E Komo Mai! (Welcome!) to Koloa Union Church
We are followers of Jesus with a distinctly Hawaiian identity. Some of us are descendants of the native people of these islands and we celebrate with the language and customs of our ancestors. As an inclusive community of faith, reflecting the diversity of the people of Hawai‘i, we respect all cultures and backgrounds.
Our mission is to embrace, enhance and nurture God’s diverse and unique faith community, all to the glory of God.
Whoever you are and wherever you have been on life’s journey, you are welcome here!
Church Location:
3289 Poipu Road, Koloa, HI
We are located in the heart of Koloa on Poipu Road between Old Koloa Town and Koloa School and Library. As you are driving along Poipu Road, you’ll see our church set back from the road between the large monkey pod trees. It is a lava rock church with a large white cross in the window. Parking is available in the front and south side of the church.
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 536, Koloa, HI 96756
Directions from Old Koloa Town:
From Koloa Road, turn onto Poipu Road by the Texaco Gas Station. As you drive on Poipu Road, look to your right in about a block and a half.
Directions from Kukuiula (The roundabout where Poipu Road runs into the Shops at Kukuiula):
Exit the roundabout onto Poipu Road towards Old Koloa Town. As you drive on Poipu Road, look to your left just past Koloa School and Library (& Snorkel Bob’s).
Phone: 808-742-6622
Alan Akana Gallery
Koloa Union Church hosts a gallery featuring the works of Kahu (Pastor) Alan Akana. The gallery is just around the corner from the church at 3281 Waikomo Road in the historic Smith Memorial Parsonage, a beautiful building on the grounds formerly owned by Congregationalist missionaries. Proceeds from sales at the gallery support the maintenance, upgrades and repairs of the parsonage. Dr. Akana has been watercoloring the flowers of Hawaii since 1993 and features his work of nearly a quarter of a century. Gallery hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. See www.alanakanagallery.com to learn more about the gallery and Dr. Akana’s art.
A Message from Kahu Akana
“Beauty All Around Us”
On Sunday, I shared a story from the book Moloka`i, by Alan Brennert, which I read over the previous couple of weeks. In the novel, a Catholic nun by the name of Sister Catherine had arrived at Kalaupapa, one of the most beautiful places in Hawai`i, to care for the patients who suffered from leprosy, also known today as Hansen’s Disease. Her first couple of weeks were especially difficult, as she dressed the wounds of young girls. She did her best all day long, every day, not to wretch as she tended one wound after another. After she had been there for a couple of weeks, she was unwrapping the bandages on the arm of a young girl by the name of Noelani, who was about 15. The wound was so horrible to look at, that Sister Catherine let out a horrifying cry and felt that she would throw up right then and there. She rushed outside and dropped to her knees. The beauty of Kalaupapa was far from her thoughts.
Fortunately, her colleague Sister Leopoldina covered for her, and when their shift was over, Leopoldina took her across the yard to the girl’s dining room. There was a cabinet there, in which Leopoldina rummaged through one of the drawers until she found a piece of paper. She told Sister Catherine the famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson had written something on the paper—something he wrote when he visited Kalaupapa in 1889—and then she read the poem:
To see the infinite pity of this place,
The mangled limb, the devastated face,
The innocent sufferers smiling at the rod,
A fool were tempted to deny his God.
He sees, and shrinks; but if he look again,
Lo, beauty springing from the breast of pain!—
He marks the sisters on the painful shores,
And even a fool is silent and adores.
When Sister Leopoldina first saw that slip of paper, she said to Mother Marianne, “Why, it’s beautiful! It’s lovely, isn’t it?”
But Marianne said to Leopoldina, “We are not the ones to be flattered.” And she told Leopoldina to look outside on the lawn at girls with clean clothes and freshly dressed bandages, who were lame and crippled from leprosy, but joyfully playing croquet on a lawn created just for them.
Then Mother Marianne said, “There is beauty in the least beautiful of things.”
Here were young girls who were suffering from a debilitating diseases, causing scars on their skin and disappearing body parts, separated from families most of them would never see again. And yet, they laughed and played and loved. Indeed, there is beauty in the least beautiful of things.
May we remember when we serve others that we are not the ones to be flattered. Rather, we join with God as co-creators of beauty in the lives of those around us and our own as well—for when we create beauty for others, beauty is being created for us as we do it.
Aloha nui!
Kahu
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Our Kahu (Pastor) offers a weekly message in church most Sundays during the year. Click HERE to see a video of a recent message from Sunday morning. You may see the Koloa Union Church YouTube channel to see many of his past messages and subscribe in order be notified when a new message is posted. Please share these videos with friends and invite them to church. Please feel free to “Like” any of the videos you see and share them on social media, such as Facebook, so that others will notice them.
“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana” is provided most weeks by the Kahu (Pastor) of Koloa Union Church, a congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
Weekly News of the Church
ENSEMBLE PRACTICE Come one, come all. Practice on Saturday, March 16, noon, at the church.
WELCOME REV. SARAH JONES Sunday, March 17, will be Rev. Sarah Jones’ first Sunday with us. She will be our guest preacher until June 2, when our Kahu Alan returns from sabbatical.
SCENT-FREE ENVIRONMENT We have members, friends and a kahu who are highly allergic to various scents, often resulting in coughing, sneezing, difficulty breathing, headaches and speaking, as well as other symptoms. Heavy perfumes and colognes are particularly troublesome. We are requesting that our church be, as much as possible, a “scent-free” environment during worship services, social activities and meetings. We realize that there is no way to keep all scents away and we plan to continue having fresh flower arrangements each week and leis for special occasions, but we do ask everyone to be sensitive to the needs of those around them when it comes to perfumes, colognes and lotions.
PARKING NOTE Thanks to all who are able who have been making parking more manageable on Sunday mornings! Those who have been carpooling and parking at the school and on Waikomo Road have made a big difference in making room for the elderly, our visitors, and those who have trouble walking.
THE LATEST COCONUT WIRELESS The Hawai`i Conference of the United Church of Christ shares news on the Coconut Wireless, the regular weekly newsletter of the HCUCC. If you would like to keep abreast on news, opportunities and events, please click HERE for the latest news. If you like what you see, you may subscribe and get every issue of the Coconut Wireless automatically and get the very latest news hot off the press.
LECTIONARY READINGS (Old & New Testament Readings for the Week) Each week, Christians throughout the world read biblical passages from the Revised Common Lectionary, including the Old Testament, Psalms, New Testament, and Gospels. After three years, a good portion of the Bible is included and the cycle begins again. RCL passages are often read in church worship services, and Kahu Akana usually includes at least one of them on the following Sunday. This week’s readings are Genesis. 15:1-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35.
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COMING UP…
MEN’S BREAKFAST The last men’s breakfast of the season will be on Tuesday, March 19, 7:30 a.m. at Kalapaki Joes Poipu. Join the men of the church and their friends as they visit over breakfast and a cup of coffee.
ALL CHURCH BREAKFAST Join the all-church breakfast on the 4th Tuesday of every month, 7:30 a.m. at Kalapaki Joe’s Poipu. The next scheduled breakfast is March 26. Members and friends are invited to attend.
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