STAY
FAITHFUL, STAY CONNECTED, STAY COMMUNITY!
Included in this issue:
- Strengthen the Church Special Offering
- Moderator’s Message by Paul Murakami
- CCH IPT Wednesday (Intentional Prayer Time) by Kathy Young
- Lamentations
- Voices of Hope
- Youthful Reflections: Lauren Chen and Kevin Chen
- Reflections from A Medical Doctor by Dr. Marti Taba
- The Party Line
- Micah After Black Lives Matter (BLM) Protest at The Capitol
- Bobbi’s Music Suggestions
- Principal Justin
- Justin’s Reflections After a Discussion with Micah About the BLM Protest
- Uncle Willy K—RIP—59, May 18, 2020
- Good Clean Fun--Ukuleles in the UK
- Muhammad Ali Quote
STRENGTHEN THE CHURCH SPECIAL
OFFERING
Let’s join other churches in
the UCC in the denomination wide special offering to cooperatively build up the
UCC. Conferences and the national
setting equally share the gifts given by members and friends through their
local congregations. The funds raised support leadership development, new
churches, youth ministry, and innovation in existing congregations. Because of our
past support, new church starts have emerged, congregations have been
revitalized, and leadership skills have been enhanced. Please send your designated checks to the
church office at 2345 Nuuanu Ave., Honolulu, HI 96817 by next week. Thank you!
PAUL
MURAKAMI
I continue to pray and hope
that All continue to be Safe and Well.
The next General Council Meeting
is planned for Saturday, June 27, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. and if you would like to
attend remotely as well, please contact Gwen Murakami at
CCHEnvisioning3@gmail.com so that she can send you the Zoom invitation. It will also be in the Newsletter along with
the Wednesday and Sunday invitations to Zoom and Facebook.
One of the major topics on
the agenda will be what the various Ministries’ plans are for re-opening the
Campus and the Sanctuary and it would be good for the discussion if interested
members of the Congregation would get involved.
The Invitation is open, and it is hoped that you can make time to
attend.
The Executive Committee is
continuing to meet. As earlier noted, the Executive Committee was successful in
securing a Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Plan Loan (PPP) the
second time that it opened up, thanks to the efforts of Treasurer Rosita Chang working
closely with Hawai`i National Bank.
This will allow CCH some “breathing space” in its operational expenses
in helping to pay for normal staff and administration expenditures during the
Covid-19 Pandemic. There is now a
mountain of paperwork to be gone through for qualifying for a repayment waiver,
but Rosita and Nate our bookkeeper are currently working diligently on this
next phase.
Personally, I marvel at all
that is going on in the World at this moment in time. I truly long for the opportunities to talk to
my sisters and brothers of CCH to help process all of this, as I am sure many
of you reading this do also. However, we
are also necessarily focused on our immediate and personal situations, whether
it’s how to re-open a business or office, provide for family and their education,
or how to keep older relatives safe. For
myself, we’re in the midst of re-opening the Courts to conduct needed hearings
and trials and to resolve disputes that have been postponed. It has been daunting, but in the end doable
and we are making steady progress to address the backlogs from the past almost
three months and to keep up with what is coming in currently. I have been blessed to be able to work with
some pretty amazing and dedicated people, as I’m sure many of you in your own
situations are finding out.
The “new normal” is evolving
and manifesting itself daily in unexpected ways, but We will get there
together. I continue to believe 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.
CCH IPT WEDNESDAY
(INTENTIONAL PRAYER TIME)
Kathy
Young
We have been PRAYING INTENTIONALLY on
Wednesdays for over a year. Starting this week, speak to God in your
own words. Here are some suggested topics to help you begin praying from
your heart.
Almighty and loving God, we pray:
· for our brothers
and sisters in Christ. [Name family, friends, and those who need
special prayers].
· asking
our Lord to destroy the Coronavirus and end the pandemic.
· that Jesus changes
hearts and minds, making inclusivity for all the "new normal".
· to instill
attitudes, practices, and procedures providing justice and safety for all.
· about your church
at CCH:
o its future vitality
and envisioned path
o our pastors,
leaders, and staff
o our youth and
family, both here and far away
o the many angels in
our midst [name a few]
o add more
· for our community:
o restore economic
stability
o inspire each person
to love as Jesus loves--with heightened awareness and increased fervor
o help our decision
makers make smart choices
o add more
· for people or issues
that need God's attention.
LAMENTATIONS
Seven Last Words of the
Unarmed by Joel Thompson and Glory
from the motion picture "Selma" by Common and John Legend, arr. by
Eugene Rogers. 2016.
Seven African-American
men–each killed by police or other authority figures–are the subjects of a
powerful multi-movement choral work premiered by the University of Michigan
Men’s Glee Club in 2015.
Kenneth Chamberlain. Officers,
why do you have your guns out? 68,
killed 2011
Trayvon Martin. What are
you following me for? 17, killed 2012
Amadou Diallo. Mom, I'm going to college. 24, killed
1999
Michael Brown. I don't
have a gun. Stop shooting. 18, killed 2014
Oscar Grant. You shot me.
You shot me. 23, killed 2009
John Crawford. It's not real. 22, killed 2014
Eric Garner. I can't
breathe. 44, killed 2014 (Also the
words of George Floyd. 59, killed 2020)
Editor’s note on watching videos: Click once, another arrow might appear in the middle. Click that arrow. Click on the broken square on bottom right side for a larger picture. Get rid of pop up ads by carefully clicking on the “x” on the upper right side of the ad.
VOICES OF HOPE
You'll Never Walk Alone - Young People's Chorus of New York
City
from Heroes, a new Virtual Album, May 14, 2020
Editor's note: In New York City (and many other places in the world), every day at 7:00pm, residents clap and make noise from their homes to thank all front line, first responders.
Young People's Chorus of New York
City -
Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down
Spiritual, Arr. Paul
Caldwell/Sean Ivory
European Festival of Youth
Choirs, Basel 2014
Dir. Francisco J. Nunez,
Piano: Jon Holden
A Grateful Day with
Brother David Steindl-Rast -
Gratefulness.org
Humble and Kind, Tim McGraw
98,536,822 views as of a few
days ago!
YOUTHFUL
REFLECTIONS
LAUREN
CHEN
Aloha
to all the CCH members who are reading this. I hope you are all doing alright
during this time at home.
I
would like to share my feelings and experiences about this time with you.
Staying at home every day makes me very bored and tired, so I spend a lot time
sleeping. I also play soccer outside when I’m bored, and my mom brings me to
the golf course to golf. Most of the time, I’m just hoping the day will be over
soon. Online learning is alright but I think it would more effective if we were
in the classroom, because of the resources, and our teacher, who is always
making sure we do our work.
Piano
practice isn’t really a challenge because you just practice your songs and do
what you normally would do. The lessons, on the other hand, are challenging
because of bad internet, and because you can’t really see what keys the teacher
is playing. Normally every month, our teacher would have a recital, but because
of social distancing and the lockdown, we have a Zoom recital. This is even
more challenging because of the poor connection, your device falling (My iPad
falls a lot) and the sound problems.
Overall,
I’m just hoping that we can get back to normal life soon.
Mahalo,
Lauren
Chen
SEEING FISH by KEVIN CHEN
 |
| Seeing Fish |
I like to watch fish. I drew
a fish with a lot of details in it and a background. Because I stay at home all
the time, I don’t get to see fish and other animals. So, drawing reminds me of
fish.
Kevin Chen
REFLECTIONS FROM A MEDICAL DOCTOR
by Dr. Marti Taba
A Now Typical Taba Day in
Family Medicine
Pastor Frances wanted an inside scoop from Dr. Brent Uyeno
and me on how CoVID 19 has changed our practices. I can absolutely say that, like your lives,
change is happening at lightning speed and new rules necessitate constant
adaptation.
In March, our policies at Straub changed moment to
moment. Straub was great at protecting
its staff, within days, creating drive up testing and a Respiratory Evaluation
Clinic to separate sick people with possible CoVID from the healthy
patients. We changed in a few days to
almost 100% virtual visits. We
encouraged patient to put off elective lab tests and canceled elective
surgeries, PT, imaging. Instead of
slowing down -- we were 10x busier because everyone thought they had CoVID, had
concerns they were exposed or were going to be exposed to CoVID, wondered if
they should travel, take care of their grandkids or go to work. As chief of my clinic, I held daily meetings
initially to make sure doctors were providing the same messages to our patients
and together we tried to assimilate all the new information/rules and provide
guidance to our staff.
Straub protected us because our clinic has very limited PPE
and we now direct sick people with respiratory symptoms to a central location
for evaluation. Even so, we had one
patient who came in for a routine exam that actually had a fever and several of
us were exposed. I remember that weekend;
I slept on the sofa, stayed 6 feet away from the kids and David, and realized
how hard home quarantine really is.
Luckily, I found out I wasn’t in danger 3 days later.
I finally slowed down for 10 days in April, seeing
virtually only about 10-15 patients a day.
With a lot of specialty offices closed as well as imaging, I had very
little paperwork or demand for appointments.
People were “hunkered down” and I was able to exercise at lunch,
complete all my paperwork/patient emails before the end of the day, and get home on time for the first time in 15 years!
It was a very welcome break and the family enjoyed our together time in
the evenings, work free!
Alas, in May we allowed patients to get routine lab work
and the patient volume picked up overnight. I have found that having a
long-term relationship with my patients as well as 19 years of experience has
made diagnosing and treating most conditions by phone or video just as easy as
in person. We’re finding some people
love Evisits and phone/video visits and some people hate it. I hate technology but have come to accept it,
somewhat.
I now wear khakis and polo shirts (instead of professional
dry-cleaned dresses) that go straight into the wash when I get home. Traded my signature pumps for my “casual”
heels. Wear goggles/face mask, surgical mask, and gloves for every patient
which makes it a challenge for the patients to hear me (and it's HOT and
foggy!). I’ve got headphones to do phone visits, a different headphone for
video visits, a new computer camera, and I continue to answer 20-30 patient
emails daily through My Chart.
Here’s a picture with all my “gear” – miss you all!
THE
PARTY LINE
THE LUM-MEW FAMILY
MICAH AFTER BLACK LIVES
MATTER (BLM) PROTEST AT THE CAPITOL
Pastor Frances
 |
This picture was taken with the children's father's permission.
|
BOBBI’S MUSIC SUGGESTIONS
TOGETHER, for King & Country (feat. Kirk Franklin &
Tori Kelly) [Official Music Video], Premiered May 4, 2020
Stream/download the full album,
'burn the ships':
http://smarturl.it/burntheshipsalbum
Manu Naeole—Through It All—an
encouragement video “all about doing good and doing what God calls us—just to
love others and spread joy into the world.”
PRINCIPAL JUSTIN
Kaiser High School Ranks No.
1 in the US in Math and Reading
By Olivia Peterkin – Web Editor, Pacific Business News
Jun 3, 2020
(accessed: June 7, 2020)
(excerpted)
Henry
J. Kaiser High School has been named the No. 1 public school in Hawaii and is tied
for No. 1 in the United States for math and reading proficiency, according to a
recent analysis from U.S. News and World Report. Kaiser High School [is also] No. 6 in college
curriculum breadth, and No. 3 in college readiness. U.S. News also ranked Kaiser High School No.1
out of the 64 public schools in Hawaii, and in the top 3% — 558th out of 24,000
— of public schools in America.
Out
of the 273 Kaiser seniors who graduated in May 2020, 49 qualified with Hawaii
Department of Education standards as valedictorian; 70 earned the Summa Cum
Laude Diploma; 38 earned Magna Cum Laude Diplomas; and 48 earned Cum Laude
Diplomas.
“Student
academic achievement at Kaiser High is the collective effort of teachers,
support staff, families, and community from all schools in the Kaiser
Complex," said Justin Mew, Kaiser's head of school, in a statement. "Kaiser students have responded well to
our collective effort.”
JUSTIN’S REFLECTIONS AFTER
A DISCUSSION WITH MICAH ABOUT THE BLM PROTEST
The nature of my role as a
public high school principal necessitates a balcony view of the Black Lives
Matter Movement that demands evidence in light of circumstances. Required
coursework at UH Manoa's College of Education flashback. Dr. Thompson's School Law--If
educators in general and school administrators in particular do not uphold the
US Constitution, then who will?
Professors in Educational Foundations and Curriculum and Instruction
gave firm and passionate cases for having strong public education as America's
backbone as a country and world leader (Dr. Araki, Dr. Adachi, Dr. Amioka). Even after 45 years, they left a huge impact.
So, to reframe my thinking in
light of Pastor Holly's noteworthy sermon today and Mona's eloquent reading of
Psalm 23 and John 21:13-17, to what extent is my role (and CCH's role) in the
Movement? My "Aha Moment" was that I AM a part of the very system
that is being rallied against. Why am I protecting this system? What role is
God asking me to take in the Movement? Do I hear "the Great Commission”?
To tie these reflections back
to my higher education is heart breaking; my degrees were earned 4-1/2 DECADES ago and the "system" is still failing when
considering All Americans. For public
school educators--All means All.
To drive home this point, I recommend you all watch "Just Mercy", a movie that Micah recommended
our family to watch. It is a legal drama
about the founding of the Equal Justice Initiative. This movie is streaming FREE in June, on
various platforms and stars Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson. The movie is based on the true story of Bryan
Stevenson who founded the Equal Justice Institute. Stevenson is an African American who grew up
in Alabama, graduated from Harvard Law School and returned to his community to
serve by seeking justice for the wrongly incarcerated who were put there by a
system that was never designed to protect them.
"Just Mercy" takes
place at the time I was ending my classroom teaching career and training for
school administration—not just during my lifetime but at an important time of
my professional development! This is
what my UH professors were talking about.
I am grateful for their vision and their efforts to instill that vision
in us as our Moral Imperative.
This movement is not a matter
of Black vs White. It is about systemic
injustice that permeates our country. It is about a call for reform and action
at the core and implementation levels. Top to bottom.
Now.
Your Brother in Christ,
JM, Justin, Jedi, Uncle
Justin, Jus, Dad
UNCLE WILLY K—RIP—59, May
18, 2020
Ave Maria
I Loved a Woman
Willie K was an amazing
musician who excelled across genres.
Here he is playing blues guitar with Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top and drummer
Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac at the 2014 Willie K BBQ Bluesfest on Maui.
LET’S
END WITH GOOD CLEAN FUN
(UKULELES IN ENGLAND? WHO KNEW?!)
(UKULELES IN ENGLAND? WHO KNEW?!)
On
Tuesday, August 18, 2009, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain played to a
sold-out Royal Albert Hall in London, with over 6000 audience members, and well
over 1000 of them bringing ukuleles to join in with Beethoven's "Ode to
Joy".
As
long as I’m alive, I will continue to try to understand more
because the work
of the heart is never done.
Muhammad
Ali
Editor’s note on watching
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side for a larger picture. Get rid of
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it.
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