My duties for the Tableaux service are modest. I have helped transform twenty adults and children into angels. Easy enough. The materials I had to work with included somewhat tattered clergy robes, and cotton sheets. Most of them were white, or a relative of white, but a few had embellishments of color. These brought brightness to an otherwise monochromatic choir, but still there was something missing. 

 

Glitz. 

 

I went to two fabric stores to find what I needed. Not unlike the shepherds, and wise men who went looking for the Messiah, though my trek was in a car. I bought the whole bolt, and chopped it into individual aprons, to shine over the white garments. 

 

Seeing the reactions of those angel interns who seemed a tad disappointed with their given costumes will be a sweet reward. In truth, the smiles they will wear dramatically outshine the gold lame. 

 

Years ago I sewed satiny gowns for my twins with golden capes. They looked and felt like angels, and those clothes still show up in the collection. The costumes have not changed, but my daughters surely have. 

 

What is the process for becoming an angel? I wrote a song about it, one that children sometimes still sing. It compares angels to the ripening of fruits, the sun coming up in the morning, the sweet rainfall, and the growth of an oak tree. These things are both miraculous, and commonplace.