Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint

by Nadia Bolz-Weber

And in that messy chaos, my job was to just stand there and be aware of God’s presence in the room. Kind of a weird job description, but there it was, and in those moments, I felt strangely qualified. I didn’t have the slightest idea what to say to someone who just had shoulder surgery, but I couldn’t help but feel God’s presence in the trauma room. It wasn’t long before I found myself sensing God’s presence in other rooms, too. I felt it in the little white room with just enough space for four love seats and as many boxes of tissue where we brought the families of those who are dead, or might be dead, or should be dead, or had died and are now not dead, but we don’t know for how long. I’d sit with people in their loss. Their