Anonymous (Gay Presbyterian, Boston Presbytery)

God's Gift

In Honor of an Anonymous Gay Presbyterian
Boston Presbytery

We know almost nothing about this individual, except to say that great lengths were taken to protect his or her identity.  The packaged stole was given to a member of the presbytery, who brought it with them to the 1996 General Assembly in Albuquerque.  There it was handed over to another person, who finally delivered it to me.  Because of this protracted method of delivery, perhaps, it is a stole I have thought about often.  The Presbytery of Boston is a relatively small presbytery consisting of twenty five Presbyterian congregations in and around Boston, Massachusetts.  Does this stole honor some well known leader within the presbytery?  Or is it a member of a local congregation who, because of family or employment circumstances, cannot risk having their identity revealed?  Could it be simply someone who, due to their own internalized homophobia, is afraid to come out?  We may never know.

In the late 1990's, this stole was instrumental in helping someone else to come out.  A gay man, an ordained Presbyterian elder in Wisconsin, wrote me a letter saying that he had decided it was time for him to come out to his congregation.  He asked me to send him a stole that he could wear on his chosen Sunday.  As I read his letter, this particular stole happened to be on my desk, so I sent it off to him and encouraged him to remember as he wore it that day that he is a gift from God.

When he returned the stole, he let me know that he had worn the stole throughout that Sunday morning.  Being a soft-spoken fellow, he found that telling the story of the stole helped him to tell his own story -- what it had felt like to have to keep so much of himself hidden all these years, and what a great weight would now be lifted off his shoulders.  Although he knew he would receive mixed reactions from members of his "rather traditional" congregation, he was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support he received from many who heard his story that day.

It is my prayer that somehow -- perhaps through this exhibit -- an unnamed child of God from Boston will come to know what a gift they truly are, and what a tremendous gift they were able to provide another gay Presbyterian.

Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006