The Moth

Podbit · The Moth

Cotton Candy and Revolutionary Rides: The Moth Radio Hour

Explore episode Jun 30, 2026
Religion & Spirituality
Airport Communion for a Queer Woman Turned Away

Cotton Candy and Revolutionary Rides: The Moth Radio Hour · Jun 30, 2026 Religion & Spirituality

A young queer woman in Nadia Bolz-Weber's congregation traveled to her parents' church and was barred from communion. Stuart, the church drag queen, didn't skip a beat: 'We'll just have to take her communion to the airport when she gets home.' Ten people showed up at Denver International with bread, wine, and a chauffeur sign reading 'Rachel Pater, Child of God.'

Where this was said

The Grace Hidden in Plain Sight: Cotton Candy, Healed Backs, and a Holy Slap

At 16:40 · chapter starts 14:40

After the service, Nadia's congregation improvised the leftover Rally Day food into acts of grace: one group took burgers to feed hungry people at Triangle Park; another handed cotton candy to every car stopped at the nearby intersection — 'having a blast.' Nadia, meanwhile, was doing what she calls 'resentful cleanup,' masking her disappointment. Stuart, the drag queen minister of fabulousness, noticed. He and his partner Jim laid hands on her aching back and prayed — and the muscle spasms softened from fists to open palms. She thanked them. Then Jim held up the donation basket: completely empty. Alone at midnight, self-loathing having finally faded enough to sleep, she was jolted awake by a spiritual realization: she had missed all of it. The healing. The burgers. The cotton candy. Her own back pain disappearing. She had been so consumed by what didn't happen that she couldn't see what did.

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