by admin | Feb 3, 2018 | News
DEACONS MEET THIS WEEK
The monthly Deacons Meeting will be this Sunday, February 4, at 9 a.m. in Kahu’s office.
FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER
The February edition of the Koloa Union Church Newsletter will be available on Sunday. Please be sure to pick up your newsletter so that you can see what we have been up to and what we have planned for the following month!
MEN’S BREAKFAST
The men of the church gather on Tuesdays at 7:30 a.m. at Kalapaki Joe’s in Poipu. They will be meeting every Tuesday until further notice.
CHURCH ANNUAL MEETING
We had a very successful Church annual meeting on Sunday, January 28. We thank all members and friends for their voices and votes. We distributed updated “members/friends directories.” Please find your name in the directory (members in the front section, friends of the church in the back); if your name is missing or if you have any spelling, address or contact changes, please let Penny know.
“KOLOA UNION CHURCH VIDEO”
Thanks to Chris Sweitzer, we have a new YouTube channel where you can find Kahu’s recent videos. It is called “Koloa Union Church Video” and can be accessed by clicking HERE. You are invited to 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. We have heard from people in Europe, Canada and all over the U.S. who have watched these videos. Several people decided to attend Koloa Union Church after they watched one of Kahu’s videos!
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.
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.
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COMING UP……
SHROVE TUESDAY/MARDI GRAS/FAT TUESDAY PANCAKE SUPPER
February 13, 2018, Tuesday, 6 p.m.
It is the day before Ash Wednesday marked by feasting and celebration before the observance of the Lent fast. Started in the Middle Ages, restricted and perishable food was all consumed on Shrove Tuesday to avoid spoilage and waste. Join us for a fun pancake supper!
ASH WEDNESDAY
February 14, 2018
We mark Ash Wednesday as the first day of Lent, which is traditionally a time of fasting and prayer in preparation for receiving or reaffirming baptism on Easter. We will begin the evening with a Soup Supper at 6 p.m. in Moore Hall and then move into the sanctuary at 7 o’clock for the service of the ashes.
WEDNESDAY SOUP SUPPERS AND LENTEN REFLECTIONS
Beginning February 21, we will meet at 6 p.m. in Moore Hall for soup and then spend time reflecting and discussing the theme of “Blessings.” Each Sunday during Lent, Kahu will focus on a particular kind of blessing during his sermon and then use that topic for our time together the following Wednesday evening.
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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 | Feb 3, 2018 | Message from Kahu
Kalaupapa
Telling the Story
Mark 1:40-45
A Note from Kahu Alan Akana
On Sunday, I shared the story of Kalaupapa, the peninsula on the north shore of Moloka`i. I have known of the place since I was in 5th grade at Catholic School in California. My teacher told the story of Father Damien (now Saint Damien) who arrived there in 1873. As she told it, uneducated Hawaiian people with leprosy had been living there with no sense of community, nor church, nor respect for one another; then Father Damien arrived with the Gospel and nearly everyone became Christian, learned to read and write, developed a strong Christian community and had tremendous love and respect for each other. That’s the story I believed growing up until moving back to Hawai`i the second time.
I recently read Holy Man by Gavan Daws and also did some research on my own; and I learned that the story I was told was not actually the story that everyone remembered from Kalaupapa. The Hawaiian government sent the first 12 people with leprosy (later to be known as Hansen’s Disease) to Kalaupapa in January of 1866. They were eight men, three women and a small boy. Some of the earliest settlers, including the small boy, were the first kokua, which means “helper” in Hawaiian. They were the people without leprosy who voluntarily went to Kalaupapa to take care of beloved family members. Na kokua (the helpers) were people of incredible courage and love. In June that first year, there were 35 Protestants (23 men and 12 women) who were members of Congregational Churches throughout Hawai`i, and they decided to write letters to their home churches, asking to be released from membership so that they could start their own church at Kalawao on Kalaupapa’s eastern shore. They became charter members of Siloama Church, the first church to be established there.
Of the 35 people who were charter members of Siloama and the hundreds of people who later attended worship services there, many proved to be wise and courageous leaders of their church and community during times of great hardship and diversity. They told stories of their deep faith in God and of the strength they found in their community of faith. The reason we know their stories is because they kept minutes of all their church meetings—all of the important things they did as a church and their ministry in the community. In 1938, someone found the church minutes from 1866 to 1928 in a vault below the church. They were written in Hawaiian and many (all?) in their church were literate in both Hawaiian and English. Those minutes told a completely different story about Kalaupapa than the one I was told as a young boy.
As I learned about Kalaupapa I felt that their story just had to be told. It was too good to keep it to myself! So I shared the story with the congregation on Sunday. We also read the story in Mark’s Gospel of Jesus healing a man with leprosy and asking him to not tell anyone about it. Yet, this man could not keep quiet. He walked around telling everyone what Jesus had done for him. It too was a story that was too good to keep to oneself. I am guessing that we all have stories that are just too good to not share with others. I encourage you to tell your stories that are too good not to share! Tell people of your blessings! Tell people about our church! Tell people what we are doing in the community! May your stories bless others in ways you cannot even imagine!
I hope to see you in church on Sunday as we celebrate Holy Communion and continue to share our stories of life and faith!
Aloha nui loa,
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 this week’s message. You may also 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 | Jan 16, 2018 | News
LECTIO DIVINA
Join us for a time to quietly reflect on the Scriptures.
We will meet on Wednesday, January 17, 2018, from 7:00-8:30 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. Join Angela Dressel, Karen Johnson, Kahu, and others for a time to reflect, meditate and pray as we begin the new year.
by admin | Jan 8, 2018 | News
Winter Men’s Breakfast Tuesday, January 8, 2018, 7:30 a.m Join the men of the church and friends at their annual winter breakfast at Kalapaki Joe’s, Poipu.
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