A Message From Our Kahu

“Dreaming of a Brand New World”

“The greatest among you must become like the youngest
and the leader like one who serves.”
—Luke 22:26—

Throughout the Bible, we find God’s people proclaiming God’s dreams for the world. Here is a part of the dream which we heard on Sunday find in Isaiah 65:

No more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days or an old person who does not live out a lifetime. Like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

As unrealistic and unattainable as this dream may be, Isaiah nevertheless invites people to commit to it. I believe he does so because he knows that deep down inside, this dream has to do with what we all want: less weeping, less infant mortality, more of our loved ones living to old age, more of us reaping the rich rewards of our labor, less of us being attacked by wild animals and bitten by snakes. Yet, Isaiah is inviting his hearers to think beyond their fences, walls and borders. He is inviting us all to want these things for everyone, rather than just ourselves and those we love. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus shares God’s dream of leaders to think of leadership as humble servanthood. Again, as unrealistic and unattainable as this might be in today’s world, Jesus invites his followers to become such leaders and to choose such leaders. I invite you to commit yourselves to these dreams of God. After all, some dreams really do come true—even the unrealistic and unattainable ones!

Aloha nui loa!
Kahu Alan Akana

A Message From Our Kahu

“Blessings For All”

 “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them,
for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” —Luke 18:16—

Throughout the Gospel of Luke, it is clear that God blessed all kinds of people: rich and poor, men and women, young and old, those who looked blessed and those who didn’t seem very blessed at all.

In Sunday’s reading, Luke tells us that “people were bringing even infants to Jesus”—in order that Jesus might bless them. This really bothered the disciples and didn’t make sense to the people standing around. After all, in their minds at least, people get blessed when they did something in order to deserve a blessing. However, throughout his entire ministry, Jesus taught that God blesses all of us—whether we think we do anything to deserve those blessings or not!

Our jobs is to gratefully receive those blessings and let them flow through us to others. Spiritual growth is stunted when those blessings get jammed up—in our thinking, our politics, our assumptions regarding economics, even our religious interpretations and understandings. Let us examine ourselves to see where blessings might get jammed up, remove whatever it is that keeps us from receiving or from sharing…and let the blessings flow!

Aloha nui loa!
Kahu Alan Akana

A Message From Our Kahu

“You ARE the Gift”

Did you ever stop and think that you are God’s gift to the world? Each and every one of us is a gift, especially to the important people in our lives and our communities. During this season of stewardship, let us not focus only on the gifts that we might give but the gifts that we are!

When we took a look at our New Testament reading on Sunday (2 Timothy 2:20-25), we focused on the part which talked about utensils made of gold and silver, and how we become those utensils in the eyes of God. I reminded the congregation that we are all gifts given to the world by God and each of us is valuable to God in terms of our worth. I also pointed out that our usefulness in the church, our communities and in the world depends on each of us and our willingness to speak and act in ways that build up rather than tear down.

So let us ask ourselves how we are building up the people around us in both our language and our actions. How might you become more useful in the world through your every day language and actions in terms of encouraging others, building them up and speaking the truth? As we answer these questions, we are already becoming those utensils made of silver and gold!

Aloha nui loa!
Kahu Alan Akana

A Message From Our Kahu

“Life that Really is Life“

On Sunday, we focused on living our best possible life. Of course, how we define that is a bit different for each of us, but once we figure out what it means for us, we can then go after it. The Bible gives great guidance as to what that life can look like. 

In the Scripture passage we read from 1 Timothy, chapter 6, the author tells Timothy to take hold of life that really is life. In my message, I stated that this was the “beating heart” of passage—and all of 1 Timothy for that matter. The beating heart of a passage is the part which is the key message by which the rest of the parts are to be interpreted. And so, as the author writes about contentment, love, generosity and gentleness, these things are to be understood under the umbrella of “Take hold of life that really is life.”

Since Jesus made it clear that God loves the entire world, including all its people, and his vision of abundant life was for everyone, we must take hold of a deep and meaningful life not only for ourselves but for all people.

As we live our lives from day to day, let us take hold of life that really is life, not only contentment for ourselves but acting with love, generosity, and gentleness toward others; and let us be committed to creating a world where an abundant life really is available to everyone. 

Aloha nui loa!

Kahu Alan Akana

A Message From Our Kahu

“A Wind Too Strong“

A hot wind comes from me out of

the bare heights in the desert…

not to winnow or cleanse— 

a wind too strong for that! 

Look! He comes up like clouds,

    his chariots like the whirlwind…

    woe to us, for we are ruined!

Disaster overtakes disaster!

    The whole land is laid waste.

I looked on the earth,

and it was complete chaos,

I looked, and the fruitful land

was a desert.

(Verses from Jeremiah 4)

On Sunday, September 11, we remembered Hurricane Iniki on the 30th anniversary of that devastating natural disaster for Kauai. We also remembered the terror attacks on 9/11/01 and the wars that followed, as well as the attack on the U.S. government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on 9/11/12. During the Call to Worship and Opening Prayer, we gave the congregation a chance to sit in silence in order to remember and to reflect on those and other devastating losses. We also considered what it means to stand in solidarity with those who remain and suffer after such tragedies. We also remembered the importance of standing in solidarity with and encouraging the peacemakers of the world. We cannot escape sadness, loss and death in our lives, but we can remember that God is always present with those who suffer. We can also remember that God’s Spirit shows up like wind—sometimes as a gentle and comforting cool breeze on a hot day, and sometimes like a hurricane to knock us out of our complacency.

In the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin in Luke 15, the Gospel reminds us that God deeply loves us at all times, even when we are feeling rather lost and “unaccounted for.” It also reminds us that God loves others just as deeply and, therefore, there is not a single person alive who is any more or any less important than the rest of us. May we treat all people with compassion and understanding, and may we pray for a world where this is the common way of relating to others.

I shared some photos on Sunday from my trip to Kauai just a few days after Hurricane Iniki. I was living in Honolulu and serving on the Hawaii Council of Churches Disaster Relief Task Force and soon became the treasurer of the HCC Iniki Relief Fund. You can see those photos below.

Aloha nui loa!
Kahu Alan Akana

A Message From Our Kahu

“Forgiveness and Humility”

For on this day, atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord. It is a Sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble yourselves…. (Leviticus 16:30-31)