by admin | Jan 26, 2016 | Message from Kahu
WE ARE ALL CONNECTED!
On Sunday, I shared with the congregation about the traditional Hawaiian sense of connection that the people of these islands have felt for nearly 2,000 years:
- Connection to the land
- Connection to all that is on the land: trees, plants and rocks
- Connection to others: ‘ohana (family) and everyone else
Our connection to one another is strong, in part, because Hawaiians traditionally believed that we are all descendants of the kalo (taro) plant. We take great care of the kalo because it is our cousin; it also reminds us that we are connected to one another: when one finds joy, we all share in that joy; when one hurts, we all feel that pain together.
It is this strong connection that has motivated the people to take great care of their land and to treat others with hospitality and respect. When we look around us and allow ourselves to see all of the connections that we have, we treat land, water, all creatures and every human being with dignity and respect. And so, I encourage us all to look for those connections and pay attention to them so that every part of our world will enjoy compassion and peace.
Aloha nui loa!
Kahu Alan Akana
by admin | Jan 26, 2016 | News
RECEPTION FOR REV. KAMANU
TUESDAY, JAN. 26: Koloa Union Church is hosting a welcome reception for the Rev. Richard Kamanu on Tuesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Smith Memorial Parsonage: 3281 Waikomo Road, Koloa. Rev. Richard Kamanu is the new Associate Conference Minister for the Kauai Association of the United Church of Christ. Since this will be his first visit to Kauai since taking this position, we have invited members and friends of the Kauai Association to come to Koloa and welcome him! Please bring a potluck dish to share. Contact Penny at the church office if you can bring a pot of chili or stew. For those who are able, you are requested to park in the church parking lot.
ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING
SUNDAY, JAN. 31: All members of Koloa Union Church are encouraged to attend our annual meeting on Sunday right after the Aloha Hour. Please pick up your packet at the church and read it ahead of time if you haven’t done so already so that you can come prepared to accept the budget for 2016, consider changes in the church Constitution and Bylaws, appoint officers, Council members and Deacons, consider ways to implement our 4 areas of focus for the year (youth, faith formation, worship/music, outreach/mission), and any new business that may be on the agenda.
“Weekly News of the Church” is provided by Koloa Union Church, a congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC) and member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference. Join us at 3289 Poipu Road in Koloa!
by admin | Jan 23, 2016 | Message from Kahu
AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM DR. KING
On Sunday, I shared with the congregation some words from an essay published shortly after the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in which he wrote:
We have inherited a large house, a great “world house” in which we have to live together—black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Moslem and Hindu—a family unduly separated in ideas, culture an interest, who, because we can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace.
In 1967, MLK wrote that we now live in a “worldwide neighborhood.” He claimed that this phenomenon was the result of technology: radio, television, space travel had remade the world and demanded a new and better future of equality, freedom and justice for all.
Think back and consider all that has changed with technology since 1967. The Internet, cell phones, social media… Think about how much more we are connected today and how technology has “remade the world and demanded a new and better future.”
We have a choice as human beings:
- We can choose that “new and better future,” and live together with respect and compassion for each other, including those who are very different from us.
OR
- We can choose to live apart from each other in what Dr. King called “closed tribes,” where we build walls around ourselves and create distance between “us” vs. “them” because we see differences as “evil.” By the way, Dr. King wrote of the dangers of closed tribes as the “great new problem of mankind.”
I am convinced that we must choose the former if we want to survive as human beings, because we now have the ability to destroy each other a thousand times over. We must make sure we never do that…and the only way I know of doing that is to live together with respect and compassion for each other, including those who seem to be very different from us. May God give us the grace and wisdom to do so.
It was wonderful to hear this message affirmed on Monday by the Right Rev. William E. Swing, the founder and President of the United Religions Initiative. A dozen of us from Koloa Union Church attended a gathering in honor of Dr. King, hosted by the Interfaith Roundtable of Kauai, where Rev. Swing spoke about the need to be with people of other faiths and not be afraid of those with differing beliefs. It has been a great week of celebrating similarities and differences among fellow human beings!
Aloha nui loa!
Kahu Alan Akana
by admin | Jan 23, 2016 | News
COMING UP: ANNUAL MEETING
Members of Koloa Union Church are urged to mark your calendars for Sunday, January 31, 2016. We will meet after the Aloha Hour to accept the budget for the new year, consider changes to our Constitution and Bylaws, appoint officers, Council members and Deacons, and consider additional items. All members are asked to pick up handouts and read them ahead of time so that you can be prepared to vote on the 31st. Please pick up your handouts at church on Sunday or else at the office during the week.
DEACONS RETREAT THIS SUNDAY
On Sunday, January 24, from 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm. The Deacons will meet to plan for the coming year. The meeting will begin in the sanctuary and then move to the parsonage.
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN PROGRESS!
We rang our newly installed bell (hung from our brand new arbor!) on Sunday morning, tried out our new sound system, and also unveiled our beautiful new koa pulpit. Many more changes will be coming in the weeks to come! Kahu Akana has also enjoyed the new blinds installed over the windows in his office. Mahalo nui to all of the donors who have been so generous to our capital campaign: “Maika’i Hana Hou!”
“Weekly News of the Church” is provided by Koloa Union Church, a congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC) and member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference. Join us at 3289 Poipu Road in Koloa!
by admin | Jan 12, 2016 | Message from Kahu
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN PROGRESS!
I want to take a moment and share my gratitude for our capital campaign progress here at Koloa Union Church. First of all, thank you for the many generous contributions to our capital campaign “Maika’i Hana Hou” (Creating Goodness and Beauty Once Again). A special thank you to Dan Giovanni, our capital campaign chair, who spends countless hours every week behind the scenes—and digging in the dirt!—to keep our progress moving forward.
Because of the generosity of our members and friends, renovations are now being made here almost daily. The most recent and visible so far is the new arbor, which makes an attractive entryway to our church buildings. There are already two very tall red bougainvillea plants growing on both sides of the arbor, and soon the entire arbor will be draped in red blossoms, creating a warm and welcoming entrance to our buildings! We are just beginning our landscaping, and you can expect many more changes in the near future. You will also be seeing some major changes inside our sanctuary and hearing the results from the upgrades in our sound system in the next couple of weeks. And this is just the beginning!
I am very proud of what we have done as a church this past year in terms of choosing some major projects which will make us much more inviting and welcoming to all! I look forward to seeing the many results in the coming year. Again, thank you to everyone who has generously given to the success of “Maika’i Hana Hou”!
Mahalo nui loa!!!
Kahu Alan Akana
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