STAY FAITHFUL, STAY
CONNECTED, STAY COMMUNITY!
WHAT'S NEXT FOR WORSHIPING
IN THE SANCTUARY
Editor’s Note:
On May 21, 2020, Mayor
Caldwell announced that in-person religious services would be allowed effective
May 23, 2020, provided that stringent conditions must be followed, including 6’
physical distancing between family/household units and adherence to CDC
Guidelines. Those Guidelines are
thorough but contains an error about Christian faith communities (and probably
many religions). It stated: “For many
faith traditions, gathering together for worship is at the heart of what it
means to be a community of faith.” Yes,
we’ve missed sitting together to worship but we have continued to worship together, we have continued to look after and pray
for each other and God's creation. The heart of CCH and
Christianity is Jesus. That truth and
that heart have never been suspended by this Covid-19 crisis. Here are messages from our church leaders
about re-gathering for worship services at CCH. WE INVITE YOUR FEEDBACK. Send them to the office or use the comment button below.
Pastor Frances
PASTOR
HOLLY
Aloha CCH Ohana!
Mahalo for taking the time to
worship and fellowship together as we navigate these new waters of ministry
together. It has been a truly blessed journey for me and I look forward
to what God has in store for us. I wanted to check in with you about the
conversation around re-opening the church building for in-person worship.
I know that the Mayor and the President in recent days have, almost
unexpectedly, invited churches to open around the country. Although the
excitement of being together again in person is very tempting, it is important
to remember that we need to do what is best for our Ohana as a whole first and
foremost. We know that faithful Christians ache to return to their
sanctuary for worship, we also know that the gathering of groups of people for
worship in other states have been occasions for COVID19 transmission.
Just because congregations may return to their buildings does not mean
they should. “‘All things are lawful for me’, but not all things are
beneficial.” St. Paul wrote to the divided Church in Corinth
(1 Corinthians 6:12).
In a letter recently released
by the Council of Churches, we are called to remember that Churches are
designed to be places of healing, not sources of sickness. We receive these new
minimum safety standards from the state with much concern for those people most
at-risk in our churches and our communities. Friends, there is a
difference between the minimum safety standards set by local, state and federal
authorities, and the guidance from church and denomination leadership.
While much of the response to “reopening” has focused on the economy, we
want to remind people of goodwill that the word “economy” comes from the Greek
“οικονομία” oikonomía- the whole household of God. To care for the whole
household of God means prioritizing not just the care of the fit and healthy,
but of the sick and the lonely, the very old and very young. To care for the
whole household of God means prioritizing the care of those most impacted. We
have yet to see this prioritizing from our national and state leadership. We
expect the Church to behave differently. As such, the Ohana at the
Community Church of Honolulu will remain in prayer and praise from home at
this time.
I urge us to remember that
church was never actually closed - nothing is powerful enough to stop church
from happening. Instead, the Church has adapted the way we have since
Jesus’ time - and this past Sunday, Ascension Sunday, reminds us of just that.
As Jesus promised, we have been equipped with the Holy Spirit to continue
to be the church through any sort of adversity. Let us continue being the
church that we have been called to be.
Mahalo Nui Loa,
Pastor
Holly
Churches are essential….we
already knew that.
When the faithful are
scattered in every age due to
persecution, disaster, or
plague, we persist in worship
and service, in sacrament
and sacrifice -
feeding the hungry,
clothing the naked,
welcoming the stranger,
being the good news for
the poor,
working to free the
captive and the oppressed.
Our highest and holy
calling is to BE the church,
not to go to church
PAUL
MURAKAMI, MODERATOR
MODERATOR’S MESSAGE FOR
JUNE, 2020
I ask for a few moments of
your time to review with me some of what has happened in the past ten weeks,
and to contemplate what is still to come.
First and foremost, I thank my
sisters and brothers of the Community Church of Honolulu for your courage,
patience and Love in the midst of this unbelievable moment in history. Pastor Holly, Pastor Frances, Hari, Ardis and
Glenn have kept both the spiritual and physical faces of CCH vibrant yet calm
during this crisis, and have kept our ship afloat and moving forward. I also acknowledge our congregation for
continuing to participate in the life of CCH by remotely attending Bible
Studies, Committee meetings, Sunday Service, hosted Facebook and hosted Zoom
Meetings. Thank you to Pastor Holly and
Hari, and Pastor Frances for their continuing hard work and creativity. And a
very special acknowledgment and Thank You to Kathy Young for her beautiful IPT’s
and keeping us all as informed as possible. I thank all of the Chairs of our
various Ministries, and for your continued Service on Council for the benefit
of the CCH family.
To bring things a little more
up to date, many of you already know about the virtual Sunday Service on You
Tube and the Facebook and Zoom Sessions on Sunday mornings. If you’re not already on, please make an
effort to join in; it’s the best opportunity to “see” each other in a group for
right now. And of course, the Newsletter
that Ardis has been e-mailing out is full of information and new ways to
connect with each other. Most
importantly, thank you to Pastor Frances for being Editor-In-Chief, writer,
collator and enforcer in gathering all of the content in those Newsletters. Looking forward to seeing you soon if you
haven’t already done so.
The General Council had its
first Zoom Meeting on April 25th, and it went well! Although for the moment subdued, the life of
CCH goes on and is being monitored by the many ministries who are
responsible. The next Zoom General
Council Meeting is planned for June 27, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. and if you would like
to attend remotely as well, please contact Gwen Murakami so that she can send
you the Zoom invitation.
The Executive Committee has
continued to meet since this current situation started, and has done its best
to attend to the affairs of CCH. The
modification of Pastor Holly to serve remotely was one of our earlier decisions
in March. More recently, the Executive Committee was successful in securing a
Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loan to help tide
us over this difficult period, and Rosita is continuing to work on the
repayment/waiver aspect. We are also
looking into and developing additional enhancements for the internet presence
of CCH. The Executive Committee has also
been addressing the question of when should CCH reopen the doors to the
Sanctuary.
If you follow the news, this
a question that the government, corporations, businesses and organizations such
as churches have wrestled with since this all started. It is a nuanced and complex calculation that
involves, but is not limited to, public health, accurate scientific and medical
information, individual well-being and safety, personal preferences,
constitutional law and economic and business concerns.
At the end, although we might
wish otherwise, there appears to be no right universal answer. Therefore, at
this time, given all that we know, and do not know, the Executive Committee has
decided to keep the Sanctuary doors closed for the foreseeable future, and we
will continue to worship together virtually.
Please be assured however that the Executive Committee is continually
monitoring this and we will announce a re-opening date when it is safe to do
so.
I continue to believe and
hope that 2020 will be a year of profound positive Change for CCH. I once again thank you all for your Faith and
Patience, secure in the knowledge that we will together continue to do God’s
Work with His Help and His Guidance as the Community Church of Honolulu.
DAVID
K. POPHAM, CONFERENCE MINISTER
[In response to calls to “open
up the church”, Rev. Popham urged churches to apply the following “solid faith
principles.”]
First, the call to "open up the church" assumes
the church has been closed, as if the church can be reduced to the facility in
which we meet. Faith teaches us that the church is the people and the work of
the church takes place in the community. As the famous benediction goes,
"The worship has ended, go forth and do the work of God."
Second,
for the Christian, the sanctuary has never been the building; it is the
condition of our heart. Paul the Apostle wrote to the church in Corinth,
"Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God
dwells in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16) God does not dwell in a building; God dwells
in the hearts of those who follow God's ways.
In
the Christian faith tradition God has never been relegated to a building. Indeed,
the early Christians met in private homes, in outdoor settings and, when
arrested, in jails. They did so because they understood a human-constructed
building could never be the residence for the transcendent God.
Yes,
we do miss seeing our family in the faith, but let us be patient in our present
situation. We will get through this together because we are in God's hands. And
because we are in God's hands, we will be changed. May God change our
understanding of who the church is.
The
Council of Conference Ministers United Church of Christ and
The
National Officers of the United Church of Christ
Excerpted from their May 19, 2020, Pastoral Letter:
 |
The Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer
General Minister and
President
|
 |
The Rev. Traci Blackmon
Associate General Minister, Justice and Local Church
Ministries
|
 |
The Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson
Associate General Minister, Wider Church Ministries
|
Of all the things we could
say, we lead with this principle: Please make every decision based on how it
will affect the most vulnerable among you. Many of us will be able to attend
services and activities as fully healthy, low-risk individuals. Others, though,
will come out of a deep love for and obligation to their church, deciding to
take a risk in order to be back with their church family. We urge you to keep
that in mind as you process your decisions.
In the words of Julian of
Norwich, written from her cell at the church in Norwich that was built as her
own shelter in the time of the Plague: “All shall be well. And all shall be
well. And all manner of thing shall be well.”
SHORT
REMINDER FROM MEDICAL LEADERSHIP
The commissioner of the US
Food and Drug Administration on Sunday urged Americans observing Memorial Day
weekend to follow federal guidelines aimed at curbing the spread of the
coronavirus, saying the deadly virus "is not yet contained." "With the country starting to open up
this holiday weekend, I again remind everyone that the coronavirus is not
yet contained. It is up to every individual to protect themselves and their
community. Social distancing, hand washing and wearing masks protect us all."
AND
NOW, FROM THE ONE WITH THE FIRST
AND THE LAST WORD
AND THE LAST WORD
PSALM
23 IN TWO TRANSLATIONS
King James Version
The Lord is my shepherd; I
shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in
green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup
runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever.
Bobby McFerrin
The Lord is my Shepherd, I
have all I need
She makes me lie down in
green meadows
Beside the still waters, She
will lead
She restores my soul, She
rights my wrongs
She leads me in a path of
good things
And fills my heart with songs
Even though I walk, through a
dark and dreary land
There is nothing that can
shake me
She has said She won't
forsake me
I'm in her hand
She sets a table before me,
in the presence of my foes
She anoints my head with oil
And my cup overflows
Surely, surely goodness and
kindness will follow me
All the days of my life
And I will live in her house
Forever, forever and ever
Glory be to our Mother, and
Daughter
And to the Holy of Holies
As it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be
World, without end
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