by admin | May 8, 2018 | News
KAUAI FLOOD RELIEF Kōloa Union Church continues to reach out to our neighbors who were affected by the recent flooding on the island, especially our neighbors in Kōloa. So far, we have collected over $2,000 and many items that are already being used by flood victims. The money will be used for kitchen appliance purchases and gift cards to Home Depot. An updated list of “most needed” items will be provided next week. Those who wish to make monetary donations can write checks to “Koloa Union Church” and write “Flood Relief” in the note section. Thanks to everyone who has given so generously so far!!!
THE LATEST COCONUT WIRELESS The Council of the Hawaii Conference of the United Church of Christ shares news on the Coconut Wireless, the regular newsletter of the HCUCC. If you would like to keep abreast on news, opportunities and events, please click HERE for this past week’s news. If you like what you see, you may subscribe and get every issue of the Coconut Wireless automatically and get the very latest news hot off the press.
PRAYERS & SQUARES Contact Angela Dressel if you would like to get involved in praying for people in crisis or helping to make quilt squares for those in crisis. The next quilt making session will be in Kahu’s office on Monday, May 14, 1-4 p.m.
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COMING UP….
KAUCC AHA MELE The annual songfest of the Kauai Association of the United Church of Christ will be Friday, May 18, at Waimea United Church of Christ, beginning at 5 p.m. Our church choir will sing and everyone will have the opportunity to participate! Dinner will be provided by Waimea UCC. An offering will be connected to benefit the Kauai Council of Hawaiian Congregational Churches. Sunday is the deadline to sign up for dinner.
SEMINARY SUNDAY We will celebrate “Seminary Sunday” on May 20 during our worship service! Many congregations throughout the country celebrate this special day as a time to focus on the importance of educating and training current and future church leaders. Kahu Alan Akana will share his reflections of his time in seminary where he received Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees, as well as the last two and a half years that he has been a Trustee at Pacific School of Religion. On the 20th we will collect a special offering for Pacific School of Religion. Kahu says, “I support PSR as part of my annual giving to the Church; and I invite you to make a special gift to PSR on May 20 when we celebrate Seminary Sunday.” Special offering envelopes will be available on that day; checks should be made out to “Koloa Union Church” with “PSR” in the note section. You may also give a monthly or annual gift to PSR in order to provide ongoing support for current and future church leaders. (See Kahu if you are interested in this.) Please consider a generous gift to PSR!
CHURCH BREAKFAST Our first monthly church breakfast (for men and women) will be on Tuesday, May 22, at 7:30 a.m. at Kalapaki Joe’s in Poipu (1941 Poipu Road). Just a fun time to hang out with friends and good food! Please RSVP with Michael Horning or Penny if you would like to attend.
LECTIO DIVINA Join us again on May 23 at the Parsonage for a time to quietly reflect on the Scriptures. We will meet on Wednesday, 7:00-8:30 p.m. for Lectio Divina at the Smith Memorial Parsonage (3281 Waikomo Road). In Christianity, Lectio Divina is a traditional practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God’s Word.
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“Weekly News of the Church” is provided by Koloa Union Church, a congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference. Join us at 3289 Poipu Road in Koloa!
by admin | May 8, 2018 | Message from Kahu
“Bread and Love”
Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life.
Whoever comes to me will never be hungry
and whoever believes in my will never be thirsty.”
(John 6:48)
On Sunday, I shared with the congregation about some “word searching” I did during the previous week. I looked up how many times the word “bread” was found in the Gospels. The answer: 58 times. Then I started looking up some other words and was surprised that “bread” is mentioned more than “prayer,” “worship,” “forgiveness,” “holiness,” and “righteousness.” It occurred to me that bread was a really important subject not only for Jesus but for the Gospel writers who told us about his life.
After checking out a few more words, I finally discovered a word that was found more than “bread.” The word “love” is found 66 times in the Gospels. However, since bread is often used as a synonym for “food,” I looked up that word and saw that it was used 21 times. So “bread” and “food” are found in the Gospel even more than “love”…which leads me to believe that growing food and feeding people were a huge priority to Jesus. It makes sense that “bread” and “love” are found so many times, for it is love that motivates us to feed one another and to make sure that no one goes hungry.
Jesus used the word “bread” both literally and metaphorically. When he said, “I am the bread of life,” he demonstrated that he had compassion for people who were physically hungry and those who had deep longings of the heart; and I supposed that includes all of us, for I have yet to meet someone without longings and yearnings. Jesus—in his being and in his loving—filled the empty spaces in people’s lives. May all of your longings be filled, and may you pay attention to the longing of people around you so that you may offer them the same kind of compassion that Jesus offered people.
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
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Our Kahu (Pastor) offers a weekly message in church most Sundays during the year. Click HERE to see a video of his sermon from this past Sunday. You may see the Koloa Union Church YouTube channel to see many of his past messages and subscribe in order be notified when a new message is posted. Please share these videos with friends and invite them to church. Please feel free to “Like” any of the videos you see and share them on social media, such as Facebook, so that others will notice them.
“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana” is provided most weeks by the Kahu (Pastor) of Koloa Union Church, a congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
by admin | May 2, 2018 | Message from Kahu
“All the Time Love”
When Dorothy Day was 8 years old, she lived with her family in Oakland, California. On April 18, 1906, the infamous San Francisco earthquake devastated the city—just across the bay from Dorothy’s home. Over 3,000 people died from the earthquake and the fire that blazed for 3 days. That week, 8-year-old Dorothy watched the people of Oakland help those who needed help…and she watched them help the people of SF who were coming across the bay in boats. Many of the people fleeing SF lost everything they owned. More than half of the population of San Francisco became homeless on that day.
The response of the people of Oakland had a profound impact on young Dorothy—an impact that informed the rest of her life. She watched people act very differently than she had ever seen them act before: they were going out of their way to help others, sometimes experiencing great sacrifice, personal discomfort, and sometimes even personal pain. And she thought, Somehow people had “known in their being how to do this all along.” People inherently know how to show great compassion and will naturally do it under the right circumstances. And she asked, “Why can’t we live this way all the time?”
The author Paul Elie, who wrote about Dorothy Day, said that she lived by a conviction that it’s not merely great crisis moments that call forth compassion in us. She recognized that, at any given moment, someone somewhere is having a crisis of the magnitude of the San Francisco earthquake… “and you have to be there when the person is having is or her crisis, and not wait for the city to burn down.”
I shared this with the congregation on Sunday and reminded them that someone today has recently lost their home, or is suffering physically more than they ever thought they could bear, or has cancer and they don’t know if they will survive, or just found out that someone they love has died.
Dorothy Day took the words of Jesus seriously. “Abide in my love,” he said to his disciples. His life, his words, his teaching all answered Dorothy Day’s question. “Why can’t we live like this all the time?” We can, Jesus showed us and taught us! We can always keep our eyes open to notice those around us who are suffering. We can always keep our hearts open to show compassion and mercy. We can love all the time. I am so glad to be part of a church that believes this, and demonstrates it over and over and over again!
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
___________________________________________
Our Kahu (Pastor) offers a weekly message in church most Sundays during the year. Click HERE to see a video of his sermon from this past Sunday. You may see the Koloa Union Church YouTube channel to see many of his past messages and subscribe in order be notified when a new message is posted. Please share these videos with friends and invite them to church. Please feel free to “Like” any of the videos you see and share them on social media, such as Facebook, so that others will notice them.
“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana” is provided most weeks by the Kahu (Pastor) of Koloa Union Church, a congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
by admin | May 1, 2018 | News
MAHA`ULEPU BEACH CLEANUP You are invited to join the UCC youth of the island and Surfrider Foundation on Saturday, May 5, from 9 to noon to clean up Mahaulepu. We will meet at the far end of the road. Join us on our second annual beach cleanup and learn about the importance of taking care of our ocean and land! Join other United Church of Christ young people for a fun activity that makes a difference! Afterwards, we will head to Poipu Beach for lunch and play time from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Koloa Union Church will provide lunch if you RSVP by Friday. Please bring lots of water to drink and sunscreen.
THE LATEST COCONUT WIRELESS The Council of the Hawaii Conference of the United Church of Christ shares news on the Coconut Wireless, the regular newsletter of the HCUCC. If you would like to keep abreast on news, opportunities and events, please click HERE for this past week’s news. If you like what you see, you may subscribe and get every issue of the Coconut Wireless automatically and get the very latest news hot off the press.
PRAYERS & SQUARES Contact Angela Dressel if you would like to get involved in praying for people in crisis or helping to make quilt squares for those in crisis.
COMING UP…
KAUCC `AHA MELE The annual songfest of the Kauai Association of the United Church of Christ will be Friday, May 18, at Waimea United Church of Christ, beginning at 5 p.m. Our church choir will sing and everyone will have the opportunity to participate! Dinner will be provided by Waimea UCC. An offering will be connected to benefit the Kauai Council of Hawaiian Congregational Churches.
SEMINARY SUNDAY We will celebrate “Seminary Sunday” on May 20 during our worship service! Many congregations throughout the country celebrate this special day as a time to focus on the importance of educating and training current and future church leaders. Kahu Alan Akana will share his reflections of his time in seminary where he received Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees, as well as the last two and a half years that he has been a Trustee at Pacific School of Religion. On the 20th we will collect a special offering for Pacific School of Religion. Kahu says, “I support PSR as part of my annual giving to the Church; and I invite you to make a special gift to PSR on May 20 when we celebrate Seminary Sunday.” Special offering envelopes will be available on that day; checks should be made out to “Koloa Union Church” with “PSR” in the note section. You may also give a monthly or annual gift to PSR in order to provide ongoing support for current and future church leaders. (See Kahu if you are interested in this.) Please consider a generous gift to PSR!
CHURCH BREAKFAST Our first monthly church breakfast (for men and women) will be on Tuesday, May 22, at 7:30 a.m. at Kalapaki Joe’s in Poipu (1941 Poipu Road). Just a fun time to hang out with friends and good food! Please RSVP with Michael Horning or Penny if you would like to attend.
________________________________
“Weekly News of the Church” is provided by Koloa Union Church, a congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference. Join us at 3289 Poipu Road in Koloa!
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