by admin | Oct 16, 2018 | Message from Kahu
Gratitude and Politics
On Sunday, I told the congregation about the final section of Diana Butler Bass’ book, Gratitude: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks. It focused on gratitude, community and politics. I get the connection between gratitude and community; that totally makes sense to me; but gratitude and politics? Those aren’t two themes that often go together in my mind. Diana’s book was helpful in understanding the importance of bringing those two things together. However, it was Jon Meacham’s book, The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, that really helped me to see the significant role that gratitude can have in the midst of politics—even if those politics seem far from what we want or imagine the world to be.
Meacham points to many dark times in our nation’s history and refers to certain Presidents, Governors, Senators, members of Congress, and others who said and wrote some of the most surprisingly hateful and intolerant things about African-Americans, Asians, Jews, Eastern & Southern Europeans. He names those elected leaders who owned slaves, those who ordered the massacre of Native Americans by the thousands, those who imprisoned innocent people, including over a hundred thousand Americans of Japanese ancestry during WWII. He also writes about those who would build great walls to keep immigrants out of our country, such as Georgia Governor Clifford Walker who said these words to the KKK in 1924:
I would build a wall of steel, a wall as high as heaven, against the admission of a single one of those Southern Europeans who never thought the thoughts or spoke the language of a democracy in their lives.
Meacham never gives thanks for the intolerance and hateful acts, but points out that there are always people who condemn them, that such times have always been survivable and they actually make us stronger and more accepting in the end. In other words, after the times of darkness, there is more light than there was before; and this leads us to gratitude.
Our Gospel reading on Sunday was from John, chapter 10, where Jesus came to offer lives of abundance. I pointed out that people can be grateful for both the abundance and Jesus’ vision of sharing the abundance with everyone. May we all be grateful that there is more than enough on the Earth for everyone and that a vision for sharing it with others is possible and actually happening throughout the world.
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 message 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 | Oct 12, 2018 | News
Lehua Blossom from Hawai`i Island
MUSICAL FUNDRAISING GALA FOR THE PARSONAGE
Alan Akana Gallery
Sunday, October 14, 1-5 p.m.
In the Smith Memorial Parsonage
3281 Waikomo Road, Koloa
Everyone is invited to attend this FREE event!
Music and Dancing by Church Members & Friends!
Delicious refreshments!
Door prizes!
Everything on sale on Sunday!
New items will be available, including:
2019 wall calendars
Jumbo postcards of photographs of native flowers of Hawai`i
Kahu’s latest watercolor of the beautiful lehua blossom (in the photo above)!
The funds raised will help pay for costs of some much needed projects at the parsonage. Please invite your friends who love music and art!
by admin | Oct 4, 2018 | News
Lehua Blossom from Hawaii Island
WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY / NEIGHBORS IN NEED This Sunday, October 7, is World Communion Sunday—a day in which Christian unity and ecumenical cooperation are observed. It is as day when we remember that we are connected to the whole Christian Church and celebrate Holy Communion. According to our tradition, we will collect the Neighbors in Need offering this Sunday. On World Communion Sunday, United Church of Christ congregations collect this special offering to support ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States. This year’s theme is “Love of Neighbor.” Let us generously give to this offering in order to love our neighbors throughout the US who are in need of support. Offering envelopes will be available on Sunday morning. You may also write a check to “Koloa Union Church” with “Neighbors in Need” or “NIN” in the note section.
PRAYERS & SQUARES All are welcome to participate in this ministry of making quilts and prayer squares for those members of our congregation who are experiencing a life crisis. Our next gathering is scheduled for Tuesday, October 9, at Koloa Union Church from 1 to 4 p.m.
THE LATEST COCONUT WIRELESS The Hawai`i 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 the latest 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.
LECTIONARY READINGS (Old & New Testament Readings for the Week) 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 Job 1:1-2:10; Psalm 26; Hebrew 1:1-4, 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16.
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COMING UP. . . .
MUSICAL FUNDRAISING GALA FOR THE PARSONAGE The church will be hosting a fundraising gala for the parsonage on the afternoon of Sunday, October 14, 1-5 p.m. Members and friends of the church are invited to share their musical and dancing talents!
- We will be catering heavy pupus, giving away door prizes and offering discounts of all sales at the gallery!
- New items will be available, including: 2019 wall calendars, jumbo postcards of photographs of native flowers of Hawai`i, Kahu’s latest watercolor of the beautiful lehua blossom (in the photo above)!
- The funds raised will help pay for costs of some much needed projects at the parsonage. Please invite your friends who love music and art!
WAINEKE WORK DAY October 20, beginning at 9 a.m. It’s time again to clean the grounds and cabins up in Kokee and do some minor repairs! These are “our” cabins, belonging to the Kauai Association United Church of Christ. We, as members and friends, have access to rent and utilize these two cabins throughout the year. Our youth, members, leaders, friends have taken advantage of this beautiful site. A couple times each year we ask for volunteers to help clean the inside and outside of Waineke. If you go up on Friday, October 19, you may stay overnight and food will be provided. If you can, bring a bucket, rags, sponges, gloves and any cleaning products you may have. Please consider helping in this important and necessary maintenance.
CONGREGATIONAL MEETING The Church Council has called a Congregational Meeting on Sunday, October 21, after the worship service in order to:
- Vote on a new Vision Statement for the church
- Vote on whether our church should participate in the process of becoming an “Open and Affirming Congregation” and electing a “Core Team” to lead the process
All church members are asked to attend so that we can have a quorum on that day.
AHA MOKUPUNI Churches in the Kauai Association will gather for the Fall Aha Mokupuni on Sunday, November 4, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Hanapepe Hawaiian Congregational Church (3815 Hanapepe Road, Hanapepe). More information will be provided at a later date.
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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 | Oct 4, 2018 | Message from Kahu
Gratitude and Abundance
Sunday was such a special day at Koloa Union Church! We celebrated with gratitude our many blessings and imagined ways to share them with others in the coming months. Our children presented a fun and meaningful skit on the importance of gratitude. Rose danced two beautiful hula on the theme of “gratitude and rainbows.” Most people offered a blessing that we might share with others in the coming year. I talked in my message about the meaning of the rainbow—traditionally a sign of hope and diversity. It is also a symbol of blessing, gratitude and abundance for me, for a rainbow requires both sunlight and rain in order to exist—the two necessary ingredients for life on earth. Just like the rainbow, every other blessing is dependent upon them. I am so grateful for life in all its fascinating diversity, and all of the blessings that come to us in our lives! The next time you see a rainbow, I invite you to give thanks for your many blessings and for God’s abundance on this amazing planet on which we live.
In our Gospel lesson on Sunday, Jesus said that he came that people would have life and have it abundantly. When we gather together as followers of Jesus, we celebrate the abundance in our lives and also share that abundance with others, for our blessings are meant to be shared, especially with people who have the greatest need of the basic blessings in life. As I consider our theme for the coming year, “With Gratitude, Welcoming All and Sharing Our Blessings in 2019,” I am especially grateful to everyone who made financial commitments to our 2019 general fund on Sunday. I am grateful for each and every one of our church members and friends who offer blessings to others on a regular basis!
In closing, I want to give a very grateful “shout out” to our Stewardship Co-chairs, Rosemary Smythe and Virginia Dunas, who do a wonderful job reminding us throughout the year of the importance of gratitude and generosity, as well as the possibilities of what we can do together when we give generously to the church with our time, talents and treasures. I must say that the cakes on Sunday, brought to you by the Stewardship Committee (including the one in the photo above), were some of the nicest cakes I have seen in a long time—and so appropriate to our theme!
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 message 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 | Sep 26, 2018 | Message from Kahu
Love and Gratitude
On Sunday, I talked about how expressions of gratitude impact people around us. In her book, Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks, Diana Butler Bass writes about the impact that gratitude has on the people who observe it in others. She refers to work done by social psychologists who monitor the affects on the brain and bodily functions when someone observes another person expressing gratitude. One such psychologist is Jonathan Haidt, who observed a calming response, as well as related impulses, such as awe or self-transcendence. Amazing! Our bodily functions, our emotional states, and our spiritual wellbeing actually change when we observe another person expressing gratitude!
Our Scripture readings on Sunday point us toward love and gratitude when it comes to bringing our offerings to God. According to Psalm 50, it is gratitude that makes our offerings acceptable to God. Mark 12 reinforces this and also adds that love for God and others is the most important thing we can offer to God. In the story of the poor widow who places two half-pennies in the temple offering, Jesus makes it really clear that her offering is valuable and worthy because she gave from love and gratitude.
There is an important lesson here for us: our offerings to God are also valuable and of great worth to God when we give with love and gratitude. God is not concerned so much with the size of the gift; God is concerned with the love and gratitude that are offered in our giving. Another lesson from the story is that we can actually give everything to God. Just like the poor widow gave everything she owned to God, we can too. Think about what you place in the offering plate at church, what you give to your favorite non-profit organization, what is in your bank account, your home, your possessions, the time you have left here on Earth. What if you truly believed that it all belongs to God and you are a steward to make it all work and make a difference in the world by participating with God in sharing, loving, and being grateful?
For many of us, this is a big shift in how we are being in the world, in how we see ourselves and “our” possessions, in how we fundamentally relate to God, other people and the entire universe. It is a completely different paradigm in our living. Yet, it is the only way I know to live with the greatest joy, the deepest peace, and the most love. Besides, just think of all the people who will be impacted by watching you live with such gratitude! I invite you, if you have not done so already, to make that shift.
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 message 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.
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