by admin | Aug 14, 2018 | Message from Kahu
“Who Is Wise and Understanding?”
Who is wise and understanding among you?
Show by your good life that your works are done
with gentleness born of wisdom.
The wisdom from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
(James 3:13,17)
On Sunday morning, I reflected with the congregation upon one of my favorite movies of all time: Forrest Gump. I’ve watched it more times than I can count, and each time I find myself thinking very, very deep thoughts about some of life’s simplest and most important things. Forrest was given the label “stupid” as a child. He also had a badly curved spine, which caused him to wear metal leg braces, and so he couldn’t walk like the other children at school. To say that he was teased and tormented would be a gross understatement. Fortunately, Forrest had a mother who loved him unconditionally and saw the potential in him. She made sure he stayed in his regular school and she constantly encouraged him to be and do his best.
For me, one of the most profound scenes was when Forrest’s mother was at home on her deathbed. Forrest first asks, “What’s the matter, Momma?”
She replies: “I’m dying Forrest.”
“Why are you dying, momma?”
“It’s my time; it’s just my time…. Don’t you be afraid sweetheart. Death is just a part of life, something we are all destined to do…. I happen to believe that you make your own destiny. You have to do your best with what God gave you.”
“What’s my destiny, momma?”
“You’re gonna have to figure that out for yourself…. Life is a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you’re gonna get.”
Forrest then says, “Momma always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.”
Another character in the story who had a profound influence on Forrest’s life is his friend Dan, who was his lieutenant in Vietnam. Dan’s philosophy on life is a bit more grim than Momma Gump. At first, he thinks his destiny is to die as a soldier in the war. He came from a proud military family and had ancestors who died in every previous US war; he considers them heroes and plans to join them. This would be a noble and courageous death; and his family would be so proud of him. Yet, thanks to Forrest, he doesn’t die; he is severely injured and it looks as if he will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. His idea of destiny develops into this: we all just kind of float through life and land accidentally in different places beyond our control.
Perhaps my favorite quote of the entire movie was when Forrest was at his wife Jenny’s graveside just after she died. Jenny was Forrest’s childhood friend and his life-long love. Here is what Forrest said to Jenny as she lay buried below his feet: “I don’t know if momma put it right or it’s Lieutenant Dan; I don’t know if we each have a destiny or if we’re all just floating around accidental like on a breeze; but I think maybe it’s both; maybe both are happening at the same time.”
Listening to such deep wisdom made me ponder the truth of that statement. On the one hand, there is so much that seems outside of our control as we move along our journeys through life:
- We don’t get to choose what our IQ will be.
- We don’t get to choose if we are born with athletic or awkward bodies.
- We don’t get to choose if our families love and support us or are constantly trying to change us into being something we are not and doing thing with our lives that we have no inclination in doing.
- We don’t get to choose if we are born into wealth or poverty.
On the other hand, there are so many things in our lives that we do get to choose, especially what we do with the hand we are dealt.
- We all get to choose whether we live with gratitude for our blessings or with complaining that there are others who have more than us.
- We all get to choose whether we allow compassion and kindness to fill our hearts or fear and judgment.
- We all get to choose whether we will overcome our challenges or let them define us and become in our minds larger than they really are.
- We all get to choose whether we place our trust in God or in things that will constantly disappoint us.
The beauty of the movie is that Forrest seemed to understand the things he couldn’t change and the things he could, and because of that he created a beautiful life for himself and for the people around him.
All three of Sunday’s Scriptures reflected on wisdom (Proverbs 2: 1-10, James 1: 5-8 and 3:13, 17; Matthew 13:54-58). I invite you to take a look at my message and reflect on those Scriptures for yourself.
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 | Aug 1, 2018 | Message from Kahu
“Make a Joyful Noise”
O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into God’s presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to God with songs of praise!
(Psalm 95)
On Sunday morning, I told the congregation about a special song that comes from a special place. “Mokuhulu” is a song about four beautiful villages along the Puna Coast on Hawai`i Island—the home of my ancestors and a place I have visited many times. When I first read the English translation of the song, I felt like I was there, for I could not only see the place in my mind; I could also smell the seaweed…and taste the coconut…and feel the rain and the water on my skin…and hear the music! Here is an English translation of the song:
Mokuhulu in the shade of the breadfruit
And coconut trees / This verdant home
Of rain-rustled lehua–of the lehua flower
Kaimu in the fragrance of delicious seaweed
In the sweet song of the sea–
This ocean home on the hilled-up sand
Kalapana, the coconut trees
Bent low for Queen Emma
This place well-known to visitors
Kapa`ahu, this pool for swimming
This tingling-cold water
So thrilling to the touch
To sing the summary refrain from Puna
Comes the fragrance
That is carried here to me
I have visited all of the places that are mentioned in the song as a child and a young adult. Except for just a small part of Kaimu, all of the rest of these villages are buried under lava. Yet, all of those places remain in my memory and they remain in the song; and because of memory and song, all of those places still remain for me.
Music has always played an important part in Hawaiian culture; it has also played a huge part in the Judeo-Christian heritage, mentioned in both testaments. It is music that keeps us close to God, one another and the rest of the world. May we open our hearts and our very lives to the music all around us.
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 | Jul 26, 2018 | Message from Kahu
“A Leader Is Like a Shepherd”
Nelson Mandela
“I Am The Good Shepherd”
(John 10:11)
On Sunday morning, I quoted Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa, who was born 100 years ago:
“A leader…is like a shepherd.
He stays behind the flock,
letting the most nimble go out ahead,
whereupon the others follow,
not realizing that all along they are
being directed from behind.”
What a humble, yet profound and enlightening way to understand leadership: allowing the most talented people who have special gifts and abilities to lead the way. I shared about Mandela’s life, teachings and legacy, including his commitment to make life better for all people in South Africa—a commitment that was so firm that he was willing to die for it.
In this morning’s Gospel reading, Jesus called himself, “the Good Shepherd,” and his way of understanding shepherding seems to resonate with the life and words of Nelson Mandela.
- First of all, Jesus said that he, as the Good Shepherd, came to bring abundant life to all of the sheep. And we know from the Gospels that he meant all of the sheep, not just a handful of them, or just the best looking ones, or the ones who looked most like him.
- Secondly, Jesus said that the Good Shepherd has such great care and concern for his sheep that he lays down his life for them. Jesus was willing to lay down his life and die for the good of humanity—and he did exactly that.
- Finally, Jesus not only saw himself as the Shepherd, but also the gate. Switching metaphors as quickly as anything else, Jesus didn’t need to be the key figure that was always in the spotlight. He was just as happy being the gate!
May we all appreciate the leadership of Jesus in his time in our own time, and may we seek to model our own forms of leadership after his.
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 | Jul 18, 2018 | Message from Kahu
“A Dancing Savior”
By Cosmo Sarson
“We played the flute for you and you didn’t dance.”
(Matthew 11:17)
On Sunday morning, I talked about dance as an important part of spirituality for many cultures and religious traditions—including Christianity. I read a poem called “Lord of the Dance,” by Jennifer Lynn Woodruff.* Here is the poem she wrote, speaking of Jesus:
He was the Word, a wild and dancing Word,
before the world began; he danced in flame,
and galaxies were born, and songs became
the sinew of our bones, and he was Lord.
He danced in bread and wine, and in the bright
blue fountains of the Water of our birth,
and all the bells rang, and along the earth
the incense of a prayer rose, fresh and light.
He danced in speech, in names that had a power,
in dreams with symbols vibrant and unknown,
and all that was and is and is to come
was whole in grace and worship in that hour.
But we have fenced him in and tied him down;
we think he comes as words and not as Word,
as only what we prove, what we have heard—
not seen, not tasted, and therefore not found.
We preach a thousand sermons, and we lift
a thousand prayers in motions memorized,
and stumble home and have not realized:
the dance is mind and heart—the dance is gift.
He seeks us in the bread we fear to break,
the banners that we lift with trembling hand,
the images we fail to understand,
the steps in God’s strange dance we fear to take.
He is the Word, a wild and dancing Word;
he sings; his joy is fierce, his longing deep.
He calls us from ourselves and bids us weep
and dance and worship him, for he is Lord.
The photo above is actually a giant mural painted on the side of a building in Bristol, England. It seems that people all over the world imagine Jesus as a dancing Savior. There are many stories of people finding healing, wholeness, abundant life, and a closer relationship to God through dancing not only for Jesus but with him. Perhaps there is a dance for you to participate in right now.
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
*In my sermon, I incorrectly gave credit to Laurie Beth Jones for this poem. She did write about dance and the importance of recognizing that Jesus dances with everyone—even the people in the shadows…the ones nobody else wishes to dance with. My apologies for the mistake.—AA
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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 | Jul 7, 2018 | Message from Kahu
“Countercultural Community”
“Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you.”
(Luke 6:27, 28)
Sometimes being a follower of Jesus looks very different from the culture around us. The core message of Jesus sometimes sounds very different from the core messages of our leaders in government, media and even religion. I shared with the congregation on Sunday about a book I read shortly after its release in 1989 called Resident Aliens: A Provocative Christian Assessment of Culture and Ministry for People Who Know that Something is Wrong. The authors, Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, explained that the Christian Church, as a countercultural community, ought to look quite different from the rest of the world around us; and our job is not to “fit in” but to “be” the people who follow the teachings and practices of Jesus. When I look at the words of Jesus, such as, “Love your enemies,” “Do good to those who hate you,” and “Bless those who curse you,” this indeed is different from how others around us act and different from the messages we sometimes here from our leaders.
Every now and then, I hear someone using the Bible, quoting Jesus, Paul and others, in order to promote an agenda that seems to go against the overall message of the Bible and the core message of Jesus, which is to love God, ourselves and our neighbors (including our enemies and the people with whom we disagree) as ourselves. This happened last month when the U.S. Attorney General and the White House Press Secretary quoted Romans 13, when asked about the policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Attorney General quoted the Apostle Paul: “to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them….” When questioned about the same policy, the Press Secretary stated: “It is very biblical to enforce the law. That is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible.”
The passage referred to by both is quoted without referring to the context. Here are some of the words directly before the quoted passage:
- Let love be genuine.
- Love one another with mutual affection.
- Outdo one another in showing honor.
- Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
- Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.
- Do not claim to be wiser than you are.
- If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
- Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Here are some of the words directly after the quoted passage:
- Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
- The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
I find it disturbing that two of the most visible leaders in our country quoted a very short part of our Christian scriptures in order to perform one of the most painful actions imaginable upon children and their parents, when that particular passage is surrounded by so much love! I know that we may all disagree with each other on immigration policy. We may disagree on the means and the ends of what we want and consider good and right, but let us at least remember that when we quote any of the Scriptures, the passage is surrounded by love, love, and even more love.
And so, may we love our enemies. May we love those who disagree with us politically. May we love the families at our borders. May we do our best to love everyone.
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 | Jun 27, 2018 | Message from Kahu
“Seven Generations”
“My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who will believe
in me through their message.”
(John 17:20)
In some Native American tribes, when the elders are confronted with a very important major decision, they they imagine that there are children sitting in front of them—children from 7 generations in the future. They ask themselves how their decisions might impact these children. From a bit of reading I have done on American indigenous people, I would imagine they would ask themselves such questions as:
- Is the wellbeing of these children truly being considered?
- Will the land and the water provide for their needs?
- Will the children look back and be grateful for the decision?
The elders make their decisions only after imagining how the children will impacted 7 generations later.
I shared this story with the congregation on Sunday and also stated that Jesus understood the importance of the idea of looking ahead. In his prayer for his disciples, he prayed for all future disciples as well. This is actually a prayer that Jesus prayed for us! So it is important to ask ourselves what it is that Jesus wanted for us. In a sentence, what Jesus wanted for us is that we would be one through God’s deep and unconditional love.
Just imagine what our world would be like today if people seven generations ago acted in love for us and made every decision based upon the same kind of love that God has for all people! Just imagine what our world can be like seven generations from now if we can all begin to love the children who will be our great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren! Let us indeed imagine such a world…and make decisions knowing that it is possible!
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.
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