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Wayne's Word
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February 2007 I felt certain as the New Year rolled around that I would be replacing my aging computer at home with a flashy new model from Apple. Five years is a long time in computer terms, and while my trusty G4 Quicksilver was still chugging along faithfully, the waits for it to open up my photo files seemed to grow longer. And then, while working on some Christmas gifts, it began to do little, odd things, like transfer file names from documents to photos. That’s what started my quest for the best replacement. Better to choose a migration upward than wait for disaster (aka hard drive failure) to force change at an inconvenient time. On the one hand, buying a computer, to me, is far more exciting than, say, buying a car or a condo. Quite possibly the only thing that would get more of my acquisitive juices flowing would be buying a new camera. So this anticipated purchase was by no means unpleasant. But on the other hand, not having been in the market for five years meant I had a lot of homework to do. Homework consisted of browsing forums on the internet, where users and prospective consumers raise questions and complaints about Apple’s various models. It takes a while to read through thread after forum thread, but it is well worth the time and effort. My initial enthusiasm for the 24-inch iMac dimmed, while my appreciation for tower desktops grew. I began to make lists of all the things I would need to do to quickly migrate from the old to the new (a list made longer by Apple’s recent switch to Intel processors). I made phone calls to verify the availability of computers. And I waited till after Jan. 9 and Steve Jobs’ annual monologue at the MacWorld Expo to make sure Apple wasn’t going to announce something that would make a computer purchase obsolete overnight. I did everything I could think of to get ready for this upgrade. Even my wife supported me in the process. She would be happy to place the old computer in our living room, where she and Isaac can have easier access to it. It was really, really tempting to just do it. I even got as far as entering my credit card info online to buy additional RAM chips and hard drives to fully set up my new system. But in the end, I resisted the impulse to buy a new computer. I decided that I could live a bit longer with a single processor desktop even in a quad-core world. It probably won’t be too long before I make the move, but for now, I think I’ll try to appreciate the miracles that a five-year-old dinosaur can still pull off—transforming digital ones and zeroes into beautiful color prints, among other things. Sometimes we can be in a rush to move from one thing to another, and not even realize that we are rushing. The world is seductive in its pull for us to upgrade, to move on, to keep up with what is newer, faster, more powerful and capable. And sometimes upgrading is truly worthwhile. Think of cars equipped with airbags. Yet change can work against us as easily as for us. And some things do not benefit from constant change. If you want to produce good fruit, you don’t uproot your crop mid-season. The challenge is discernment. In the church, do we move on to something new or different because we just need to have something to feel good about, to point to and say, “See! We’re a busy, successful church!” Or do we make a change because we really feel God is leading us in this new direction? Sometimes, even without realizing it, what may be stirring us to make a decision may be more discomfort with ambiguity than sound guidance. We’re preaching through some psalms now. The saying comes to mind, “Be still and know that I am God.” I also think of that awesome chapter from Isaiah that ends with, “they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength.” Both psalmist and prophet are speaking, at least in part, of discernment. The work of discernment—and it is work—continues in the life of our church. The Preschool Board is taking the work of its discernment team the next step, and will be sharing soon with the congregation. The English Ministry Council is often at the task of discernment, as regular ministries continue, but new opportunities and practices are considered and tried. One thing that each of us can do to help with our on-going practice of discernment is to be aware of what is driving us. If we are being propelled by the trends and forces of secular society, we bring those forces into the church with us. Unless we are discerning. As for me and my computer, I shall try to wait patiently as it dutifully though slowly deals with my photo files. And if my hard drive should go the way of all hard drives and one day refuse to boot (that’s start in computer language)? Well, I did bother to backup my drive just in case of that eventuality. So I’m covered. The siren call of the world to upgrade still sounds. But as for me—for now—I get to listen for another voice alive in the world. May we all continue to be God’s listening people. –Pastor Wayne
January 2007 What’s new with you? The beginning of a new calendar year has got me reflecting on newness. Last year was my 50th; it prodded some looking backward as well as inward. Now I’m chewing on what is new in my life. If we view aging as simply a process of withering, there isn’t much to look forward to after 25. But in nature, many of the most beautiful living things achieve their greatest beauty only in their maturity. Think of trees, whales and eagles. In life, there can always be new green shoots appearing from weathered trunks and stumps. Like that Christmas prophecy of a shoot emerging from “the stump of Jesse,” resurrection isn’t just for some day in the future. God invades to meet us where we are. Many times, that coming feels like something new. Lately I’ve been on the trail of some new learning about the early centuries of the church—say from the 2nd to the 6th centuries A.D. This was a tumultuous time for the church. Violent persecution followed by imperial adoption of the faith. Most of my Christian life I’ve either ignored this pendulum swing in history, or considered it as merely prelude. But perhaps there is a lot we can learn by working out some of the details. My curiosity was sparked by the realization that when the Roman world went Christian, many of the real believers at the time saw this as a disaster, not as a triumph, because they saw how almost overnight, the integrity of the church was undermined by politics and false motives. The world invaded the church, so to speak. Kinda like today, eh? I’m grateful, after two-and-a-half decades of study as a seminarian and as a pastor, that I can still feel the thrill of the hunt for new insight into our faith. Another “new thing” in the life of my family right now is a kitten, probably little more than four weeks old as I write this. She is a black and white ball of playful energy and the last thing I expected to see in our house after Moosey, our big, gentle, grey mascot of many years died in November. After that, we were down to one cat in the house, and I was looking forward to an easier time being a pet owner. Then a Preschool parent brought this kitten to our office manager Diane, who brought it by the parsonage. As (the kitten’s) luck would have it, both Phyl and Isaac were home at the time. They immediately decided we should rescue the kitten, which was too young to be cared for by the Humane Society. Crinkle, as they named her because of a tail that doesn’t stretch straight, immediately became the new center of gravity in our house. And this was in the weeks right before Christmas, mind you. Like we needed one more complication in an already over-busy season. The funny thing is that while we have all had to make adjustments to take in the kitten—including our surviving cat Tribble, who is still totally unaccepting of the little one—Crinkle herself has never showed a sign of hesitation or fear. She is one of those occasional feral felines who are born with the gift of faith in humans. In her case, it is paying off big time. And the final “new thing” in my life that is also unexpected, at least in timing, is that I am in process of moving into a new office at the church. Finally, after 11 years, I have outgrown the little room to the right of the chancel area. I am moving to a much larger space in the CE building, and will hopefully be settled by the time I return to work in the middle of January (I am taking off the first half of the month to accommodate Isaac’s school schedule). I was planning to move later in the year, but the air conditioning unit for my office gave up the ghost before Christmas, and cannot be repaired. As there is no need to keep the room air conditioned when it converts to storage, my immediate move makes sense. What’s new with you? May you be able to affirm that in your life, God is working in new and old ways, keeping you growing into the fullness of the stature of Christ. Happy New Year! --Pastor Wayne
Our annual church camp was held over Admissions Day weekend, August 18-20, again at Camp Homelani in Mokuleia. For the past few years we have often thought of this event as an important opportunity for our English and Japanese members and friends to get to know each other and be knit together by the Spirit. This is certainly true, and camp—this year known as “Summer Ohana Camp”—was again a relaxing and enjoyable time of making and strengthening friendships.
But in light of Mark Lau Branson’s retreat with us earlier in the month, camp this year for me held another kind of satisfaction. Dr. Branson, a Fuller Theological Seminary professor, stretched our understanding of the gospel in the context of Jesus’ day. He also shared stories of renewal at his own church, First Presbyterian of Altadena, a Japanese-American congregation with many similarities to Makiki. One of the things that Mark shared that has been stirring most in my thoughts since concerns the church’s youth and youth ministry. The thing is, it’s the 21st century. We can look back on several decades of youth ministries and conduct research on the outcomes of our programs and efforts. Some people at Fuller are involved with studies like this. What are they concluding? Mark shared something astounding. It seems that no matter the size of the church, our youth have mostly not remained in the church upon growing up. Even megachurches with youth programs involving hundreds of kids find most of their young people absent from the church as adults. The analysis? Youth pastors and youth programs that “segregate” young people from the rest of the church fail to bring about what churches want to see most: the next generation carry on the faith. While we thought that “giving young people what they want”—their own pastors, their own programs—was the way to success, it has turned out not to be so. So does anything work to help our children grow up and remain in the church? What researchers have discovered is that the single most important factor accounting for the youth who do remain in the church as adults is that they experienced relationships with other Christian adults (other than their parents) as they were growing up. In other words, where the church does not segregate their youth, but rather embraces their youth, we are far more likely to see young people remain a part of the church as adults. In my own experience, I can affirm these findings. I came to faith through a youth ministry, and participated in youth groups in high school, and then in college groups. But none of this made me eager to return to my home church. In fact, I dreaded the prospect. But when, by God’s grace, I in fact did return as a working adult to my home church (Waimea UCC on Kauai), and for three years experienced a warm acceptance and love by the Nisei generation of the church, I was transformed. Along with the encouragement of Pastor Ken Smith and a faith community that included people like then-Conference Minister Terry Kawata and Associate Conference Minister Nelson Kwon, those few years instilled in me a life-long love for the church, and also pointed me to seminary. So while enjoying the blue skies and blue-green sea at Camp Homelani, and watching my family along with about a hundred others from our church slow down to keep up with God, I also reflected on the importance of what we try to do at events like this—to simply be the family of faith to all who are in the family. From the youngest to the eldest. The most important (and urgently needed) thing that we have to offer to the church is ourselves. Our presence, our time, our simply being available to one another and to the Spirit, so we may be formed into the Body of Christ. Thank you, Bernie and Lori Kim, for stepping up to coordinate the camp this year, and thanks also to Desmond and Carol Ogata, Adam Kono, Maurice Torigoe, Clayton Takemoto, Max Ida, Shiho Matsutaka, David Onaka, Phyllis Ibara, Amy Takemoto, Becky Smith, Jerry Bevacqua and everyone else who joined in to plan, lead and make our “Gathering Around God’s Promise” a time of blessing and renewal. We need to keep doing stuff like this. --Pastor Wayne
August 2006 Restoration work on the great wooden doors to our sanctuary was finally completed at the end of last month, with the application of a final coat of varnish. Jiggs Kuboyama, Stanley Yonamine, Harry Onaka and Roy Goya, along with the support of Property chairperson Donald O’Day, saw the more than year-long project through. The work involved tedious and repetitive repair to extensive termite damage, as well as the difficult task of preparing the massive surfaces for finishing. The doorway is 14 feet wide by 11 feet high—greater than the gate to the original Kochi Castle, whose architecture was the model for our sanctuary.
I wrote last month about the labor of love that these workmen have offered. I also called attention to the way that their faithful efforts are only one example of the great variety of acts of service each week and each month that contribute to the life of our congregation. We are blessed as faith, hope and love come to life in so many ordinary, extraordinary ways. The door project spurred me to thinking about the symbolic significance of a church’s doors. On the one hand, people come to us through our doors. This reminds us of the importance of hospitality, and of keeping an eye open to visitors, to the stranger or sojourner, who often is Christ dropping into our fellowship. Is our church door just for us, or is it really open to our neighbors, and to the world? If it is, what does it require of us in the way that we see ourselves as the church in this place, 829 Pensacola Street, Honolulu, Hawaii? On the other hand, through our dooway we go from the church into the world. Do we simply go on our way, or do we go as a people of faith, willing to be sent out as a different kind of people—people who live by the light of a kingdom that is not of this world, but yet that is dawning in this world? Do we come to church simply for our own reasons, and for our own benefit? Or are we open to callings and purposes that transcend our individual lives? Church—either as a building or as a congregation of people—is more than a doorway. Church is the potential for sacred space. What we bring in through those doorways goes a long way in determining what we find in that sacred space—on Sunday or on any other day of the week. And what we bring in and thus contribute to while we are here goes a long way in determining what it is that goes with us when we leave. Maybe the next time you walk by those great wooden doors, you might ponder what mission God is calling you and all of us to participate in. –Pastor Wayne
July 2006 A New Beginning This summer Pastor Brad Smith and I are beginning a preaching series in the Gospel of Mark. Following our six-month series through Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, we are “going back to Jesus,” so to speak. The spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith find their uniqueness not in technique or method, but in the person of Jesus. I am looking forward to the series, because the gospel means that there is always a new beginning with God for us, no matter where we are in life. Summer Ohana Camp Our church camp this summer will be the weekend of August 18-20 (Friday through Sunday). Camp Homelani could not offer us our usual Labor Day weekend dates, but offered us Statehood Day weekend instead. The theme of the camp will be “Gathering Around God’s Promise,” which some may recognize from our worship bulletins concerning our time of prayer. The phrase comes from Henri Nouwen. Since our nihongo congregation will be involved with a Prayer Ashram that same weekend at Turtle Bay, will sort of be holding a complementary camp experience as we focus on prayer and meditation. Registration is now open, and forms can be picked up on Sundays, or off of our church website. Thanks to Bernie Kim for his good work on our resurrected virtual address. Speaking of good work… A small handful of church members have been working for at least a year on the large wooden doors to the church. I am told that Jiggs Kuboyama is the “boss,” but the stalwart workers have usually been Stanley Yonamine, Harry Onaka, Roy Goya and, recently, Property chairperson Donald O’Day. The task has been made epic by the persistence of termites and the high standards of the workmen. Well, at least some of the workmen. But as I write, the varnish is drying on the interior faces of these magnificent doors. The work of these church folk is truly a labor of love. You would never find professionals putting this much time and energy and care into a project. The real blessing, though, is that this very tangible and visible work is only the tip of the iceberg at Makiki. The life-touching, if not life-changing ministries of the church go on week after week, often hidden and (deliberately) kept unseen. Or better, perhaps, seen only by God and those they involve. Whether in hands-on acts of caring and compassion, or in chains of prayer, or in regular gatherings of councils and boards, the life of this church is expressed in diverse and dedicated ways. We can all be grateful to God. I am. –Pastor Wayne
June 2006 Going with God This month our prayers go with the eight high school students and recent graduates who make up our “Rainbow Connection” with a number of schools, churches and the Okumura Foundation in Kochi, Japan. This sending completes the circle begun with our receiving of groups of students from Tosajuku High School over the last two years. Accompanying our group are Eileen Clarke and Pastor Don Asman. Over the 19 days of this journey, our young people will stay with host families, in the dorms of Tosajuku School, and, for a few nights, in hotels. They will visit churches in Kochi and Tosa, visit a church-based preschool and attend classes during the week at Tosajuku. They will also help prepare and host the Rikiya Asai art exhibit in Tosa. (Rikiya and his mother are members of Makiki Christian Church. His art is highly regarded in Japan and elsewhere.) The Rainbow Connection departs June 9 and returns on June 27. Please keep in your prayers Max Ida, Vehia Goo, Eriko Kuwabara, Umeka Ning, Nicole Nakamoto, Marie Iwasaki, Justin Ogata and Jordan Takemoto, along with Eileen and Pastor Don. They go with God, in Jesus’ name. Humorous yet insightful While on vacation in Los Angeles last month, I heard a preacher cite a humorous yet insightful saying about cats and dogs. Dogs say of their masters, “You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me…you must be God!” Cats say, “You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me…I must be God!” In their book called Cat and Dog Theology, authors Bob Sjogren and Gerald Robison apply this to our relationship with God. You get the point, though. It brings new meaning to the question, “Are you a dog person or a cat person?” Engaging in dialogue Our Denominational Study Team report and the resulting decision by our Witness Board to suspend OCWM giving in response to perceived bias by our UCC national leadership has triggered one response by a sister church in Hawaii. In a letter dated April 25, 2006, Pastor Neal MacPherson of the Church of the Crossroads commends our report for its “care and thoughtfulness,” but questions our decision to suspend OCWM. “This is about as close as a church can come to remaining in the denomination yet not supporting it. Our sense of this decision is that you have arbitrarily decided to ‘punish’ valid and useful programs of the UCC by withholding your monetary support. This action on your part does not reflect ‘support for the biblical call to justice and compassion.’ Even if some of that money continues to support dialog about the Bible’s position on homosexuality, withholding funds that might be used to further discussion and prayerful consideration does not seem to us to be helpful nor worthy of the UCC tradition of open dialogue.” Neal’s letter has been referred to our Study Team and the Witness Board. A copy of the letter has been posted in our Lower Social Hall on the board near the kitchen. Stay tuned for more in this dialogue. –Pastor Wayne
April 2006 After Easter, what? This month we will again walk the way to Calvary as we remember the events of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. We will celebrate our Risen Lord on Easter. But what then? What are we to focus upon as the people of God? Here are a few words by Jim Wallis: The greatest need in our time is not simply for kerygma, the preaching of the gospel; nor for diakonia, service on behalf of justice; nor for charisma, the experience of the Spirit’s gifts; nor even for propheteia, the challenging of the king. The greatest need in our time is for koinonia, the call simply to be the church, to love one another, and to offer our lives for the sake of the world. The creation of living, breathing, loving communities of faith at the local church level is the foundation of all the other answers. The community of faith incarnates a whole new order, offers a visible and concrete alternative, and issues a basic challenge to the world as it is. The church must be called to be the church, to rebuild the kind of community that gives substance to the claims of faith. (The Call to Conversion, revised edition 2005, p. 112) Marking Christian holidays is not sufficient for Christian life. It is how we live out our faith as the church throughout the year that gives integrity to our holy-day observances. So let us live in the light of Easter. Our conversion continues. Witness Board news Even as we prepare to send our Rainbow Connection contingent of ten to Kochi in June, the Witness Board has renewed a commitment to local witness and mission by again supporting the Lumana`i Awards. Sponsored by the Hawaii Conference/Oahu Association Samoan Ministry project called Nu`u, the awards banquet for this annual college scholarship is being held this month at Central Union Church. The $7,000 gift from Makiki Christian Church’s Witness Board continues a relationship with our sister Samoan church community that extends back to the days of Pastor Ted Ogoshi. It’s a small world Our prayers go with Pastor Don and Judy Asman and the group of pilgrims leaving for the Holy Land and Egypt this month. Included in the group from Makiki are Carl and Becky Ashizawa. Becky is the new chairperson of the English Witness Board. Not only are prayers for traveling mercies coveted, but since Pastor Don will also be part of our Rainbow Connection group going to Kochi in June, let us keep him in our prayers especially. Pastor Don brings new meaning to the saying, going the second mile. If this is what retired pastors do, I may have to postpone my projected retirement date… --Pastor Wayne
March 2006 The Denominational Study Team report is the product of a discernment process called for by the General Synod’s resolution on same-sex marriage rights. Following the controversial passage of the resolution in July, the Christian Witness Board established this small study team to wrestle with the question, “What’s our church’s witness to be in a denomination whose national leadership has chosen the most liberal course (equal marriage rights)?” Comprised of Becky Ashizawa, Jean Fukuji, Keith Kuboyama, Pastor Howard Yoshida, Ikuko Vines, Yoko Hiltbrand and myself, the study team met over five months (September-January). Our report contains three recommendations:
The Christian Witness Board last month received the report and adopted its recommendations, adding that the budgeted $16,000 this year for OCWM be earmarked instead for ministries in the Oahu Association, Hawaii Conference or denomination that did not fund UCC national activities. I am grateful for the time, energy, honesty, good humor and insight given to the church by the members of the study team, as well as by Pastor Jack Belsom of Iao Congregational Church, who shared a few hours with us. We did what the General Synod asked local churches to do. We came together to study the issue. Our conclusions may not be the preferred ones in the view of the General Synod, but our attempt to discern the right course for our congregation is, I believe, the essence of what any church needs to do. As the report concludes, …(I)t is not our task to “resolve” the issue. Our task is to be the church, and we believe that this means being a specific community of faith that strives to discuss and discern God’s guidance on these issues, as best we are able. So let us continue to strive to be the church together. –Pastor Wayne
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Makiki Christian Church • 829 Pensacola Street • Honolulu. HI 96814 |
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