“I love your ‘Sailor Mercury!” he shouted to the bright blue-haired colored human in front of me on the escalator. She was in full cosplay of her favorite anime character.
“Thanks! You look amazing, too,” she replied to the yellow-haired stranger dressed as a character I couldn’t identify.
My heart smiled, and my face followed.
This weekend, my family attended the Indiana Comic Convention in downtown Indianapolis. We went as an early birthday celebration for Z, who loves all things comics, anime, and gaming. There were panels and photo ops with people from some of his favorite movies and TV shows (mine, too!). We met Tom Cavanaugh and Danielle Panabaker from The Flash, Taylor Gray and Vanessa Marshall from Star Wars Rebels, Shameik Moore from Across the Spiderverse, Timothy Zahn, who wrote Heir to the Empire and created the Grand Admiral Thrawn character, Jacob Romero from One Piece, Maggie Lawson from Psych, Jamie Campbell Bower from Stranger Things, and Audrey Hopkins (aka @audity). Not to mention, Anthony Daniels (C-3PO himself) almost sat in my lap! We made a lot of memories. But I keep thinking about that brief interaction between cosplayers on the escalator. It was a brief snapshot of what I saw everywhere I turned this weekend.
This is a difficult world to live in. People can be cruel, and people in the highest leadership positions often model the worst behavior. It’s hard to navigate most days. But for three days, the Indiana Convention Center became a sanctuary, and I felt like I got a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. It was a safe space for tens of thousands of people (many of whom are shunned, shamed, bullied, harassed, and excluded as an “acceptable norm”). Nerd, queer, trans, straight, BIPOC, white, and neurodivergent were not only welcome to exist but to BE!
I didn’t understand everything or everyone I saw, but (thank God) the world doesn’t rely on my “understanding” to express its beauty. I set my need to understand aside, and my tendency to judge went with it. I adopted a posture of welcome, and during that comic convention, I saw, felt, and sensed the beautiful diversity of God’s Kingdom—and, dare I say it, the stunning diversity of God. It was a thin place where it felt like heaven came close.
I know people have all kinds of convictions and opinions. I get it. And because I make these personal reflections public, I’m certain to get messages from and be unfollowed by those with different convictions than mine. That’s okay. Peace be with you as you go. The longer I wander in this thing called faith, the more I sense that God is far more diverse than I could ever imagine. God embraces the diversity of creation; the diversity of creation reflects God.
Those blue and yellow-haired cosplayers on the escalator are made in God’s image.
They are wonderfully made.
My neurodivergent kids are made in God’s image.
They are wonderfully made.
My queer and trans friends are made in God’s image.
They are wonderfully made.
Even I am made in God’s image.
I am wonderfully made.
Honestly, sometimes that is harder to write (and even harder to accept) about myself. But it is true.
I am wonderfully made.
I’m grateful for this weekend for many reasons. But most of all, I am thankful for the unexpected closeness I felt with God throughout.
Yes yes to all of this! Thank you, Brian. I often see God and his kingdom when I am in the midst of the "outliers" of society, too. That all began when Sarah was born and we attended a craniofacial conference with others like her who lived around the world.
Thanks for your work and reflections! And for being bold enough to share.