Putting on a Coat of Colours

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 on...

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 h...

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 repl...

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 empo...

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 migh...

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 5...

In our fourth segment of the podcast conversation with Julie and Kasandra, they share the importance of civic engagement and voting when it comes to women’s reproductive justice, the curtailment of voting rights, and issues around race and gay rights. In the midst of the uncertainty and strife, Kasandra speaks of a longing for home and invites Julie to come with her to a predominately black church. 

Finally, Kasandra shares the diff...

In the third part of the podcast conversation between Julie and Kasandra, Julie asks Kasandra what she thinks it means to be a LGBTQIA+ ally. Kasandra talks about her non-binary stepchild, being a straight ally in a predominately gay church, and how she can be useful in her church community, applying some her same learnings about race. In Kasandra asking Julie what it means to her to be an ally to black people, Julie talks about th...

In this second part of the podcast conversation between Julie and Kasandra, Julie shares some of her takeaways from their book study about the book I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown and conversation that ensued.  Julie gets a little closer look into the life of her friend Kasandra and when “book knowledge” became more real for her.  

Also note there are three other partici...

In the first section of this podcast conversation between Julie and Kasandra, we learn how each one of them first came to Cathedral of Hope and how they met and became friends in a Small Group at Cathedral. It was because of that friendship that Kasandra, a straight black woman felt comfortable in inviting her lesbian white friend Julie to a non-sanctioned book study about the book I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for ...

In this third part of the conversation between Stella and Johann, mother and child talk about how families come to terms with finding out their child is gay. For Johann’s parents, they came to love and accept gay persons long before he was born. For some families that come to CoH, the church is the place where the family is able to come together.

Finally, in the closing, Stella and Johann talk about how they wish they could be seen ...

The second part of the conversation between Stella and Johann, Johann digs deeper into how intimidating it can be for a young black gay man to integrate to a mostly middle age white community of gay men and women, many of whom had to endure the prejudices of being gay years ago. Stella talks about how difficult it is to be the only black person in the group or in the room and a painful exclusion where help is obviously needed.
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In this first part of the conversation between Stella and Johann, we find out how a mother’s desire to find a church home was motivated by her concern that she could find a place where her gay son would feel accepted. Her chance conversation with a gay friend led her to take Johann to church that just happened to be up the road and just happened to have a pastor from England.

Comments/feedback/ideas for new episodes?
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In the book I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Austin Channing Brown begins the book with the words “White people can be exhausting”.

In the fourth part of the conversation, Neil and Darnell share together how difficult it can be for persons of color to not want to travel to yet another “white space” on their only day off to attend services at Cathedral and the different layers that gay persons, ...

In part three of the conversation between Darnell and Neil, Neil tells the story of how he came from Bournemouth, England and the Metropolitan Community Church to Dallas, Texas and the United Church of Christ. Neil talks about how he uses his own privilege and how his leadership in the interfaith group Faith Forward is stretching boundaries in Dallas.

Comments/feedback/ideas for new episodes?
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In this first part of the conversation, we hear from Darnell, a leader in the Coat of Colours council and Neil, Senior Pastor of Cathedral of Hope. Darnell tells the story of what first brought him to Cathedral and the longing of needing a church connection that brought him back. Neil and Darnell talk about the differences in the church of Darnell’s younger life and what he experiences on Sundays at Cathedral. And how those differe...

The second part of the conversation between Darnell and Neil, they dig deep about the goals and purposes of Coat of Colours and the representation of people of color in all aspects of the life of the church. They address the issues of avoiding tokenism vs. consistent involvement and what it means to be an active vs. a passive participant. Both share it’s in honest conversations that white-dominated spaces can learn to work harmonio...