Williston-West Church

I announced from the pulpit a new book that I want to study with you, which is The Powers That Be, by theologian Walter Wink. Several of you expressed an interest in finishing the book, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, by Bishop John Shelby Spong. Because of this interest we will do Spong’s book first, starting from the beginning, and then do Wink’s book.

These are both provocative and stimulating books, which can guide any Christian on his or her spiritual journey toward a deeper understanding of who one is in the presence of God. Interested in being called to a deeper commitment and understanding of the Christian life? Sign up in the office so I can gather those interested and set the best possible meeting time.

We took a break and I tried to find a phone to call home since Christina doesn't often have the radio or TV on early in the morning. On that day she did. A friend of ours, a carpenter, was there working on kitchen renovations and he had heard the news on the radio. They were both now glued to the TV, having seen the first tower fall. As I was speaking to her she suddenly said, "Oh my God! The second tower is collapsing now!"

How do I process this? How do I walk back into group of people who have had only shards of information and say "both towers of the World Trade Center have collapsed", and expect them to believe what I myself still couldn't believe?

I went from the classroom to the office area where many people were crowded around the borrowed TV watching - as the entire nation was watching - replay after replay of the towers raining smoke, ash, debris and death on to lower Manhattan.

I grew up in the Bronx, and in 1967 I began working as a clerk on the floor of the American Stock Exchange for a brokerage house called Burnham & Co. The Exchange bordered on an old neighborhood of small apartments, office buildings and stores. I enjoyed strolling through the area and buying crazy, cheap ties (which are probably still hanging in my closet!) But the life span for these buildings was coming to an end. They were going to be torn down to make way for a new complex called the World Trade Center. (The Trade Center was begun in August of 1966 but some of the old buildings it replaced were not razed until a year or two later)

From my close vantage point, over the next six years I was able to watch the twin towers rise to the heavens. I stood on several occasions, looking up with my Super-8 camera, taking films of the construction process. The ribbon cutting, opening ceremonies took place in April of 1973, one month before I took a job in Elmsford, New York and ended my Manhattan 'career'. I didn't get to the top of the Trade Center until the early eighties when I had the chance to grab hold of the railing on the deck above the 110th floor, feel the wind on my face and look down on a view of New York and New Jersey that I would not have believed possible until that moment.

I never thought I would live long enough to see the towers, those beacons on the skyline of New York, come crashing back down, but they did. The building I worked in for years, the American Stock Exchange, was damaged, but repairable, and opened again a few months later. I have a daughter working in mid-town and she was unhurt. I have a brother who drives a bus for the city. He was unhurt, but caught in the storm of smoke & debris a few blocks from the falling towers. Over the course of several hours he managed to drive his bus north to 43rd St, overloaded with ash-covered, coughing, crying citizens, thankful for this man and his vehicle.

As I look back over the past year I wonder what all of this means. I am saddened at the death of over three thousand people, yet grateful it was not twenty or fifty thousand, as it could have been were those towers filled. My mind fills with the image of the buildings in mid-collapse, knowing many innocents were pulverized in seconds. I can see the bodies falling, knowing these people were faced with the most horrible of final decisions.

I know this work is not from the hand of God. I am not a theologian and will not attempt a discussion on the will of God. But I know this is the work of men, misguided men with hate in their hearts. Last week I read a quote from one of our national leaders saying, "We have not killed enough of them, we have not captured enough of them". I have to ask in return, when we have killed 'enough of them', will the wrong be righted? Or will the hatred in our hearts simply become strong enough to match theirs?

There will be some changes this year. James McGirr, our choir director for the last seven years, has decided to step down as director. He promises to sing with us as much as he can. I hope you will all encourage him to join us often, and thank him for the wonderful job he has done. We will all miss his leadership.

We didn’t have to search very far to find our new choir director. Becky Michals-Rinaldi will start as choir director on September 8. Becky has been our soprano section leader for several years, but prior to that she had been the choir director at St. Pius X. Welcome aboard Becky, and we are all looking forward to working with you.

Choir rehearsals will again be on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 P.M. in the second floor nursery school. If anyone is interested in joining us, come to our first rehearsal September 4.

The first music committee meeting will be September 10 at 6:30 P.M.

Sunday school formally gets started on September 8^th. Immediately following the service on September 8^th we will be having a brief meeting for all who are interested in Christian Education (a must for parents with children in the program) to discuss the curriculum, ways for you to support the Sunday school program, and the new Sunday School format. On Sunday, September 15^th we are formally enrolling the Students and inviting parents to join their child at Sunday School. We would like a commitment of time and energy from the membership on that day. We look forward to the continued strong support of our membership to ensure that the youngest members of our Church receive the best Christian Education we can provide.

I have transferred the entire $37,605 budgeted for 2002 from the Endowment into our Operating Account. This year we have had some unavoidable and unbudgeted major expenses such as roof repair; fire escape repair; furnace repair with asbestos abatement; and computer repairs leading to the purchase of a new computer including some of the software. Right now, we are relying on current cash flow to meet our monthly obligations.

The Trustees voted at our July 2002 meeting that we would use the balance of the Memorial Fund (@ $7700) as partial reimbursement to the Operating Account for those major unbudgeted capital expenses mentioned above.

A will is your voice giving instructions for how your estate, all you have accumulated throughout your life of hard work, should be distributed.

If you die without making a will, it is likely that your property will not end up in the hands of those you would choose. The state does have a plan for the disposition of your property, and although it is meant to be fair to all, the legislators could not possibly anticipate the circumstances of the thousands who die without a will. It is therefore surprising that 70% of Americans die without a will.

Why have a will? Because you decide how your property will be distributed, you choose the guardians of your minor children, you can plan so as to save estate taxes, and you have the opportunity to express your values in how you divide your assets. You can have the opportunity to continue to support those things that mean so much to you, such as your church community.

On night she drew an especially mean-looking character (I could tell because it had lots of dark heavy scribbles). She said, "And along comes a real meanie with a basket of bombs!"

I was surprised -and a bit slow to come up with the next picture. Then it came to me. I drew that universal symbol of Christianity. The one you can draw in two strokes.

"The wedding girl asked the meanie if he had ever heard of Jesus. She told him about Jesus’ lesson – that we love one another as Jesus loves us. So the mean man decided to throw away all his bombs and not to hurt anyone," I said.

Phew! I was relieved to re-direct the story to something positive. I didn’t think much of the incident until we played the game again a few days later.

A mean giant came into the wedding girl’s garden and was pushing over her beautiful trees. She looked out her window, Paige explained, and shouted to him "Haven’t you heard of God’s love?"

So the mean giant stopped, she said. On my turn, I repaired the garden. "God’s love brings everything back together", I told her.

You may recently have read that the Westbrook City Council passed an ordinance that protects people from discrimination (in employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations) on the basis of sexual orientation. As a resident of Westbrook, and one of the people who worked to convince the council to do this, I am enormously gratified that not only did it pass, but that this relatively conservative, business-oriented council passed it unanimously.

You may also know that Paul Volle, head of the so-called "Christian Coalition" immediately hit the streets to collect signatures to bring it to referendum and so overturn it. While I find Mr. Volle's politics abhorrent, I have enormous respect for his skill in organizing a massive grassroots effort to turn out the vote, and also for his fundraising acumen. He has demonstrated these skills in four local and statewide referendums that he and Michael Heath have spearheaded. He will be working especially hard in this campaign because of his indignation that the council in his own town has enacted a gay rights bill. We know that if we are going to win a referendum against Mr. Volle, we are going to have to match him volunteer for volunteer and dollar for dollar. We know that Mr. Volle has access to massive fundraising resources through a well-established network of right wing and fundamentalist organizations both in Maine and throughout the country.

I am writing to ask for you help in winning this campaign. Specifically, I am asking you to contribute what you can ($25, $50, $100?) to this effort. The first question that would come to me if I were to receive a request like this from a friend is to wonder why I should do this, given the odds that you probably do not live in Westbrook, and are probably not gay or lesbian. My answer is that this issue has both statewide and even national implications.

Westbrook is seen by many as an unusual city to enact such an ordinance, given its image as a blue-collar, working-class dominated town. A city that in many ways is similar (Lewiston) passed a similar ordinance a decade ago, and it was rejected by voters in an election that wasn't even close. If we can beat Mr. Volle here in Westbrook (his hometown), this could turn the tide in favor of civil rights statewide. And Maine is the only state in New England that does not have such a law. You are on the list of people I am soliciting because I believe that you find the intolerance of the fundamentalist right wing to be anathema. Here is an opportunity for you to make a difference.

Following in the footsteps of George Crockett I knew would be no easy task…and now, after reviewing his past efforts, I realize just how tough the job will really be.

It brings to mind when I was a boy growing up in Boothbay Harbor. There was a tidal pool near our cottage, about 20 feet across. One summer day my favorite Aunt Lilla, bragging about my exploits, said that her "little Brucie" was so agile that he could probably jump that tidal pool." The neighbor retorted, "Impossible, that pool is over 20 feet across." My aunt thought a moment, then answered, "Well, it may take him two jumps."

First, and before anything else, I wish to thank everyone who expressed concern for my husband during his recent medical scare. It was a difficult time for our family both through the surgery and the interminable wait for the results from pathology. We finally received the wonderful news - negative, no cancer! Our lives continue to be truly blessed by God’s compassionate love.

Now back to business as usual. Please mark your calendars to reflect that our Sunday service will resume its 10:30 time on September 8. Eric will be back in the pulpit and the choir will return from its summer hiatus. Wow, what a speedy summer!

Our sexton, Dale Knight, has done a beautiful painting job in Eric’s office – and with paint that he found in storage, so it didn’t cost a cent! The woodwork was in deplorable condition and the radiator alone took three coats to cover the damage. We also added new window treatments and replaced the stained ceiling tiles.

With Eric away in Jonesport, it was the perfect time to clean up his workspace and we know he’ll be pleased with the results.

After reading Bill Whelan’s moving story (see page 1), it occurred to me that you must all have a clear and vivid recollection of where you were and what you were doing last September 11^th. Curt and I were returning books to the library when we heard a woman say that an airplane had just hit a tower of the World Trade Center in New York. By the time we returned home, both towers had been hit, and the nightmare of terrorism began to unfold and tumble into our peaceful lives.

Depending upon our age, particular events in history stand out in our minds. My parents could recall the stock market crash in 1929 and the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941…and tell you exactly where they were at the time. Vivid recollections in my life include the 1963 assassination in Dallas of President Kennedy, and the 1969 first moon landing. Other events of less national magnitude (but still exciting at the time) were the 1954 hurricanes Carol and Edna, the 1967 Red Sox pennant win and Bobby Orr’s spectacular goal that won the Stanley Cup for the Bruins in 1970 (you can probably guess my home town).

Many of these events, of course, pale in comparison to the vivid memory of the hideous atrocities that took place on September 11, 2001.

Write to the Newsletter. Let us know what (if any) changes you have made in your lives since that fateful day. Do you attend church more regularly? Did you patch up family squabbles? Has your outlook towards your neighbors and friends changed? Are you closer to people…or more afraid to get close? Did you stop traveling by air for a while, then go back to it? Did your memory of the fallen heroes fade in time? Do you believe that we should be constantly reminded of the tragedy, or do you never want to hear about it again?

One of our sons, an ER physician at U. Penn Medical Center, took a position at Dartmouth College and moved his family out of Philadelphia to the seclusion of a farm hidden high up in New Hampshire on the Vermont border. They removed themselves from the conflicts and dangers of the city and chose a more simple and peaceful life.

Are there any of you who have adopted a similar change in your lives?

For quite some time, all we could talk about was the attack on America. I don’t hear anything about it any more. Have we put it out of our minds because it was just too horrible to deal with, or have we just returned to our normal, hectic lives and have little time for reflection on anything, never mind something so tragic? Maybe a little of both. Give it some thought, jot down your ideas on the subject, and write to the Newsletter.

September 2, 2002 is Labor Day. How many of you know the meaning of Labor Day and why it came about?

Well, for those of you who don’t know much about this holiday (and I was one of you until I looked it up), you might be interested in the following information:

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well being of our country.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. In 1884, the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen’s holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

The character of the Labor Day celebrations has undergone a change in recent years. Huge parades and festivals have given way to slight recognition of the meaning of the holiday. It is essential to remember, however, that the vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership – the American worker.