Blessing of the Pride Flag

Blessing of the Pride Flag, Sunday, June 5, 2022, after the 5 pm service 

The LGBTQ+ Pride flag, which will fly over Park Avenue for the entire month of June, will be blessed in a brief ceremony on the Church steps after the 5 pm Eucharist on Sunday, June 5. Come and celebrate the inclusive nature of God’s love! All are welcome!

Then join us for a festive wine and cheese reception (including non-alcoholic options) on the Great Terrace to kick off Pride Month, co-sponsored by the St. Bart’s 20s and 30s group and the LGBTQ+ Community. All are welcome!

A Note on Pentecost, Pride, and the Progress Pride Flag

Thanks to the initiative of several members of the LGBTQ Community at St. Bart’s, this year we will fly the 2018 Progress Pride Flag by Daniel Quasar during the month of June. This updated rainbow flag includes a triangle with black and brown stripes representing queer people of color, together with white, pink, and light blue stripes representing trans and non-binary individuals.

It is in fact quite appropriate that the first Sunday to fly this new flag is the Day of Pentecost, historically known as “Whitsunday,” or "White Sunday" — white being the traditional color of baptismal robes, as well as the dove, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. While we now wear red for Pentecost as a sign of the Holy Spirit’s fire, we too will celebrate the sacrament of Holy Baptism this Sunday. 

Modern science shows us that white light is actually a combination of all colors in the color spectrum. Even though the naked eye cannot perceive it, white light contains and reflects all the colors of the rainbow. It is therefore fitting that as we celebrate God’s gift of the Spirit to the nations (just blocks away from the United Nations!), we would also raise the Pride Flag as God’s church on Park Avenue. In so doing, we participate in the Church's sacramental vocation of making visible things unseen to the glory of God.  

May this new flag be a symbol to all who behold it of the Pride God takes in the diversity of creation, and a reminder to us of our baptismal call to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being" (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 305).