Ok so you know the image of me walking around a fabric store with tulle is not a shocker. But today, as I’m carrying 9 bolts of tulle in [shocking] rainbow colors, no fewer than 5 people approached me and asked:

“What are you going to do with all that”

…as—and this is not inconsequential—the young gay/queer fabric clerk rolled out yard after yard after yard of my rainbow.

Surprised but pleased all the same to be asked (each time), I replied to the person who asked (and to folks nearby who were curiously listening):

“Well, our church is celebrating 20 years of being an open and affirming church to gay and trans people … and all this will be part of the centerpieces.”

Every one of them seemed to just beam at me as they affirmed my project and what it was for. And all but one person asked me what church.

This is hardly the first church event that my gay self has decorated for. But I’m sitting here in the parking lot a little teary—reflecting on their genuine interest and affirmation, of having had such an opportunity to talk about my church, to be able to own my interests and gifts without being ashamed of them, to be a part of a church with such a legacy, and to continue to engage in the practice of using fabric liturgically.

And yeah—also to, I hope, let a young queer person know there’s a church who celebrates and affirms him just as he is.

Never before have I felt in this particular way such a sudden synthesis (my face actually flushed) of who I am as a gay man, a creative type, and my vocation in the world.

Now. Where’s the glitter?!

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