I never knew that! Thanks for passing that along. What I was told is that the "colors" used to be processed (and recessed) every Sunday morning. Bruce really liked that! Have NEVER witnessed anything like that in worship.
Well discerned and said, Doug. Grace, peace, and wisdom to you as you hear criticism and accusations. And remember, there are biblical texts about such! 🙂
While at Fuller Sem., I, too, as a youth pastor leading a Fri.-Sat. overnighter, took down and hid the flags (with the help of Lee Smedes’ son). The next week there were bigger, brighter flags up.
Lori and I then wrote a letter to the elders. We gave good, biblical reasons for why the flag was inappropriate in a worship space.
The elders discussed my letter. We were invited to an elder’s home for coffee after worship one Sunday evening. We suspected we knew why. But the elder said nothing about it for 1 ½ hours! Then, just as we were leaving, he said, “By the way, the elders appreciated your letter very much. But you have to understand—the man who put the old and new flags up was also the man who installed our sprinkler system outside the church. We don’t want to offend him so we thought it best to leave the flags up.” Alas, “Whom are we worshipping” sounds a lot like “Whom are we willing to offend!” 🥴
I suspect that any invitation you get for coffee after an evening service will be more direct and angry today. So, again, grace, peace and wisdom to you, my friend!
I also had a conflict with Bruce with the same issue. I removed the flags from the chancel area when helping Kathy and her committee decorate for Christmas. He was quite unhappy with me.
Thanks, Doug, for reminding us whom we worship when it is a challenge of balance to be both active Christian and citizen when issues are handled from an extreme viewpoint. I grew up RCA with flags in the sanctuary. More recently our previous pastor just quietly moved them to the back, then completely out. Her resolve on this was supported without incident.
I never knew that! Thanks for passing that along. What I was told is that the "colors" used to be processed (and recessed) every Sunday morning. Bruce really liked that! Have NEVER witnessed anything like that in worship.
Well discerned and said, Doug. Grace, peace, and wisdom to you as you hear criticism and accusations. And remember, there are biblical texts about such! 🙂
While at Fuller Sem., I, too, as a youth pastor leading a Fri.-Sat. overnighter, took down and hid the flags (with the help of Lee Smedes’ son). The next week there were bigger, brighter flags up.
Lori and I then wrote a letter to the elders. We gave good, biblical reasons for why the flag was inappropriate in a worship space.
The elders discussed my letter. We were invited to an elder’s home for coffee after worship one Sunday evening. We suspected we knew why. But the elder said nothing about it for 1 ½ hours! Then, just as we were leaving, he said, “By the way, the elders appreciated your letter very much. But you have to understand—the man who put the old and new flags up was also the man who installed our sprinkler system outside the church. We don’t want to offend him so we thought it best to leave the flags up.” Alas, “Whom are we worshipping” sounds a lot like “Whom are we willing to offend!” 🥴
I suspect that any invitation you get for coffee after an evening service will be more direct and angry today. So, again, grace, peace and wisdom to you, my friend!
I also had a conflict with Bruce with the same issue. I removed the flags from the chancel area when helping Kathy and her committee decorate for Christmas. He was quite unhappy with me.
Thanks for taking up this important topic, Doug. Not an easy one. I like your perspective on discerning where the teachings of Jesus would tell us.
Thanks, Doug, for reminding us whom we worship when it is a challenge of balance to be both active Christian and citizen when issues are handled from an extreme viewpoint. I grew up RCA with flags in the sanctuary. More recently our previous pastor just quietly moved them to the back, then completely out. Her resolve on this was supported without incident.