Volume XVIII JULY/AUGUST 2010 Number VII/VIII

Waimea United Church of Christ P.O. Box 457, Waimea, HI 96796 (808) 338-9962 www.waimeachurch.org

The Connection

A monthly publication of the Waimea United Church of Christ

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Once again at this year’s high school graduation, the bell was rung from our steeple to announce the start of the ceremony. This is something we just do even though the school never asks us to do it. One person after the graduation ceremony made a point of telling me that hearing the bell was quite special to them. After thinking about it, I realized that for some folks the church bell being rung once a year at graduation might be the only bell they ever hear.

I grew up with bells. When someone called our home, the telephone bell rang. It did not beep, bleat, or twitter. We had a doorbell of course. We had a dinner bell, a lovely handheld Oaxacan black ceramic bell from Mexico.

Today, however, our world has very few bells left anywhere. Schools used to have bells. Now they have public address systems. Fire trucks used to have bells. Now they have oscillating sound generators. Churches used to have bells. Ours still does. However, this is a rarity. Any church that has been built in the last twenty years more than likely has no bell in it.

Bells go back to ancient times. We can find mention of them in the Hebrew Scriptures (Check out Zechariah 14:20 for instance). Jesus would have heard bells in His life. There is mention of bells being in the early Christian churches to mark the times when sacraments were offered. In the Middle Ages the bells got larger as did the churches. The ringing of bells from churches was to announce good news. The signing of the Armistice that ended WWI was met with the sound of church bells ringing across Europe.

In our own American history, a great bell was created to ring out liberty and freedom. This “Liberty Bell” was inscribed with words from the Bible, Leviticus 25:10, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land. . . .”

I hope that when others hear the church bell ringing that they, too, will be reminded of simpler times and of an ancient eternal faith. Like a dinner bell, I hope that they will come to be nourished. Like s telephone bell, they will come to hear a call. Like a doorbell, their hearts will be opened up to receive the Lord. Like a liberty bell, they will come to know freedom in Christ. Like a school bell, they will be built up in knowledge. Like a fire bell, they will expect their own salvation.

Aloha ke Akua, Pastor Olaf

As Noah and his family were disembarking from the Ark, they paused on the ridge to look back.

“We should have done something, Noah. The old hulk of the Ark will sit there and be an eyesore on the landscape for years to come,” said his wife.

“Don’t worry,” Noah assured her, “everything’s taken care of. I left two termites on board.”

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! THANK YOU, GUYS, FOR TAKING CARE OF EVERYTHING!

Scripture & Sermon Titles

July/August 2010

July 4^th Daniel 12:1-4

“Awaken to Everlasting Life”

July 11^th Guest Preacher

Ed Terui

July 18^th Guest Preacher

Ed Terui

July 25^th 2 Timothy 1:1-4

“Thi-anking God”

August 1^st 1 Corinthians 13:8-13

“Be Adult, Act Childish”

August 8^th Job 1:1-5, 2:9

“Bad Things Happen”

August 15^th Jonah 2:1-10

“Give a Second Chance—Not a Third”

August 22^nd Ephesians 5:21-33

“Marry Your Best Friend”

August 29^th Matthew 5:38-42

“Live Outside Your Comfort Zone”

As we conclude our series on the Book of Daniel, Pastor Olaf will be starting a new series on “Life’s Little Lessons.” As one can see from the sermon titles, they hit close to home. Please invite others to come to hear these lessons!

The Tuesday morning Bible Study Group will not meet on July 6, 13, and 20, as Pastor Olaf will be away. The group will resume it weekly study on July 27^th in Baird Hall at 9 a.m. This group studies the upcoming Sunday’s scripture and sermon topic and gives input for the sermon. All are welcome to share in the lively discussion and prayer.

EVENING BIBLE STUDY

The group meets every 2^nd and 4^th Sundays at 6 pm. Listen to announcements for the location each time. We are studying Revelation.

CALLING ALL BOOK READERS!

JULY: The Book Club will meet on Sunday, July 25^th, 3 pm at the home of Teri Sakai. Book to be discussed is Stealing Fatima by Frank X. Gaspar.

AUGUST: The Book Club will meet on Sunday, August 15^th, 3 pm at the home of Jackie Matsumura. We will discuss the book, ‘Son of Hamas,” by Mosab Hassan Yousef and Ron Brackin.

$HIGHLIGHTS OF THE JUNE CHURCH COUNCIL MEETING$

-The Council looked at comments from Question #1 on the Congregational survey taken at the January Annual meeting: What do you see as the current significant issues facing our church? Items of concern: Building Baird Hall lanai, increasing membership, building on missions. Pastor Olaf shared the notion of increasing “new old members” rather than new young members since this is the realistic demographic in our community. He also mentioned that we look at worship as a time when congregants come together to celebrate God and is a central aspect of what church is about in rather than focusing on increasing membership.

-Teri Sakai shared the certificate that was given to WUCC by the Hawaii Conference at the Aha ‘Pae’aina, recognizing the 190^th anniversary of WUCC. It will be framed and hung in the narthex.

-The Council approved Pastor Olaf’s application for a Dora Isenberg grant requesting $1,600 for the Waimea Canyon Middle School Bible club. $1,100 will be used to purchase T-shirts for the club members and $500 will go towards food for their lunch meetings.

-The water and sewer bills for Baird Hall have been straightened out. A check for $1,952.93 was received from the County Sewer Department and deposited in the General Fund.

-There was a wide fluctuation of water usage in May. Meter reports show inexplicable large usage on certain days/hours, the Finance Committee will continue to explore solutions.

-Fumigation of the main sanctuary and columbarium has been re-scheduled for June 24^th. All are invited to help clean up when the tents are removed.

-Repairs: main sanctuary window fixed, crack in the steps and front paved area of the White Sanctuary patched, edges of steps painted, and reflective paint will be used on the risers of the steps.

-Finance committee is reviewing and working on the following: final version of the lease for the White Church used by the Marshallese congregation, contract with Steven Duarte to resume maintenance of the parking area fronting the sanctuary, lease agreement with the Waimea Boys and Girls Club, and stewardship issues.

-Weekly offering deposits have decreased slightly, as well as church attendance. Regular adult attendance has been fairly constant but visitor count has decreased

-Food Pantry- Next food distribution will utilize re-usable cloth bags. In the future, if patrons come without re-usable bags, they will not receive food.

-Pastor Olaf was elected as president of the Council of Hawaiian Churches for a one-year term.

-Susie Somers is working on the lanai plans with Mike Faye.

MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

The Deacons Board is updating the church membership roll. It has been more than 10 years since this was done. It is necessary to have an accurate count of voting church members, especially when holding important church meetings and making collective decisions. A letter will be coming to you to ask to you indicate your preferred association with the Waimea UCC—as member, associate member, or as friend. The differences in these classifications will be explained in the letter and all we ask is that you check off what your status is and mail the response back.

Please help us accomplish this vital task, as it will enable future businesses of the church to be conducted according to our bylaws. MAHALO.

2010 AHA PAE’AINA

The 2010 Aha Pae’aina at the Lihue United Church was successful. About 200+ people attended the gathering of Hawaiian UCC churches, to fellowship, worship and do business. Many thanks to the members of LUC who provided the space and manpower for the event and to the Kauai UCC churches for doing their part as well. Our thanks go especially to the members of our church who helped in different areas: to Kathy Uyeda and her family and friends for providing part of the meals; to Grace Kamai for taking care of the Makeke at the Aha; to Bill Woodall, Ruth Cassel, and the choir members for leading and participating in the combined choir presentation; to Jeannie Thompson and Helen H-P for helping sew Hospitality tote bags, and to Pastor Olaf for helping everywhere! Our delegates to the Iki and Makua were Pastor Olaf, Grace Kamai, Teri Sakai and Helen H-P.

Please note that Pastor Olaf and his family will be off island from July 5^th-23^rd. Pastor Ed Terui will be the guest preacher for Sunday, July 11^th and Sunday, July 19^th. For pastoral care, please contact Pastor James Merritt at 338-1227.

Our Prayers

Kim Okino (hip surgery), Alan Kennet (knee surgery),Kalani Hillstrom, Lynn (Susie Somers’ sister), Robbie (Nora’s son-in-law), Marina Galiza, Ruth Cassel, Gladys Okada, Catherine Wilson, Nancy Jones, Jane Matsukawa, Gayle Mizukami, Sue Metivier, Jim Kimoto, Nelson Keller, Elmo Douglass, Frank Watanabe, the youth in Waimea High School, Nora Vidinha, Loddy, Michael, Lance; Michael Nizo, Veronica Botelho, Sosei Chinen, Selden Burtch, Verna Kauahi, Desiree Kamai-Santos, the Lanai project, the Community Garden project, our local, state and national leaders and our troops overseas.

Anyway

(Excerpt from “Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments” by Kent M. Keith)

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered…Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives…Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies…Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow…Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable…Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds…Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs…Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight…Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them…Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth…Give the world the best you have anyway.

The Music and Worship Ministry is asking for volunteers to provide special music on Sunday. If you have a talent you can share to enhance the worship service, please talk to Sally Molander or sign up on the bulletin board in the Narthex.

˜

From A New Kind of Christian (pg. 40) by Brian McLaren

 “A good omelet is cooked slowly, so I keep stirring the egg slowly while it cooks, slowly stirring, stirring, stirring, like this. But at some point something happens. The egg that has been changing from raw to cooked rather suddenly transitions from a liquid to a solid. At that point, if I keep stirring it with a fork, I will ruin it. . . .The tool that I need now is not a fork but a spatula. . . .All ages are ages of change, but not all ages involve transition. You young men and women happen to be born into an age of transition. If you keep on doing the same thing with the old tools, you will make a mess of things.”

Join us for a Summer C.E. Session on the book A New Kind of Christian, August 1^st, 8^th, 15^th at 8:30am in Baird Hall. Copies of the book have been ordered and are available from Pastor Olaf or the church office.