THIS Sunday, Sept. 17, we will delve into Crossroads’ history by looking at examples of our social activism over the decades. Crossroaders, from the beginning, were keenly aware of Crossroads’ multicultural social experiment, which was really their first activism as they showed a different reality of what could be and spoke out against racial segregation and racism.

Crossroaders responded to injustices of the time, of the need to speak up for sugar plantation workers, or about the mass internment of Japanese during WWII. Joining us in looking at not only our activism, but the why behind them, will be historian, writer and member Tom Coffman and Rev. Neal MacPherson, pastor of Crossroads for two of those decades. Come add to the conversation!

NEXT Sunday, Sept. 24, our adult ed session will focus on the Empty Homes Tax, an important bill that Crossroads has proposed and supported to help address our housing crisis. Keith Webster (from HousingNow!) and Ellen Godbey Carson will share how this tax can, for the first time, prioritize use of Oahu's housing for Oahu's residents, convert 1,000’s of empty housing units to homes for Oahu residents, and create a major revenue stream for affordable housing programs. Come learn details, discuss issues, and help be an advocate for change. We will be discussing Bill 9 (2022), an Empty Homes Tax for Honolulu. For more info, here is a summary of Bill 9: EHT Summary | Mysite 1, and the text of the bill: https--hnldoc.ehawaii.gov-hnldoc-document-download?id=12939.

For more information/questions, please contact Ellen Godbey Carson (egcarson@icloud.com).

Hello Crossroads Community,

This has been a busy summer as our keiki and youth have been busy as well. During the Summer is our time to take a break from regular Sunday school classes and try out new or different activities. This Summer we did a lot!

• One of the most memorable activities we did was have a waterplay day! Amara’s family shared some of her leftover water guns and balloons from her birthday and it was super fun!
• On another Sunday, Roman brought in buckets and shakers for us to use and make a joyful noise!
• On a different summer evening Griffin, Christian and Stephanie’s son, led a small group of us in a Dungeons and Dragons session! Ted Demura-Devore was there to help as well to guide us through the game.

We’ve had a great summer and now it’s only getting better. We have also started our confirmation class where seven of our youth are coming together with their mentors to talk about faith and what it means to be empowered to change the world. This program will last until February when we will send our confirmands out with a blessing.

In upcoming news, we are starting up the OWL sex education program again! If you know of or have children in the 7th-9th grade range, they are welcome to join us for this program. Libby Ryan-Kern, who is one of our trained facilitators, will be leading the program starting in October. It is a sex education program designed for people of all ages. It covers factual information about bodies and sex, as well as the relational aspects that come with learning about these topics. It’s very comprehensive and adjusted to the appropriate ages. If you are interested, please contact me!

I am also seeking Sunday School teachers! Our school season runs from September til May. We have a curriculum that is thoughtful and easy to follow as well as teacher assistants to help you keep our children engaged and safe. We cycle through our teachers each month so you would only be teaching 1-2 Sundays a month (less depending on how many teachers we have). If you aren’t sure about teaching but would like to be more involved, we are also in need of teaching assistants! This is just helping the teacher with set up/take down and monitoring the children. If you are interested in any of these positions please let me know!

Thank you for your love and support for our keiki. It has been a great summer and I’m looking forward to another great school year!

Pastor Malia

associate@churchofthecrossroadshawaii.org

Aloha Friends,

On my last Sunday with you all before heading off on sabbatical, we were just about evenly split between the cosmic bamboo hui folks online and the in-person attendees. Looking at one of the earliest covenant-like statements of the church found in the Epistle to the Romans (12:9-21), we divided up the scriptures between five in-person groups and five online groups. Each group had a chance to look at a portion of the whole scriptures and then were asked to simply respond with the one word that their portion of the scripture evoked in each of them. As we heard each of the words, our tech wizards were importing them into a program that made the word map you see above. The larger the word, the more times it was used. Note that the four largest words are forgiveness, respect, kindness, and love -- with many other words also getting multiple nods.

What you have here is in many ways a visual of the values the resonate most strongly with us as a community -- note that you don’t see judgement, you don’t see sin and wrongdoing. Instead, we see words of grace and aloha. May this always be a visual of our hearts and spirits. I will take this picture with me while I walk the Camino and will envision you all as I contemplate it from time to time.

Aloha,

Kahu David