Volume 6, Issue 14
April 2, 2021
THIS SUNDAY: April 4, 2021
Easter Sunday


Isaiah 25:6-9 
The prediction from 700 years earlier that Jerusalem will be the place where God will console all people in the world, wipe away all tears, and put an end to the power of death.

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 
God's amazing works of salvation and liberation.

Acts 10:34-43 
Peter's great sermon about God's plan of salvation for all people.

Mark 16:1-8 
The women come to Jesus' tomb and flee afraid when his body is nowhere to be found.
ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICE
WITH COMMUNION

8:00AM
Joe Adorno (EM)*
John Hanaoka (U)
Diane Sato (AG)
Mark Cain (DM)

9:30AM
Dileep Bal (EM)
Mary Margaret Smith (U)
Nelson Secretario (LR)
Jan Hashizume (AG)
Mabel Antonio, Vikki Secretario (HP)
Carolyn Morinishi (DM)
Rachel Secretario, Cami Baldovino (SS)

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

ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICES WITH COMMUNION
Sunday, March 7th
8:00AM and 9:30AM

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

Friday/Monday Crew
Every Friday/Monday
8:00AM 
Church Office

Sunday School
Sunday, April 4th
9:30 - 10:00AM
Memorial Hall

Ke Akua Youth Group Meeting
Wednesday, April 7th
5:00 - 6:00PM
Zoom
Contact Cami for login information.

Daughters of the King
Thursday, April 8th
7:00 - 8:00PM
Zoom
Contact Mabel Antonio for login information.

For the sick and suffering in body, mind, and spirit, especially Those affected by the Pandemic, Those affected by the island flooding, Todd, Patsy & the Tabura 'Ohana, Bracy, Suzanne & Harold, RuAnn, Seth, Mickey, Rosalind, Glen, 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, Donn (Curly), Dr. Haruki, Micheal, Brad, 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.
HOLY WEEK & EASTER SCHEDULE
SPECIAL SERVICES & EVENTS
Friday, April 2, 2021 - GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE 
All Saints' Church
12:00PM - 1:00PM 
Saturday, April 3, 2021 - EASTER VIGIL SERVICE
All Saints' Church
6:00PM - 7:00PM 
​Sunday, April 4, 2021 - EASTER SUNDAY SERVICE
All Saints' Church 
8:00AM & 9:30AM
Sunday, April 4, 2021 - EASTER EGG HUNT
Front Lawn
10:30AM - 11:00AM 
Holy Week Services
Enjoy the Slide Shows of Palm Sunday and the Stations of the Cross
Easter Cookout
He Has Risen! Come Join the Celebration!
Sign up to attend our Easter Cook Out Celebration! Please RSVP by Good Friday so we can have plenty of supplies on hand. To RSVP, click here: Easter Cookout. There will also be signup sheets by the sanctuary door on Sunday.

Grill Master Wayne will be cooking up hot dogs, sausages, burgers (regular and vegan), and vegan chili. We will have sides and chips.

Dessert donations would be greatly appreciated.

Volunteers are needed to help Wayne at the grill and servers to bring food to our enthusiastic crowd. The cooking will start after the first service on Easter Sunday.

Because we can’t have our traditional potluck, donations (recommended $5) are requested to help offset the cost. 
The Easter Egg Hunt is Back!
Sunday, April 4th, 10:30 - 11:00AM
on the Church Lawn
Reflections from Kahu Kawika
The Torn Veil

Mark 15:1-39
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Philippians 2:5-11
Palm Sunday, Year B
28 March 2021


I always find Palm Sunday a rather bittersweet day. This bears out with the fact that we highlight the color red in our services from now on until Maundy Thursday. Red as a twin symbological aspect. On the one hand it stands for the color of royalty, thus we honor Christ as our King with reliving the events of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. On the other hand, red also stands for blood of the Passion of Jesus, that is, the blood Jesus would shed for us on the Cross on Good Friday, the story of which we also read about this morning. 

We joined the original Jerusalem crowd this Palm Sunday with shouts of joy, proclaiming our “hosannas” and waving palm branches and crosses. And then the mood of the crowd will turn sour as we follow Jesus later on in Holy Week, transitioning in just five short days to Good Friday. The crowd who had been praising Jesus as their King now rejects him as a turncoat and a seemingly dismal failure, and offers him up to torture and eventual death on a criminal’s cross. The swift change from joy to sorrow is jarring. The fickleness of the crowd around Jesus reminds me of our tendency to be fair-weather fans of God – praising God and excited when things are going great in our lives, but too quick to be angry with God and to doubt God’s motives in our lives when we are going through tough times.

In our Gospel reading from Mark 15 this morning, there are so many pictures and images that evoke and provoke our feelings – the drama is all too real. But one image in particular is something we hear about each year, and yet tend to gloss over its significance. We find it toward the end of our reading, when Jesus’ agonizingly long physical and spiritual endurance is coming to an end – as soon as Jesus gives a loud cry and breathes his last, we read that the curtain in the Temple is torn in two, from top to bottom. Why would Mark want to include this detail, which happened 2.25 miles away from the dramatic event of Jesus’ death at Golgotha? 

After all, ink and parchment were very expensive items back when Mark was writing his Gospel some 40 years after Jesus had walked the earth, so I think we can safely conclude that Mark wouldn’t waste his money and time writing down some insignificant detail – somehow, the tearing of the Temple curtain must highlight the remarkable sacrifice of the Son of God, and Mark wants us to learn something special from it.

This reminds me of something I used to show preschool and grade school kids in Southern California when I had my first ministry call as a school chaplain almost 20 years ago. Back then, people still had telephone books sent to them every year or so, so one day for my keiki Morning Prayer talk I brought in a thick phone book. I had a couple of kids come up and asked them to try to rip the phone book in half. Of course, this was impossible, even for an adult – that is, until I showed them my way to achieve this feat. I then proceeded to rip in half a few pages at a time and kept doing that, until a lot of the book was torn asunder. While I guess this was a bit of an unfair trick to play on the kids, it served to illustrate a lesson – that when we trust God in small things, we can have faith that God will achieve big things in our lives as well.

If the thought of tearing in two a whole phone book at one go seems daunting, that’s nothing compared to the difficulty of tearing the Temple curtain back in Jesus’ day. This curtain separated out the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple – in fact, the Temple had the outer court for Gentiles (non-Jews), a further inner court deeper inside for Jewish women, an even further inner court that for the Temple lay and ordained ministers, then one even inside that only for the Temple priests, and finally the Holy of Holies in which only the High Priest may enter – and even then just once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, to offer a sacrifice on behalf of all the sins he and the Jewish people had done in the past year. It also happens to be the place where they used to keep the Ark of the Covenant, made famous in the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” and representing the very presence of a holy God.

Since the Holy of Holies was such a special place, it justified having a durable and imposing curtain to separate this sacred space from the rest of the Temple. It was a whopping 60 feet high (or six modern stories), 30 feet wide, and several inches thick of tightly-woven material with gold and silver threads braided throughout. In other words, it’s more than a notion for anyone to think they could make a tear anywhere in the Temple curtain, let alone cut it from top to bottom. This curtain in fact was so heavy that it took 300 priests to carry it, so imagine the effort to get it hung up in the first place! Yet, Mark records that at the very moment of Jesus’ death, the Temple curtain tears from top to bottom on its own! This is nothing short of an impossible situation apart from the power of God.

But just a chapter earlier in this Gospel (Mark 14:61-65), Mark also records another striking tearing of material. When Jesus had been arrested and the High Priest asks him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”, Jesus responds, “I am – and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” At that point, the High Priest angrily tears his own garments as a stinging rebuke of what Jesus had just said – like the Old Testament prophets used to tear their clothes as a word of judgment on a disobedient people. The High Priest then condemns Jesus of blasphemy, and proceeds to hand him over to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who alone had the authority to order the death penalty and who bears responsibility for it.

I wonder, then, if God ends up tearing the Temple curtain in two in response to what the High Priest had done in tearing his clothes in two to pronounce judgment on Jesus – that now God is the One pronouncing judgment on the religious authorities who ironically think they are acting out of protecting their religious tradition but really help to set things in motion for innocent Jesus’ criminal death sentence.

Bu while God’s tearing of the Temple curtain is an action of judgment on a religious apparatus that sorely need reforming, it also reveals to us something of the character of God. Now that the curtain is torn, the access to the Holy of Holies is now wide open – and in the same way and at the same time now that Jesus’ body is torn, the access to God is also wide open for all humanity. In fact, as a result we get to see three facets of God more clearly:

  • The Face of God: Previously in the Old Testament, no one was allowed to see the face of God, or else they would die from being exposed to so much holiness. Moses came the closest, and even then got to watch only the back of God as God went passed him (Exodus 33:18-23). But in the death of Jesus, we see the face of God’s great and giving love for us. My earliest childhood memory is the time when I had to stay overnight in the hospital to get a procedure done. It was in the evening – I was in my hospital room in bed, and there was another boy about my age in the other bed nearer the door to the room. All of a sudden the door to the room opened up and in walked a man wearing a medical mask in a white jacket. He went immediately to the other kid’s bed, and that boy started bawling out of fear. The man spoke with him, and then he made his way toward my bed. I was scared as well – this masked man in the darkness of the evening approaching my bed – when on his way to me, the man removed his mask and revealed the kind smiling face of the doctor who asked me how I was doing and if I was ready for the procedure tomorrow morning. My fears immediately subsided when I could see the face of the kind doctor. In a similar way, the tearing of the veil of the curtain removes the veil of anonymity from God’s face, showing one instead of smiling kindness and abiding love.

  • The Force of God: God may be kind, but God is also not to be trifled with. The sheer force that it takes to tear the imposing Temple curtain from top to bottom in one motion is staggering, and would have been a complete shock to the Temple authorities who witnessed it. This gives me great comfort, in that the death and later resurrection of Jesus shows me a God who is both good and great – both kind and powerful. God has the goodness to care about us, and the power to act on that love. One without the other would be useless.

  • The Feelings of God: The tearing of the Temple curtain shows us the perfect picture of the heart of God – that God’s heart as a parent is torn asunder at the violent death and self-sacrifice of his Son. Any parent that has had a child suffer at all knows something of this pain. This tells me that God hurts when we hurt, and smiles when we smile. God is not some immovable force with the mask still on – God is knowable, feels what we feel, and travels on life’s journey with us. In our second reading from Philippians 2, we have what are the words to perhaps the oldest hymn in the young Christian Church – the depths that Jesus took to give up all rights to Godhood in order to become one of us, suffer for us, and die in our stead. God then raises Jesus back up to the place where he now sits in glory at the right hand of God.

In these ways, God’s tearing of the Temple curtain dramatically shows us the depths of God’s love for Jesus and for us. As we enter into this Holy Week, let us walk with Jesus towards the Cross, and know that we have a God who is good, who is great, and who walks with us. Amen.
The Organ Crew is Coming Back
Join the "Feed the Crew" Volunteers
The Organ Crew is flying to Kauai`i from Los Angeles next week to voice (fine tune) the new organ. They will be working long hours, 6 days a week to complete the voicing of the organ within the next few weeks. Our congregation will be donating meals for the crew while they’re here. You can sign up to donate lunches or dinners by clicking here: Feed the Crew and filling out the meal donation form to select the meal and your preferred date.

Meal Instructions:
  • Meals may be dropped off at the Church and placed on the table outside the sanctuary.
  • Meals may be dropped off at the Church earlier than the time slot indicated but packaged so they can be refrigerated and eaten at their leisure.
  • PLEASE DO NOT interact with the organ crew. They need absolute silence to listen for every note. 

Crew #2: 4/8/21 - 5/7/21
  • Please prepare and drop off 2 meals per time slot
kauai independent food bank

Kaua`i Independent Food Bank Needs Your Help
Please Consider Lenten Donations
Aloha mai kākou,

As we remember our Lord who fasted forty days and nights in the desert in this season of Lent, we also remember those among us who are forced to fast in the form of food deprivation, especially as a fallout of the Pandemic.

During this season, I'm inviting us to join in a partnership with the Kaua`i Independent Food Bank to bring them donations of non-perishable food. Any monetary donations (made out to the Kaua`i Independent Food Bank) will assist the food bank in purchasing supplies in bulk at lower cost. At the Sunday services and other services during Lent and Holy Week, we'll have our Red Food Wagon just outside the Sanctuary entrance while monetary donations can be put in the offering calabash -- feel free to put your food items in or around the Red Food Wagon and we'll make sure to get them to the Kaua`i Independent Food Bank on a regular basis. You can also drop off food items during the week at the Church Office - just let either Cami or me know ahead of time, since we have to limit the number of non-Preschool people on the Preschool grounds.

Mahalo nui loa for your prayerful consideration,

Kahu Kawika+
The Passing of Nelson Ka'ai
A Valued Member of the All Saints' `Ohana
It is with a heavy heart that I pass on to our `Ohana the news that Nelson Ka`ai passed away on March 18th. Nelson was an important and integral feature of our annual Holy Sovereigns’ Service from 2015 until 2019. He sounded the Pu, the conch shell, which announced the start of the service with the procession of the Hawaiian Royal Societies and other organizations who brought ho’okupu, gifts, to honor King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma, the Holy Sovereigns.

Nelson was very supportive of our Hawaiian services and a pleasure to work with. He was a really nice guy - what you saw was what you got. I will miss him and I know there are many, many others who feel the same.

I understand that a celebration of life will be announced at a later date.

-David Murray
2021 SUMMER CAMP
INFORMATION FOR CHURCHES
Aloha From Camp Mokule`ia!
 
Camp Mokule`ia will be offering Summer Camp Programming this summer! We will be taking our COVID protocols very seriously and doing everything possible to keep our campers and staff safe and healthy.
 
At summer camp campers make new friends, learn new skills, become more independent, make life-long memories, have fun, grow in their faith, and much more. Summer Camp changes lives every summer and we want every child and youth in your parish to have this experience!
 
We are counting on you to help us recruit campers from your parish!
 
Thank you for your continued support, and for helping us to share the magic of Camp Mokule`ia with your congregation.
 
Blessings,

Darrell Whitaker
Executive Director

If you have questions about Summer Camp programming, please contact James.
If you have questions about Summer Camp registration or scholarships, please contact Tara.

Click on the links below for more information:




Early Bird rates end April 30, 2021
Summer Camp Open House April 25, 2021!
2021 SUMMER CAMP
SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION
 
Camp Mokule`ia is again offering each parish in the Diocese of Hawai`i $1,000.00 in summer camp scholarships!
 
Important Scholarship Information:
 
Parents need to register their children online so they can complete health information and sign waivers during the registration process. Parents should be prepared to pay the $100 deposit at the time of registration. If your parish is paying the deposit then parents can skip this part and we will bill the parish.

Campers can receive $200 scholarships for Residential Camps or $100 scholarships for Day Camps & Mini Camp.

"Parent Registration Information" handouts to give directly to the parents were in Summer Camp Packet that was mailed to your church. These handouts include promo codes specific to your church. If you need handouts or promo codes please call the camp office (808-637-6241).

Only one promo code can be used per camper. Please contact Camp Office (808-637-6241) if you would like to request additional scholarship funds.
NEW CAMP PROGRAM:
FAMILY CAMP

This summer we will be expanding on the Family Stay-Cay Weekends we have been providing the last several months and having our first Family Camp (4 day/3 night program). This camp will have more programming and Spiritual Formation opportunities (more like summer camp but for whole families).
Family Camp Chaplain
 
Camp Mokule`ia is excited to welcome Kahu Kawika (Rev. David Jackson) as our Chaplain for Family Camp. Kahu Kawika has served in a variety of church and academic settings and enjoys swimming, exercising, learning, ukulele, and spending time with his family.


Click on the links below for more information:


NEEDED: CHAPLAINS
 
If you are interested in serving as a Chaplain for a week of camp this summer please email Darrell Whitaker. We still have several openings available!
 
 
NEEDED: SUMMER CAMP COUNSELORS
 
We still have a couple of Summer Camp Counselor spots available. Would love to fill these positions locally with college students who love children and youth and have a strong faith. If you know of anyone please encourage them to apply ASAP!

Click on the link below for more information:

Spring Training 2021
Recorded Sessions Now Available for Viewing

The Diocese of Hawai`i's annual Spring Training event was held online on Saturday, March 13, 2021. This year's event featured 15 presentations covering a wide range of topics from the basics (Introduction to the Episcopal Church led by Bishop Robert Fitzpatrick) to practical (Investments: Maintaining Your Endowment as well as Review of Diocesan Investment Portfolio with Peter Pereira, Diocesan Treasurer, and Peter Backus, Morgan Stanley Sr. VP) to sensitive subject matter of our times (Deep Listening and Open-hearted Speaking: Conversation and Theological Reflection on Race Relations in Hawaiʻi led by the Diocesan Reconciliation Task Force).  READ FULL ARTICLE
Evangelism Matters 2021 Audioconference

Launching on April 12, we at Evangelism Matters are inviting you to turn off the Zoom screen and “tune in” for an audioconference featuring podcast-style talks on the opportunities and challenges of evangelism today. This free audioconference was designed to intentionally flip the conference format inside-out and offer an innovative approach to sharing, learning, and growing the ministry of evangelism among Episcopalians. For more information and to register, click HERE.
A Year of Fear, Faith, Hope and Perseverance
March marks the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the islands. We mark this unusual anniversary with a special video reflection from our Bishop, and the sharing of stories from people around the Diocese. READ FULL ARTICLE
Bishop Fitzpatrick'S Easter Message 2021
Bishop Robert Fitzpatrick shares his 2021 Easter message. In it, he connects our Baptismal life (as expressed in the Baptismal Covenant) with the joy expressed in a sermon, long attributed to St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople (died 407 CE), and now traced by some scholars to an even older tradition coming from Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235 CE). This sermon is read every year in Eastern Orthodox churches at the Midnight Easter Liturgy. The text of the sermon is shown below. 

Bishop Bob prays that the joy and courage of our Easter faith as expressed in the sermon, transforms each of us this Easter.

To view the Bishop's Easter video message, click on the image above, or visit the Diocesan website HERE.
Easter
The Lord Is Risen!
Easter is the feast of Christ's resurrection. According to Bede, the word derives from the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess Eostre. Christians in England applied the word to the principal festival of the church year, both day and season. 1) Easter Day is the annual feast of the resurrection, the pascha or Christian Passover, and the eighth day of cosmic creation. Faith in Jesus' resurrection on the Sunday or third day following his crucifixion is at the heart of Christian belief. Easter sets the experience of springtime next to the ancient stories of deliverance and the proclamation of the risen Christ. In the west, Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the full moon on or after the vernal equinox. Easter always falls between Mar. 22 and Apr. 25 inclusive. Following Jewish custom, the feast begins at sunset on Easter Eve with the Great Vigil of Easter. The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Easter on the first Sunday after the Jewish pesach or Passover (which follows the spring full moon). Although the two dates sometimes coincide, the eastern date is often one or more weeks later. 2) Easter Season. See Great Fifty Days.
The Great Fifty Days
A Season of Easter
The feast of Easter is a season of fifty days, from Easter Eve through the Day of Pentecost. From early times the Greek word pentecost (fiftieth day) was used also for the whole Paschal season. During this season there is no fasting. The Council of Nicaea (325) directed that Christians are to pray standing. The word “alleluia” (praise the Lord) is said or sung repeatedly, which contrasts sharply with the season of Lent when the alleluia is omitted. The color of liturgical vestments and hangings is white or gold. The BCP notes that it is customary for the Paschal candle to burn at all services of the Easter season. The “Alleluia, alleluia” may be added to the dismissals and their responses during the Great Fifty Days. The traditional Christian Easter greeting (see Lk 24:34) serves as the opening acclamation at the eucharist during the Easter season. 
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s 2021 Easter Message

March 31, 2021
“Our work goes on. Our labor for love continues,” Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael B. Curry said in his Easter 2021 Message, “We will not cease, and we will not give up until this world reflects less our nightmare and more God’s dream where there’s plenty good room for all God’s children. Hallelujah anyhow.”

The Festive day of Easter is Sunday, April 4.

The following is the text of the Presiding Bishop’s Easter 2021 Message:

Easter 2021 Message

When I get to heaven — and I know it may sound presumptuous for me to say it, but I live by grace and believe in amazing grace — when I get to heaven, I certainly want to see the Lord. But I want to see dear members of family and friends, those who have gone on before, the many people I want to sit down and have some conversation with. Of all the biblical people, aside from the Lord himself, when I get to heaven, I want to meet Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene, who was one of the people, one of the women, who followed the way and teachings of Jesus and who probably provided much of the funding for his movement. Mary Magdalene, who with some of the other women and only one of the male disciples, stood with his mother, Mary, at the cross as he died. Mary Magdalene, who, even after he died, on that Easter morning, got up with some of the other women early in the morning, before the day had begun, in the dark, got up to perform the rituals of love to anoint the body of Jesus in his grave.

I want to ask her, “Mary, tell me what got you up that day. Tell me what got you to go to the tomb early in the morning when it was dark, and you could barely see. Why did you get up and go to anoint his body? Mark’s Gospel says that you and the other women said to each other, you knew that Jesus had been buried in that tomb that had been provided by Joseph of Arimathea, with Nicodemus’ help, but a large stone had been rolled in front of the doorway, into the tomb. And one of the women said to the other, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us?’ You knew the stone was there. You knew you couldn’t move it. And yet you got up and you went anyway. Mary, tell me your secret.”

I suspect she probably will say, “Well, we didn’t know how we were going to roll away the stone, but we loved him, and we got up and went anyway. It was hard because it was dark, but we loved him, and we got up and we went anyway. Those roads could be dangerous at night, but we love Jesus, and we got up and we went anyway. Who will roll away the stone for us? We did not know, but we loved him, and we got up and we went anyway. And let me tell you what love can do for you. When we got to the tomb, the stone had already been rolled away. And we shouted our hallelujahs, and shouted our hallelujahs. He is risen.”

Last year in March, on March 13th to be precise, another Mary Magdalene, her name, Barbara, Barbara Clementine Harris, bishop of the church, a voice of love, and justice, and compassion, a voice of deep and profound faith, first woman to be consecrated a bishop in Anglican Christianity, died and entered eternal life. This was early in the pandemic. Fortunately for us, Dean Kelly Brown Douglas had worked with Bishop Barbara to make sure that her memoir was completed, and they completed it. She gave it the title from the words of a gospel song that says, and I quote:

Hallelujah anyhow
Never let your troubles get you down
Whenever troubles come your way
Hold your hands up high and say
Hallelujah anyhow!

Those words characterize the life of Bishop Barbara: hallelujah anyhow. In spite of hardship and difficulty, hallelujah anyhow. In spite of injustice and bigotry, hallelujah anyhow. In spite of war and violence, hallelujah anyhow. And that, my friends, is the spirit of Mary Magdalene. That, my friends, is the tenacity of those who would follow in the footsteps of Jesus and his way of love. In spite of hardship and toil, hallelujah anyhow. In spite of the fact that this Easter is the anniversary of the assassination and the martyrdom of Martin Luther King, Jr., hallelujah anyhow. In spite of the fact that these are hard times, hallelujah anyhow.

Our work goes on. Our labor for love continues. We will not cease, and we will not give up until this world reflects less our nightmare and more God’s dream where there’s plenty good room for all God’s children. Hallelujah anyhow.
When I get to heaven, I can’t wait to hear Mary Magdalene and Bishop Barbara tell me he’s risen. Hallelujah anyhow. Amen.
‘Stop Asian Hate’ Virtual Gathering Bears Witness to the Pain of Asian American Episcopalians

By Egan Millard

March 29, 2021
[Episcopal News Service] At a virtual event sponsored by Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries on March 27, Episcopalians denounced the recent rise of anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States, shared their own experiences with racism and affirmed The Episcopal Church’s role as an antiracist community.

The event – “Stop Asian Hate: A National Gathering of Asian Episcopalians & Allies” – was held on Zoom and livestreamed on social media. Over 600 people registered via Zoom, and the video of the service has been viewed over 14,000 times on Facebook as of March 29, reflecting broad churchwide support for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the aftermath of the March 16 shootings in Georgia and the reckoning on anti-Asian racism that has followed.

“We gather as a virtual community to lament and to listen, to share our pains and our sorrows, even our anger, at the way in which Asians and Pacific Islanders are being marginalized, abused, mocked and killed,” said the Rev. Winfred Vergara, The Episcopal Church’s missioner for Asiamerica Ministries, who helped organize the event. “But we are here also to receive healing and peace, and to see a vision of hope, for even in the midst of this chaotic world we live in, the Holy Spirit is moving.”

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry delivered an impassioned address on the theme of the church as witness – a presence that recognizes the suffering caused by racism, affirms its reality and acts to stop it.

“We stand with the Asian-Pacific Islander communities that are part of our church, part of this country, and more importantly, part of the beloved community of God,” Curry said. “We stand together not simply today but for the days ahead and for the work that lies before us all.”

Referencing Luke 24, an African American spiritual and Holocaust chronicler and survivor Elie Wiesel, Curry called the church to be a witness to the pain that has been inflicted and the justice that can counter it. He also noted the connection between the spike in anti-Asian hate crimes and the racist rhetoric used by former President Donald Trump and many of his supporters, blaming the COVID-19 pandemic on Chinese people.

“You have been a witness like Jesus, with the wounds of injustice, wounds of bigotry, wounds of hatred, wounds of indifference. The wound of being afraid just to go out in public in the United States of America in 2021, the wounds of a society where leaders in high places spoke lies about the origins of pandemics.”

Curry urged all in attendance to listen carefully to the testimonies that followed – personal accounts of the effects of anti-Asian racism – and “listen that we may join with them and witness to this world, that there is another way.”

Four Episcopalians testified about their encounters with racism, giving specific examples of the alarming trend of verbal and physical attacks on Asian Americans. Reported hate crime incidents against Asian Americans increased nearly 150% in the largest U.S. cities in 2020, according to a California State University study.

“Asians have been treated like foreign objects on this land too long. I am tired of it,” said the Rt. Rev. Allen Shin, suffragan bishop of New York. “We are America. And we belong on this land. We deserve the dignity and the freedom of living without fear on this land.”

Shin said he and his wife were accosted in a New York City park last spring by a bicyclist who shouted racial slurs at them and tried to hit them with his bike. It wasn’t the first time he has heard racial epithets directed at him – it even happened at his election as bishop, he said – “but never have I felt fearful for my life, as I have felt during this pandemic of anti-Asian violence this past year.”

The Rev. Prisca JuYoung Lee-Pae, a deacon in the Diocese of Long Island, echoed the sense of tangible danger many Asian Americans now feel – especially Asian American women.

“I’m afraid of going grocery shopping. I’m afraid of using public transportation. I’m afraid of my kids going to school. And I’m afraid of my mother-in-law going for a walk by herself in my backyard,” she said. “The fear I felt from the virus did not break my heart. But the fear of someone’s violence does.”

Organizers directed attendees to virtual breakout rooms where they reflected on the testimonies using the prompts from The Episcopal Church’s “From Many, One” campaign, and prayed a litany of lament for the victims of the Georgia shootings and the silencing of Asian American voices.

“The sins of systemic oppression and our past have revisited us,” attendees prayed. “Can God’s gifts of curiosity and radical hospitality replace fears and hate?”

– Egan Millard is an assistant editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at emillard@episcopalchurch.org.

FROM THE EPISCOPAL CAFÉ
A Prayer for Holy Week

March 30, 2021

Kimberly Knowle-Zeller
The darkness is giving way to the light, 

but not quite yet. 

This week brings us to the threshold 

of something new; 

something beautiful, hopeful, and life-giving. 

A glimpse into what will be. 

But we’re not there yet. 
 
First, we must wait. 

And listen. 

We are called to be attentive and present. 

Open to walking in the story once again. 

For this Holy Week is our story, too. 

And it’s beckoning to us: Come and See. 
 
Guide us to the table, to feast on bread and wine, 

to sit in your presence, to reflect on betrayals and love. 

To see where we’ve fallen short, 

and where we’ve grasped your grace. 

Humble us to offer our hands to a neighbor, 

to wash their feet, 

and to have ours washed as well. 

May we see the needs and cares of our neighbors, 

opening our hearts to feel deeply, 

and our arms to open wide. 

May our table have no boundaries, 

and all be fed and welcomed. 
 
Guide us to the cross, 

to sit in the darkness, 

to cry out in pain. 

Let us not shield our hearts from the brokenness.

Train our eyes to see in the dark. 

On that Friday, that we call good, 

help us to see the love laid out for the world, 

on the cross, never to be surpassed. 
 
Guide us to wait.

To cry and wail and wonder. 

To question what happened. 

To seek solace in the company of others. 

To keep watch for any signs of hope. 
 
Guide us, Lord, for we know

darkness is giving way to the light. 

Forever and always. 

Amen. 

Kimberly Knowle-Zeller is an ordained ELCA pastor, mother of two, and spouse of an ELCA pastor. She lives with her family in Cole Camp, MO. You can read more at her website, follow her work on Facebookor sign up for her monthly newsletter.
Canadian General Synod-Funded Research Project Addresses Human Trafficking in the Pandemic Era

By Joelle Kidd

March 26, 2021
[Anglican Journal] Since it was publicly identified in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more than 2 million people worldwide. The global pandemic has had far-reaching effects in almost every area of our lives, and as many have said, has exacerbated previously existing issues of inequality around the globe.

In the Asia-Pacific region, migrant workers — who are already marginalized and precariously employed — and victims of human trafficking are no exception, says Aaron Ceradoy, general manager of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM).

APMM has been carrying out a research project since 2020 that focuses on victims of human trafficking in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. APMM’s 2020 research project was the recipient of $10,000 of funding from the department of Global Relations, a ministry of the Anglican Church of Canada’s General Synod, raised through Resources for Mission’s Giving with Grace campaign.

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.
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.