by admin | May 30, 2017 | Message from Kahu
“God’s Love Has Been Poured Into Our Hearts”
Romans 5:5
On Sunday, I talked about Jonathan Franzen’s novel, The Corrections, which is about a very dysfunctional fictional family by the last name of Lambert. There’s the elderly Dad Alfred, who is retired, very ill and suffering from dementia. His wife is Enid, who becomes more obsessive, manipulative and nagging as time goes on. Alfred and Enid’s three grown children are all coming home for Christmas to the tiny house where they grew up…in a little midwestern town called St. Jude. And they are pretty sure that this will be the last chance to spend Christmas with their father. Denise is the girl of the family, who is quite a bit younger than her two brothers, and she once was very happy.
In the final pages of the book, something transformational happens to Denise. Although she had been the adored baby of the family, throughout her entire adulthood she never believed that her father–or anyone else, for that matter–would truly love her if he knew some of the things she had done. But on Christmas Eve Alfred let Denise know that he had known her deepest and darkest secret, and he had loved her anyway. It hit Denise like a bolt of lightening: her father had known about the most shameful thing of her past—and he had loved her and adored her even with all of her faults and shortcomings. She always thought that her father loved his idea of her…but not the real her that she truly was…the Denise who had an affair with a married man when she was just a teenager…the Denise who made some bad choices in her life…the Denise who carried shame around with her like a ball and chain. It was on Christmas Eve…the last Christmas Eve her dad would be alive…that she realized that he truly loved her for who she was. And at that moment, her life began to change for the better.
In the book of Romans, we read that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts.” God, who knows everything about us still loves us like crazy. I wonder how many of us go through life like Denise wondering if God or anyone else would love us if they really knew all about us. The good news is that God does know all about us—and still loves us. And God invites us to accept that love and to share it with others. I am pretty confident that there is someone each one of us will encounter this week who really needs to know and feel that kind of love. I invite you to be the one to show them that love.
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
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Click HERE to watch a video of Sunday’s sermon. Videos of Kahu’s sermons are available most weeks. Please share these videos with friends and invite them to church. You can also subscribe on YouTube anytime you watch a sermon; that way you can easily watch any past sermon and even receive a notification when a new sermon is posted.
“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 | May 25, 2017 | News
BOOK RELEASE RECEPTION On Friday, May 26, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., Kahu Alan Akana will be hosting a reception at Alan Akana Gallery (3281 Waikomo Road) for the release of the revised edition of The Volcano Is Our Home: Nine Generations of a Hawaiian Family on Kilauea Volcano. The Author’s Talk will be at 7:30. Signed copies of the book will be available for sale. The event will be a fundraiser for the Smith Memorial Parsonage And Church Buildings & Grounds. Parking is available at the gallery and at Koloa Union Church. For more information, call Alan Akana Gallery at 353-1347 or check out the gallery website at: www.alanakanagallery.com.
YOUTH BEACH DAY Our youth will be joining other young people from Kaua`i UCC churches on Saturday, May 27, at 9 a.m. to participate in a beach cleanup at Donkey Beach and then picnic and play time at Kealia Beach. Please see Kahu Akana if you did not receive the email with all of the details.
OFFICE CLOSED On Monday, May 29, for Memorial Day.
SALVATION ARMY LUNCH SERVING Our church will be serving lunch at Salvation Army in Hanapepe on Wednesday, May 31. A couple more volunteers are needed. Please contact Judyth Foley if you can help serve.
TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION! Join us on Pentecost Sunday, June 4, to celebrate the second anniversary of our capital campaign “Maika`i Hana Hou” (Creating Goodness & Beauty Once Again). We will celebrate our accomplishments during our MORING WORSHIP SERVICE at 10:30 and then move out to the lawn for an OLD-FASHIONED CHURCH PICNIC and POP-UP TALENT SHOW! Bakers are encouraged to sign up to bring a pie ahead of time and people who would like to share their talent can sign up on June 4th. We will also have special guests joining us for the celebration, including our Conference Minister, the Rev. Dr. Charles Buck. Come and celebrate all we have accomplished in the last two years! You are also invited to join us in our church tradition of wearing the color RED, which is the liturgical color of Pentecost.
STRENGTHEN THE CHURCH OFFERING On June 4 we will collect the special mission offering called “Strengthen the Church.” This is a special mission offering to reimagine and build the future of the United Church of Christ. Shared at the conference and national levels, STC largely supports youth ministries and full-time leaders for new churches in parts of the country where the UCC voice has not been heard. As God calls our congregations to be the church in new ways, your generosity will plant new churches, awaken new ideas in existing churches and develop the spiritual life in our youth and young adults.
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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“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 | May 25, 2017 | Message from Kahu
The Spirit of Truth
“This is the Spirit of Truth” (John 14:17)
On Sunday, I shared the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The shepherd boy of the village cried, “Wolf! Wolf!” from the top of a hill when there was no wolf. He then laughed at the villagers for rushing up the hill to protect the sheep of the village. It was so funny to the boy that he did it again the next day. After rushing up the hill twice, the people of the village had lost their trust in him. The next day a wolf actually came to the hill and attacked the sheep. When the boy cried out, “Wolf! Wolf!” the people ignored his pleas, as they figured he was just wanting to have another practical joke at their expense. After they realized that there really was a wolf, the shepherd boy asked them why they didn’t come and help him protect the sheep from the wolf, the village elder said to the boy, “It is hard to believe someone who doesn’t always tell the truth.”
Telling the truth is a basic virtue in all religions and cultures. In the Gospel of John, the words “truth” and “true” are found over forty times. It was very important to John to portray Jesus not only as someone who told the truth, but someone who actually embodied truth, who internalized it, who knew that the Spirit of truth was within him and his followers.
The Spirit of truth is within us as well. Imagine how our lives, our relationships, communities and world would be different if we paid attention to the Spirit of truth within us and within others.
May this week be a time where you embody truth as Jesus did. After all, you have the same Spirit within you!
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
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Click HERE to watch a video of Sunday’s sermon. Videos of Kahu’s sermons are available most weeks. Please share these videos with friends and invite them to church. You can also subscribe on YouTube anytime you watch a sermon; that way you can easily watch any past sermon and even receive a notification when a new sermon is posted.
“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 | May 16, 2017 | Message from Kahu
You Know the Way (John 14:1-14)
On Sunday, I shared with the congregation about several people who found the way against all odds and while facing seemingly unsurmountable challenges. My maternal grandmother Alice was one of those people. Wanting to be an expert in agricultural sciences was her dream as a young girl when she was growing up in rural Montana. Family and friends laughed at her because this was considered “man’s work,” and besides, she would have to go to college and get a degree in agriculture to achieve her goal, and a woman had never done that before, at least not in Montana. To make it even more challenging, there wasn’t even a high school within many miles of the small community of Rockvale where Alice grew up.
Alice, however, was determined to achieve her dreams. She left home at 14 to attend high school and then attended Montana State College (now University) in Bozeman in order to achieve her dream. The only problem was that no organization was willing to hire her after she graduated. It was so entrenched in the culture that agriculture was a “man’s work” that she couldn’t find employment even though she was better qualified than some of the men who did get the jobs.
Alice then met a handsome young man with a decent job, who made her all kinds of promises if she would marry him. About 5 years later, she found herself as a mother of three young children (my mother and two uncles) and married to a completely irresponsible alcoholic who spent most of his money on alcohol and gambling. Alice made clothespin bags in order to make a little money for food for her and the children, and made regular visits to the food bank.
One day, her husband took her for a ride and was in a bad car accident with a train. (Alice wondered for the rest of her life if driving under the influence of alcohol was the reason he didn’t look before crossing the train tracks.) Alice ended up in the hospital with a broken neck and burns all over her body. When she regained consciousness she remembered hearing the doctor tell her family that she would not survive.
I am astounded that my grandmother found her way…out of the hospital…back to college…raising her three children during the Depression…moving to Kauai as the University of Hawaii Extension Services Home Agent and 4H leader.
When Jesus’ disciple Thomas asked, “How can we know the way,” they were entering a fearful, anxious and uncertain time in their lives (and I’m pretty sure we have all been there at least once!). Jesus said in that same passage: “You know the way,” and “I am the way.” These two statements give me tremendous courage because I am reminded that I too know the way, and it is the person of Jesus. I many not know the destination or the path I might travel, but the way of Jesus is my way. It is the way of compassion, grace, light and wisdom. When I am being these things and trusting these things, I know that I am walking in the way of Jesus.
When you are walking through dark times, I invite you to look to Jesus—all that he was and is to this day—and walk in his way; and remember, his words to the disciples still ring true for us: “You know the way.”
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
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Videos of Kahu’s sermons are available most weeks. Please share these videos with friends and invite them to church. You can also subscribe to Kahu’s sermon page on YouTube; that way you can easily watch any past sermon and even receive a notification when a new sermon is posted.
“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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