On Sunday, we read the Parable of the Great Banquet, in which Jesus surprised his listeners by telling of an emperor who invited people from the crossroads to a banquet celebrating the wedding of his son. The “crossroads” in those days was the place where the roads came together just outside the city. It’s where the “undesirable people” hung out: beggars, refugees, prostitutes, the sick, the poor. Jesus’ audience would have been shocked because these are not the kinds of people who are invited to the palace, especially not for a feast.
This story reminds us that all kinds of people are part of God’s great vision for the world, which I called on Sunday “an outrageous fantasy.” The shocking things that Jesus said would have sounded like a fantasy to the people living at that time. Imagine an emperor who loves you deeply, who considers your wellbeing with every word, action and policy decision in the empire. Those who do the emperor’s bidding carry forth his love throughout the empire. Everyone feels the love!
This still sounds like an outrageous fantasy today—whether the leader is a president, prime minister, or king. The Bible commentator Warren Carter writes in his book, Matthew and Empire:
Some might say that all of that is just a fantasy. Perhaps it is. I would suggest, though, that it is preferable to a fantasy of violence and domination.
His point is that we can choose the way of Jesus, which may be a fantasy. However, it is a fantasy that we turn into reality in a thousand ways. So why not come along and take part in this vision where everyone is loved and invited—including you?
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana _________________________________________________________
“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana”is provided most weeks by Koloa Union Church, an Open & Affirming (ONA) congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
To see a video of this week’s worship service, including the message, click HERE. You may see the Koloa Union Church YouTube channel to see previous worship services and many of Kahu’s past messages. You can 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.
You are welcome to join us on Sunday mornings! To see our Sunday morning schedule, click HERE.
Kahu Akana is also an accomplished artist! He specializes in creating vibrant watercolors of the flowers of Hawaii and hosts a Sunday afternoon reception in a gallery at his home, the Smith Memorial Parsonage. He also meets visitors by appointment. Most of the profit from the sales go for the maintenance and upkeep of the parsonage. To see a video about his art and gallery, click HERE. To see the gallery website, click HERE.
Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, “I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” (Isaiah 56:8)
Both our Old Testament and New Testament readings on Sunday (Isaiah 56 and Matthew 15) reminded us that God gathers people together from different cultures and backgrounds from all over the world. The texts also reminded us that we are all fully human and completely valuable in God’s eyes. As far as God is concerned, we are worth gathering! Most societies tend to label certain people as less than human, less valuable, less important, or less equal; and they tend to keep the “lesser thans” apart and separate. However, God sees us all as beloved children and delights in gathering people together who are different.
As I ponder this fact, I think that God must be very happy with our church. Our families originated from so many different parts of the world. We come from various religious backgrounds: Congregationalist, Presbyterian, Catholic, Mormon, Buddhist, and people who grew up with little to no religious heritage whatsoever. People of all different ages show up. In terms of political backgrounds, I am just guessing that close to half of us had parents who were Republicans and close to half had parents who were Democrats. Some of us have made lots of money in our careers and others have spent our lives just getting by from one paycheck to the next.
Just as God has gathered us all together—whether in person at the church or virtually over the internet via the Weekly News, email, virtual church breakfasts, or watching the weekly worship services online—God is still gathering! Isaiah recognized that God had gathered together the people of God, including “the outcasts of Israel,” and also heard the divine voice saying, “I will gather others to them, besides those already gathered.” May we too recognize that God has not only gathered us together but continues bringing others to us; and may we continue welcoming them with open arms and open hearts. And may God continue to delight in the diversity among us!
“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana”is provided most weeks by Koloa Union Church, an Open & Affirming (ONA) congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
To see a video of this week’s worship service, including the message, click HERE. You may see the Koloa Union Church YouTube channel to see previous worship services and many of Kahu’s past messages. You can 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.
You are welcome to join us on Sunday mornings! To see our Sunday morning schedule, click HERE.
Kahu Akana is also an accomplished artist! He specializes in creating vibrant watercolors of the flowers of Hawaii and hosts a Sunday afternoon reception in a gallery at his home, the Smith Memorial Parsonage. He also meets visitors by appointment. Most of the profit from the sales go for the maintenance and upkeep of the parsonage. To see a video about his art and gallery, click HERE. To see the gallery website, click HERE.
“Jesus saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.” (Matthew 14:14)
There has been a lot of grief going around during this pandemic which has touched all of our lives. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 14, Jesus sets a great example for us by both addressing his grief and acting upon opportunities for compassion all around him. The Scripture reading from Matthew focuses on Jesus feeding over 5,000 people (after healing them) and barely touches upon his grief. However, just a little bit of digging shows how deep his grief must have been. What we learn is that Jesus addressed his grief and did what he needed for healing to take place; and at the same time, he addressed the needs of the people around him because he saw their requests as opportunities rather than interruptions.
As I was watching the video of my message earlier today, I kept noticing the beautiful cross directly behind me made from Hawaiian koa by the local woodworker Frank Pullano. Within a few days after I told my mother that I had accepted the call to be the kahu at Kōloa Union Church back in 2014, she was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder. Two days after I moved into the parsonage, Mom found out that she only had a couple of months left because her cancer was very aggressive and was spreading quickly. I left a few days later to spend a week with her. It was the last time I saw her, as her death came quickly, as the doctor had said. In this time of grief, I wanted to do something for the church to honor her life—and my father’s life as well. I talked to Frank Pullano and he designed the cross specifically for the space in the church. I wanted to offer something to express how a simple symbol of grief—the cross of Jesus—can remind us that God understands our grief and at the same time add beauty to our worship services and sanctuary.
There are countless ways we can shift our perspective from interruption to opportunity. Whether the interruption is a global pandemic or someone popping in at an inconvenient time, opportunities abound. What gifts has God given you to share with others in your time of grief?
“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana”is provided most weeks by Koloa Union Church, an Open & Affirming (ONA) congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
To see a video of this week’s worship service, including the message, click HERE. You may see the Koloa Union Church YouTube channel to see previous worship services and many of Kahu’s past messages. You can 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.
You are welcome to join us on Sunday mornings! To see our Sunday morning schedule, click HERE.
Kahu Akana is also an accomplished artist! He specializes in creating vibrant watercolors of the flowers of Hawaii and hosts a Sunday afternoon reception in a gallery at his home, the Smith Memorial Parsonage. He also meets visitors by appointment. Most of the profit from the sales go for the maintenance and upkeep of the parsonage. To see a video about his art and gallery, click HERE. To see the gallery website, click HERE.
I am guessing that we have all been doing a lot of praying lately! There was Hurricane Douglas over the weekend, the ongoing pandemic, so many people without jobs, uncertainty about the reopening of schools, and constant reminders in the news about racism and other forms of injustice. The world certainly needs our prayers!
On Sunday, our keiki reminded us that prayer is not just “doing our religious duty,” but rather a conversation with God and an openness to God’s presence in our lives. Perhaps the most important thing I got out of Sunday’s worship service is that prayer can be a dangerous thing—it might even change you! It was a reminder that prayer can change other people but usually has the most impact on the one who is praying. What I mean by that is that I have the ability to change my attitudes, language, behavior, patterns, and so much more; and, especially with prayer, those things can change rather quickly and dramatically. If I want to change the world, I can best do so by changing the things in my own life that can help make the world a better place.
I invite you to pray in such a way that you might be changed—that God’s love and wisdom might transform your life, your relationships and how you relate to all of God’s creation. As you do so, know that I am praying for you as well, and trust that you continue praying for me and the church.
“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana”is provided most weeks by Koloa Union Church, an Open & Affirming (ONA) congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
To see a video of this week’s worship service, including the message, click HERE. You may see the Koloa Union Church YouTube channel to see previous worship services and many of Kahu’s past messages. You can 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.
You are welcome to join us on Sunday mornings! To see our Sunday morning schedule, click HERE.
Kahu Akana is also an accomplished artist! He specializes in creating vibrant watercolors of the flowers of Hawaii and hosts a Sunday afternoon reception in a gallery at his home, the Smith Memorial Parsonage. He also meets visitors by appointment. Most of the profit from the sales go for the maintenance and upkeep of the parsonage. To see a video about his art and gallery, click HERE. To see the gallery website, click HERE.
“Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
(Matthew 19:16)
On Sunday, Alan Potter delivered an inspirational message titled, “The Power of Privilege,” based upon the story in the Gospel of Matthew where a rich young man approaches Jesus and asks, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Alan showed us how this story is about privilege and the importance of recognizing it and “pouring it out” in order to usher in God’s reign on earth. I don’t want to say too much about Alan’s message, in case you are about to watch it online, but I will tell you that I have heard sermons on this passage probably dozens of times and Alan’s message offered the best explanation of the text that I can ever remember. So please watch it if you missed church on Sunday!
We have been hearing and reading a lot in the news lately about privilege and, in particular, “White privilege.” A friend of mine who has done a lot of reading and educating about privilege uses the phrase “dominant culture privilege,” for there are people in every culture who benefit from certain privileges who never stop to acknowledge any of them. In fact, they are so used to their privileges and take them for granted to the point that they don’t even see that they exist. However, the people without those privileges see them every day of their lives. That’s why I believe that if people with privileges want to actually see their privileges and understand how they benefit from them, they ought to ask people without those privileges to point them out. The problem is (as I have just mentioned), we have a hard time seeing our privileges at all and so we don’t even know who to ask!
What I have observed as the most effective catalysts for recognizing privileges is that people without privilege speak up, shout out, chant, write, and create art about the privileges they see. (By art, I mean all art: poetry, music, painting, acting, writing, producing film, and so much more.) That’s the only way people with privilege will ever see it. I don’t have to tell you that this is happening today. In fact, I see and hear and feel it every single day in the news, on social media, and in local and national conversations, as artists and activists alike are pointing to the privileges they don’t have and others do. Perhaps the most important things for those with privilege to do is to pay attention and ask God for an open heart and mind with humility in order that we might see what others see. Along these lines, Alan said these words at the close of his message: “I challenge you, as you go through your week, to ask God to show you what ways you hold privilege and in what ways can you give it away.” I hope we all will do just that.
“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana”is provided most weeks by Koloa Union Church, an Open & Affirming (ONA) congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
To see a video of this week’s message, click HERE. 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.
You are welcome to join us on Sunday mornings! To see our Sunday morning schedule, click HERE.
Kahu Akana is also an accomplished artist! He specializes in creating vibrant watercolors of the flowers of Hawaii and hosts a Sunday afternoon reception in a gallery at his home, the Smith Memorial Parsonage. He also meets visitors by appointment. Most of the profit from the sales go for the maintenance and upkeep of the parsonage. To see a video about his art and gallery, click HERE. To see the gallery website, click HERE.
“But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:23)
On Sunday, I shared with the congregation about two spectacular gardens I visited in southern France during my sabbatical last year. The first was Boissonna Garden, a stunning rose garden which I described as “rose crazy.” It seemed that every color of rose imaginable was there. In the little café, they offered rose petal tea, rose-flavored ice cream, rose-shaped scones served with rose petal preserves and clotted cream—all made on the premises or locally. The gift shop sold rose soaps, lotions, oils, photos, and much more. However, the reason people go there is to wander among the beautiful roses. The second was Coursiana Gardens, which includes an arboretum and botanical gardens, on a spectacular estate overlooking a small lake and a two-towered 14th-century stone church in the distance. Coursiana also has stunning displays of roses, but many other varieties of flowering plants and trees as well. Since my description cannot do justice to either of these places, I included some photos of Boissanna above and Coursiana below.
In my message, I talked about Jesus’ Parable of the Sower and how good soil brings about remarkable growth from tiny seeds. He explained to his disciples that the seed is each “word of the kingdom,” or a description of God’s grand and wonderful vision for the world where everyone matters and no one is left out when it comes to food, healthcare, and belonging—where God’s deep love and abundant life are for everyone, including those on the margins of society. The soil is the human heart, and when our hearts are open to receiving the “word of the kingdom,” then we are able to hear and actually listen; and we are able to see and actually perceive.
What might you do this week to make your heart that good, rich soil where the “word of the kingdom” can take root, grow within you and produce many more seeds to be shared with the world?
“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana”is provided most weeks by Koloa Union Church, an Open & Affirming (ONA) congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
To see a video of this week’s message by Kahu Akana, click HERE. 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.
You are welcome to join us on Sunday mornings! To see our Sunday morning schedule, click HERE.
Kahu Akana is also an accomplished artist! He specializes in creating vibrant watercolors of the flowers of Hawaii and hosts a Sunday afternoon reception in a gallery at his home, the Smith Memorial Parsonage. He also meets visitors by appointment. Most of the profit from the sales go for the maintenance and upkeep of the parsonage. To see a video about his art and gallery, click HERE. To see the gallery website, click HERE.
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