Volume 6, Issue 26
June 25, 2021
THIS SUNDAY: June 27, 2021
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost


Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15; 2:23-24
While God is not the author of evil, God can and does make use of all things to bring about God's will for those who love God.

Lamentations 3:21-33
Jeremiah, called "the Weeping Prophet" due to his doom and gloom messages in the run-up to the Babylonian Exile in the mid-500s BCE, here affirms that "the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases."

2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Paul urges the Corinthian church to fulfill their financial pledge to help poorer churches.

Mark 5:21-43
Jesus' healing of both a 12-year-old girl and a woman with an uncontrollable 12-year hemorrhage.
ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICE
WITH COMMUNION

8:00AM
Joe Adorno(EM)*
Jeff Albao (U)
Dee Grigsby (AG)
Mark Cain (DM)

9:30AM
Linda Crocker (EM)
David Crocker (U)
Rachel Secretario (LR)
Jan Hashizume (AG)
Nelson Secretario, Mabel Antonio (HP)
Muriel Jackson, Jan Hashizume (DM)

Live Stream
9:00AM on our home page, YouTube, or Facebook accounts
@allsaintskauai

* EM - Eucharistic Minister; U - Usher; LR - Lay Reader; AG - Altar Guild; HP - Healing Prayers; DM - Digital Ministry; SS - Sunday School
UPCOMING EVENTS

Guest Organist for June Services
Morris Wise
Sundays, 9:30AM service
Church

Joan Roughgarden Travelogue
A Visit to the Holy Land
Monday, June 28th
5:00 - 7:00PM
Memorial Hall

Fourth of July Cookout
Sunday, July 4th
11:00AM
Church Campus
Recurring Events
Aloha Hour
Every Sunday, 10:45AM - 12:00PM
Under lanai tent

Monday/Friday Crew
Every Monday/Friday, 8:00AM 
Church Office
Laundry Love
1st & 3rd Wednesday, 5:00PM
Kapa`a Laundromat

Daughters of the King
2nd & 4th Thursday, 7:00 - 8:00PM
Zoom
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Your Epistle will be taking a few weeks off while the staff is off island. 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, and upcoming and recurring events.

Mahalo for your support.
Those affected by the Pandemic,Those affected by racial violence, Nestor, Wanda, and those we name silently or aloud, let us pray to the Lord. ​Lord, have mercy. 

For those saints who have gone before us in the Grander Life, especially those affected by the COVID-19 virus, Paul, Donald, Uncle Fran, Donna B., Yumi 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.
Reflections from Kahu Kawika
Rolling with the Waves
Mark 4:35-41
1 Samuel 17:32-49
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Proper 7B
20 June 2021

Part of the weekday morning routine that Muriel and I have is catching up on the local Hawaiian news, especially the weather report. While 99% of the time it stays consistent with “85 degrees, sunny with a chance of slight showers,” our favorite meteorologist Guy Hagi will get excited when it looks like something unusual is about to happen – heavy rains, the possibility of a hurricane, high surf, or an astronomical event like a solar eclipse or super moon.

It is amazing how many meteorologists in other parts of the country have odd names to do with the weather! Here are a few examples of the unusual names of real weather reporters:
  • Ray Ban – the Weather Channel
  • Storm E. Field – WABC & WCBS, New York 
  • Amy Freeze – WABC, New York
  • Sunny Haus – KARE, Minneapolis
  • Dewey Hopper – KPNX, Phoenix
  • Johnny Mountain – KABC & KCBS, Los Angeles
  • Dallas Raines – KABC, Los Angeles
  • Stormy Rottman – KBTV & KUSA, Denver
  • Larry Sprinkle – WCNC, Charlotte, NC
  • Ken Weathers – WATE, Knoxville, TN

While reporting on the weather can be exciting, the fact is that when we have to face either literal or figurative storms in our lives we find it more unnerving and angst-evoking than thrilling. All three of our Bible readings this morning have something to do with facing the storms of life – young David has to fight the giant Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, Paul describes the hardships he and his companions have had to face in their travels in 2 Corinthians 6, and Jesus and his disciples are dealing with a sudden violent storm on the Sea of Galilee in Mark 4.
 
But we don’t even need the Bible to tell us that if we live long enough on this earth, we will face our fair share of life’s storms – the question, though, is how do we handle them. These storms often come in at least three kinds: (1) storms from our own making – when we do things that invite trouble into our lives, taking shortcuts with the law or not taking care of our bodies; (2) storms from life – we suffer setbacks not of our design, such as a diagnosis of an illness or weather events beyond our control; (3) storms from God – we go through things either so that we can grow closer to God through the experience or so that we can witness a demonstration of God’s care and power, such as in the Gospels when Jesus would heal someone’s disability or like in today’s reading calming a storm so that his friends can see what kind of power he has. Indeed, it is comforting to see that the Bible itself doesn’t gloss over this reality – that even as people are being faithful to God and trying to live noble lives, they too still have to face tough times along their journey through life. From our readings, then, I would like to highlight a few clues as to how we can travel through life’s storms better and thus to “roll with the waves.”

  • Roll Prepared: Like the Boy Scout motto, “be prepared” with the realization that we will experience storms as an inevitable part of our lives. Often what compounds our dismay when bad things happen to us is that we are shocked when they occur or feel that it isn’t fair. It helps, though, to develop an attitude of thankfulness for what we do have and yet also to know that negative things will occur along the way – and when they do, to refer them to God’s care and to be the best people we can be through the crisis. Our first reading from 1 Samuel 17 shows a young David who is fully prepared and even eager to face his “Goliath”: He has courage to face the giant because he had seen God’s faithfulness to him with other threats in the past, especially wild animals who would otherwise endanger the flock of sheep in his care. Through that preparation, David learned both how to overcome his own internal fears as well as techniques to fight his external dangers. 

We can also take a lesson from our own storm preparations whenever hurricanes or heavy storms threaten the island – the folks who are already stocked up with emergency supplies and are not panicked are the ones that ride through the storm the best.

I believe that God sometimes prepares us for an upcoming challenge in our lives through smaller ones in the run-up. God builds up our trust with the smaller things in order to get ready for the larger ones, and thus places God’s trust in us! As Jesus said to his disciples in Luke 16:10, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.” Like building physical stamina through exercise, God can use smaller storms to build up our spiritual and emotional stamina in order to be prepared for stronger storms later on.

  • Roll with Companions: Our Gospel story from Mark 4 shows us something rather surprising. That evening after Jesus had finished speaking to the crowds from the boat he was in, he and the disciples start sailing out to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. The surprising things is when a sudden and violent squall arises, even to the point of the waves threatening to swamp the boat, the disciples run to Jesus, only to find him asleep in the stern of the boat! How Jesus could sleep through all that is beyond me – maybe he was simply calm, or maybe he was just so tired from all his teaching, healing, and dealings with the crowds that he could literally sleep through anything at that point. In any event the disciples wake him up and ask a very telling question, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” After Jesus calms the storm down, he admonishes the disciple for their lack of faith in him – I don’t think Jesus blames the disciples for reacting to the violent nature of the storm, since many of them are experienced fishermen from that region and thus would know the dangerous extent of the storm. Instead, Jesus admonishes them for accusing Jesus of not really caring about them, judging by what they ask him.

As we face our own storms of life, God wants us to know that God is with us and that God cares – we matter to God! God is our ultimate traveling companion through the storms of life. Now maybe like the disciples we are tempted to think that God is asleep at the wheel or that God doesn’t really care about us after all. It’s only human nature to get apprehensive whenever storms of life threaten us. However even in the midst of it all we can still trust that God cares for us and has us in the palm of God’s hand, as Isaiah 49:16 indicates: “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” 

God also gives us other people along the way as fellow travelers to roll with the waves – people who have gone through our difficulty before and thus knows how to get through it as well as has the integrity to advise us through it: “Blessed be Our God, the God of our Savior Jesus Christ, the Source of all mercies and the God of all consoling, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the same comforting God has given us” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). So part of dealing with the storms of life is knowing that God goes through them with us, cares for us, provides us other folks who know what we are going through, and enables us to be there with integrity for others in the future.

  • Roll Towards the Goal: Paul declares in our second reading from 2 Corinthians 6 that he and his fellow ministers can remain faithful to their calling as true apostles to the Corinthians by the way they go through all kinds of trials, tribulations, and storms: “We commend ourselves as ministers of God in every way. We did this with our great endurance through problems, disasters, and stressful situations. We went through beatings, imprisonments, and riots. We experienced hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger. We displayed purity, knowledge, patience, and generosity. We served with the Holy Spirit, genuine love, telling the truth, and God’s power” (2 Cor. 6:4-6). In other words, Paul and his friends do not let bad setbacks and reversals throw them off their calling to serve the Corinthians, but instead through the “waves of trouble” end up serving them in a better way and with humility. In short, they keep the goal before them, and in turn that helps them to roll with the waves of the storms.

In our story from Mark 4, Jesus and his disciples do make it through the storm and to the other side. In a similar way, God assures us that we will reach the “other side” of our own particular storms: sometimes we get the joy of realizing the end of the storm in this life, but certainly it is the promise of making it to our ultimate home, Heaven. The real question for us, then, is how we get there – how we conduct ourselves as we journey this life and navigate through our storms. Jesus’ question to his fearful disciples is telling: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40). A big part of not living constantly fearful lives is to keep remembering our goal and our ultimate home, and that we belong to God and to the Realm of Heaven. 

This applies as well to the storms we go through as a society. Yesterday we got to celebrate Juneteenth as a federal holiday for the first time – we rejoice at the day in 1865 when African-American slaves were finally told that they were indeed free from their servitude, but Juneteenth should also be a prod for us always to seek the freedom of anyone in slavery today, whether through forced labor, unfair working conditions, or human trafficking. This month of June also happens to be Pride Month, when we celebrate God’s gift of the spectrum within the LGTBQI community to our national life – but again, it should remind us of God’s great inclusive love for us all and that we still have quite a bit of work to do to realize God’s dream of welcome for everyone in the human family.

As Paul writes to the Roman church, “What will separate us from the love of Christ? Trouble? Calamity? Persecution? Hunger? Nakedness? Danger? Violence? … We are more than conquerors because of God who has loved us. For I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, neither heights nor depths – nor anything else in all creation – will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus, our Savior” (Romans 8:35, 37-39).

God may not always remove the storms of life from affecting us, but God helps us to roll with the waves when they do occur, when we roll prepared, roll with companions, and roll towards our goal. I close with the sentiments of our collect prayer for today:

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Visit to the Holy Land
Through the Lens of Photography
Our very own Joan Roughgarden, who is a master photographer, will be sharing her impressions of her time in the Holy Land through her photography, with additional commentary from Kahu Kawika. We will hold this in Memorial Hall on Monday, June 28, 5:00-7:00PM. Please bring a potluck and beverages emphasizing the theme of Israeli or Mediterranean cooking if possible.


Fourth of July Cookout
Celebration After the 9:30AM Service July4th
After the 9:30 service on the Fourth of July we will have a cookout celebration. Hamburgers and hotdogs will be grilled by Jeff Shields for our enjoyment. Please feel free to bring any sides or desserts to contribute to the meal.

Sloggett Center Solar and Roofing Project
An Environmental Initiative
All Saints’ Church and Preschool is beginning an exciting new project that will improve our current physical plant and provide for All Saints’ future in an environmentally sustainable way. The Sloggett Center will be getting a long needed new roof and a solar panel system will be installed to meet a good deal of our church’s electrical needs. The entire solar panel system has been funded by a private donation from a church `Ohana family. The fundraising effort for the new roof is off to a great start. 

Since our last update, we have raised $1,977.40 from our church family. Unfortunately, the latest increase in lumber costs have raised our project estimate to $310,000.00. Let's not lose momentum!

Now is the time for everyone to step up and make a contribution toward completing the funding for the roofing project. There is a donation link on the All Saints’ website for the roofing project. Follow the funding goal thermometer to see how our fundraising efforts are going.

Special Thanks to:
Our private donor for covering the solar panel installation costs
The Sloggett Fund for their contribution toward the roof repair
Abraham Akutagawa for donating architectural roofing plans for county permit approvals
Kathy Northcutt for seeking additional grants on behalf of the church
And all of you!
To date we have raised over $214,000!! Only $95,711.67 to go. Mahalo to all our donors.
IN BRIEF . . .

These news briefs were featured in previous issues of "The Epistle"
From The Epistle, June 4, 2021

Listen to the Inaugural Concert
The Sloggett/Wilcox `Ohana Organ
If you missed the inaugural organ concert, here is your chance to listen to this marvelous performance with introductions by our Rector, Kahu Kawika; Kevin Cartwright, Rosales Organ Workshop President, co-owner and voicer; and Morris Wise, our project leader and in-house organ expert.

To enjoy the entire concert, please CLICK HERE
Who Do You Call?

Contact information for All Saints' Ministries and Outreach

Please submit your story ideas to the Epistle Staff at news@allsaintskauai.org.
HALE HO`OMALU ACCEPTING DONATIONS
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. Leave them in the red wagon outside the sanctuary

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.