06/15/2026
A spirited wind blew through the Booth of Blessings as the family of three approached us at Hamilton Pride. They asked what our booth was about.
Nexus and other open-and-affirming churches in our region collaborate on blessing people with rainbow confetti during Pride each year.
Would you like a blessing?
The parents nodded. Their young daughter – I’d guestimate her age as roughly 4 years – watched me sprinkle rainbow confetti across her parent’s heads and shoulders like a gentle rain.
“Remember, you are a beautiful and beloved child God,,” I said. “Always.”
The mother asked their daughter if she’d like a blessing, too. The girl nodded. I knelt to be at her eye level and sprinkled her with confetti. Her reaction suggested she found it unexpected and fun.
“Remember that you are a beautiful and beloved child of God, just as you are,” I told her while sprinkling her with confetti. “Remember this for the rest of your life.”
Then, I invited her to bless me with confetti. She looked at her parents for permission. They nodded.
The girl dipped her thumb and index finger into the bowl, carefully plucked out one flake of confetti, and planted it atop my head.
“You can use more confetti if you want,” I said.
Game on!
She plunged her hand into the bowl, grabbed a fistful of confetti and dumped it on my head. I shook my head and the clump of confetti flew everywhere.
The girl giggled. So did I. Her parents said thank you and off they went, covered in a colorful blessing.
Jesus was known for – or, notorious for, depending upon your point of view – blessing whoever came to him, especially those who didn’t receive blessings from their political, religious and cultural leaders.
Sadly, many culture war Christians today prefer to berate rather than bless, to reject rather than embrace, to hurt rather than heal.
No matter. The Spirit-filled work of blessing goes on unabated in many different forms – water, oil, words. hugs, confetti.
Most people I know say their earliest memories are from around the age of 4 -- the same as the girl who covered my head in confetti. I hope that the colorful and wind-swept moment becomes one of her formative memories.
May her lasting memory be of her belovedness.
-- Joe
