Levi Kreis Lyrics w/ Blog: "Stained Glass Window", theme to Del Shores Southern Baptist Sissies

Blog: I may have been in Los Angeles for a few weeks, I'm not sure. I had just moved from Tennessee with a couple of girlfriends from back home. 2 years out of my SIX year stretch of christian counseling in a program called "The Healing Of The Homosexual", I still had not found my exaggerated efforts to become straight garner the slightest results. And now, I had moved to a not-so-God-fearing city with a ton of shame and self deprecation. One afternoon, I was walking down Melrose avenue with a couple of my friends when we saw this bold, some would say vulgar, advertisement for a theater piece called "Southern Baptist Sissies". Somehow one of my friends had heard about it and before I knew it, I was sitting in an 88 seat theater on Melrose avenue awaiting the unexpected. The first sound that graced my ears was a honky tonk piano and congregants singing old Baptist hymns. The play told a story of 4 boys growing up facing the internal struggle of religion vs. homosexuality. I was instantly embarrassed, and everything inside of me protested my presence there. As the play continued, it broke me down to where 13 years of mental and emotional turmoil came rushing to the surface. By intermission, I was nearly in a fetal position in the floor sobbing like a child. I thought I was alone! I didn't know that there were other people out there having experienced the same all-pervading passion for God while believing you're an abomination to Him at the same time. I couldn't believe I was seeing my secret story being told out in public for me and everyone else to care for. From the back, a man named Del Shores approached me. "Are you alright?" he said lovingly, but lightly. I honestly didn't know. I asked him, "Does the second half get any better?" He laughed, and encouraged me to stick around. After that play, I discovered that Del was the writer of the play. He invited me to come back and see "Southern Baptist Sissies" as much as I needed to if it helped me put the pain of my past behind me. That play let me know I was not alone. It helped me see the perfect, flawless child of God that I am. It was the first day of my long, still not easy, journey out of the dark depression of self hate.
I must have seen that play 36 times. By then, Del and I were friends. I was house-sitting or something, and he came home to me at his piano. I said, "Del, did I ever play this song I wrote based on your play?" He said no, so I sat there, and for the first time, I sang "Stained Glass Window". He loved it, helped me finish a couple lines and invited me to sing it after every subsequent performance of "Southern Baptist Sissies". And that is how it become the theme song. That play set the tone for what I believe my mission statement in life is. Today I celebrate all of our differences, and know that God is an infinite expression of diversity.

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[grrargh722]

I listen to this song, primarily when my gay friends are speaking about homosexuality and God. Usually, it's the view that God hates gay people, therefore, they have no faith in God. It's hard for someone like me who is gay, but was also raised to believe in God, to actually say to them that God doesn't, it's just ignorant people who spread that belief. This song just makes me feel better about all that - that it is actually okay for me to be gay and still believe in God and not have to choose.

[Trishrg]

After reading the lyrics, then reading your blog entry, all I can say is I'm moved to tears.

This is just beautiful!