In the third installment of the conversation between Darnell and Thomas, Darnell talks about the welcoming nature of Coat of Colours and how seeking “to decrease the cultural divide and increase a multicultural presence” is defining the group. They also talk about how the white gay members of the community have a real sense of what it means to be marginalized, but often worry about their own space and don’t go any deeper.

In part two of the conversation between Darnell and the podcast producer Thomas, we discover why it is that Thomas and Kasandra wanted to be a part of a predominately LGBTQIA+ church and how they got to Cathedral of Hope. They talk about how Tom came to be not only a participant in Coat of Colours, but was also given the opportunity to contribute in meaningful ways.

In part one of this conversation, we turn the microphone around on the producer of the podcast. Coat of Colours member Darnell sits down with Thomas to ask about what he’s seen and heard from the interviews so far and what he sees as a straight, white ally who is in an interracial marriage. And how being noticed as a marginalized person, even when the comment is meant as a compliment, is still awkward and maybe means more to the one who is doing the noticing.

We also want to apologize for how badly Tom’s office chair needs a spray of WD-40. His squeaky chair is a bit noisy.

To open this edition of Putting on a Coat of Colours, we wanted to let you know that we are in the process of producing new content and we hope to drop new episodes beginning next week. But in the meantime, we wanted to offer this piece of audio. Last Sunday on Juneteenth 2022, the Rev. Andria Davis, Executive Pastor of Digital Experience and Worship at Cathedral of Hope, preached about the messages: the message Jesus’ spoke when he began his public ministry, the message declared on June 19th, 1865 in Galveston, TX, and how those messages still need to go out today.

You can see this sermon delivered by Rev. Andria on the Cathedral of Hope YouTube Channel and on their Facebook page as well. Have a listen…

Please join facilitators Kassie Riggs and Pat Saxon this summer to engage in reflection and discussion of This Here Flesh, a stunning book by Cole Arthur Riley, writer and creator of the website Black Liturgies. The group will meet on zoom for 5 weeks from June 28 through July 26, from 6:45-8:15.

If you would like to participate in this deeply engaging journey, please secure a book or audio version (narrated by the author) and reply to Pat at spiritsister26@aol.com.

We look forward to seeing you!

For this third episode with Pam, Pat, and Roger, we hear them discuss how being a part of Coat of Colours has given them a nearer understanding of the day-to-day and system issues that their Black siblings experience. Even as they start to participate in more, they discover that they need to continue to learn how to de-center whiteness. They find deeper lessons in proximity that they couldn’t learn from a book. They find that empowerment leads to service and action.

Beautifully, this group of white allies see that Coat of Colours is a bright light, that is perhaps hidden under a bushel, and they themselves as the ones that are responsible for sharing Coat of Colours with their white siblings in the church and the community

In this second part of the white ally round table with Pam, Pat, and Roger, they talk about the value of being a part of Coat of Colours. For these three, belonging was initially an exercise of “being in the background” and “being more of a listener than a contributor” and “being a worker bee and not a leader imposing their own agenda”.

They also express that they had some fear of saying or doing the wrong thing that might not be very endearing. And in some ways, they saw their self-imposed disempowerment as a means of creating an understanding of their siblings.

This is the first section of a podcast conversation between Pam, Pat, and Roger, three white allies who have been long time members of Coat of Colours. Their journeys to Cathedral of Hope came from different directions. There’s common themes of seeking a place where they could belong, needing a community steeped in activism, looking for genuine expressions of faith, and finding that CoH is unlike any place they had been.

On this 5th anniversary of Coat of Colours, each one also talks about how they came to participate in a group that they initially believed might be a space for Black people only. Each one came to realize that it was in proximity where relationship can be built.