What it is like to do a funeral?

Are you ready to sit with people in their darkest moments?

These are the kinds of questions that Alex Sangster struggled with as she began her journey as an ordained minister in the Uniting Church in Australia. And the journey continues.

Using the metaphor of Story, she shares her passion to discover ways that liberate, inspire and awaken; and suggests how the emerging church can connect with those who are spiritually hungry but culturally anti–institution.    

do they make coffins that small? explores what it means to minister in the context of contemporary disbelief.

This lovely book is easy on the eye, a delight to read, and is a powerful apologetic that helps us fathom why at least some people are choosing to swim against the societal current and follow that bold and compassionate soul from Nazareth.   – Roger Wolsey

Ali Sangster’s vivid stories, often killingly (!) funny, are rooted in our shared earthiness and hint at the rumour of God. You’ll find this wee book a page-turner and maybe a life-turner, too. – Rev. Dr Peter Matheson

What a brilliant book – its empathy, honesty, imagery, style, language and commitment. In beautiful prose, Alexandra Sangster invites us into her life and calling with whimsy and depth, through snippets of reflection, conversations, grief and hope. – Val Webb

Raw and captivating. The words and imagery, as in the title, will grip you. – Dr Carl Krieg

Glorious and moving, ordinary and extraordinary in equal measure – these are poems of profound perspicacity, found at that edge where life meets the biggest questions of all.  – Georgia Richter

Rev. Alexandra Sangster has been working as a Minister of the Word with the Uniting Church in Australia for over nineteen years and as an actor and facilitator for over twenty.