an online publication of the
Church of the Holy Nativity, Aina Haina
June 17, 2020
In this Issue of the Banyan Tree:

Washington National Cathedral supports  Black Lives Matter

Latest updates on in-person and online worship 

"Little Teddy: A Lesson in Love"
--offered by Ed Moore

New from Holy Nativity School & the Holy Nativity Vestry

A Prayer on Easing of Lockdown

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Do you receive the Banyan Tree and find the content is missing?  Do you close this email, open it again, and still find no content?  
Here is what you do: open the email, scroll to the bottom of it and click on "View Entire Message." What a relief! It works!

Upcoming Services
at Holy Nativity
(Go to the front page of our website, "www.holynativityhawaii.com" 
and click "Sunday Banyan")

June 21, 2020
Third Sunday
after Pentecost
Morning Prayer with Music-- 9am
In-person & ONLINE


June 28, 2020
Fourth Sunday
after Pentecost
Morning Prayer with Music -- 9am
In-person & ONLINE

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Thursday Centering Prayer
(Thursday afternoons, 4-5pm)
Join us online using "Zoom." Go to www.zoom.us and click on the phrase,"Join a Meeting."  When prompted, type in the Meeting ID, which is 330990103.

(Please note that our Wednesday 10am Eucharist
postponed until further notice; please pray for one another during this time!) 

Serving this Sunday 
(June 21)  
Third Sunday
after Pentecost

9am Morning Prayer
Officiant:  The Rev. Libby Berman
Deacon and Preacher: 
The Rev. Bob Steele
Readers: Wyn Aubrey-Child & 
   Kathy Otani
Acolyte: Lila Johnson
Prayers of the People: Ed Moore
Usher: Bob Steele
Nina Livingston's Altar Guild Team

Serving next Sunday 
(June 28)   
Fourth Sunday
after Pentecost

9am Morning Prayer 
Officiant & Preacher: 
The Rev. Libby Berman
Deacon: The Rev. Bob Steele
Readers: Alison Kittle & Jean Steele
Acolyte: Kim Garner
Prayers of the People:  Ed Moore
Usher: Rich Miller
Sandra Braham's Altar Guild Team
The Sunday Readings


 
Rector
The Rev. Libby Berman
hncrector@gmail.com

The Vestry
Sr. Warden: Austin Nakoa
Jr. Warden: Joe Kindrich
Treasurer: Jean Steele
Recording Secretary: Nancy Thomas
Members at Large: Justin Donahue, Rich Miller, Lila Johnson, Jeff Taylor, Ed Moore, Wyn Aubrey-Child, Nina Livingston, Tusi Mayer, Gretchen Yamaguchi

Office Hours:
Monday-Thursday, 9am-1pm
(808) 373-2131
hncparish@gmail.com
www.holynativityhawaii.org
 
Parish Bookkeeper
Kathy Kia
hncoperationsmanager@gmail.com
 
Parish Administrator
Punahele Coldwell
hncparish@gmail.com
 
Prayer List

In our parish, we pray for Sylvia, Lois, Heather, Rico, and Chris J., for those who have contracted the Corona virus and those caring for them and/or seeking a vaccine or other measures of relief.  We pray for those in Hawaii who are facing unemployment and under-emploment.

We also pray for the repose of the soul of George Floyd and for all victims of violence.

To add a name to our prayer list, please contact Punahele Coldwell in the church office at (808) 373-2131 or hncparish@gmail.com. 

 

We are posting a day by day meditation from Forward Movement.  This is a great way to start your day with prayer.  Please consider clicking on the website above. 
Interim Head of School 
Jeanne Wilks

Rooted in the Episcopal tradition, Holy Nativity School is dedicated to excellence in education within a small and personalized environment. Built upon principles of respect and inclusion, Holy Nativity School values each child's individuality as it develops principled citizens who recognize their role in the local and global community.  


Holy Nativity Thrift Shop
(808) 373-3744

Wednesday & Friday: 10am - 2pm
Saturday: 9am - 12pm

Click here to visit the Thrift Shop webpage.



A RECENT VIEW OF OUR 
NATIONAL CATHEDRAL, IN THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF WASHINGTON

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 JOIN US IN PERSON OR ONLINE for WORSHIP ON SUNDAYS AT 9AM

The Church is now open regularly on Sunday mornings in advance of our 9am worship.  
We also continue to offer this service on Zoom.  To find information about how to join us online, go to the front page of our website (holynativityhawaii.org)
 OR look for your email copy of our Thursday "Banyan Tree."

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Nearly 70 people joined our worship service again on Sunday, June 14, with half of the congregation joining in person and half worshipping from home online.  Members of the planning team were able to make helpful changes last week that allowed our online community to hear very well on the 14th, which was a great relief.  In addition, we used rotations of the in-person camera during the service, so that those at home could see everyone who was in the church.  

Still to come are developments that will allow our in-person community to see our online group; we may be able to use a screen in the nave with projections of the faces of those worshipping at home.  We of course look forward to  being able to celebrate the Eucharist together and to having refreshments at coffee hour.  We'll continue to take one step at a time, with the Holy Spirit to guide us.     --Rev. Libby+



"LITTLE TEDDY": A LESSON IN LOVE
--by Ed Moore

Little Teddy, age nine, had had enough of his mother's nagging: "Clean up you room," "Put away your clothes," and "For goodness sakes, wash behind your ears."   So Teddy packed his suitcase, walked down the stairs, and as he approached the front door, yelled back to his mother, "I'm leaving, mother. Don't come after me, I am going for good." He walked down the front steps and down the long driveway. Five minutes later, Teddy came back inside. "Don't think I am not going. I am waiting for it to stop raining." Dropping his suitcase in the hallway, he went upstairs to his room. Shortly thereafter his mother heard him singing (was he cleaning up his room? Was he putting away his clothes?). Two hours later he came down for dinner, then went back upstairs. Later his mother heard him splashing in the tub (was he washing behind his ears?). But the suitcase stayed downstairs, as it did the next day and the day after. 

Finally, while Teddy was at school, his mother picked it up and unpacked it. She found some interesting items:  the  black, polished, tie shoes he wore to dancing school (yes, in Darien, formally attired nine year olds wearing white gloves attended Miss Hallowell's dancing school weekly to learn the Fox Trot, Waltz and proper social etiquette), the long winter coat (in May) that he wore to church, and two books, the Bible and the Baseball Register.

Sixty six years later, Little Teddy is Big Ed, and the baseball Register?  Long gone.  But what statistics and stories it held: Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra and Willie Mays. As I moved through my baseball career in high school, college and semi-pro, I looked to these for inspiration and guidance.

Jackie, with his quick feet and his powerful bat.  Lord, I wanted to be like Jackie. Yogi, (I was a catcher) with his quick release, laser-like arm and his ability to hit bad pitches.  Lord, I wanted to be like Yogi.
And Willie, who patrolled center field with grace, ran the bases with speed, hit for average and power. Lord, I wanted to be like Willie. So I lifted weights to improve my strength and throwing arm to be like Yogi.  I took thousands of hours in the batting cage to improve my hitting to be like Willie and ran miles of wind sprints to improve my speed and quickness to be like Jackie and Willie. But as hard as I worked, I simply did not have their gifts. They are gone now, along with my baseball register. And my baseball career, reasonable at best, lives only in memory.

But the Bible is still on my bookshelf. The Bible I was awarded at age seven by the Hitchcock Memorial Sunday School for memorizing and reciting The Lord's Prayer, The Twenty-Third Psalm, The Ten Commandments, and The Beatitudes.  The Bible whose stories and personages are as alive now as they were way back then.  The Bible that does not teach me to hit, throw and run, but more important, teaches that I have the capacity to know Jesus and through him learn how to show the unconditional, unmerited and self-sacrificial love he taught and modeled.  While I worked hard to be like Yogi, Willie and Jackie without success, I know if I work just as hard to exercise my "muscle of love," I will be successful--for I know I have that muscle, as do you and all humans.  It will be hard work, especially in these troubling times, but we can be successful.  My prayers differ now as I no longer look for to the Yogis, Willies and Jackies of this world for guidance and inspiration.  "Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart." 



HOLY NATIVITY SCHOOL 

...will open its three-week Summer School session on July 6 and, after a week of in-service for staff, open for the fall term "in person" on Tuesday, August 6.  We pray for a safe and successful return for all students, faculty and staff!

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NEWS FROM OUR HNC VESTRY

At its June 16th meeting, the Vestry:
...elected three new members to the Holy Nativity School Board (HNS parent Megan Escamilla and HNC's Alison Kittle and Bob Steele),

...extended two Memoranda of Understanding with Holy Nativity regarding Facilities Use and Finances, 

...acknowledged, with gratitude, the relatively good financial situation the church currently is in, given that pledges and donations have continued this spring and that the Thrift Store has been successful,

...and acknowledged, also with much gratitude, the willingness of Austin Nakoa to serve as Senior Warden until the next Annual Meeting of the parish.

If you have questions about these or any other vestry matters, please reach out to one of the members, whose names are listed in the column on the left.

 

A PRAYER ON EASING OF LOCKDOWN
written by  the Rev. Martin Wroe and 
submitted by Chandi Hinrichs

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O God, the Light of minds that know you
Life of souls that love you,
and Strength of the hearts that serve you--

meet us when our minds seem stuck in confusion, 
our souls stand lost in despair, 
and our hearts plunged in desolation... 

Give our hands good work to do,
that in serving the needs of others, we may rediscover ourselves, while finding you.  
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.