“The Kingdom of Heaven is like….”
(Matthew 18:23)
“Changing Lives, Transforming the World”
We are continuing our series on “Changing Lives, Transforming the World.” It is so easy “getting stuck” both in our personal lives and on a societal level. We have a difficult time moving away from patterns and habits that no longer serve our best interest and are sometimes downright harmful! I invite you to look with yourself and look around you and think about the changes and transformations of which you can be an active participant.
On Sunday, I shared with the congregation about the strict religious and ethical rules and codes of conduct for the first English settlers on the American Continent. I have been reading Jon Meacham’s book, American Gospel, in which he points out that America eventually became known in Europe as the place to go in order to escaped religious persecution. Yet, according to Meacham’s examples, those who once were persecuted back home in Europe began gaining control in certain colonies, and they began inflicting the same kind of religious intolerance upon others. In other words, they escaped mistreatment and unjust persecution by fleeing to America only to exact the same kind of persecution on others once they had control of a colony. They believed that they somehow deserved justice, tolerance and acceptance for their beliefs, yet were unwilling to offer these things to others once they were running the place.
We have seen this attitude over and over again throughout history, but it is this attitude that Jesus condemned in the Gospel reading we heard on Sunday. In Matthew, chapter 18, Jesus tells the parable of a slave who was forgiven an outrageously enormous debt (and most likely his freedom as well) by the emperor, only to turn upon another slave who owed him a relatively small amount of money and have him thrown in prison. The point is that we simply cannot receive the enormity of God’s grace and then not share it with our fellow human beings. Receiving God’s grace with gratitude and sharing it with others is what Jesus taught when he said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like!”
I was greatly puzzled and deeply disturbed last month as I watched videos of White Supremacists, Nazis and members of the KKK openly march in public places. I am confident that most of them are descendants of immigrants who were given a brand new start in America. Yet they seem to be completely unwilling to extend the same kind of hospitality to people of other races and ethnicities—even to many who are already citizens of our nation.
When we truly understand the great gift of God’s grace and allow it a welcome space within us, that grace will change our hearts so that we will welcome and share aloha with others with open arms.
May God continue to surprise us with many wonderful changes within and all around us!
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
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“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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