A Message from Kahu Alan Akana

by admin | Mar 16, 2016 | Message from Kahu

On Sunday, I shared with the congregation about the neighborhood in which I was raised. I was supported, encouraged and given guidance and wisdom from other neighbors. The couple who owned the neighborhood grocery store even gave me a weekend job for a year so that I could save up money for college. Because of my neighborhood, I became who I am today.

Diana Butler Bass, in her book Grounded, writes:

When we love our neighbor as ourselves, we build sacred connections between the spaces we inhabit.

There was something sacred, something spiritual happening in the neighborhood of my childhood and teenage years. It was sacred because of the connections that happened when people loved their neighbors. And I am very grateful!

In our Gospel reading on Sunday, a man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life; and then he answered his own question, based upon the teachings of the Old Testament:

Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

This man wanted to know who is neighbor was. Jesus moved the conversation from drawing circles around our homes in order to define our neighbors to discussing the importance of acting with compassion toward all people.

Who is your neighbor today and this week? How will you act with compassion toward him or her? How will you build sacred connections with this person…and help him/her to become who he/she might be in the future?

Aloha nui!

Kahu Alan Akana

A Message from Kahu Alan Akana

by admin | Mar 7, 2016 | Message from Kahu

GROUNDED IN OUR HOMES

Diana Butler Bass writes in her book Grounded: Finding God in the World, A Spiritual Revolution: 

The overarching narrative of the Bible is that of humanity searching for home.

I never really noticed this before, but after I read it, I thought of one example after another of biblical characters searching for home:

• Adam and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden in search of their new home
• Abram (Abraham) and Sarai (Sarah) leaving the land of Ur in search of the land promised by God
• Joseph and his brothers finding a new home in Egypt during the devastating famine
• Moses leading the Hebrew people from Egypt in search of a new home for an entire nation
• Naomi leaving Bethlehem with her husband and two sons looking for a new home in Moab and then returning to Bethlehem as a widow with her daughter-in-law Ruth and creating an altogether new home
• Mary and Joseph leaving Nazareth for Bethlehem and then with Jesus journeying to a new home in Egypt and then eventually to Nazareth

These are just a few of the examples that come to mind. Every one of those people redefined the meaning of home according to their values. Perhaps so many of these people in the Bible were searching for home and redefining its meaning because that is the human story as well. Perhaps it is the story of all of our lives. We spend a good deal of our lives searching for home…and redefining the meaning of home according to our values. I think it is one of the deepest longings we have.

Diana Butler Bass writes:

Two locations have emerged as particularly sacred: the front door and the table, the physical places at home where we form the spiritual habits of hospitality and gratitude.

What is true in our places of residence is also true in our church. We become sacred when we welcome all with open arms and open hearts…and when we express gratitude to God and each other. And, just like people have been doing for thousands of years, we redefine the meaning of home according to our values. May God grant us a greater sense of hospitality and gratitude as we do so.

Aloha nui!

Kahu Alan Akana

“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. Join us at 3289 Poipu Road in Koloa!