A Message from Our Kahu

“A Time To Prepare”

The first Sunday in Advent will be November 29 and marks the beginning of the Christian year. This is the season known as “a time to prepare.” We normally talk about the importance of preparing for Christmas. However, when we are doing our worship well, Advent is actually helping us to prepare for the entire year ahead.

For many of us, it’s sometimes hard to prepare for next week, much less a year from now. Besides the obvious issue with the length of time, it is difficult to prepare when there are so many unknowns, including uncertainties in politics, economics, extreme weather patterns, and health issues that many of us and our loved ones are dealing with.

However, the four themes of Advent help ground us, and therefore prepare us, for whatever happens. They are not only states of mind and heart, but also commitments that we are invited to renew during Advent:

• HOPE is our commitment to make the best of whatever circumstances we end up facing—and knowing that we are never alone. God is always present with us and constantly sends us angels (usually in human form!) to remind us that we are loved.
• PEACE is our commitment to breathe deeply and treat others with respect and kindness, rather than with violence or harm—even if we don’t understand them.
• JOY is our commitment to celebrate God’s presence and give thanks for our many blessings—no matter what happens in our lives.
• LOVE is our commitment to welcome God’s love for us and participate in God’s love by acting toward others with grace, mercy and compassion.

As we anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ coming on Christmas Day, as well as all of the days of the year ahead of us, we renew our commitments on each of the four Sundays of Advent.

As you may know, I recently returned from at trip to Greece and Turkey. I spent time in Athens and Rhodes with my brother Mike, brother-in-law Thanos, and Thanos’ family who live in Athens. I visited ancient Greek and Roman sites, as well as Greek Orthodox churches, chapels and monasteries, and also museums with stunning Orthodox and Byzantine art and artifacts. I spent an entire day in Ephesus where I marveled at the ancient Roman ruins. I then spent five days in Istanbul where I enjoyed visiting mosques and museums. The trip gave me a much deeper appreciation for Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic history and culture, as well as how those histories and cultures continue to influence us today and shape our understandings of God, religion, philosophy, economics, and politics.

In ways that were unexpected, I think this trip prepared me for the year ahead. It helped me to see how people from different nations, ethnicities and religions have choices in how they respond to people who are different. Although we humans often respond to difference with fear and mistrust, we can choose to respond with hope, peace, joy and love. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time on this trip with people who are different than me: Greek Orthodox and Muslim, people who have never stepped outside of their countries, individuals who hold political views so different from mine. I would describe almost all of them as kind, helpful, generous and hospitable. I hope they would think the same of me if they visited my country.

May this season be filled with hope, peace, joy and love for us all!

Aloha Nui Loa!
Kahu