CONFESSION: Before you go any further, dear reader, and decide that I have absolutely no liturgical sensibilities because I wore a WHITE stole on Pentecost, be at peace. I wore this one last week (5/8). I just didn’t have a chance before today to highlight it. Also, I threw in a few bonus shots of my totally kickass Pentecost stole. Onward!

My love of stoles is no secret. And my husband, Greg, totally spoils me on this front. He takes it as a challenge to think of the next great stole that I should add to my collection.  He works with Olivia of Stitchin’ Time (who might as well be part of the family by this point). They’ll email back and forth dozens and dozens of times working out the details on the next stole for whatever big life event is coming up for me.

A few years ago, Westfield launched its Aspire Capital Campaign (side note: want an elevator named after your family? I know a guy who can make that happen!). We’re hoping to raise over $800,000 (we’re nearly half way there!) and do some significant structural work that is essential to maintaining the historic building we’ve been given. As part of that effort, we knew we needed a logo. With the help of a stellar marketing outfit out of Maine, we ended up with this.

Y’all, we use this logo all the time. I mean, ALL. THE. TIME. It’s on t-shirts and koozies, our website and our banners. We put it on postcards and posters. If there is some bit of marketing or publicity we’re working on, you better believe that little blue cartoon church with yellow and blue stars is somewhere on it.  Mostly, it shows up like this, highlighting our name, our denomination, and indicating our intentional welcome of all God’s children. And there, beside all of that, is our church.

The coolest thing about the logo is that it’s our church! If you see a picture of the front of our church and the logo side by side, you’ll notice that everything is in its rightful place–the front doors, the window above the doors where you can ring the bell, the clock, the spire–all of it. It’s our church!  Our church is big. The spire (just the pointy bit on the top of the steeple) is 39′ feet tall alone.  It’s intimidating. We wanted a logo that would help us shed that intimidation factor. A cartoon church a la Disney? Perfect.

All of that to say that when this stole arrived a month after my 31st birthday, I WAS THRILLED.

Guys. It’s a stole WITH WESTFIELD’S LOGO ON IT. IS THIS NOT THE COOLEST?

I love Olivia’s creativity and patience with my dearest (I’m not saying his attention to detail and dedication to seeing his vision become a reality can be trying. I’m also not saying it. Also, I totally get that I am THE EXACT SAME WAY.). I love the work she is able to accomplish with a little picture.  One of the great things she’ll do on stoles like this one is put a bead on the inside of each arm of the stole so that you can line the two sides up without a mirror or someone else helping you! So, whenever you see me awkwardly feeling up my stole–that’s what I’m looking for!

Y’all, it’s just beautiful. Admire it some more with me, will you?

Here’s a side by side comparison.

Ugh. It’s just too much. I LOVE IT.

One more thing. I promised a few pictures of today’s (Pentecost) stole. So here ya go:

Greg gave me this stole in 2012 for my 27th birthday–the first one we celebrated together. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you–it’s a stole with flames on it. It’s particularly striking on a my black robe, but today we celebrated Holy Communion–so the white alb it was! It still looks pretty rad, doesn’t it? Also, because I know you’re wondering. Yes, I wore my red glasses today specifically because it was Pentecost. I also had red socks. And red underwear.

Before the service began, I leaned over to my Deacon of the Day (our lay liturgist) and pointed to my stole. “I guess this makes me a flamer?” He laughed. I did, too And once again (for like the 20th time today), I was so grateful for this church and this work.