Volume 6, Issue 31
July 30, 2021
THIS SUNDAY: August 1, 2021
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost


Exodus 16: 2-4, 9-15 
God responds to the complaining Israelites in the desert by sending them food in the form of quail and manna, the bread from heaven.

Psalm 78:23-29 
The Psalmist recounts God's goodness and grace in providing the Israelites manna and quail while they were wandering in the desert.

Ephesians 41-16 
The writer urges the Ephesian church to be united in Christ and to live out their diversity to complement each other's spiritual gifts.

John 6:24-35 
After the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, the people want more food from Jesus. But he instead urges them to feed on food that will last forever -- Jesus, the Bread of Life.
ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICE
WITH COMMUNION

8:00AM
Muriel Jackson (EM)*
John Hanaoka (U)
Marge Akana (AG)
Muriel Jackson (DM)

9:30AM
Linda Crocker (EM)
CeCe Caldwell (U)
CeCe Caldwell (LR)
Faith Shiramizu (AG)
Nelson Secretario, Vikki Secretario (HP)
David Crocker, Ron Morinishi (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

Blessing of the Backpacks
Sunday, August 1st
9:30AM
Church

Travel with Joan - Ethiopia
Monday, August 2nd
5:00 - 7:00PM
Memorial Hall

Guest Celebrant
Rev. Austin Murray
Sunday, August 8th and 15th
8:00 and 9:30AM
Church

Ke Akua Youth Group Meeting
Wednesday, August 11th
5:00 - 6:00PM
Zoom Meeting
Contact Cami for login info

Organ Concert
Sunday, September 12th
2:00 - 4:00PM
Guest Organist: Peter Dubois
Church


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
For those affected by the pandemic, those affected by racial violence, Nestor, Wanda, Clay, Vanessa, Noah, 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, Lawrence, Nathan, 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
Everybody Wins!
John 6:1-21
2 Kings 4:42-44
Ephesians 3:14-21
Proper 12B
25 July 2021

We all have those old favorite stories that we share with our family and friends. When we get together with certain family members or friends, the conversation will get around to an old favorite story which begins with, “Do you remember that time when….” and people will start to groan or chuckle with delight. A case in point involves my Scottish Terrier Happy when I was a kid – he was ingenious at figuring things out, and one time he flattened himself to wriggle under the back gate of a friend’s house we were visiting to get out of the backyard and to stroll down the neighborhood! Literally how he managed to fit with such low clearance was beyond our comprehension.

Well, the gospel reading for today is an old favorite story about Jesus and his disciples that was told over and over again. There are some stories that are told only one time in the gospels…. but this story for today, about the five loaves and two fish, is not told merely once, not twice, not three times, but four times in its variations. It is one of the few stories told in all four gospels (even Jesus’ birth only appears in two Gospels and with different takes), and the only Gospel miracle which is told in its fullness in all four Gospels.

Now, why is this story told over and over again? I believe it is because this story captures the essence of all the people involved: the essential truth about Jesus, the essential truth about the disciples, and the essential truth about God. It is also something we need to hear and take in: As you may be aware, statistically the average person absorbs only 17% of what they hear, so something important needs to be repeated and restated several times for the point to hit home!

Jesus’ teaching is so compelling that it attracts a crowd that could fill a sports stadium. These people are getting hungry, and there’s not a restaurant in sight. The disciples are not especially helpful. Jesus asks Philip how they are to buy enough bread for these people, and all Philip could do is to state the obvious: even a worker’s wages for a year would not be enough to pay for such a picnic. Andrew does a little better. He brings forward a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, then dismisses this food as too little for too many.

Jesus refuses to be deterred. He tells the crowd to sit down. Jesus takes the boy’s gift of loaves and fish, gives thanks for them, and distributes them. Somehow it's enough for everybody, and even produces more leftovers than anyone wants to take home.

Here’s why this story is told in the Gospels over and over again. It captures the very essence of God, of God’s abundant and extravagant generosity and grace – twelve heaping baskets full of leftovers! And it captures the very essence of us, his disciples, who often don’t get it, even after we have seen firsthand God’s miraculous work in our lives.

Jesus can work miracles with five loaves and two fish. That is at the heart of the story, that the little boy brings his meager gifts – all he had that day – to Jesus, and look what a mighty miracle God does with them. And God wants to do the same with us – that we surrender and bring our meager gifts, whatever we happen to have, to God. When we bring our ordinary talents and gifts, our resources of time, energy, and money, we bring the simplicity of who we are to God. What we sometimes forget is what mighty miracles God can do in and through the little that we have to offer.

This story is also such a big deal because Jesus is showing us that he is bigger than anyone else that has come before. He is the embodiment of two of the greatest prophets of all time: Moses and Elisha.

  • Moses’ feeding the people in the desert with the miracle of heavenly manna – bringing something out of nothing, bringing abundance out of scarcity, bringing life out of death.

  • Elisha, shown in today’s reading from Second Kings, taking the generous gifts of a man in a time of severe famine all over the land and multiplying that act of sacrifice to bless many times over. The man brings before the prophet Elisha twenty loaves of barley bread and some heads of new grain – but notice that these are from among the first crops, a gift off the top rather than the dregs from the bottom. This gift is really an amazing act of self-sacrifice on the man’s part – to offer the very first products of food back to God at a time when the man could have saved them for himself or for his family. Interestingly, the man who brings the food is from Baal-Shalishah, literally “The Lord of the Three” or “the Threefold Lord.” The Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not directly talked about in the Hebrew Bible, but with a Christian lens on sometimes we catch glimpses of it, and this is one of those times! It is as if to say that God is so big and generous that only one form cannot contain the fullness of the Deity. 

We also need to hear this story because we need constant reminding that God really is in the miracle business, for God’s glory and for the blessing of ourselves and those around us. Much of the time our faith mirrors that of Philip and Andrew, who could not see past the six months’ wages or the meager five loaves and two fish. We tend to base our living on our own scarcity or even on our own fears of insufficiency. So we hoard and save and worry and end up living life in small and safe measures. We pull back when we should push forward. We give in to our fear of a shortfall rather than exercising faith in God’s abundance. But instead we should emulate the self-sacrificial giving of the boy in the Gospel story and the man in the story of Elisha the prophet. As members of God’s ʻohana, we are constantly on call to go places where we have never been, to do things that we have never attempted, and to be things we have never envisioned.

John 6 invites us to live into a grace-filled inheritance; a timely calling because most of us tend to live on the edges of what God has to offer. We are challenged to take seriously God’s generous offer of life – not of course so that we might end up being necessarily wealthy according to the world’s standards, but so that we will position ourselves for the adventure of faith that enriches and enlivens those who embrace its challenge.

We speak of this as the multiplication of loaves and fishes. It’s more than a neat miracle. It’s a way of life. What happens on that hillside is an indication of how God wants the world to operate. Everybody wins. Nobody loses. Call it a win-win situation. Call it the best picnic ever. Call it a spirituality of multiplication. Call it even a glimpse of that heavenly feast awaiting all of us when we cross the Veil. When we give away what we have, when we sacrifice even out of our scarcity, then God blesses our gifts and multiplies them, and there’s enough for everybody and even more.

A spirituality of subtraction leads to a bunch of ugly results. Hunger, fear, corrupt politics, unscrupulous businesses, broken homes, and broken hearts. It’s a lie to say that life must be a win-lose game. It is the ethics of the playground writ large in our world.

However, a spirituality of multiplication leads to very different results. The hungry are fed, relationships are restored, people feel good about themselves and their neighbors. Life’s not a battle. It’s a win-win game.

I call it “heavenly mathematics,” a choice between a spirituality of subtraction and a spirituality of multiplication. A more traditional way to put it is that we can be captivated by a world organized against God and each other or we can align ourselves as citizens of God’s commonwealth.

We’re here this morning to practice and reinforce our participation in the commonwealth of God. In the midst of a world of subtraction spirituality, that’s going crazy and seeing everything as win-lose. Where the fear of scarcity is actually creating a downward spiral of further scarcity, we’re here to sing songs and pray prayers that have everything to do with a multiplication spirituality building up a win-win world. For Christ comes among us today in his word, in our community life, and in Bread and Wine. Everybody who wants to can leave here with a blessing.

What we’re about this morning is another wilderness picnic! There will be more than enough “Christ” for everybody this morning, enough to turn each of us into an agent of Christ, shining with the light of love wherever we happen to go this week.

May we live our lives sacrificially and generously in the name of the Community of Love, of the “Threefold Lord”; in the name of the God who feeds us still: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Annual Blessing of the Backpacks
Special Prayers for Our Keiki and Youth Returning to School
As the school year gets underway, we will have a "Blessing of the Backpacks" on Sunday, August 1st during the 9:30AM service. Please bring your backpack in-person or virtually over Livestream - we will lift up our keiki and youth to ask God’s special blessing on their new school year.

-Kahu Kawika+


Travels with Joan - Ethiopia
Monday, August 2nd, 5:00 - 7:00PM
Dr. Joan Roughgarden has offered to share with us her presentation of her pilgrimage to Ethiopia -- a land steeped in Christian tradition dating back to the days of the early church. Joan is an expert photographer and also has a keen sense of entering into cultures and being able to talk story with us.

This will take place at Memorial Hall on Monday, August 2nd, 5:00-7:00PM. We plan on catering with prepared Ethiopian food, and you are invited to bring along a side dish, desert, or beverage to share. Those of you who joined us a few weeks ago for Joan's presentation of her pilgrimage to the Holy Land know what a wonderful time we had together, so this coming event promises to be one not to be missed.
austin murray


Join Us in Welcoming the Rev. Austin Murray
Guest Celebrant August 8th and 15th
While Kahu and Muriel will be away on vacation, we have the honor and delight of having as our supply guest priest the Rev. Austin Murray, for the Sundays of August 8th and 15th. Fr. Austin is a long-standing continuing member of the Diocese of Hawaiʻi, although he currently resides in New Jersey as the Priest-in-Charge of St. James Memorial Church, Eatontown. He is the former rector for many years of Trinity-by-the-Sea in Kihei, Maui. In addition, he was the founding Dean of the Waiolahuiʻia Center for Ministry (WCM) in our diocese to train people for the lay, diaconal, and priest orders of ministry and in which Kahu Kawika is the chief instructor. Please welcome and embrace Fr. Austin during his time with us!
office angel logo

Office Angels Want to Help Celebrate Your Birthday!
Look Forward to a Birthday Card in the Mail
The Office Angel Ministry humbly requests your participation in their new outreach efforts. They would like to honor all participants on their birthdays with a special birthday card from All Saints' Church. If you would like to participate in this birthday initiative, please email back church@allsaintskauai.org with your info. 
 
Birth years are not required, just the month and day. If you know of anyone else who may enjoy participating, please feel free to pass on their birthday and mailing address to us. Going forward, if we learn of birthdays from any sacramental events (baptisms, marriages, etc.) we will try to include your information to our list automatically. 
 
For those without email addresses, we will prepare a sign-up sheet to fill in at the church on Sundays. 
 
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. 
 
Mahalo!

-Cami Baldovino
Church Administrator
Worship Ministry in Search of Ushers
Please Consider Joining this Important Ministry
The pandemic has changed many things at All Saints': how we greet one another, where we sit in the pews, how we receive communion. One not-so-visible change is our number of ushers. A stalwart few have returned with our in person worship to greet our `Ohana and visitors as they arrive at the sanctuary and help guide them through communion, open the sanctuary before services and close it afterward, set up and break down the informational table by the front door, and other tasks as they appear. The pandemic has reduced the duties of our ushers but we look forward to the day when we can once again offer visitor lei and bring the offering to the altar for the blessing.

The duties of an usher are simple but vitally important to our Sunday services. If you feel called to serve, please contact Cami at church@allsaintskauai.org. She will pair you with a current usher to learn the responsibilities of this important ministry.

Learn to Play Kaua`i's Only Pipe Organ
Scholarship Applications Being Accepted
Has All Saints' new organ sparked your interest in learning to play this wonderful instrument? The American Guild of Organists-Hawaii Chapter is accepting scholarship applications from August 1 to August 31, 2021 for the scholarship period October 2021 through September 2022. Auditions will be held in September 2021. Visit agohawaii.org to download an application. For details, e-mail Elizabeth Wong at ew_ago_hawaiichapter@yahoo.com

-Morris Wise

Sloggett Center Solar and Roofing Project Update
An Environmental Initiative
The preschool roofing and painting project is now finished. The new roof and paint give the Sloggett Center a fresh updated look. The kids will have a brand new preschool when classes begin in August.

The solar panel project is in the KIUC permitting stage. Most likely, we will wait for the fall break in the school calendar (October) to do that installation.

Our fundraising effort continue to ensure we have the capital to cover any unexpected expenses and to maintain our investment in our new roof and solar system.
The Vestry and the Environmental Ministry are grateful to all the donors who have contributed to make this project possible. We have gained another $1,000 since our last update. A special thanks to Kathy Northcutt for writing the NPT grant application that brought in $100,000 toward our goal. We are thankful that the All Saints’ `Ohana recognized the value of this project and donated so generously.

Mahalo nui loa to you all!
IN BRIEF . . .

These news briefs were featured in previous issues of "The Epistle"
From The Epistle, July 23, 2021
Project Vision Hawaii
First Project Vision Donation Pickup
All Saints' Provides Needed Items for Portable Shower Project
project vision donations
Grace Meeks (Project Vision Community Health Coordinator), Cami Baldovino (All Saints' Administrator) and Carolyn Morinishi pose with some All Saints' donations. (Photo: Taylor Ragsac).

Project Vision Hawai`i (a 501(c)3 non-profit organization) thanks the members of All Saints' Kaua`i, as our little blue bin overflowed with donations to their ministry! For several more Sundays -- until August 15 -- the blue plastic bin will be outside All Saints church to collect donations. 

Project Vision (https://hotshowerskauai.orghelps bring free hot showers to Kaua`i's houseless community. They currently have a need for the following:
  • gently used towels, any size and color (bath towels, hand towels, washcloths)
  • boxes of gallon ziploc bags for the mobile hygiene kits
  • New, individually wrapped toiletry items (packets of wipes, bandaids, toothpaste, toothbrushes, feminine hygiene supplies, floss pics, hand sanitizer, etc)
  • unopened travel-size soaps, shampoos and lotions from hotels

For more information on this service project, please contact Carolyn Morinishi or the Church Office. 

Thank you All Saints' members for your incredible generosity!
From The Epistle, July 9, 2021


CONVENTION 53 and Education Day
Registration Now Open
  • Registration is now open for the Diocese's 53rd Annual Meeting of Convention and Education Day taking place October 22-23, 2021, at `Iolani School. (Please note recent change in dates.) Both the Annual Meeting and Education Day will be live-streamed. There is no fee to watch but online viewers must also register.

For more information, visit the Convention 53 webpage HERE. If you have questions, contact Rae Costa at (808) 536-7776, ext. 326 or email her HERE. To register, click on the button below.
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.