by admin | Apr 11, 2018 | Message from Kahu
“The Goodness of Light and Dark”
On Sunday, I shared with the congregation some of the things I enjoyed most about Barbara Brown Taylor’s book Learning to Walk in the Dark. She writes about the bad rap “darkness” gets in our culture and churches: “I cannot remember the last time I heard anyone use ‘dark’ to describe something good.” Just think about the ways we use “dark” in our language. When someone says, “I am in a dark place in my life right now,” it is definitely not a good place to be! If someone says “I have been having dark thoughts,” these are certainly not good or happy thoughts. Our Scriptures generally refer to darkness in a negative light as well.
However, Barbara Brown Taylor points out that many stories in the Bible describe really good things happening in the darkness. It was at night that God led Abraham outside his tent and told him to look up in the sky; God then told Abraham to count the stars and said, “So shall your descendants be.” The promise of our Judeo-Christian heritage began in the dark! Furthermore, the author goes onto say that Joseph in the Old Testament had dreams at night which led him to saving his large, extended family, which eventually became the Jewish people. The amazing dreams which turned into reality happened in the dark! Finally, Jesus rose from the dead in the darkness of a cave at night. The list goes on…. Darkness is not such a bad thing after all. In fact, many good things happen in the dark!
I wrapped up my message by sharing a painting of Koki`o `Ula, the brilliant red hibiscus in the picture above. As an artist, darkness and shadows are my friends. They are absolutely necessary to create a painting that is three-dimensional, alive and beautiful. Imagine this painting without any darkness on the petals and leaves or in the background. I need darkness and shadows to paint a flower that is alive. We all need darkness and shadows to live. In fact, whether we realize it or not, darkness is as much a part of our lives as light and color. Perhaps we can accept the darkness in our lives and all around us when we realize that God is there as well.
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
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Our Kahu (Pastor) offers a weekly message in church most Sundays during the year. 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 | Apr 5, 2018 | Message from Kahu, Uncategorized
“A Very Special Week Indeed!”
I told you it was going to be a very special week!
Our Maundy Thursday Communion Service was a meaningful time of reflecting on Jesus’ last supper with his disciples; the choir made the service “extra special!” Easter Egg Decorating and lunch is always a favorite time of the year for our keiki, and this year was no exception, along with a new way of decorating eggs with shaving cream! The Good Friday Lectio Divina Service was meaningful as well, as we pondered the suffering of Jesus and love of God. At the Holy Saturday Labyrinth Walk, we learned about labyrinths, focused on “the in between day” between crucifixion and resurrection—a day of waiting, wondering, praying, hoping—and then walked the labyrinth on the church lawn. (And, yes, the labyrinth is still drying out!) The community Easter Sunrise Service was my favorite one so far—partly because of the lively music, which Doug Duvauchelle participated in, and also because of the beautiful hula by Rose Warken Ceballos (just as the sun was rising over the horizon on Easter morning!). During the Easter Worship Service, we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus by remembering that there truly is life after death—with wonderful music by our choir and dancing once again by Rose…and a visit by the movie star Sigourney Weaver! (I can’t believe I shook her hand and wished her a “Happy Easter” without recognizing her!) The Easter Egg Hunt and Picnic at the parsonage was well-attended and fun as always!
One of the things I noticed during Holy Week is that we had visitors attend every single one of our services this past week (some from just down the street and one family who drove all the way from Kapa`a). When I asked our visitors how they found out about us and how they chose to come to church here, they all said either they found us through our website or they saw our sign as they drove past. I was especially pleased when the couple from Kapa`a said that they checked out a bunch of church websites, but they watched a few of my sermons online and that’s what made them decide to drive here from Kapa`a!
I am grateful to everyone who made a gift to ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING! The money given to the collection enables our church to share God’s love with people in need around the world by providing relief to those affected by natural disasters, provide food to the hungry and help empower the poor and oppressed. On Sunday, the children began bringing their OGHS coin boxes, and continue doing so during the next couple weeks. If anyone else would like to make a gift to OGHS, please use the OGHS offering envelopes available at church or write a check to “Koloa Union Church” with “OGHS” in the note section. Thank you for your generous gifts!
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
_________________________________
Our Kahu (Pastor) offers a weekly message in church most Sundays during the year. 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 | Mar 26, 2018 | Message from Kahu
“Holy Week and Easter”
Our children kicked off Holy Week with a very special Palm Sunday presentation called “The Colors of Easter.” I am so proud of our keiki, who are talented, articulate, and eager to participate in worship!
Every year, we spend time during Holy Week to reflect upon the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is a special time to celebrate, remember, mourn and discover hope which is always in our midst because of God’s eternal love which can never be taken away from us.
We have a very meaningful week of events planned for people of all ages and ways of being spiritual and celebrating the traditions of this special season of the year. Please check out the Weekly News of the Church for all of the details. I hope you will join us for any of the events this week which you might find meaningful and enjoyable…and bring a friend!
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
__________________________________
Our Kahu (Pastor) offers a weekly message in church most Sundays during the year. 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 | Mar 21, 2018 | Message from Kahu
“The State of Your Heart”
On Sunday, I shared the story of how I came across the book, To Bless the Space between Us: A Book of Blessings, by the late John O’Donohue. This is the book we have been using as a guide throughout Lent this year in our worship services and on Wednesday evenings for our time of reflection and discussion. I also read a quote from the introduction:
It would be lovely if we could rediscover our power to bless one another. I believe each of us can bless. When a blessing in invoked, it changes the atmosphere….In the light and reverence of blessing, a person or situation becomes illuminated in a completely new way…. Let us begin to learn how to bless one another.
As we continue to learn how to bless one another, our theme on Sunday was “The State of Your Heart.” We spent time considering where our hearts were at and how we might bless our own hearts, as well as the hearts of others. We read the following words of Jesus in the Gospel of John, chapter 14: “Do not let your hearts be troubled; neither let them be afraid.” As we considered how we might rid our hearts of anxiety and fear, I mentioned that the beginning of the process is found in that same chapter. I pointed out the theme of welcome and hospitality: Jesus is in the Father; the disciples are in Jesus and he is in them; furthermore, the Holy Spirit will be in them as well. Miroslav Volf, a Croatian theologian wrote about this idea of the “interiority of personhood,” whereby a distinct person is welcome into the space, life or heart of another distinct person. It involves accepting the other person as he or she is; and it involves trust; and just as the three persons of the Trinity have this kind of relationship, so do we, not only with God but with others as well! When this is who we are being, anxiety and fear eventually disappear, because whatever else happens in our lives, we know that we are loved and accepted as we are!
In closing, I ended my message with three blessings, the final one being one that I wrote for the people of Koloa Union Church (members and visitors alike):
May you know at the very core of your being that God adores you and delights in you.
May all of your fears dissolve, for God is in you…and you are in God.
May peace fill your hearts and flow over into the lives of everyone you encounter today.
May your hearts invite and welcome others in, just as other hearts invite and welcome you.
And may your hearts always make room for the things in this world that are beautiful.
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
__________________________________
Our Kahu (Pastor) offers a weekly message in church most Sundays during the year. Click HERE to see a video of this week’s message. You may also 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 | Mar 13, 2018 | Message from Kahu
Time on Hawai`i Island
I began last week by flying to Kona on Monday morning to the annual Hawai`i Conference (United Church of Christ) Clergy Retreat. Whenever I attend this event, I find something inspirational and something new to learn. I was especially encouraged to gather with colleagues and Cynthia Scherr, the consultant whom the Conference hired to lead us in creating a strategic plan for us all. The strategic planning committee is considering a new mission statement and vision, as well as areas of focus so that our efforts and budget of our Conference might clearly reflect our values as the people of the Hawai`i Conference– for we are the Conference! On Tuesday, March 13, Cynthia will be joining us at Koloa Union Church to hear our thoughts and the thoughts of people on Kaua`i regarding vision, mission and priorities.
After three days at the clergy retreat, I headed up to Volcano for some hiking, visiting friends, reading, and searching for new flowers. I intend to paint the `ohi`a lehua blossom sometime this year, so I walked around Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park for some inspiration. I love how its striking bright red blossoms stand out against the black lava of Halema`uma`u Crater (the photo above). I also saw a species of the rare hau kuahiwi flower, which I had never seen before.
One of my great surprises to come across an `io–the rare Hawaiian hawk, which used to inhabit all of the islands (including Kaua`i), but now is only found on Hawai`i Island. The majestic bird I saw was covered with mostly light-colored feathers and stood nearly a foot and a half tall, as it perched in the branches of an `ohi`a tree for about ten minutes before flying off. It is a royal symbol in Hawaiian lore and is sometimes called `iolani, meaning “exalted hawk” or “heavenly hawk.” I was so grateful to see this bird for the first time!
I had a wonderful week retreating, hiking and resting. Now, it is good to be back. I enjoyed visiting with the men this morning at our weekly men’s breakfast. I look forward to seeing everyone at tonight’s strategic planning gathering, tomorrow’s soup supper and Lenten reflection, and (of course!) Sunday morning worship!
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
____________________________________
Our Kahu (Pastor) offers a weekly message in church most Sundays during the year. 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 | Mar 7, 2018 | Message from Kahu
Melicent and James Smith
“A Blessing at the Threshold”
It takes only a couple of seconds for a life to change irreversibly.
Suddenly you stand on completely strange ground
and a new course of life has to be embraced.
Especially at such times we desperately need blessing and protection.
An excerpt from To Bless the Space between Us
—John O’Donohue
[This past Sunday, we continued our Lenten theme of “Blessings,” based upon the late John O’Donohue’s book To Bless the Space between Us: A Book of Blessings. The topic was “Thresholds.”]
When James and Melicent Smith stepped onto the 96-foot brig Sarah Abigail in Boston in May of 1842, they had crossed a threshold. They had left the life which they had known in New England and they would never go back to it. They moved to Koloa where they spent the rest of their lives. James was the only Western-trained physician on Kaua`i and he served the entire island, as well as Ni`ihau. He came here and he saved many lives—mostly Native Hawaiians.
The Old Testament text was the well known passage of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20. The Hebrew people had just crossed their own threshold when they left Egypt where they were slaves and crossed over onto a journey where they were headed to the promised land of freedom.
Both the Smiths and the Hebrew people had left the life they knew behind and entered an entire new way of being, of seeing, and of relating to the world. I pointed out that the Ten Commandments did not start out as just a big set of rules. They started out ontological.Ontology is the study of being, of identity, of understanding the essence of a person or community. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” These are the opening words of the Ten Commandments! It starts out with who God is, who the people were and are, and (by implication) who they are becoming. Only after the ontological words come the practical words. “You shall have no other gods before me….”
It is important whenever we cross our own thresholds in life that we remember first who we are, what our identity is, how we relate to God, the earth, and other people; only then is it important to consider our actions. In our Gospel reading (Matthew 5), Jesus made it clear that if our focus is on the rules, we have missed the entire point. What is way more important is what is in our hearts. After all, we can still follow the rules (for awhile) and hate people in our hearts. Jesus and his followers know that our actions are best motivated by love, by grace and compassion.
As you cross over any thresholds in your life, I invite you to begin by asking who you are and how you relate to God, the earth and others. I invite you to allow love to motivate your actions.
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
____________________________________
Our Kahu (Pastor) offers a weekly message in church most Sundays during the year. Click HERE to see a video of this week’s message. You may also 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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