You are invited to become a part of the Shower of Stoles experience at the General Assembly in Portland this July. The Shower of Stoles is a collection over a thousand liturgical stoles and other sacred items from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons from twenty-four denominations in six countries, including a few dozen from Disciples. Each piece contains the story of a LGBT person who is active in the life and leadership of their faith community in some way: minister, elder, deacon, teacher, missionary, musician, administrator or active layperson. This extraordinary collection celebrates the gifts of LGBT persons who serve God in countless ways, while also lifting up those who have been excluded from service because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

We are hoping to build a collection of hundreds of stoles from GLBT Disciples!

Here’s how you can join in:

1. Make a stole, as elaborate or as simple as you wish.
2. Write a brief message telling your story, up to 1OO words. You may include your name, city and church affiliation, or donate the stole anonymously. You don’t have to attach your story to the stole, just send it to us and we’ll take care of the rest.
3. Get your congregation involved. See the enclosed flyer for more information about how your congregation can contribute a “signature stole” to the collection.
4. Send it to us no later than June 3O. This will give us time to sew on your story and inventory your stole before we take it to Vancouver.

Remember these two important things about the Shower of Stoles collection: First, stoles are not the important part of this project, stories are! Well over half the stoles in the collection are very simple homemade pieces. Second, this collection isn’t just about ordination! Some of the most important stoles have nothing to do with ordination, including one representing the infant son of a lesbian couple whose pastor refused to baptize him. At least two dozen stoles represent church musicians. Many more come from Sunday School teachers and two are from gay men who are church custodians.

We invite every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender member and every Open and Affirming congregation in the Christian Church to become a part of this remarkable collection. For more information about making stoles, or having a display of stoles in your congregation, please visit our website at www.showerofstoles.org.

Peace,

Martha Juillerat
National Program Director