In my message on Sunday, I referred to Malcolm Gladwell’s most recent book, Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know. Gladwell states that human beings naturally default to truth. In other words, most of the time we trust what people are saying unless we have a reason to believe otherwise. People tell us things every day and almost all of those things are true. “We default to truth…because we have no choice. Society cannot function otherwise,” writes Gladwell. Can you imagine what life would be like if we had serious doubts about every statement you heard every day? Imagine how much time and energy it would take to verify every single thing you hear. We simply cannot function like that.
On the other hand, there are people who lie on a regular basis. Gladwell tells his readers that we should listen to people who point out these lies. We should also pay attention to the signs that someone may not be telling the truth. For example, if you know that someone has lied to you, then you may want to check out the validity of their next statement. Furthermore, if there is someone who is normally trustworthy but their claim just sounds too unbelievable to be true, then you ought to check it out.
Thomas, Jesus’ disciple who did just that, has been criticized for 2,000 for doubting that Jesus rose from the dead. Yet, a closer look at the Gospels shines a much kinder light on Thomas. He was one of Jesus’ most devoted followers and would have laid down his life for him. However, when the other disciples told him that Jesus rose from the dead, well that just sounded to preposterous to believe without checking it out for himself. He basically told the others, “I will believe it when I see it with my own eyes”—and that’s exactly what happened. When the resurrected Jesus appeared to him, he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”
I pointed out that the noun “belief” shows up only once in the entire Bible (Revised Standard Version) but the verb “believe” (including “believes” and “believed”) shows up in 257 verses in the New Testament alone; and the book with most of the verses with that word is the Gospel of John. According to John, believing was extremely important to Jesus; and apparently, the quality of believing was way more important than the individual beliefs—otherwise, I think Jesus would have said the word “belief” at least once. I wonder what our world would be like today if Christians everywhere followed the example of John by emphasizing the quality of believing, in other words, believing with integrity, authenticity and compassion, believing in ways that enrich our lives, our relationships, and our communities.
For Jesus, the key was believing that, whoever you are, you matter to God; and whoever else is in the world, others matter to God. Let’s embrace these two beliefs and consider that possibly all other beliefs fall into place when we do.
I look forward to our next online worship service on Sunday!
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
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“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana”is provided most weeks by Koloa Union Church, an Open & Affirming (ONA) congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
To see a video of a recent message by Kahu Akana, click HERE. 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.
You are welcome to join us on Sunday mornings! To see our Sunday morning schedule, click HERE.
Kahu Akana is also an accomplished artist! He specializes in creating vibrant watercolors of the flowers of Hawaii and hosts a Sunday afternoon reception in a gallery at his home, the Smith Memorial Parsonage. He also meets visitors by appointment. Most of the profit from the sales go for the maintenance and upkeep of the parsonage. To see a video about his art and gallery, click HERE. To see the gallery website, click HERE.
Reaching out into the broader community by sharing aloha with everyone . . .
St. Raphael Food Pantry Koloa Union Church continues to partner with St. Raphael Catholic Church in distributing food to hungry families. If you are younger than 65-years-old (a new rule) and you are available on Friday, May 1, from 9-11, to help at St. Raphael’s, please contact Amber Strong at 907-227-9045 or <amberkn@yahoo.com>. You MUST wear a face mask in order to volunteer (and Amber can bring one for you if you don’t already have one).
Salvation Army Soup Kitchen The Hanapepe Salvation Army has opened its soup kitchen but they do NOT need us this month since they have to limit the number of people on their property at any given time in order to honor the social distancing rules in place. We will keep volunteers posted as to our next day when they need us to serve lunch.
Making Face MasksOver 450 Masks Made So Far!
The Prayers & Squares Ministry continues to make masks for the following three groups:
Koloa Union Church Members The Prayers & Squares team is happy to make a mask for you or your immediate family member. We want to make sure that we are taking care of each other and that we are all safe. Let Cathy Evans know if you need a mask.
Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital (KVMH) still needs masks for their employees who are not working with critical care or coronavirus patients.
Wilcox Hospital needs masks for staff, patients and families.
Face Masks Are Free! We are not charging anything for face masks because we want to make sure everyone is safe, regardless of ability to pay. If you would like to make a donation to support this effort, please write your check to “Koloa Union Church” with “Prayers & Squares” in the note section. Your donation will go to pay for material for face masks and quilts for those in crisis situations.
Need a Face Mask? Want to Help? Got Questions? Please contact Cathy Evans (volunteer project coordinator): cathyevans2@icloud.com; 858-231-6894.
Food for Hungry Neighbors If you or someone you know on the south shore is hungry, please provide a name and contact information HERE. There may be someone who can no longer afford food. Perhaps someone is unable to leave their home to buy groceries. Our Outreach Committee is coordinating safe pickup and drop off of groceries to make sure none of our neighbors goes hungry during this time.
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Lectionary Readings
During challenging times, reading the Bible on a daily basis is a great source of inspiration and hope. I encourage you to read and meditate upon the Scriptures of the Revised Common Lectionary and ask yourself how God might be showing up in the Scriptures for you, what God might be saying to you, and what guidance you might find as you share God’s love in creative and meaningful ways. —Kahu Alan Akana
Each week, Christians throughout the world read biblical passages from the Revised Common Lectionary, including the Old Testament, Psalms, New Testament, and Gospels. After three years, a good portion of the Bible is included and the cycle begins again. RCL passages are often read in church worship services, and Kahu Akana usually includes at least one of them on the following Sunday. This week’s readings are Acts 2:14-41; Psalm 116:1-19; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35.
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Join Us on Sunday!
“A STRANGE INTIMACY” Getting Close while Staying Apart
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Join Us for Our Next Online Worship Service
† Message by Kahu Alan Akana † Hymns † Reading of the Scriptures † Special Music † Prayers of the People
You can find the link on our website before 10:30 Sunday morning.
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Happy Earth Day!
Enjoy these photos of Kauai taken by Kahu Alan Akana
Thank you, God, for the Earth and all her beauty! Teach us to love her. Teach us to care for her.
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“Weekly News of the Church” is provided by Koloa Union Church, an Open and Affirming (ONA) Congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference. Please contact the church office if you would like to have our weekly news sent directly to your inbox. Join us at 3289 Poipu Road in Koloa!
Our faithful volunteers continue to make face masks for Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital (KVMH). These are masks worn by their employees who are not working with critical care or coronavirus patients. In order to meet this goal, we still need lots of help. If you can help, please contact Cathy Evans (volunteer coordinator).
We will use a very simple pattern: two pieces of cotton fabric (9” x 6”), and 2 pieces of 1/4″ or 1/8″ elastic (7” each). The instructions are on this video on Youtube:
If you are interested in this project, please do the following:
Let Cathy know if you will sew masks and if you need fabric and elastic:cathyevans2@icloud.com. Prayers and Squares has extra fabric which you can pick up at an agreed upon time and location between you and Cathy.
Enlist/encourage people you know to sew these masks. In order to meet this goal, we need others to help. Please let Cathy know the person’s name, phone # and email address.
When people are ready to deliver completed masks, contact Cathy.
REALLY IMPORTANT: Please look in your stash of sewing supplies (AND ask your friends) to donate to this project 1/4“ or 1/8” elastic. This is an item that is in short supply and lately unavailable available in stores!
MORE IMPORTANT: Pray! This is something we all can do! Pray to heal those who have COVID-19 and to protect those who do not have it. Pray to reach out to meet the needs of the people around us during this pandemic. Pray we can meet the need for these comfort masks. Pray to give us all hope, joy and peace.
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STEWARDSHIP MESSAGE
Our Stewardship Committee asks each person to prayerfully consider giving as much as you are able so that our church can continue to carry on our important mission and get through the next couple of months by fulfilling all of our financial commitments. As always, checks may be mailed to the church: P.O. Box 536, Koloa, HI 96756. All gifts are greatly appreciated!
Sincerely,
Bill Dressel, Stewardship Chair
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LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE WEEK
During challenging times, reading the Bible on a daily basis is a great source of inspiration and hope. I encourage you to read and meditate upon the Scriptures of the Revised Common Lectionary and ask yourself how God might be showing up in the Scriptures for you, what God might be saying to you, and what guidance you might find as you share God’s love in creative and meaningful ways.
—Kahu Alan Akana
Each week Christians throughout the world read biblical passages from the Revised Common Lectionary, including the Old Testament, Psalms, New Testament, and Gospels. After three years, a good portion of the Bible is included and the cycle begins again. RCL passages are often read in church worship services, and Kahu Akana usually includes at least one of them on the following Sunday. This week’s readings areActs 10:34-43; Jeremiah 31:1-6; Psalm 118:1-24; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18; Matthew 28:1-10.
__________________________________
“Weekly News of the Church” is provided by Koloa Union Church, an Open and Affirming (ONA) Congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference. Please contact the church officeif you would like to have our weekly news sent directly to your inbox. Join us at 3289 Poipu Road in Koloa!
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
and others cut branches from the trees
and spread them on the road.
The crowds that went ahead of him and
that followed were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
(Matthew 21:8-9)
In my message on Palm Sunday, I talked about what was going on as Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey while people shouted “hosanna.” That word comes from the Hebrew word which means “save us now,” or “save us, we pray.” As Jesus moved toward the temple, the symbolism would not have been lost on Matthew’s first readers. The temple held the power in the land—not just religious power, but political and economic power as well. Those who were leaders in the temple were servants of Rome. This is significant, as Warren Carter explains in his book Matthew and Empire, because Matthew’s Gospel presents Jesus as the courageous and clearly-focused man who squarely looks at the authority of the Roman Empire and cries out a resounding “no” to all that it stands for—including its underlying values and privileges, its politics and its economic structures—and then presents an alternative vision for the world. According to Rome, there were certain people who mattered and others who were expendable. Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, we see Jesus proclaiming that everyone matters.
Matthew is suggesting that Jesus was there to save people from the empire, including its values, structures, and the false assumption that some people matter and others do not. Furthermore, as Jesus enters the temple (according to Matthew, the first thing Jesus does when he dismounts the donkey), he overturns tables and casts out those participating in an unjust economy. He does this to make room for those for whom the temple was built: those who wish to pray, those who want to see, those desiring to be healed and made whole.
The story of Palm Sunday is a radical political challenge to empires who act as if some people do not matter. It is also a challenge to religious institutions who go along with such empires. The story is a call to act as if everyone matters. May we challenge all such empires and their assumption that some people matter and others do not, and that some people are more important than others.
During these strange days of isolation and sheltering in place, please know that you matter to God. I invite you to let someone know today that they matter too. You can do this with your words and your actions.
I invite you to view the video of Sunday’s worship service to learn more.
I look forward to our next online worship service on Easter Sunday!
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
__________________________________________
“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana”is provided most weeks by Koloa Union Church, an Open & Affirming (ONA) congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
To see a video of a recent message by Kahu Akana, click HERE. 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.
You are welcome to join us on Sunday mornings!To see our Sunday morning schedule, click HERE.
Kahu Akana is also an accomplished artist! He specializes in creating vibrant watercolors of the flowers of Hawaii and hosts a Sunday afternoon reception in a gallery at his home, the Smith Memorial Parsonage. He also meets visitors by appointment. Most of the profit from the sales go for the maintenance and upkeep of the parsonage. To see a video about his art and gallery, click HERE. To see the gallery website, click HERE.
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