal travails faced by the marginalized and those without faith."

—Booklist

"The amazing thing about Nadia Bolz-Weber is that she manages to take her Christianity into corners of life where the church can be pretty uncomfortable going."

—The Daily Beast

"Shameless is a triumph. Nadia Bolz-Weber returns to readers the gift toxic religion and consumer culture stole: the gift of sexuality. Her wisdom is unparalleled, her vulnerability touching, her storytelling masterful, and her perspective both ancient and fresh. Shameless will give its readers their joy, relationships, and freedom back."

—Glennon Doyle, author of LOVE WARRIOR

"She unravels the problematic, toxic frameworks around sexuality – the burden of which many of us still carry today – and offers us the freedom we need to say no to shame. If you know Nadia’s work, you know that she is fearless. In Shameless, we all benefit from her bravery."

—Austin Channing Brown, author of I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness

"Bolz-Weber is a surprisingly vulnerable narrator who pairs personal confessions with beautifully articulated statements of faith."

—The Christian Century

This event is made possible through Partners in Ministry, a collaborative of Protestant houses of worship supporting spiritual life at Swarthmore College.