THIS SUNDAY: September 12, 2021
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Proverbs 22: 1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Here we are reminded that we honor God by caring for the most vulnerable in society.
Psalm 125
Those who place their trust in God will have God's protection, so they do not have to resort to underhanded ways in order to get ahead.
James 2:1-10, 14-17
True faith in God requires us to be faithful to those in need.
Mark 7:24-37
Jesus is faithful to God by going to places and to people he hadn't considered before, and is thus a role model for how open we should be to live out our faith.
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ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICE
WITH COMMUNION
8:00AM
Mark Cain (EM)*
John Hanaoka (U)
Diane Sato (AG)
Muriel Jackson (DM)
9:30AM
Dileep Bal (EM)
CeCe Caldwell (U)
Rachel Secretario (LR)
Jan Hashizume (AG)
Nelson Secretario, Vikki Secretario (HP)
David Crocker, 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
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Aloha Hour
Canceled
Until Further Notice
Organ Concert
Sunday, September 12th
2:00 - 4:00PM
Guest Organist: Peter Dubois
Church
Project Vision Hi`ehi`e Mobile Showers
Thursday, September 16th
11AM - 4PM
Church Lawn
Ke Akua Youth Group Meeting
Wednesday, September 22th
5:00 - 6:00PM
Zoom Meeting
Contact Cami for login info.
Daughters of the King
Thursday, September 23th
7:00 - 8:00PM
Zoom Meeting
Contact Mabel Antonio for login info.
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Aloha Hour
Every Sunday, 10:45AM - 12:00PM
Under lanai tent
Monday/Friday Crew
Every Monday/Friday, 8:00AM
Church Office
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Laundry Love
1st Wednesday, 5:00PM
Kapa`a Laundromat
Daughters of the King
2nd & 4th Thursday, 7:00 - 8:00PM
Zoom
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Announcing the Inaugural All Saints'
Gift of Music "Makana Mele" Organ Concert
September 12, 2021
First in an On-going Series Supporting Our Community
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Featuring Peter DuBois
Director of Music and Organist
Third Presbeterian Church
Rochester, NY
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Peter DuBois has served as Director of Music/Organist at Third Church since 1991. In addition to his full-time duties at Third Church, he is Host and Producer for the popular nationally syndicated public radio program With Heart and Voice. For 15 years, while serving Third Church, Peter concurrently served on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music as Assistant Professor of Sacred Music and Director of the Sacred Music Diploma program. Prior to coming to Third Church, he served 10 years as Director of Music/Organist at Christ Church United Methodist in Charleston, West Virginia, and taught at West Virginia Wesleyan College and the University of Charleston.
Peter holds degrees in organ performance from the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Peter maintains an active performing career, with recitals throughout the United States and abroad, including at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, Notre-Dame de Paris (twice), the Basilica of Ste. Clotilde in Paris, and the Cathédrale du Saint-Saveur in Aix-en-Provence.
Please join us on September 12th at 2:00PM for what promises to be a spectacular concert performed on All Saints' Rosales Opus 41 Pipe Organ.
This concert will be live streamed at AllSaintsKauai.org. Due to current conditions, live concert attendance in the church is limited to All Saints members and their guests. Mahalo!
RSVP for in-person seating by contacting our Office Angels
at 808-977-3207.
Mahalo nui loa to David Murray, Bill Brown, and Chucky Boy Chock for putting their heads together to discover the perfect name for the All Saints' organ concert series: Makana Mele - The Gift of Music.
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For the sick and suffering in body, mind, and spirit, especially Those affected by the Pandemic,Those affected by racial violence, Noah, Patsy, Susan, Maddy, Lori, Peggy, 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, 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.
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Reflections from Kahu Kawika
Be Open
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Proper 18B
Mark 7:24-37
James 2:1-10, 14-17
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Psalm 125
How is it when you have an “off” day? Feeling just “out of sorts”? Does life feel like someone flipped the script on you without letting you know?
I wonder if Jesus is having one of THOSE days in today’s reading from Mark 7. Here we find one of the most curious things about Jesus – he has what seems to be a bizarre and very uncomfortable conversation with a Gentile woman from the north of Galilee, in the country of the Syro-Phoenicians, or people who are hapa descendants of a blend of Greeks and Phoenicians, in modern-day Lebanon.
Jesus goes up there after some pretty intensive ministry in his home region of Galilee. After his miraculous feeding of the 5,000 from only five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus has a rough encounter with the religious authorities, who are threatened by Jesus’ popularity with the crowds and are thus looking for any fault in him and in his leadership. If that’s not bad enough, then his disciples don’t seem to get what he is talking about when he says that it is not outside things that defile people but instead the intent of the inward heart. He asks them in what I am sure is an irritated tone of voice, “Are you so dull?” (Mark 7:18). Jesus seems to have reached his limit with these people!
And now here he is, no doubt needing some sorely needed alone-time. Mark 7 indicates that he wants to be by himself up north away from his home region, probably to recharge and to re-focus on God’s mission for him. The story says that “he entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, yet he could not escape notice” (Mark 7:24).
But somehow, a Gentile Syro-Phoenician desperate mother not only had heard about this wonder-worker sent from God from far away, but also that he happens to be in town – and without the usual throngs of folks demanding his attention! She bows down at his feet and begs Jesus to drive out an unclean spirit from her little daughter – which could either be a demon or an life-threatening illness in the parlance of their time.
Now here is the part where it seems on the surface that Jesus’ exasperation hits a boiling point and results in an initial awkward response to the woman’s plaintive cry. He tells her, “Let the children be fed first (literally, ‘eat all they want’), for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” What!? Jesus saying “no” to someone with a real need? And even worse, using a phrase that seems to put the woman and her daughter down – calling them “dogs,” which usually back at that time was an insult, since back then Israelite society considered dogs as vermin rather than as pets.
In short, in looking at Jesus’ words here, one could understand if Jesus’ tone seems not only misogynistic but even racist and elitist – which would be an absolutely shocking thing, given what we know of his character throughout the Gospels of being welcoming of all kinds of people and even having women like Mary Magdalene and Martha as some of his closest friends and supporters.
However, here is where our English translations do us a bit of a disservice. The Greek word used here for “dogs” is actually “kunarion,” which has the more affectionate connotation of “little dogs,” “pups,” or “puppies.” Even though Jesus says no to her request at first, he at least does it with a touch of affection – using a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor to say that his primary mission is to the Jewish people. So either Jesus is slyly testing the woman’s seriousness, or he really thinks God’s mission for him is limited to only Jewish people but rebuffs her in a gentle fashion.
But the amazing thing is that this woman seems to be a match for Jesus in verbal banter, not really backing down but yet at the same time deftly maintaining her humility: “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” (Mark 7:28). Jesus, impressed by her quick wit and humble response, heals her daughter.
In the parallel telling of this same story in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes an even more over-the-top compliment to the woman: “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” (Matthew 15:28). In all the four Gospels, Jesus only gives to two people such high praise of their faith level – to this Gentile woman and to a Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant but said Jesus could do it without having to travel to his home (Matthew 8:10). Notably, neither person is part of the “children” of Israel and yet Jesus lifts them up as the epitomes of faith.
The title of this sermon is “Be Open.” The woman has to be open to what Jesus could do for her daughter, and even Jesus himself has to be open to God opening the door of faith and wholeness beyond just the Jewish people. Later in the New Testament, we read from Hebrews 5:8-9 that even Jesus had to go through a process of learning obedience to wherever God wanted to take him: “Although he (Jesus) was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”
Even though we think of Jesus as perfect in holiness – and he was in that he was sinless and the Son of God – at the same time as a human he also had to learn how to put his obedience to God into practice during his life and ministry on earth. So it is entirely possible that in today’s story Jesus has to learn that his obedience to God now extends beyond his own people and his own ethnicity, which the early church also had to learn and even now our worldwide church has to keep on relearning.
We see this theme of openness further in Mark 7, when Jesus returns to his home region of Galilee and meets a man who was hard of hearing and had a resultant speech impediment. Jesus then does the second thing in today’s gospel reading that seems strange and bizarre – he puts his fingers in the man’s ears and then Jesus spits and touches the man’s tongue! These seemingly weird actions actually are the best way he could communicate to this man who couldn’t hear – Jesus indicates with his fingers that he intends to heal the man’s ears, and since saliva was considered to have healing properties Jesus spits and touches the man’s tongue to say to him that his ability to speak is also being healed.
The kicker, though, is Jesus’ command to the man: “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” The writer Mark takes pains to translate Jesus’ original word in spoken Aramaic to emphasize the significance of this command. We might think Jesus is giving this command for the man’s ears to be opened, but then what about his tongue? Instead, a deeper look at this command reveals that Jesus commands the man himself to be open – in the story it says that Jesus spoke to the man, not to his ears. I think this means for the man to be open to what Jesus wants to do for him and in whatever way Jesus needs to do it. The word in both Aramaic and Greek implies a broad sense of being open-minded or open-hearted. The fact that the man gets healed shows that, indeed, he is open to how God works through Jesus.
Like the Gentile woman and Jesus himself, this man’s openness allows for God to move in amazing ways. Ironically, though, not everyone in this story is “open” – when Jesus commands the crowd not to tell anyone, what do they do? They immediately go blabbing about it to everyone and to everywhere, resulting in frustrating Jesus’ ability to obey God step by step in a more intentional and methodical manner. This not only sabotages Jesus’ mission to teach and to heal according to God’s timetable, but later on it raises unrealistic expectations in the crowds that Jesus is a forceful military leader like King David before him who will kick out the Romans and re-establish a Jewish kingdom. When Jesus instead is later arrested and handed over to the Romans for execution, no wonder they all flee from him in disappointment and dismay.
My question for us all, then, is how open are we to how God wants to work for us and especially to work through us? Earlier this week, Muriel and I read in the daily devotional Forward Day by Day how the author had thought the goal of prayer was to get a satisfactory feeling after a time of prayer, like to get filled up for the day ahead. Instead, he learned over time that prayer is all about getting in touch with God so that our hearts and minds are made more supple to God’s person and ways. In short, prayer is the means for us as God’s children to “be open” to how the Spirit wants to move in and through us.
These days, we don’t see a lot of evidence in our society of openness to each other. People get into their silos and camps, and regard the other as the enemy to be vanquished and even, in some cases, to be destroyed. Racialism and sectarianism are rife. There is even no clear agreement on mutually basic facts, let alone of personal opinions. We need a big dose of God’s openness in our hearts, minds, and attitudes. We can learn much from the great faith of the Gentile woman in today’ story, who daringly crossed gender, racial, and ethnic lines to know God’s healing touch for her daughter.
I pray God’s Holy Spirit would shine a light on us all, to remove any blockages we may have to God’s free hand at work in our lives. Do we have the courage to “be open?”
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Adult Formation Class:
Transformational Mālama
Tuesday, September 21st
5:30PM-7:00PM
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Often when we think about Stewardship, we think of money and of raising funds to keep the church going. But in reality, the concept of biblical stewardship is much more wide-ranging and life-transformational. Biblical stewardship actually relates to our Hawaiian word 'mālama' in the sense of caring for ourselves, each other, and our world -- and, yes, dedicating our lives and our resources to making that care tangible. And when we do engage in transformational care, we are the ones who reap the full blessings God intends for us. Please join Kahu Kawika as we explore together the biblical idea of 'Tranformational Mālama' in the following three areas:
- Care for ourselves
- Care for each other
- Care for our world
-Kahu Kawika+
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Parking Lot Paving is Pau
Extra Gravel Available to the Congregation
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Hosing down the dust during grading of parking lot. |
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One of many loads of gravel delivered. |
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Food trucks set up on improved parking lot. |
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A shady spot for enjoying your lunch. |
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The paving of the All Saints’ Gym parking lot has been completed. We now have a uniform level surface to support our food trucks, their client parking, and parking for all who use the gym and church campus. The old roofing tiles from the Sloggett Center were crushed at PCCC and returned to All Saints’ to complete this project. Many thanks to Jimmy Nakamura for grading the lot and to Luis Soltren for the use of his tractor. Eleven dump truck loads of gravel were delivered from PCCC for the project. There is extra gravel on the south side of the gym for any parishioners who need some. Bring your trucks, buckets, and shovels to take a little bit of All Saints’ (in the form of crushed tiles) home with you! |
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Vestry Report
August 22, 2021
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Finances:
Church
July 2021
Income: $28,308; Expenses: $35,265; Difference: -$6,957.
This negative differential is expected during the lighter summer months and historically is made up in the coming months.
Preschool
July 2021
Income: $4,351; Expenses: $16,966; Difference: -$12,615 ($ +/-).
This shortage of income is expected in the month of June since tuition is paid in monthly installments to the Preschool during the school months of August-May.
Buildings & Grounds:
We have a projected savings in the Solar Panel & Roof Project of approximately $43,000. Vestry approved devoting up to $10,000 of that toward the graveling of the Lihue driveway. In addition, the food trucks will park toward the driveway entrance and along the Sudz wall.
Worship:
Looking into getting updated candles and holders. Also, per the Bishop's recent COVID safety guidelines, Aloha Hour is suspended until we get past the Surge.
Education:
Kahu will teach on "Transformative Mālama" on Tuesday Sept. 21st, 5:30PM-7:00PM, via Zoom. Later he will lead a teaching series on World Religions.
Outreach:
Vestry approved partnering with Project Vision, who will offer mobile shower services for houseless clients on the first an third Thursdays starting Sept. 16th and on a three-month trial basis. Laundry Love will serve in conjunction with Project Vision, as well as with Women-in-Need (WIN) in Lihue. As a response to the earthquake in Haiti, we will have a special offering on All Saints' Sunday, November 7th, as well as urging individuals and families to give to Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD) in the interim. Finally, there are plans for our partnership with Habitat for Humanity to resume in September, depending on the current COVID surge.
The Arts:
Nationally-renowned organist Peter DuBois will perform at our "Makana Mele" organ concert at the All Saints' sanctuary on Sunday, September 12th, at 2PM. In-person attendance is limited to church members and others with proof of vaccination, and the performance will also be Livestreamed. $20 per person suggested donation. Also, the Rosales Organ crew will be back to make adjustments to the organ as well as to install a climate-control system in the organ chamber.
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Project Vision Hi`ehi`e Mobile Showers Coming to All Saints' Campus
Join the Volunteers to Provide Sack Lunches for Clients
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At the Project Vision Hi'ehi'e Mobile Showers (every other Thursday from 11AM-4PM, starting September 16th), some All Saints volunteers will provide sack lunches for the clients to take with them after they finish their showers. We expect about 20 people to be there each time. Please contact Carolyn Morinishi if you are interested in helping with this ministry, either by making the lunches or donating funds to help purchase supplies. Thank you!
-Carolyn Morinishi
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Welcome Suzanne Kobayashi!
Suzanne Joins All Saints' as Our Intern for the Diaconate
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Suzanne will join us at All Saints' this Sunday. Please welcome her and introduce yourself to our new intern. She will begin her formal duties for the church September 12th. We look forward to having Suzanne serve at All Saints'.
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Time to give generously to Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD) |
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My dear Siblings in Christ Jesus,
In this time when people have been devastated by hurricanes, fires and earthquakes, we are called upon to give generously to Episcopal Relief & Development. Episcopal Relief & Development is the compassionate response of The Episcopal Church to human suffering in the world. Hearing God’s call to seek and serve Christ in all persons and to respect the dignity of every human being, Episcopal Relief & Development serves to bring together the generosity of Episcopalians and others with the needs of the world.
Episcopal Relief & Development faithfully administers the funds that it receives from the church and raises from other sources. It provides relief in times of disaster and promotes sustainable development by identifying and addressing the root causes of suffering.
For over 80 years, Episcopal Relief & Development has been working together with supporters and partners for lasting change around the world. Each year the organization facilitates healthier, more fulfilling lives for more than 3 million people struggling with hunger, poverty, disaster and disease. Inspired by Jesus’ words in Matthew 25, Episcopal Relief & Development leverages the expertise and resources of Anglican and other partners to deliver measurable and sustainable change in three signature program areas: Women, Children and Climate.
I call on all Episcopalians in Hawaiʻi and Micronesia to donate to Episcopal Relief & Development today. I further hope our churches will share this information at all services, in newsletters/e-news, and on websites with renewed vigor throughout September and the rest of 2021.
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Please be generous!
Your Brother in Christ Jesus
+Bob
The Right Reverend Robert L. Fitzpatrick
(Pronouns: he, him, his)
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Holy Cross Day
September 14, 2021
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Holy Cross Day is a major feast observed on Sept. 14th in honor of Christ's self-offering on the cross for our salvation. The collect for Holy Cross Day recalls that Christ "was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world unto himself," and prays that "we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him" (BCP, p. 192). The themes of Holy Cross Day are powerfully expressed by the hymn "Lift high the cross" (Hymn 473).
This feast is known as "The Exaltation of the Holy Cross" in the eastern church and in missals and sacramentaries of the western church, and it is known as "The Triumph of the Cross" in the Roman Catholic Church. It was one of the 12 great feasts in the Byzantine liturgy. The 1979 BCP is the first American Prayer Book to include Holy Cross Day.
Historically, the feast has been associated with the dedication on Sept. 14, 335, of a complex of buildings built by the Emperor Constantine (c. 285-337) in Jerusalem on the sites of the crucifixion and Christ's tomb. This shrine included a large basilica and a circular church. Constantine's mother, Helena (c. 255- c. 330), supervised the construction of the shrine, and a relic believed to be the cross was discovered during the work of excavation. Claims by the Church of Jerusalem to have the cross date from the mid-fourth century, and the pilgrim Egeria mentions a feast commemorating the discovery of the cross in Jerusalem in the late-fourth-century. This feast has also been associated with the exposition at Jerusalem of the cross by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (575-641). He recovered the relic from the Persians who took it from Jerusalem in 614 when they destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Although the authenticity of alleged relics of the cross may be questionable, Holy Cross Day provides an opportunity for a joyous celebration of Christ's redeeming death on a cross.
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Pastoral Word from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry on 20th Anniversary of Sept. 11
Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs
September 8, 2021
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As followers of Jesus, and with our siblings in other faith traditions, we place great value on the act of remembrance. As we reflect on the solemn anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, we remember many loved ones lost and first responders who put their lives at risk, modeling the sacrificial love of Jesus, who said: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
While 20 years have passed, I also want us to pause and remember the days that followed these tragic events. There was a moment in the aftermath when people came together. We were praying, grieving, and also working together. Because in that moment, however fleeting it was, we knew with immediacy and vulnerability that we need God, and we need each other.
Memories of that tender cooperation—of love for each other as neighbors—serve as guiding lights for the present. Amidst the ongoing pandemic and natural disasters that have taken so many lives and pushed first responders to their limits, and amidst a worldwide reckoning with the sin of racism, we are called to become the Beloved Community whose way of life is the way of Jesus and his way of love.
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Statement on Climate Change by Archbishop of Canterbury, Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch
Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs
September 7, 2021
For the first time, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion have jointly warned of the urgency of environmental sustainability, its impact on poverty, and the importance of global cooperation.
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Pope Francis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and Archbishop Justin Welby urge everyone to play their part in “choosing life” for the future of the planet.
In a joint statement, the Christian leaders have called on people to pray, in this Christian season of creation, for world leaders ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November. The statement reads: “We call on everyone, whatever their belief or worldview, to endeavour to listen to the cry of the earth and of people who are poor, examining their behaviour and pledging meaningful sacrifices for the sake of the earth which God has given us.”
The joint declaration issues a clear warning—”Today, we are paying the price…Tomorrow could be worse”—and concludes that, “This is a critical moment. Our children’s future and the future of our common home depend on it.”
The three Christian leaders spoke against injustice and inequality, saying, “We stand before a harsh justice: biodiversity loss, environmental degradation and climate change are the inevitable consequences of our actions, since we have greedily consumed more of the earth’s resources than the planet can endure. But we also face a profound injustice: the people bearing the most catastrophic consequences of these abuses are the poorest on the planet and have been the least responsible for causing them.”
The statement calls on people to do the following:
- Pray for world leaders ahead of COP26.
- For individuals: To make meaningful sacrifices for the sake of the planet, working together and taking responsibility for how we use our resources.
- For those with far-reaching responsibilities: To choose people-centered profits and lead the transition to just and sustainable economies.
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Learning from Early Mornings
September 7, 2021
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Let me tell you the story behind this picture // For years I made up excuse after excuse for why I couldn’t get up early:
I went to bed too late. I like sleeping in. I don’t want to wake the kids up. We never remember to get the coffee brewing the night before. I don’t have enough time.
Finally, though, this summer, I committed to getting up early for just 15 minutes to read my Bible and write. I began on July 1st and now over two months later, I’m still getting up to read and write.
What I’ve learned is that I don’t necessarily have to get up before my kids. They can still be up and know that I have quiet time. I also learned that the dishes can wait until after I’m done reading and writing. I learned that it doesn’t have to be quiet.
Most importantly, I learned that my kids are watching.
Now some mornings the kids eat their breakfast on the porch while I read. Other times they stay inside and play. And some mornings, like today, they grab their own paper and crayon and join me in the gift of creating.
I write this for encouragement if there’s something you’ve been inspired to try, but like me, keep coming up with excuses. Is there something new you want to practice this fall? Do you desire time for yourself?
Claim the time. Give yourself the gift of sitting still. Be present to your breath and the sounds of creation.
Show your children that time with pen, paper, and books is never wasted.
I’m cheering you on and joining you in the journey.
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IN BRIEF . . .
These news briefs were featured in previous issues of "The Epistle"
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From The Epistle, August 27, 2021
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Mary Margaret Smith Moves Forward in Her Formation as a Deacon
Messages from Mary Margaret
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What is a Deacon?
What is a Deacon?
So many have asked me that question. It seems people, even cradle Episcopalians, don’t understand the role of a deacon and how important it is to the spiritual growth of the church community.
A Deacon is:
- A person ordained to lead and live out the Servant Ministry of Jesus Christ in the church and in the world.
- A prophet of social justice and compassionate action, calling all the people of God to live the servant ministry of their Baptismal covenant.
- A leader, teacher, and nurturer of the church’s social ministry.
The Deacon is often called a bridge, with one foot in the church and the other in the world. A bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. This is so that the gathered community is always mindful of, holds up in prayer, and responds to in their life, the pain, brokenness and hunger of the wider world.
The role of a deacon in our worship service best symbolizes the ministry. They proclaim the gospel, lead the prayers of the people, set and clean up the table for Holy Communion, and dismiss us to “Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord”.
A deacon reminds us that our true service starts on Sundays when we leave the church, that our mission field is our community and the world. We are called not only to prayer but to action.
I am humbled and amazed that God has called me to this ministry in God's church.
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The Path to Ordination
The path to ordination is a long process as it should be. It is the journey of formation that one walks with God. I sensed my call to the Diaconate ten years ago and after years of discernment, I finally accepted the call and started the path to ordination three years ago. To start the process, one needs the support of their church. In keeping with the Episcopal Church Canons, in April 2019 the All Saints’ Vestry, on behalf of the entire congregation, wrote a letter of Nomination and Support, which pledged to contribute financially and spiritually in my preparation for ordination, for me to the Bishop. I then started all the paperwork and meetings. Letters of recommendation, psychological and medical exams, a background check, and a meeting with the Bishop and the Commission on Ministry were required. Once that was done and everyone had agreed, the Bishop admitted me as a Postulant (a candidate, seeking admission into a religious order). Then the training started.
I completed Introduction to Formation, a one-year course of study and discernment, and have just finished my first year of Waiolaihui’ia, our local formation program. The Waiolaihui’ia program is structured to enable people with full-time jobs to participate in training one weekend a month for three years. The program uses the curriculum designed by the Iona Center at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, TX and we have been able to meet on-line via Zoom. On Friday evenings we met for evening service, for which we took turns preparing, and giving the sermons. The sermons were critiqued by the people attending the meeting. Saturday mornings the first year were spent studying the bible with Fr. Kawika Jackson and in the afternoon we discussed practicum videos we watched from the Iona Center. There were test questions each month and a final at the end of the year. I start my second year September 10th. It will follow the same format as the first year except we will be studying church history and New Testament Greek. That will be interesting, never thought I’d be learning Greek.
It is customary that one is assigned to a different church for your second and third year of internship. As of September 1st, I will be attending St. Michael’s and All Angels in Lihue. This coming Sunday will be my last Sunday at All Saints’. Because of this transition I have had to give up all duties and work at All Saints’. My whole Episcopal life has been at All Saints’, starting twenty years ago. You all are my family and I will miss worshiping with you so much. I have been so touched by the support everyone has given me. I wouldn’t be making this journey without the love you have shown me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Please continue to pray for me as I will be praying for all of you.
-Mary Margaret Smith
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Laundry Love Announces New Fall Schedule
We are pleased that we will be on-site every month!
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Laundry Love will be available the first Wednesday of the month at the Kapa`a Laundromat at 5:00PM beginning September 1st. Many thanks to all who support Laundry Love.
If you wish to volunteer for this Ministry please contact the Church office at (808) 822-4267.
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The Daughters of the King Retreat scheduled for Saturday, September 11th, has been postponed. |
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Who Do You Call?
Contact information for All Saints' Ministries and Outreach
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USHER MINISTRY
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.
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