Volume 5, Issue 38
September 25, 2020
THIS SUNDAY: September 227, 2020
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICES
with COMMUNION

8:00AM
Joe Adorno (EM)*
Judy Saronitman (U)
Marge Akana (AG)

9:30AM
Mario Antonio (EM)
Alfonso Murillo (U)
Linda Crocker (LR)
Faith Shiramizu (AG)
Vikki Secretario, Mabel Antonio (HP)

* EM - Eucharisitic Minister; U - Usher; LR - Lay Reader; AG - Altar Guild; HP - Healing Prayers
UPCOMING EVENTS
ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICES WITH COMMUNION
8:00AM and 9:30AM
Sanctuary and Side Lanai

Aloha Hour
Every Sunday
10:45AM - 12:00PM
Side Lanai and Tent

Monday Crew
Every Monday
8:00AM
Church Office

Compline Service Led by Fr. Jar Pasalo
Diocesan Youth & Campus Missioner
Thursday, October 1st
8:00 - 9:00PM
For Live online, click here:
For Youth Zoom: 
Contact Cami at Cami@allsaintskauai.org for login information.

Blessing of the Animals
Sunday, October 4th
9:00 - 9:30AM
and
10:30 - 11:00AM
Front Lawn

Adult Formation Class:
The Book of Common Prayer for All It's Worth
Tuesday, October 6th
Praying the Daily Office & the Daily Office Lectionary
6:30 - 8:00PM
Zoom meeting
Those who are interested in the Adult Formation Class may contact Cami at Cami@allsaintskauai.org for login information.
RECURRING EVENTS
ALL RECURRING EVENTS SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Sunday School
Every Sunday, 9:30 - 10:15AM
Memorial Hall

Laundry Love
1st & 3rd Wednesday, 5:00PM
Kapa`a Laundromat
McMaster Slack Key Guitar and Ukulele Concert
Every Wednesday, 6:00PM
Church

Choir Practice
Every Thursday, 6:00PM
Choir Room
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

The editor-in-chief of your Epistle will be taking a few weeks off for another surgery on Oahu. In the mean time, we will be publishing a very abbreviated issue each week. These issues will detail the weekly scripture readings, service schedules, duty rosters, All Saints' news, upcoming and recurring events. Once recovered, the editor-in-chief will resume his duties.

Mahalo for your support.
Weekly Sermon from Kahu Kawika
The Good Boy/Girl Syndrome
Proper 20A
Matthew 20:1-16
Jonah 3:10-4:11
Philippians 1:21-30
September 20, 2020

My father served in the Air Force for almost 27 years, rising to the rank of Chief Master Sergeant. When I was almost seven years ago, my Dad was deployed to Vietnam, so my Mom and I moved closer to her sister’s family in Topeka, KS, for the year in which my Dad would be away.

During that year, my best friend was my cousin Ronnie, about 18 months older than I was. My Mom and I would go over to my aunt’s house at least once a week if not more, so Ronnie and I would get to play together a lot. However, my Mom wasn’t too excited about Ronnie – he somehow often got up to mischief and got into trouble, and my Mom was worried that his bad behavior would rub off on me. She would often say to me, “Watch out for what ‘Bad Ronnie’ does! Don’t do everything he does just because he does it. Think for yourself.” I didn’t always subscribe to my Mom’s advice, which often meant I got a harsher punishment than Ronnie got for the same misbehavior. I would often think, “It’s not fair!” If I put even one step off course, I’d get into swift trouble, but “Bad Ronnie” seemed to get away with everything. Thank goodness, so-called “Bad Ronnie” has grown up to be a fine man.

I think we’ve all been there before, with siblings, cousins, or at times hanging out with the “wrong” crowd. Many of us can identify with the feeling of being on a short leash, and our cry – either aloud or silently within ourselves – is “It’s not fair!” Like on the show from the 1970s, “The Brady Bunch, ” when middle-daughter Jan was jealous of her more popular older sister Marcia, in one episode out of jealous exasperation she exclaims, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” In other words, Jan joins us when we think, “It’s not fair!”

Our Gospel lesson for this morning, from Matthew 20:1-16, shows Jesus teaching those who take pride in their religion and ethical behavior that the Kingdom of Heaven will be full of many “Jonny-come-latelys” – in short, people like treasonous tax extortionists, prostitutes, the poor (it was thought that if people were poor it was because God was punishing them for something they or their parents had done) and Gentiles who had never before heard of the God of Israel. People not known for being very good in the eyes of society. In other words, the Kingdom of Heaven will have a bunch of people who somehow, like a ride at Disneyland, secured a “fast pass” without going through what we might think of as the “proper channels” to really belong to Heaven. Thus, those of us from a more religious point of view might think “It’s not fair – they seem to have gotten away with it!” We think we are superior and more worthy because we compare ourselves to others.

Jesus likes to tell stories. This one is about a landowner of a vineyard. Back in Jesus’ time, like in some areas today, employers could hire day-laborers to get specific jobs done. A typical workday was 12 hours – basically the amount of good daylight. So this particular vineyard owner goes out to the marketplace where day-laborers are waiting around to get chosen for work jobs. He goes out around 6am – the start of the workday – and hires some laborers to work the whole day, and they agree to the typical full day wage of a denarius.

The boss then thinks he needs even more workers, so he goes back to the marketplace around 9am and hires some more guys – but this time he says he will pay them “whatever is right,” rather than agreeing specifically to the full-day’s denarius. The boss then does the same thing at 12 noon and at 3pm, each time hiring more laborers and agreeing to pay them “whatever is right.” He then goes back at 5pm (with only one more hour of work in the day) and finds some guys still standing around the marketplace, having not been hired all day. He offers them work – not even specifying if or how much he would pay them. These guys might be assuming they would at least get 1/12th of a denarius for their trouble – better than nothing at all.

Finally, 6pm and the end of the workday arrives and it is time for the boss to pay the workers. He instructs his work manager to pay everyone the day’s wage – the denarius – starting with the last ones hired at 5pm and who had only worked one hour. By the time the 12-hour workers who had been hired first came to collect their earnings, they naturally think they would get even more, since the one-hour guys got the full-days’ wage – maybe they would get even 12x as much, since they worked 12 hours compared to the one hour of work from the “5pm-ers.” I bet they’re excited at the prospect of what they would bring home that evening! Instead, they’re in for a rude awakening when the manager just gives them the normal denarius.

If you had been one of the 12-hour workers, what would you have thought? “It’s not fair!!” Yes, these all-day workers are very hacked off. However, the boss tells one of them that he rightly paid them what they had originally agreed to earn for a full day’s work. So why should they be angry just because the boss decides to be generous with the ones who weren’t able to work all day because no one had hired them at dawn? The boss goes above and beyond and generously meets their need – apart from however much time each worker worked.

The same message is in our first reading from the prophet Jonah – he is both the most reluctant prophet when God calls him to preach against Israel’s ruthless enemies the Ninevites (Assyrians), as well as the most wildly successful – over 120,000 converts in three days’ worth of preaching!! But he gets angry with God because he thinks he has been just announcing a word of doom and gloom on the Ninevites, not expecting God to turn around (literally in Hebrew, “to repent”) and forgive them. “It’s not fair!!”

I call this jealous righteous indignation “the Good Boy/Girl Syndrome.” Like my jealousy of “Bad Ronnie,” we don’t like it when others seem to get away with stuff. Our trouble, though, is when we think of God as a Taskmaster we have to please, rather than as a doting Parent loving over-the-top.

Or maybe we love God’s generosity and kind dealings with only us, but not when it comes to certain other people we feel don’t deserve them. Again, we’re in good company with Jonah – he loves the big shady bush God raises up to protect him from the sun, more than the 120,000 people God sent him to preach to. But as our Gospel story shows us, who are we to judge others if God is so merciful and generous?

The problem comes when we compare others to our own standard of ourselves, rather than comparing ourselves to God’s standard of love and generosity. God’s loving reach is so vast that even between Christ’s death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Morning, it says in 1 Peter 3:19-20 that Jesus preached to the dead who had been disobedient to God in the past, presumably in the hopes of them being able to rise with Christ to new life in the love of Heaven!

I guess a key question for us this morning is if we really like the fact that we serve a God who is literally generous to a fault. Sometimes we can take great comfort and even pleasure at nursing old grudges and thus keeping ourselves in a superior moral state over someone else – but by so doing, we are the ones who are missing out on the wildly extravagant loving warm embrace of Our God.

Last week, I talked about that small word we pray every week in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, AS we forgive those who trespass against us.” I don’t think it means that if we happen to stumble in forgiving others, God will meanly withhold forgiveness to us. I think rather it implies that if we keep excluding forgiveness of others, we remove ourselves from the over-the-top quality of God’s love and forgiveness of what could easily be ours. It is like if someone offers you a $1 million check, and all you have to do is deposit it into your checking account – if you start questioning if you really want to accept it, or get angry because the check writer is also offering $1 million checks to other people you think are lazy or morally corrupt and thus don’t deserve them, then in the process we remove ourselves from enjoying the money that could so easily be ours, because we are worrying about other matters rather than depositing the check in a spirit of happiness and gratitude.

If we get all worked up about how unfair God is, then we don’t have God’s spirit of inclusive love filling our hearts. Jesus’ point in his story of the “Landowner and the Workers” is that it’s God’s business to be generous – and we should be looking to God in our lives, not comparing ourselves to others around us.

God wants to generously retell our story – no matter who we are, what we’ve done, or where we come from – and that of many others as well. Millennial Pastor Rob Bell defines Hell as “our refusal to trust God’s retelling of our story.” Do we really believe deep down that God has showered love on us that we didn’t really deserve in the first place? If we know deep down that God is kind to us each and every day, then we should want that for everyone else.

Like the Vineyard Boss, God is technically “unfair” and doesn’t deal with us as our sins and disobedience really deserve. Thank God, thank God, thank God, that God is “not fair.”
For the aged and infirm, for the widowed and orphans, and for the sick and the suffering, especially Fr. Ryan and Family, The Hoffman Family, The Hiyane Family, Bob, Keith, Bill, those affected by Hurricanes Laura and Sally, and the Beirut blast, Gemi, Mike & Barbara, Susan, Brad, and those we name silently or aloud, let us pray to the Lord. ​Lord, have mercy. 

For all who have died, especially Jonathan, George, those affected by the COVID-19 virus, and those we name silently or aloud, in the hope of the resurrection, and for all the departed, let us pray to the Lord. ​Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Kahu Kawika Is Taking a Vacation
The Jacksons Plan a Short Staycay
Per the Bishop's directive to the clergy to practice self-care and to make use of vacation time, Kahu Kawika and Muriel will take a week off, Friday September 25th to Friday October 2nd, inclusive. The services this Sunday, September 27th, will be the "Liturgy of the Word with Reserved Sacrament." Our Lay Eucharistic Ministers will run each service, and Mary Margaret Smith will give a Reflection in lieu of a sermon. We will have Holy Eucharist with blessed wafers but no communion cups of wine -- this is liturgically in keeping with the Book of Common Prayer, affirming that blessed wafers are allowed to represent both the Body and Blood of Our Lord when taken in faith (Book of Common Prayer, 407 and 457). Kahu thanks you for your prayers and support, as well as those who are stepping up to lead our two services this coming Sunday.
The Blessing of the Animals
Sunday, October 4th After Each Service
Each year, the Sunday closest to St. Francis' Day is when we and other churches do their Blessing of the Animals. This year, the day happens to fall right on a Sunday (October 4th). Adhering to our pandemic safety guidelines, we will have our usual services at both 8am and 9:30am, then after each service Kahu Kawika will go out to the middle of the Labyrinth and receive any animals there to give them a blessing. Alternatively, you may also bring a photo of your pet to the middle of the Labyrinth and Kahu is more than happy to bless your pet in that way.
Vestry Highlights from Our 9/22/2020 Meeting

Church Finances: Year-to-date, our income exceeds our expenses by +$5,300, plus we are $11,402 under budget for this time of year.

Preschool Finances: $18,000 improvement over this time last year.

Rectory and Cottage Roof Repairs: Approved to begin this work.

Worship Livestreaming: Many thanks to Ron and Carolyn Morinishi for setting this up. We have many households, couples, and individuals watching this on multiple online platforms.

Stewardship: We will have "Malama Moments" during the Announcement time in our October services, which will be personal testimonials of tangible acts of God's goodness to us. We are also designing Malama cards so that members can indicate how they would like to give back to God in time, talent, and treasure.

Preschool: Keiki rang handbells, joining many houses of worship and organizations to ring in "World Peace Day" on Monday September 21st.

Ke Akua Youth Group: Meeting via Zoom. Led the "Relay for Life" fundraiser on Saturday September 12th at the Labyrinth. Joined a national Zoom call of the Episcopal Asia-American Ministry (EAM) on Sunday September 20th, to become a regular meeting every third Sunday of the month.

Ministry Council: Met on Saturday September 19th. Next meeting is on December 5th.

Laundry Love: Moving toward a more pandemic-safe approach, hopefully to resume in November.
New Adult Formation Opportunity
The Book of Common Prayer for All It's Worth
The Book of Common Prayer for All It's Worth

In addition to the Bible, our Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is the basis for our faith and practice as Episcopalians and Anglicans. Our usual exposure to it is going straight to our service of Holy Communion on Sundays, with occasional forays into other parts of the BCP on certain holidays or special occasions. However, there are many parts of the BCP designed for personal use as individuals or households. We will look at those parts of the BCP that we can use to strengthen our own individual or family faith and practice, on the first three Tuesday evenings of October from 6:30pm:

Tuesday, October 6th: Praying the Daily Office & the Daily Office Lectionary
Tuesday, October 13th: The Collects, Prayers, and Thanksgivings of the BCP
Tuesday, October 20th: An Outline of the Faith, or Catechism

We have copies of the BCP if you wish to borrow one -- just let Kahu or Cami Baldovino, our Church Office Administrator, know.

-Kahu Kawika+
The Ke Akua Youth Group
Highlighted in Two Articles in the Hawaiian Church Chronicle Diocesan Newsletter
All Saints' Ke Akua Youth Group: Relay for Life
decorating luminaria
Decorating luminaria.
For over 15 years, the youth and Episcopal Church Women of All Saints' Church on Kaua'i have been participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life Events, raising as much as $7,000 annually. The folks on Kaua'i take it so seriously that about 5 years ago, the National Relay for Life's highest officials came to observe how a community of this size could raise one of the top amounts in the nation each year! They weren't disappointed... it's a huge deal on the Garden Island with lots of flash, sass, and tons of community and County support. Youth all over the island especially enjoy the overnight event to socialize, walk, and take part in tons of activities to keep them awake and moving.

So it was especially disheartening to learn that this year's event was going to look very different. With certain restrictions on public gatherings, groups held "satellite" walks with limited numbers in attendance, masks, and lots of social distancing. Instead of an all-night event, it was for a couple hours. 

All Saints' held their satellite walk on their newly constructed labyrinth, complete with lighted luminaria, and doubled their fundraising goal, bringing in just over $2,000! Enrico Levy, whose father is the Music Director, shared his talents on the piano during the event, while the main "virtual" event was being live-streamed on the church's screen.

​“The relay event was amazing," shared Micah Kotska, a member of the youth group. "It was nice to see my friends from youth group again. It felt good to help people.” ​
"It was especially fun to be in person again," chimed in sister Hannah. "I really felt like we were making a difference!” 

Brother Noah added, "We raised a lot of money for Relay for Life. It is a great cause and we were proud to help!” 

....

To read the entire article in the Chronicle, click here.
Episcopal Asiamerica Youth & Young Adult Ministry Zoom Gatherings
Carolyn Morinishi
EAM youth leader Carolyn Morinishi
Two years ago, Hawai'i was the site of the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries (EAM) National Consultation, which occurs every three years. It brings together seven ethnic convocations: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islanders. It was also the year they added a new convocation, youth and young adults (Chronicle August-October 2018).

Since then, the EAM Youth and Young Adults Convocation has gathered together in San Francisco in 2019, for their first leadership retreat (Chronicle, July 2019).  In 2020, plans were in place to meet in Vancouver, Canada, when the pandemic forced its cancellation. Undaunted, EAM youth leader Carolyn Morinishi, organized its first online Zoom gathering this past Sunday, September 20. 
...

They plan to continue meeting every third Sunday of the month, beginning at 12:00 noon Hawai'i time. ALL youth and young adults are invited to join in... you DO NOT have to be Asian or Pacific Islander to participate in these online gatherings. If you would like to learn more and receive the Zoom link, contact Carolyn Morinishi HERE.​

To read the entire article in the Chronicle, click here.
The Kauai Historical Society Recognizes the Victor & Kuulei Punua Ohana
in Their Backyard Music Video Collection
The Kauai Historical Society has chosen the Victor & Kuulei Punua Ohana to be the subject of a segment of their Backyard Music Video Collection. The video includes interviews with Victor, Sr., his sons, Victor Jr., Wallis, and Edward, and several music clips. The Punua Ohana has entertained All Saints' crowds for years with their lovely music and added their wonderful voices to our choir.

"Be entertained by this musically gifted and talented Kauai family. Listen to their history and reminisce along with them 
as they share their journey of four decades, entertaining 
and teaching hula in our community."
-Kauai Historical Society email

To enjoy this inspiring video tribute created by the KHS for historical documentation and funded by members and donors to the Kauai Historical Society, click here: Victor & Kuulei Punua Ohana.
Altar Flowers from JC's Flowers
Changes Due to COVID19

Due to the pandemic, JC Flowers will continue to operate on a smaller scale, working from home. For those signed up to donate Altar Flowers through JC’s, payments may be made over the phone with a credit card or mailed to their home address. Dee Grigsby will also be following up with donors as it gets closer to their scheduled dates.
Please contact Dee at dgrigsby57@gmail.com or check the bottom of the monthly Duty Roster for their new information.
Mahalo!

-Cami Baldovino
Church Administrator
Carolyn Morinishi Recommends a Communication Workshop Opportunity
"Understanding the Psycho-Social Dynamics of Communication for Effective Church Ministry and Leadership"
I have been on the diocesan "'Ohana Design Team" for the past 3 years. (This is the team that does the monthly Habitat for Humanity workdays.) We haven't done much in 2020 because of COVID-19, but we are finally organizing one FREE workshop for Kaua'i residents on Zoom. This workshop is approved and supported by the Bishop's office, and we will organize future workshops for other islands. 

Ricky Melchor, the instructor, truly believes in the value of effective communication. To encourage attendance Ricky will present door prizes to every person at the end of each workshop day, gift cards value up to $10. And he is personally donating two grand prizes of $75 that he will present at the end of each workshop day. I will mail these gift cards after each workshop day.

-Carolyn Morinishi
Hale Ho`omalu Accepts Donations
All Saints' Restarts Donation Collection
All Saints’ has had a long relationship with Hale Ho`omalu, a Child and Family Service program that provides families with the tools and resources they need to create meaningful and lasting change in their lives. Over the years, our `Ohana has collected donations specific to monthly-need requests provided by Hale Ho`omalu.

COVID-19 changed our ability to collect donations since on-site church services were canceled. Now that we are open for on-site worship, our Hale Ho`omalu donations will be collected again for delivery to this worthy program. We are grateful to our wonderful Monday Crew that takes the donations to Hale Ho`omalu each week.

Hale Ho`omalu is requesting donations of school supplies. There is an on-going need for travel sized toiletries and canned goods so these items will be accepted every week. As always, monetary donations are gratefully accepted.
IN BRIEF . . .

These news briefs were featured in previous issues of "The Epistle"

Please submit your story ideas to the Epistle Staff at news@allsaintskauai.org.
KUPUNA SHOPPING ASSISTANCE MINISTRY
Any of our All Saints' kupuna who need assistance with grocery shopping can contact Carolyn Morinishi at church@allsaintskauai.org to set up a delivery.

ALL SAINTS' VIRTUAL SWAP MEET
If any ministry has an unmet need, reach out to put it in the All Saints' Virtual Swap Meet and it will be published in the Epistle. Contact Bill Caldwell at news@allsaintskauai.org.

PASTORAL CARE CONTACT INFORMATION
Whenever you have a need for support, please call (650) 691-8104 and leave a voice mail. The system will immediately forward the information to the Pastoral Care Committee who will respond to each request. If you prefer, you may send an electronic pastoral care request via email to pastoralcare@allsaintskauai.org.

PRAYER CHAIN MINISTRY
Individuals who want to participate in the Prayer Chain Ministry must re-enroll to continue receiving the email communications. To re-enroll, please visit the newly established Pastoral Care web page or contact the Church Office at (808) 822-4267.

SUBMITTING A PRAYER REQUEST
Prayer requests will now be submitted online or by contacting the Church Office at (808) 822-4267.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Names can be added to the Prayers of the People petitions by using the Prayer Chain Request form or by contacting the Church Office at (808) 822-4267. Names will remain in the Prayers of the People for a maximum of four Sundays before a name must be resubmitted.