A Christmas Message from Kahu Alan Akana

by admin | Dec 24, 2014 | Message from Kahu

Christmas week is finally here! The church is decorated, the Christmas tree is up, the Advent candle have all been lit, and we are ready to celebrate the birth of Christ! As I spend the last couple of days preparing for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning services, I am aware that many changes have taken place in our lives since last Christmas. Many good things happened in my life: I moved to Koloa to become the Kahu of Koloa Union Church; I began living in the beautifully refurbished parsonage; my book, The Volcano Is Our Home, was published; Art House has sold my watercolors nearly every month since last spring; I got to spend an entire month with my son Palani this summer. On a sad note, my mother and uncle (Mom’s younger brother) died. Although the changes in my life this past year have been quite dramatic, I know that we all face many changes every year: some dramatic and some a bit more subtle. And we all come to Christmas with a vast array of emotions, including joy and sadness, gratitude and hurt feelings, wonder and disappointment, trust and fear.

I invite you to come to Christmas at Koloa Union Church with all of your emotions and without any judgment upon yourself for any of them. I invite you to celebrate God’s love in Jesus as you are and as you feel. Come with laughter and with tears. Come with friends and family or come alone. Come with a spring in your step or with a limp. Most importantly, come with an open heart, whether it be broken or healed; for here you will find room for God’s love in all of your heart, regardless of the shape it is in. Here you will find room for God’s love in all of your life, regardless of the number of years you have lived. Here you will find room for God’s love to overflow onto others, regardless of the amount of love you feel. For here we will celebrate Christmas as the day in which God’s love breaks through every barrier and transcends every obstacle. Here we will celebrate love, grace and mercy! Here we will celebrate the miracle of being in God’s presence in the world!

Come and celebrate…and have a Merry Christmas!

A Message from Kahu Alan Akana

by admin | Dec 16, 2014 | Message from Kahu

This is my favorite time of the year! I enjoy celebrating the birth of Christ, sharing the Christmas story, spreading Christmas cheer, and getting together together with friends and family, including my church family! I hope to see lots of you at our worship services and special events in the coming week. If you are in town, please come to whatever you are able to attend…and, as always, brings friends and family! Below is the info for the coming week; be sure to call or email if you have any questions!

SALVATION ARMY RED KETTLE AT SUEOKA STORE – Wednesday 12/17

Join us in front of Sueoka’s in Old Town Koloa from 5-8 p.m. as we sing carols and collect money for needy families, seniors and the homeless. Wear your Christmas colors or church t-shirt if you are able.

CHRISTMAS CAROLING AT HALE KUPUNA – Thurs. 12/18

Meet at the church parking lot at 6 p.m. and we will carpool to Hale Kupuna in Omao where we will sing Christmas carols to the residents. Wear your Christmas colors if you have them!

CHURCH CHRISTMAS PARTY – Friday 12/19

Our annual church Christmas Party will be a potluck at the parsonage at 6:00 p.m. Join us for holiday music, delicious food and great fun! Please bring a favorite holiday dish to share. The parsonage is located at 3281 Waikomo Road.

CHRISTMAS SUNDAY – 12/21*

Join us for church at 10:30 a.m. as we celebrate God’s love for everyone! And be sure to stay after for lunch if you can!

CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE – Wednesday 12/24*

Join us at 7:30 p.m. for a special Carol and Candle Service. We will sing many of the favorite Christmas carols in English and Hawaiian, read the Christmas story from the Gospels, and close the service with the lighting of the candles.

CHRISTMAS DAY SERVICE – Thursday 12/25*

Join us at 10:30 a.m. on Christmas Day for more carols, a Christmas Day message by Kahu Akana, and Holy Communion.

*NOTE: The CHRISTMAS FUND Offering will be collected at all of the service in the coming week. We always appreciate your “over and above” gifts to this special fund, which the United Church of Christ administers to offer grants and emergency aid to retired and working clergy and lay leaders of the church who are having a hard time making ends meet in difficult financial situations.

Finally, if you live in the 96756 zip code or have a P.O. box here, you should receive an invitation this week in the mail to all of our special worship services in the coming week. We are trying the U.S. Postal Service’s “Every Door Direct Mail”, which will go to every P.O. box, residence and business in the 96756 zip code. We want to get the word out to every resident and visitor that we are here and have something to offer everyone! Please stop by the church and pick up extra copies for friends and family members who are visiting!

May the coming week and all through the holidays bring you great hope, peace and joy, and may you be filled with God’s unconditional and eternal love!

Kahu

Update on Pastor’s Message

by admin | Dec 4, 2014 | Message from Kahu

(It has been awhile since I last posted a “weekly” message, due to website issues. It looks like those issues are finally resolved and I’ll start posting more regularly again.)

I thought I would talk this week about a very special evening we had on Sunday. We had a worship service in which we reflected on the message of the season: God’s unconditional love that comes to us over and over again. Judyth Foley and I both read excerpts from her book, “Nikos Brown: A Christmas Miracle.” In the book Nikos and his gang of friends decide to steal the statue of baby Jesus from a large Nativity scene outside a Catholic Church in L.A., even as the old priest is still setting out and arranging the scene! Nikos’ friends distract the priest while Nikos grabs the baby, shoves it into a burlap bag, and runs toward a large fountain where he plans to throw the baby. Everything goes according to plans until the burlap bag begins to feel funny. When Nikos peaks into the bag, he doesn’t see the statue of the baby Jesus. Instead, he sees the real, live, baby Jesus, who looks into his eyes with pure love. From that moment on, Nikos’ life is changed, as are the lives of the people around him. In fact, the entire neighborhood begins to transform, simply because a young “troublemaker” looked into the eyes of Jesus and felt unconditional love for the first time. We closed the worship service with a time of meditation, as we considered how our own lives might be changed if we felt pure love by looking into the eyes of Jesus. I hope your life is changed during this special season of the year as you contemplate God’s pure love for you!

After the service, Judyth signed books for those who purchased them, and decided to give the entire profit of book sales to Koloa Union Church! Additional books are available on Sundays or at the church office during the week for $20. Judyth is happy to sign unsigned copies when she returns from California in January!

Kahu Alan Akana