“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.
In this week’s Scripture reading (Acts 1:1-11), the resurrected Jesus ascended into heaven, leaving the disciples staring up into the clouds. I can relate to their experience, as I become easily mesmerized by beautiful clouds. I love walking along the beach at sunset and feeling a sense of awe when the sky changes into a hundred shades of pink, orange, peach and purple. I also love looking out from airplane windows when the clouds look like a million acres of pure cotton. There are times when it is difficult to lower my gaze and look anywhere else—and I give thanks for that!
The disciples were not just mesmerized by the clouds but what they had seen happening in them. Jesus had risen before their eyes and disappeared into the clouds. I am quite sure that I would be staring right along with them! However, the time had come for them to stop looking up and begin looking down all around them. God sent a couple of angels to help them pry their gaze from the heavens so that they would begin looking around the earth and get to work being the witnesses of Jesus that he had called them to be.
This is a good reminder for all of us during the coronavirus pandemic to not only look to the heavens for God’s help, but also to look around and see what God is doing among us and join in to the gracious and transforming work of God.
In this week’s message, I share about some of my own experiences of looking up and looking down, and looking up again and then back down once more. It seems that this pattern of up and down is a part of our spiritual growth and development. I trust that you find encouragement and strength in this practice as we celebrate the Ascension of Christ.
“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.
I am amazed at how much we all still seem to do and accomplish among all the changes over the past month and a half, especially while adhering to social distancing guidelines! At Koloa Union Church, our Deacons meet online almost every Sunday in order to check in with each other, talk about those in our congregation who have needs and how we might assist them, review the online worship service for the day, and discuss anything that has to do with worship, including preparations for reopening the church when the time comes. On Mondays or Tuesdays, I typically meet with our Administrative Assistant Penny Osuga on the phone to talk about everything that needs to happen during the week and also begin preparing my message and the worship plans for the following Sunday. On Wednesday afternoon, just about the time I have finished everything for recording the worship service the next morning, I participate in a weekly meeting with our Conference Minister, David Popham, along with other pastors and church leaders in Hawaii, for support and guidance during the days of COVID-19. On Thursdays, I meet with Chris Sweitzer at the church to video-record the worship service for the following Sunday. On Fridays, I review the entire worship service, and sometimes make suggestions for changes to Chris in order to have it all done and ready to send to you on Saturdays. Once it is all done, I double-check the order of worship; then Penny proofreads the bulletin and attached information by the end of the day on Saturday so that you can have it before Sunday morning. A good portion of most afternoons I spend checking in with church members and committee chairs, answering emails and returning phone calls.
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Taking Care of Myself
What I found during these very full weeks since we have moved to online worship services is that Friday and Saturday no longer work for my days off, at least not for most weeks. So I have begun taking Mondays off whenever possible and then doing my best to take “a full-days worth” of downtime over the weekend, which typically is a half-day on Saturday and a half-day on Sunday but with flexibility depending on the needs of the church. One of the early messages we pastors and other church leaders in the Hawaii Conference of the United Church of Christ heard from David Popham is: “Please do not burn out during this time. If you don’t pace yourself and therefore experience a major burnout, you won’t be of any use to your congregation at all by the end of the pandemic.” I have been adhering to his advice by having weekly downtime, exercising regularly, watercoloring most days and spending time with my son Palani and his girlfriend Isobel, who have been living with me for the past month and a half.
I was planning on being in Berkeley this past weekend for the spring meeting of the Board of Trustees at Pacific School of Religion. Needless to say, I did not attend in person, but participated in a day-long online meeting on Monday, May 11. That day happens to be Palani’s birthday, so we spent some time after my meeting celebrating his special day!
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Reopening Plans
Another area where I am beginning to spend a significant amount of time is on our plans to reopen our church facility. The Hawaii Conference strongly urges congregations to put a team together for this purpose. Michael Horning, Penny Osuga, Penny Jessup, and I are the team that will be putting together the plan by addressing certain questions, which will include the following:
Church Office: What needs to happen before the office is open to the public and what will the guidelines be for staff and those visiting?
Outside Groups: What needs to happen before we allow other groups to use our facilities and what will their guidelines be?
Worship Service: What needs to happen before we can worship again in our sanctuary and what will the guidelines be for all who attend? When and how can we safely celebrate Holy Communion again?
Kitchen and Dining: What needs to happen before we can safely prepare food and eat together again in Moore Hall and what will the guidelines be for all who attend?
Communication: How will we let people know the reopening dates and the guidelines? How will we post these guidelines on the premises?
Although we have not picked a date yet to reopen, it will likely be the end of May or early June at the earliest. Our primary concern is the overall wellbeing of everyone who visits the church, including their safety and health. We will be paying close attention to recommendations from our Governor, Mayor and Conference Minister. The committee will report to both the Deacons and the Church Council, and we will let you know right away as important decisions are made.
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No Newsletter for May
Penny Osuga and I talked around the middle of April and decided to not mail a newsletter for May. There simply was so little additional news to share this month that it didn’t make sense to put in the time and spend money on production and mailing. However, we wanted everyone to know we are still thinking of you, so we sent out a postcard last week to everyone on our mailing list to remind you that we are still sharing aloha with everyone even during these strange days of social distancing and worshiping online. We will also printed off major portions of the Weekly E-news and mailed them to our members who do not have computers or are unable to get our news electronically or watch our online services.
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Good-bye to Kathleen and Chris
Last, but not least, Kathleen Dahill submitted her letter of resignation as Music Director, effective June 1. Also, her talented husband, Chris Sweitzer, will be leaving us at that time as our videographer and sound technician as well. They desire to pursue new directions in their lives and also be available for family needs on the mainland. Fortunately, they will both be available to assist us if we are still worshiping online after June 1. They requested that we not have a public expression of gratitude for their service. However, our Deacons agree that we want to offer a token of thanks and have chosen a meaningful gift which I will present to them at the end of the month. We will miss their over-the-top talent, joyful presence, and contagious smiles, and wish them well in their new endeavors. We have truly been blessed by their ministry among us!
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In Closing…
So, now you know what’s been going on in the day-to-day life of the church and some of the changes that have taken place in recent weeks. No doubt, you too have been experiencing changes in your life. May you deeply feel God’s loving presence, the grace of Jesus and joy of the Holy Spirit as you live through those changes. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to call me if you want to talk, or text or email me if you want to send me a note or information about something that is important to 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 a recent 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.
In my message on Sunday, I talked about a phrase I recently heard for the first time: “a strange intimacy.” Dr. Susan Abraham, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean at Pacific School of Religion, used those words to describe what was happening among faculty and students. During these days of sheltering in place and online classes, there is a strange intimacy happening at the school. It is also happening in my life and, I’m guessing, all over the world. People are feeling especially close to others but in a strange new way. I am sure some of this is because many of us long for the presence of others—something we have taken for granted our entire lives; and now that we are unable to have that which we desire, we value it all the more.
Jesus’ disciples were also experiencing a strange intimacy in the early days after the resurrection. In fact, before any of them had encountered the risen Jesus, they were still gathering together and talking about him. Gathering together in community in his name was very different than it was before the crucifixion, but it was still happening. Yet, when Jesus showed up, the disciples had a hard time recognizing him. Jesus showed up in their midst unexpected and unrecognizable!
I wonder how Jesus is showing up among us in unexpected and unrecognizable ways—perhaps even in shocking ways. He shows up as a refugee, an immigrant, an addict, and a great-grandmother who is especially vulnerable to COVID-19. He shows up over and over again and we fail to recognize him.
I trust when we look back on this time that we will remember the strange intimacy that has taken place; and we will remember not only the loved ones we realized we had taken for granted but we will also remember the strangers in our midst and in the world as well, along with a new and strange intimacy that was enlarged during these strange days filled with wonders as well as challenges.
I look forward to our next online worship service on Sunday!
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 a recent 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.
In my message on Sunday, I referred to Malcolm Gladwell’s most recent book, Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know. Gladwell states that human beings naturally default to truth. In other words, most of the time we trust what people are saying unless we have a reason to believe otherwise. People tell us things every day and almost all of those things are true. “We default to truth…because we have no choice. Society cannot function otherwise,” writes Gladwell. Can you imagine what life would be like if we had serious doubts about every statement you heard every day? Imagine how much time and energy it would take to verify every single thing you hear. We simply cannot function like that.
On the other hand, there are people who lie on a regular basis. Gladwell tells his readers that we should listen to people who point out these lies. We should also pay attention to the signs that someone may not be telling the truth. For example, if you know that someone has lied to you, then you may want to check out the validity of their next statement. Furthermore, if there is someone who is normally trustworthy but their claim just sounds too unbelievable to be true, then you ought to check it out.
Thomas, Jesus’ disciple who did just that, has been criticized for 2,000 for doubting that Jesus rose from the dead. Yet, a closer look at the Gospels shines a much kinder light on Thomas. He was one of Jesus’ most devoted followers and would have laid down his life for him. However, when the other disciples told him that Jesus rose from the dead, well that just sounded to preposterous to believe without checking it out for himself. He basically told the others, “I will believe it when I see it with my own eyes”—and that’s exactly what happened. When the resurrected Jesus appeared to him, he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”
I pointed out that the noun “belief” shows up only once in the entire Bible (Revised Standard Version) but the verb “believe” (including “believes” and “believed”) shows up in 257 verses in the New Testament alone; and the book with most of the verses with that word is the Gospel of John. According to John, believing was extremely important to Jesus; and apparently, the quality of believing was way more important than the individual beliefs—otherwise, I think Jesus would have said the word “belief” at least once. I wonder what our world would be like today if Christians everywhere followed the example of John by emphasizing the quality of believing, in other words, believing with integrity, authenticity and compassion, believing in ways that enrich our lives, our relationships, and our communities.
For Jesus, the key was believing that, whoever you are, you matter to God; and whoever else is in the world, others matter to God. Let’s embrace these two beliefs and consider that possibly all other beliefs fall into place when we do.
I look forward to our next online worship service on Sunday!
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
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“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 a recent 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.
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
and others cut branches from the trees
and spread them on the road.
The crowds that went ahead of him and
that followed were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
(Matthew 21:8-9)
In my message on Palm Sunday, I talked about what was going on as Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey while people shouted “hosanna.” That word comes from the Hebrew word which means “save us now,” or “save us, we pray.” As Jesus moved toward the temple, the symbolism would not have been lost on Matthew’s first readers. The temple held the power in the land—not just religious power, but political and economic power as well. Those who were leaders in the temple were servants of Rome. This is significant, as Warren Carter explains in his book Matthew and Empire, because Matthew’s Gospel presents Jesus as the courageous and clearly-focused man who squarely looks at the authority of the Roman Empire and cries out a resounding “no” to all that it stands for—including its underlying values and privileges, its politics and its economic structures—and then presents an alternative vision for the world. According to Rome, there were certain people who mattered and others who were expendable. Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, we see Jesus proclaiming that everyone matters.
Matthew is suggesting that Jesus was there to save people from the empire, including its values, structures, and the false assumption that some people matter and others do not. Furthermore, as Jesus enters the temple (according to Matthew, the first thing Jesus does when he dismounts the donkey), he overturns tables and casts out those participating in an unjust economy. He does this to make room for those for whom the temple was built: those who wish to pray, those who want to see, those desiring to be healed and made whole.
The story of Palm Sunday is a radical political challenge to empires who act as if some people do not matter. It is also a challenge to religious institutions who go along with such empires. The story is a call to act as if everyone matters. May we challenge all such empires and their assumption that some people matter and others do not, and that some people are more important than others.
During these strange days of isolation and sheltering in place, please know that you matter to God. I invite you to let someone know today that they matter too. You can do this with your words and your actions.
I invite you to view the video of Sunday’s worship service to learn more.
I look forward to our next online worship service on Easter Sunday!
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 a recent 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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