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.
by admin | Jun 1, 2018 | Message from Kahu, Uncategorized
A Note from Kahu Alan Akana
“Trinity Sunday”
On Sunday, we celebrated the Holy Trinity, as we sang “Holy, Holy, Holy” and read from Isaiah and Revelation, where those words are proclaimed by heavenly beings in dreams. They are wild dreams filled with fear and wonder—like many of the dreams we have from time to time. I focused mostly on Isaiah’s dream in my message and shared with the congregation a bit of background in order to understand what might have been going on at the time Isaiah had his dream.
There are four messages that I believe Isaiah most likely understood from his dream.
- First of all, God is ultimately in control. Kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers, come and go. Some make big marks in history; others are forgotten in a generation or two. Some make the world a much better place; others seem to make a mess of everything they touch. Yet, after every leader moves on and every regime comes to an end, God remains.
- God is holy and is a mystery. Even when God reveals part of God’s self to us, there remains so much more about God that we don’t know. This ought to give us some degree of humility. It also ought to make us wary of leaders who think they have everything figured out or believe that they are above the rules that apply to everyone else.
- God forgives our sins and shortcomings. With a simple touch, Isaiah’s sins were blotted out—the moment he admitted his imperfections. Our sins disappear just as quickly, but it is important that we too are aware that we are far from perfect.
- God sends people out into the world to do the work of God. When God asked, “Whom shall I send? Who will go?”, Isaiah responded, “Here am I. Send me.” There is work for all of us to do—important work in the world. May we be just as quick as Isaiah to say, “Here am I. Send me.”
Be sure to watch the video of my sermon if you missed it on Sunday. I think this will help make sense of how I came up with these four messages. In the meantime, may God speak to you through your dreams, your conversations and your thoughts; and may you be ever mindful of God’s deep, deep love for you!
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 | May 23, 2018 | Message from Kahu
Pacific School of Religion
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A Note from Kahu Alan Akana
“Pentecost Sunday”
We had a wonderful celebration on Sunday! We read the story of Pentecost from the Book of Acts and I shared with the congregation some of the key lessons that I learned back when I was in seminary—lessons that came straight from the story of Pentecost!
- I learned the importance of “being together.” After Jesus’ ascension, the disciples were all together in one place. They knew the importance of community and supported one one another in their faith journeys.
- I learned the importance of acceptance and hospitality. All of the people who were visiting Jerusalem in the story heard the good news of Jesus in their own language. They didn’t need to learn a new language or way of being in the world in order to hear about Jesus or join the community of faith.
- Finally, I learned that God’s presence is abundant and real here and now. The Holy Spirit was poured out upon all flesh. God’s Spirit was not lightly sprinkled; it was poured out—and not just upon a few select people, but upon all.
These lessons and many others prepared me to be the pastor I was to become. I knew that it is good for us to be together—and a big part of my job was to make sure that it was good…and not just for people who speak my language and see the world like I do, but for everyone. If I can help people who come to church and who live in communities surrounding the church to see how God’s Spirit is abundant and alive within them and all around them, then I have done my job. If it were not for seminary, I would not have had the important training I received to be the pastor I am today.
I also shared on Sunday about my involvement with Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. As a Trustee of the school and the Chair of PSR’s Advancement Committee, I am committed to the well being of the school and making sure that it is well funded for years to come. Sunday was also “Seminary Sunday,” and I invited friends and visitors to consider a gift to Pacific School of Religion. Many people on Sunday stepped up to the plate and made a donation to PSR, and I thank you for your support! It means the world to me that you support the education and training of leaders for our churches’ future.
If you would still like to make a gift to Pacific School of Religion, please do so by the end of the month. You can drop off or send a check to the church office or make a donation on Sunday. Special “Pacific School of Religion” offering envelopes are available on the counter as you enter the sanctuary. Checks should be made out to “Koloa Union Church” with “PSR” in the note section.
Mahalo nui loa for your support of our church and Pacific School of Religion!
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
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JOIN US THIS WEEK FOR TRINITY SUNDAY!
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Music, Scripture, Liturgy and Message
Will Reflect Our Understanding Of
God as Holy Trinity
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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 | May 16, 2018 | Message from Kahu
RED is the Color of Pentecost!
A Note from Kahu Alan Akana
“Pentecost Sunday”
When the day of Pentecost had come they were all together in one place. (Acts 2:1)
Greetings from Berkeley, California! During the past two days, I have been attending the spring meeting of the Board of Trustees at Pacific School of Religion. I am excited to be part of this institution which has been preparing church and community leaders for over 150 years. When PSR began in 1866, it began training leaders in California and ever since has been one of the primary seminaries for training Congregationalist ministers (and now UCC ministers) west of the Mississippi River. I look forward to sharing with you on Sunday about some of my own seminary experiences as well as my involvement at PSR, including some of the highlights from the last two days.
On the day that became known as the Christian Pentecost, followers of Jesus all gathered together in one place. The Holy Spirit filled them and spoke through them to everyone around. As we celebrate the Day of Pentecost this coming Sunday, I am eager to see how God’s Spirit speaks to us and in the days to come how the Spirit speaks through us.
We also celebrate “Seminary Sunday” this week. You will have the opportunity during Sunday’s offering to make a gift to Pacific School of Religion in order to support the education and training of current and future church leaders. I support PSR with my regular contributions because I believe the future of the church depends on educating and training people to lead our churches. I invite you to join me in supporting PSR by making a donation this Sunday. Checks should be made to “Koloa Union Church” with “PSR” in the note section.
By the way, if you want to really get into the spirit of Pentecost, wear something RED this Sunday as we celebrate God’s Spirit in our midst!
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 sermon from two weeks ago; Kahu was away 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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