Digging Deeper: The Pastor's Blog
Below please find thoughts and information from FPCW Senior Pastor Stephen Hamilton Wright If you have comments or questions you would like to submit, please do so by e-mailing Pastor Wright Also, read more of Pastor Wright's thoughts at his public blog on the Wausau Daily Herald online edition "spirit sense"
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WHERE DO THE FLAGS BELONG?
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Recently we’ve had questions from a visitor about the placement
of our sanctuary flags. This is a complicated subject that this
congregation apparently has considered at length, before my time.
The issue is whether the U.S. and Christian flags should trade
sides. Part of my response is below. You can check the references in
the U.S. Code at
http://www.usflag.org/uscode36.html
The reason for the placement we use is apparently twofold, and, I
note, somewhat contradictory with itself if both reasons are used.
First, U.S. Code Section 175 is concerned with the position of the
U.S. flag in relation to flags of other political entities.
Paragraph (c) makes an exception to allow a church “pennant” to be
flown above the national flag during church services conducted by
naval chaplains at sea. It is curious that only the Navy should be
named in this exception; there may be something about that which I
do not understand. In any case, that exception has been interpreted
by many churches to mean that in a place of worship, the flag
representing the superior entity, i.e. God, should have the place of
prominence, paragraph (k) notwithstanding.
Which brings us to the other, potentially conflicting understanding:
paragraph (k) refers to flags displayed on the speaker’s platform,
where the position of prominence is to the right of the speaker
facing the audience. As in many other churches, our flags are not on
the speaker’s level, but on the congregation’s level. Although the
Code does not explicitly specify this, the understanding gained from
all other instructions about placement is that the flag always be
placed to the right of the main direction of viewing or approach, so
that when flags stand on the same level as the audience rather than
the speaker, the U.S. flag is properly positioned to the right of
the audience. If this is a correct interpretation, then I note again
that it is rather at odds with the reasoning given above.
Another approach, adopted by a significant number of congregations,
is not to display the national flag at all, in order not to imply
that God favors any one nation over any other.
CORE VALUES - Monday, February
22nd.
We are moving ahead in our discussion of the core values of this
congregation, so that we can better align our activities with what
really motivates us. The areas of interest seem pretty well agreed
upon. The following are a draft summary, not final, of where we seem
to be. I welcome your comments about whether these five really
reflect the core identity of First Presbyterian.
1. To welcome people of every description into the community of
faith, and build up the community through lifelong care and nurture
(education, training, encouragement).
2. To nurture the human spirit and strengthen community with music
and worship that honors God while encouraging (and challenging)
people to further growth.
3. To reach out in love in tangible ways to the community and the
world.
4. To continue to teach the sovereignty (authority and freedom) and
endless love of God while always being open to challenges and new
knowledge and ways of understanding.
5. To manage our building, investments, and all other assets to
support our other values, rather than as ends in themselves.
Does this reflect your understanding of what keeps FPC-Wausau
moving? I’d like to hear about it.
Friday, February 5
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
Today is a wind down, pack up and get ready to leave day. Some
people did go to Donnatar to install some water barrels to make it
possible to water their garden, while others went to do a teaching
project. Later this afternoon we have been invited to the home of
St. Omer, one of our St. Lucian Good News members. At 5:30 PM we
will go to Coburil, the retreat center and hotel high on a hill
overlooking the city and the harbor. There we will have our
traditional pizza and wine dinner. Then it will be home to bed for
an early departure tomorrow morning. Most of us will leave on an
8:20 AM flight while others will be transported to Vieux Fort on the
southern end of the island for an afternoon departure. The Weavers
will leave Sunday and spend a few days in Puerto Rico on the way
home.
Our time here has flown by quickly once again. I believe all of us
have had a rewarding experience and will take many good memories
back home with us.
Thursday, February 4
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
Today is a shorter work day because of the house blessing and the
farewell party for the St. Lucians in the evening. A large group
went to the Boys Training Center, a facility for teenagers who have
gotten into trouble. It is similar to the Lincoln Hills facility we
have north of Wausau. Bob Weaver and I and several of our women went
to the St. Lucy Home, a nursing home. Bob and I completed a couple
of smaller building projects (stair railing and cabinet doors),
while the ladies sang songs and played bingo with the residents.
Mary Henry took another group on her island tour.
We had a late lunch and then went to bless our last house. The
recipient is a lady who lost her house and many of her possessions
in a fire. Her grand daughter is living with her. The house is
located on a level lot so it was easier to build on than many of the
others we have had. While we were at the house blessing, the lady
living next door got our attention. She had a baseball cap from the
2510 Restaurant in Wausau and a business card from Pat Baumer, the
owner. Apparently Pat was here many years ago (maybe 25) and had
given her the cap and card.
After the blessing a few went swimming while others got in some last
minute shopping. We went down to the lower level of the facility for
our farewell party with all of the St. Lucians we have worked with
over the past two weeks. We had a good turnout, well over 100 people
in total counting the 25 of us. A short prayer service was held
followed by a game show. The audience was divided into two teams who
competed to answer questions, most of which had to do with facts
about St. Lucia and Good News. Everyone seemed to enjoy it with the
"Green" team winning over the "Red" by a few points. Then it was ice
cream time for everyone. Two large containers of ice cream were
devoured in record time. Later after our guests had departed we
enjoyed a pasta salad, popcorn and wine which ended a very busy day.
Wednesday, February 3
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
A large group went to the prison. Other groups went to Donnatar and
Monche School. Monche is where our family sponsored a house on the
school grounds several years ago which is used as a counseling
center. Marsha and I went to Monche with two other ladies. We did a
story and craft project with three groups of second graders. They
were very well behaved and polite. The counseling center now is
being used primarily as a base of operations for the special needs
teacher since the sister who is the counselor is busy putting
together a parenting class. The building itself looks to be in
pretty good shape yet after five years of use. The principal
provided us with a wish list of things for the 2011 shipment. The
school will celebrate 50 years of operation on January 1, 2011.
At Donnatar and the St. Lucy home several small work projects were
identified. At Donnatar they have a nice garden. To help with the
water needs, some rain gutters will be installed to allow the
collection of rainwater. Some repair projects were identified at St.
Lucy.
Tuesday, February 2
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
Several groups went out again today to St. Joseph's, the Marion Home
(including the pre-school and nursery), Upton Gardens and the
Missionaries of Charity. I chose to go the pre-school and nursery.
At the pre-school we did a story and craft project with three year
olds, and then again with four year olds. The nursery only had six
babies, most of whom were sleeping. After lunch we walked up to
Upton Gardens where we did a drum circle, using dowels we had cut
and sanded, and various things we could beat on to make different
kinds of sounds. A couple of the girls were not interested, while
others picked it up enthusiastically.
The builders continued work on House 6. They have the roof on and we
are on schedule to bless it on Thursday afternoon.
The police, according to reports on the internet, have arrested
someone who has confessed to the murder that happened on January
19th. When arrested he had the victim's camera in his possession.
The swimmers got to the beach although we had some showers in the
late PM. After dinner a group went to the Windjammer Resort to see
the Fire Dancers. St. Lucian Donna is a very good limbo dancer!!
Monday, February 1
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
Tim came and hauled all of the materials to House 6, our last house.
The site is fairly level, a rarity here, but the foundation supports
(corner pillars) were not properly located so adjustments were
necessary. Much progress was made despite this problem. All of the
walls were erected so we are well on the way to completion. The
dedication is planned for Thursday afternoon.
Other groups went to the Marshon School, the Marion Home, Upton
Gardens, Missionaries of Charity and the Children's Home. At the
Children's Home Bob and I completed our remaining tasks and actually
were able to load up the remaining materials and come back early.
The other groups got back at 3:45, and some of the people got to the
beach for a swim.
After dinner and our nightly meeting, Sam and Linda Scaffidi treated
us to some music that was composed and sung by their daughter who is
a singer/songwrite in Nashville. We then went to the "Stress Off"
bar which is owned by Herman ("Humdog"), another St. Lucian who we
have known for several years. He also runs a tour service for groups
on the island. At the "Stress Off" we were treated to live music
played by a couple of St. Lucians who Terry had heard earlier at the
Eastwinds Resort. She asked them to come and play for all of us.
Most of their music was American songs that we could sing along
with. One of the St. Lucians, St. Omer, is quite a dancer so several
of the ladies got to dance with him. In a brief conversation with
Herman he told me that he now has two tour buses and is busy taking
people on tours from the cruise ships and the hotels. He also has
two apartments that he rents to visitors. He asked that we send his
greetings to the Kirbys in La Crosse who have had a long time
relationship with him.
At our meeting the people who went to Marshon School reported that
at an afternoon assembly the students and teachers thanked them for
everything Good News had done for them. They presented the people
with some gifts as well as certificates of appreciation.
Some of the ladies heard on the radio today that a tourist (29 year
old female) was killed at Pigeon Point on January 19th. We do not
know any details, apparently the authorities are not talking a lot
about it as they search for the killer. Something like this is quite
rare. We have never had any concern as we move about during the day
to various places. Hopefully in the coming days we will learn more
about what actually transpired.
Sunday, January 31
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
Today was the sailboat (catamaran) ride down the west coast to a
very fancy resort where we get to spend time swimming, snorkeling,
sunbathing or just relaxing. They also have good ice cream!! The
trip to and from on the boat is always fun with lots of food, drink,
music and conversation with members of the group and the St. Lucians
who come with us. A rather cool day with some rain going and coming
but otherwise very pleasant for us. The St. Lucians thought it was
cold!!
The day ended with a light supper and our nightly meeting to get
things organized for the coming week. Some of the people opted to go
out for pizza.
Saturday, January 30
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
A day of rest, but also a chance to do something different. A
large group went on the shopping and safari ride. They saw and went
under a waterfall, did not go in the hot sulfer spring, got rained
on, had an excellent lunch and drove all the way to Soufriere. They
did not return until nearly 5 PM. Another group went out on their
own to shop and see the sights, while a handful decided to stay in
and just chill out.
After dinner, we went to mass in Gros Islet which is not far from
the hotel we were at last evening. The church has excellent music
(band and choir). The colored glass window in the church was painted
by one of our Good News members on a previous trip (Shirley Gajewski
from Merrill). Several people there inquired about Peggy and Chuck.
Friday, January 29
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
Today brought the completion of the shelving project at the
Children's Home and the completion of House 5.
Later in the afternoon House 4 and 5 were both blessed. "Paba"
(Father Anthony) lead us through the litany. The recipent of House 4
(a very pleasant lady with three children) was very appreciative and
completely overwhelmed by the gift. She could not thank us enough
with many hugs and lots of tears. She gave us a gift of fruit and
bananas in return. House 4 was sponsored by Judy Cherwinka from
Wausau who is a long time supporter of Good News. The recipent of
house 5 was quite reserved and stoic (the complete opposite) but did
offer us a very sincere "thank you".
After dinner twenty of us went to hear the steel band play at the
hotel. On the way we stopped for delicious ice cream at "Elena's".
Hiliary's brother is a member of the band and is quite animated when
he really gets going. Many Europeans and Canadians vacation in St.
Lucia and some of them were there is to see the band perform.
Thursday, January 28
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
Today brought more progress at House 5 which is relatively close to
where we are staying. The recipient is a man with a wife and three
children. He works here but his family is some distance away, so he
has to ride the bus to work. His employer has given him permission
to have the house put up on land right across the street from his
workplace. He will move his family here and be able to walk to work,
saving him much time and money.
His employer, as part of his business, runs safari tours. He is so
pleased with Good News and the work being done to build the house
for his employee, that he has offered to take any Good News member
who wants to go on a shopping and safari tour on Saturday at no cost
to us, a very generous offer indeed.
At the Children's Home we (St. Lucians Hiliary and Bois, Bob Weaver
and I) started a project involving the installation of shelving in
the building where they store most of their non-perishable food
supplies and other items. It was quite a mess with no organization
of the items thus making it difficult to find anything very easily.
The building materials we needed were transported there by Tim, a
St. Lucian with a large truck. He is a very reliable person who we
use to transport all of the materials to our building sites. We took
everything out of the storage building and then began building
shelves. The staff went through the items and got them organized.
They stayed until 8 PM working on that. We got shelves done on two
sides and they started putting stuff back in an organized way. We
will finish the project tomorrow.
Another group of people went with Mary Henry, a St. Lucian nurse,
who runs her own nursing service business. We have know her for a
long time. She took the group to many places and they saw many
things. Her tours are always very educational and informative.
Another group went back to the Monshan School. Things there were
better organized and less chaotic than on the previous visit.
One of the people in the group is a counselor. She has established a
relationship at the St. Joseph's Girls school and is going back with
others to offer individual counseling to the girls. This seems to be
something that is needed since there is only one counselor on staff
for some 200 girls.
Wednesday, January 27
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
I should tell you some more about the facility we are saying at.
The Archdiocesan Pastoral Center (APC) has several buildings as part
of the complex. In past years we have stayed on the lower part in
two different housing arrangements (the "Hilton" and the "Super 8").
This year, for several reasons, we are staying in the upper part
which used to be a seminary. It is a great place with more space
including some rooms with private bathrooms and would you
believe, AC units. There is plenty of storage space and an outside
area to do the wood cutting and painting.
Our group leaders, Terry and Ruth Van Zeeland (mother and daughter)
are doing a great job. Originally Terry was to return home after
spending two weeks with group one and one week with group two
helping Peggy MacCarthy run the show. However, because of Peggy's
need to return home early she agreed to stay on another week. Ruth
spent two weeks on St. Vincent as the group leader there, and then
agreed to come over to St. Lucia to spend another week helping her
mother.
The efforts they put in daily to arrange all of the visits and
transportation can be overwhelming sometimes and most times is not
visible nor appreciated. But their upbeat attitudes, sincerity and
devotion to the organization allows them to perform all of the
details in a very competent way. Ruth will be going home on
Saturday.
Wednesday was more building and more visits. Several us went to
house #4 to finish up last minute details and to paint the inside.
Several people went to the prison to visit both male and female
prisoners. The men started with three decks of cards (one
disappeared in about five minutes). During the visit, apparently
because of some difficulties between different groups of inmates,
the first group was locked down and replaced by a smaller group of
older men. At the end all of the decks of cards were left with them,
they are very valuable to them obviously. Another group went to
Montchard (sp?) School to be with the three lowest grades (K, 1, 2).
This school is in a very poor area near downtown Castries. Rather a
chaotic situation apparently, but they are going back again tomorrow
to be with three upper grades.
We had our nightly meeting early so we could go to the Beach
Facility for our traditional fish or chicken dinner with all of the
trimmings (including American french fries which were very popular).
There was time for a walk on the beach and then most everyone came
back early (we are definitely getting older!!).
Internet was down most of the day but came back up after we reported
the problem to people at APC.
Tuesday, January 26
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
Another day with multiple activities going on. House #4 is
nearly complete with only some last minute details to complete. All
of the wood for house #5 has been cut and painted and is ready for
transport tomorrow to the building site. A group went to St. Joseph
school where they were able to do some worthwhile projects. St.
Joseph's is a rather elite girls school where the better students
go. Another group went to Donnatar, an institution for mentally
challenged people of many ages. Bob Weaver, Hiliary and I went to
the Children's Home where Bob redid the second shower. We also
checked out our next project which will involve redoing the inside
of their storage building with shelving to allow a better use of the
available space. We already have most of the necessary materials. We
plan to start the project on Thursday.
Finally, the best news of the day arrived via a phone call from
second son Jordan telling us that our third grandchild, a girl, had
been born in Columbia, MO. She came in at eight pounds three ounces
and twenty and one half inches. Mother Julie and daughter, Brooklyn
Bowen, are both doing fine. What a great way to end the day!!
Monday, January 25
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
The first St. Lucia group finished their three houses, plus were
able to get all of the wood cut for the fourth house (our first).
Bob and Ethel Brown (who have a home here) were then able to get the
pieces all painted before we arrived. This made it possible for the
builders to haul everything out to the site this morning and begin
assembling it. Another group stayed here and cut and painted
everything for our second house. Other groups went to the Upton
Girls Home, the Marion Home (nursing home), the Sisters of Charity
(Mother Teresa's order) and the Children's Home. At the Children's
Home Bob Weaver (a plumber by trade from Merrill) and I discovered
that both of their showers were not working properly. There are two
building that comprise the facility and these two showers are in the
new building which was erected in 2000-2001. So they have had a lot
of use.
We found a store that fortunately had all of the plumbing things we
needed. Bob was able to replace all of the fittings (after cutting a
hole in the shower enclosure) and we got it operational just before
the kids returned from school. Tomorrow we will need to do the same
to the second one.
After dinner we had our meeting to plan everything for tomorrow.
Could not get on the internet until later in the evening when I was
able to find out that the Badgers beat Penn State in overtime.
We have several St. Lucians working with us again including St.
Omer, Bernard, Hiliary and Marcia plus Delphia and Donna who just
joined the group. Good News built Donna's mother a house thireen
years ago. Two others who are helping are Bois (who is the wood
carver several people have bought from), and Regi.
A lady from Toronto, Canada joined us today at the Children's Home
for a bit. She apparently has a condo over the hill from us at the
East Winds resort.
Sunday, January 24
Guest Entry--Gary and Marsha Alexander reporting from St. Lucia
After breakfast and some unpacking, we headed out for the
Cathedral in downtown Castries for Mass. The place was absolutely
packed. Father Anthony (Paba), who is also in charge of the facility
we stay at, conducted the service. Lots of school children who were
involved in parts of the service. Good News was recognized and given
an ovation by the congregation. We had an opportunity to meet up
with Noella, the local St. Lucian Good News coordinator and her
daughter Sydney.
After the service we returned for lunch and an initial
organizational meeting. We have several veterans members in the
group, but also several people for whom this is their initial trip
to St. Lucia. The remainder of the day was spent doing various
tasks, resting, swimming and finally watching the NFL playoff games.
Not a lot of interest in the first game, but of course intense
interest in the second one involving the Vikings and New Orleans. It
was somewhat of a mixed group in that there were some Favre fans,
but also a few who felt otherwise.
Most of us were tired from the long travel and went to bed before
the game was finished.
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