by Dr. Kristina “Tina” Campbell
She’s the tattooed, recovering, straight-talking Lutheran pastor who years ago formed the church called for House for All Sinners and Saints. I have read her works for many years and have appreciated her no b.s. approach to theology found in many recovering communities. At the moment, she has taken to the road as a one-woman rebellion against the anxiety and despair that has engulfed many of us after our current election. She’s visiting all of the red states where she is holding revivals. She wants us to be revived from despair and self-righteousness, and encourages a posture of humility, curiosity, mercy and hope. She wants us to distance ourselves from our screens to gather and sing.
I knew I was excited that she was coming to Arizona but had no idea that she would fill a huge sanctuary with hundreds of kindred spirits who created an overflowing parking lot an hour before her remarks began. She has made real her belief that we need to exit the screen and gather in person to sing and laugh. I, for one, wanted to add a hallelujah to her emphasis on a return to humility and her firm belief that we are meant to be together in person.
Nadia suggests that in a time of huge conflict we ask ourselves these discernment questions:
What’s mine to say?
What’s mine to care about?
She makes the wise observation that we cannot take on every form of injustice, and that we weren’t designed to overload our emotional systems. She declares that we need not lose heart, that we are music making human beings who are created to sing out loud, and we are people of faith who need to believe out loud.
Nadia does not shy away from confronting white Christian nationalism, declaring that their “delusional obsession with power” is no match for the merciful love of an everlasting God. She is emphatic that it is the Gospel that persists, and that we need not be afraid during inevitable times of loss of sorrow.
Hope, according to Nadia, is not gone, and real hope lies in the belief that God’s faithfulness lives. The dominant powers are not the ultimate powers and, borrowing the words of Rumi, “Ours in no caravan of despair.” She does not offer a lightweight solution, but encourages us to love our enemies, forgive those who persecute us, and to always lift up mercy. She has learned these lessons in her 33 years of sobriety and believes in God’s ability to make things right. She reminds us that we are more than the worst moments of our lives…. that all people are more than the worst moments of their lives. She shares a message that we are already forgiven, that we belong to God and that we are beloved by God. She says it clearly: “Who you really are is not to be found in the garbage can of your life.”
Nadia leaves us with some profound lessons: We must never take a self-righteous stand at the expense of love and humility. We have endless second chances. She reminds us that people throughout history have lived under far worse political conditions and they lived lives filled with meaning. She assures us that if we pray for the conversion of our anxiety, it will become hope. We have been given this day, and we are to rejoice and be glad in it…each and every day…rejoice and be glad.
Thank you, Nadia. May you be showered with blessings.