Pastrix

Funny, raw, and packed with truth, this book is offensive in all the right ways...This book reminded me of why I am a Christian, and I wept with gratitude when I finished it. Rachel Held EvansPastrix: a derogatory term used by Christians who refuse to recognize female pastors.Heavily tattooed and foul-mouthed, Nadia Bolz-Weber, a former stand-up comic, sure as hell didnt consider herself to be religious leader material--until the day she ended up leading a friends funeral in a smoky downtown comedy club. Surrounded by fellow alcoholics, depressives, and cynics, she realized: These were her people. Maybe she was meant to be their pastor.Using life stories--from living in a hopeful-but-haggard commune of slackers to surviving the wobbly chairs and war stories of a group for recovering alcoholics, from her unusual but undeniable spiritual calling to pastoring a notorious con artist--Nadia uses humorous narrative and poignant honesty to portray a woman who is both deeply faithful and deeply flawed, giving hope to the rest of us along the way.This is the book for people who hunger for a bit of hope that doesnt come from vapid consumerism or navel-gazing; for women who talk too loudly and guys who love chick flicks; for the gay man who loves Jesus, and wont allow himself to be shunned by the church. In short, this book is for every thinking misfit suspicious of institutionalized religion but still seeking transcendence and mystery.Updated with a new afterword,Pastrixis a wildly entertaining, sardonically irreverent, and deeply resonant--a messy, beautiful, prayer--and profanity-laden narrative about an unconventional life of faith.