About Our Missing Flag...

If you happened to walk or drive by the Eliot Church in the last few days, you probably noticed that something is missing.  On Saturday night (as best we can tell) someone tore our Rainbow "Peace" flag out of its usual spot and walked off with it.  In the morning, I noticed its absence as I headed in to work, Of course we went through a brief "denial" phase. We don't like to think of our neighborhood as a place where things like this happen. 

However, it appears that it has. The grommets were still in their place so it wasn't one of us moving it for some reason.  Members even walked around the neighborhood to see if the wind blew it away.  This theory already seemed unlikely, as we had recently switched out an older, more fragile flag for this one.  It was in pretty good shape.  Needless to say, we didn't find it.

Eventually we contacted the police and they did the same things.  The officer we spoke to, came to the same conclusion we did.  Yes, it was most likely stolen. We don't know who did this, of course, and hesitate to ascribe a detailed motive.  That said, we assume that they didn't take it to put in their room or to otherwise display for themselves.  If that was the case they could have just asked for one.  We have plenty for that purpose.

So, what did we do when we met for worship at our appointed time?  It was World Communion Sunday, a service dedicated to what holds people together in the midst of disagreement.  It is a day when Christians around the globe take communion together.  The issues represented by that flag, of course, are ones that divide many people both Christian and non-Christian.  It seemed fitting to mark this occasion the way we had planned. .We took communion, too. We chose to stand for unity and for building relationships across ideological lines. 

Of course we also prayed.  We prayed for whoever took the flag.  We prayed for those in our congregation who were impacted by the theft.  Finally we prayed the entire LGBTQIA+ community, who have to endure much more than a simple act of vandalism.  In fact, they do so on a daily basis.

What are we doing now?  We are putting up a new flag.  Like I said, we have plenty.  We will even give you one if you want.  We like to see them put to use.  That flag is part of our identity, like communion, the cross in the sanctuary, or the many good works we perform in the community.. It stands for peace, obviously. It also stands for diversity. It is one of the ways our congregation offers support and welcome to all people. 


It is not healthy to hide who you are.  We are an Open and Affirming congregation.
We will not hide. This is us.

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