On Sunday, Doug Duvauchelle began our worship service by sharing how music brings peace to him and to others. He then lit the Candle of Peace and played a soothing medley for us on his guitar. As Doug so beautifully demonstrated, music is a form of art that often brings us peace in the midst of the chaos and challenges of our lives. I am really enjoying hearing from some of the artists among us who are sharing what art means to them and how the various forms of art help us to make room for Christ during the Season of Advent. I am looking forward to sharing on Sunday about the joy of painting the flowers of Hawaii. I hope you will join us as we light the Candle of Joy!
On Sunday, I also shared about my experiences visiting the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on Puowaina, also known as Punchbowl Crater, on December 7, 1991. It was truly a spiritual experience being among so many graves of veterans on the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. As we commemorate this event this week, 25 years later, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect upon all of the wars and places of armed conflict since World War II. I was saddened to learn that there have been multiple situations of armed conflict every year since that war in which over 60 million people lost their lives. I learned that there have been over 50 situations of armed conflict in the world in 2016 (so far)…and over 75,000 people have died this year in Syrian, Iraq and Afghanistan alone…and there are about as many Syrians who have died in the current civil war as all Americans who died in WWII: over 400,000.
If we are going to sing and talk about peace on earth once again during the holiday season, I think it is important for us to see how much work there is to do! I also believe that peace is possible and that there is a role in it for each of us. I shared about the story of Sadako Sasaki, the young girl living in Hiroshima who was just two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped just over a mile away from her home. She later came down with leukemia as a result of the radiation from the blast. While she was dying in the hospital, her friend told her the legend of 1,000 cranes: if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, you can make a wish and know that it will come true. So Sadako began folding paper into cranes as she wished for peace in the world. As the story goes, she only completed 644 cranes when she died, but her friends were so inspired by her commitment to peace, they took up the challenge and completed the rest. 1,000 cranes were folded after all!
This story gives me hope that we can all do something for peace and whatever we do will make a difference. Our challenge for peace on earth is a huge one, but we can make a difference. May we commit ourselves to bringing more peace to the world.
Aloha nui!
Kahu Alan Akana
Click HERE to see a video of Sunday’s sermon.
Videos of Kahu’s sermons will be available every week through Christmas Day. You can find them on our church website <www.koloaunionchurch.org> and on our weekly e-news. Please share these videos with friends and invite them to church.
“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.
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