06/16/2026
This past weekend, we were honored to gather for Pride Worship at Capital City Pride alongside more than 20 Rainbow Faith Coalition of Greater Des Moines congregations. It was a sacred space to celebrate God’s love, the beauty of our LGBTQIA+ community, and the truth that everyone is welcome at the table.
We are all created in love and for love. Pride is more than a celebration; it’s a witness to resilience, authenticity, and the dignity of every person.
Pastor Minna captured the spirit of the service beautifully in the benediction she wrote for this year’s Pride Worship. We share it here as both a blessing and a reminder that God’s radiant love goes with us wherever we go:
A Benediction of Radiance
Pride 2026
Rev. Minna Bothwell
“Beloved, you are made in the image of the One who loves you beyond your wildest imagination - the One who, from the very beginning, spun galaxies into being, and painted a universe in impossible colors.
You are a reflection of that divine radiance: luminous, beloved, wondrous beyond measure.
The very dust God used to form the stars, the moonlit skies, and every shimmering constellation - was also breathed into you.
You are God’s holy stardust - made from and for a love that spans both time and space. And nothing can take that away from you.
God calls you not into smallness but into the sacred fullness of your truest self - wholly and joyfully - dazzling as you have been created.
Though the world does not always know how to welcome every star that shines, though some try to dim what God has made brilliant - the stars never ask permission to glow.
They burn faithfully.
They dance across the heavens anyway.
And so do you.
God delights in every color, and shape, and flame, and song of you. There is no part of you that is outside of the reach of divine delight and joy. You are a song meant to be sung, a light meant to be seen - God’s treasure unfolding in real time.
So go beloved - go into the world - with your incandescent, gleaming, shimmering, celestial self.
The entire cosmos - and every ounce of creation- are brighter because of who and whose you are.
Amen.”
🏳️🌈 All are welcome.
❤️ All are beloved.
✨ All belong.
