STAY
FAITHFUL,
STAY
CONNECTED,
STAY
COMMUNITY!
REMEMBERING DR. PAUL BIENFANG
by Kathy Young
Community
Church of Honolulu's long-time friend, Dr. Paul Bienfang, died on June 17,
2020. He was 72 years old.
A
distinguished, noteworthy research scientist in Biological Oceanography and
Marine Science, Paul headed cutting-edge research while affiliated with the
University of Hawaii (BS, MS, Phd) and as the co-CEO of the Oceanic
Institute. He was integrally involved in
the development of farming technology and the startup production of highly
prized, popular, and onolicious "Kauai Shrimp" through Ceatech USA.
Paul
rejoined the UH-Manoa faculty in 2004, conducted ciguatera research, taught
upper level classes, mentored graduate students, and delivered many technical
presentations. He retired as an Emeritus
Faculty of the Oceanography Department and continued to serve the community
through several professional organizations.
Wife
Noni remembers that—while studying at UH-Manoa in the late 1960's and early
1970's—Paul lived in and took care of CCH's historic "White House",
formerly owned by prominent Hawaii resident E. Faxon Bishop. Community Church's Youth Minister, Reverend
Dean Fujii and his family also lived on the CCH campus, and the two men became
close friends. Paul loved coaching our
youth for basketball league competitions and enjoyed rigorous hikes with
them. Noni remembers some of the boys
Paul coached were Willie Lum; Mark Doo; Ricky, Bub, & Buzzy Wo; Gilbert
Chun; and Dixon Lum.
Noni
said that in those days, HPU held classes on the CCH grounds. Paul occasionally found students conducting
seances in the "White House" attic; they claimed that a ghost named
Mary White lived there!
I
remember Paul Bienfang as good looking, charismatic, brilliant, and kind. He had a way of smiling with his whole
countenance, truly sharing God's love through his demeanor, his eyes, his joy. Paul loved his family with complete
abandon. His wife Noni, daughter Marni,
in-laws Bill & Nancy Lum were the center of his universe until Marni
married Chad Sakumoto and blessed the family with two grandsons. Paul's universe then expanded with love and
pride!!
Our
heartfelt condolences to Paul's family and friends. We join them in remembering
him with deep affection, praise, and thanksgiving.
CCH IPT WEDNESDAY
(INTENTIONAL PRAYER TIME)
by
Kathy Young
 |
| Want a hard copy? Right-click and select "save image as". Save the image and then enlarge and print. |
Do
you spend time with our Lord every day? Hopefully we pray more often than
just while worshiping and during Wednesday's Intentional Prayer Time (IPT).
Reverend
Frances Wong's "Practice of Prayer" class taught that discipline
deepens your prayer life. Seeking silence--quieting our surroundings
(radio, computer, phone, TV), mind (thoughts, worries, questions, plans), and
body (sitting still, breathing slowly, muting senses)--helps focus us on prayer
and on Jesus.
You can also try disciplined conversation. Try
it today and each day this week. Use the 5-finger chart above for
guidance--offer prayers of: Praise, Thanksgiving, Intercession,
Confession, and Petition. God loves spending one-on-one time with us in both silence and conversation!
Our
Almighty God, we pray:
- lifting up heartfelt admiration and praise for your faithfulness to each member of this body of Christ at the Community Church of Honolulu. We pay tribute to You, Lord, and we pledge our loyalty and adoration.
- thanking you for your endless generosity, wisdom, mercy, and love. You have kept us safe, united, and caring as your family of faith. We long to be together, love each other, serve you as best we can, and appreciate the opportunity to worship you as a church 'ohana--even virtually!
- prayers of thanksgiving for Pastor Holly, Pastor Frances, Ardis, Glenn, Nate, our church leaders, and decision makers. They continue to serve you and us in countless ways.
- thanking you for and asking that your blessings be showered on Lorraine Wong, Mike Lum, Vernon Chock, Ron Yamauchi, Glenn Bolosan, photographer Pastor Frances, and all CCH workers pictured or camera shy. Wearing face masks and keeping apart, they toiled, lugged, sorted, and fellowshipped while cleaning the CCH campus through many days.
- requesting that you care for the Community Church of Honolulu, its health, vitality, and future. Sustain our commitment to and bless the almost 3-year Envisioning process, calling, and pillars.
- to support and express our deep sympathies to Paul Bienfang's family and to those who have lost loved ones. Assure them of your presence and that our CCH family can provide assistance when requested.
- asking that you heal those who are sick, wounded, being treated and recovering, or dealing with health issues. God, please cure their ailments.
- confessing that our imperfections are too numerous to count, and that we fail you time and time again. We humbly ask for forgiveness for our transgressions and sins.
- petitioning assistance for those suffering from economic and emotional hardships during this unprecedented pandemic. Help them, dear Jesus!! Provide relief and solutions that lessen loneliness, anxiety, worry, and fear.
- about each person in our Community Church 'ohana, their loved ones, and especially our kupuna. We pray for your protective embrace around us all.
- prayers--of Praise,
Thanksgiving, Intercession, Confession, and Petition--for whatever is
in our hearts.
ARE
YOU DESPERATE FOR SOCIAL INTERACTION?
CCH
WILL HAVE ANOTHER DRIVE BY CELEBRATION!
We
will be celebrating Pastor Frances’ 3 years of ministry at CCH on Saturday,
August 29, 2020 from 12:30 to 2:00 with a drive through celebration event! Pastor Frances' last day at CCH is on August 31st. She will be taking time off from ministry (but will continue with her other two part-time jobs) in order to practice harder on her retirement.
Come
into the gate beeping your horns! Come
through the turn around and Pastor Frances will be there. Without getting out of your car and with
responsible social distancing . . . shower her with best wishes, blessings and
God speed.
Beep
as you drive out!
A word from Pastor Frances: Please no flower lei or gifts, unless homemade. You have already given me three years of incredible gifts; that is enough. I know that, when you have asked me before whether it is OK to give something to someone who said "no gifts", I've given you permission to ignore it. You don't have my permission to ignore this! Thank you.
CAMPUS CLEAN UP UPDATE
Under Lori Wong’s and Vernon Chock’s
strong leadership (that’s because they lead 40% of the time and they WORK the
other 120% of the time), the church campus is feeling lighter and looking
brighter. They lined up the various
ministries to focus on those ministries’ primary work areas. Here are pictures from this past Thursday,
Saturday, and Sunday. The work will
continue next Saturday when many ministry groups will converge for a day of
work. CCH, IMUA!
Editor’s note: Double click on a photo to enlarge it. You can also download any of my photos for
your own use. But, please do not
download any other image without permission.
~~Pastor Frances
Thursday, July 16 Missions:
Carol Gunn, Ann Miller, Martha Hernandez, Mike & Kathy Young, Sandy
Nishimura, Evelyn Chong in rooms used by Family Promise. Pastor Dean worked in the Sanctuary. Lori Wong, Vernon Chock, Ron Yamauchi, and Glenn Bolosan also worked.
 |
| Hmm, do we throw this out or should we take it home? |
 |
| I am SO done! |
 |
| Look at Kathy's t-shirt--famous last words! |
 |
| I smell a rat! |
 |
| I am not going into the back without a hazmat suit. |
Saturday, July 18 CE: Van Rafelghem family in YG/HQ
&
Auntie Bobbi's room
 |
| The Youth Group's Headquarters, clean and neat, courtesy of the Van Rafelghems. |
 |
| They started early and worked fast so I have to use an old picture because I missed them by the time I got on campus. Oops. |
 |
| An additional eating area for Family Promise. |
 |
| Vern using the very effective master key. |
Sunday, July 19 CE: Kato, Taba,
and Lum families in Nursery, Auntie Arlene’s room, storage between Makai 2
& choir room, and final touches to YG/HQ. Lori and Glenn helping.
 |
| Jigsaw puzzle pieces for the dumpster waiting for Vernon to put together. |
 |
| Wait! Didn't we already have a garage sale this year? |
 |
| The right way to wear a mask. |
 |
| The right way to wear a yarmulke. |
Editor’s note: Double click on a photo to enlarge it. You can also download any of my photos for
your own use. But, please do not
download any other image without permission.
~~Pastor Frances
~~Pastor Frances
THE TREE OF LIFE ALTAR
CARVING
by Pastor Dean and Pastor
Frances
Pastor Dean and I were
chatting in the Sanctuary this past Thursday during the campus clean up day. Pastor Dean had fascinating insights on the
Tree of Life carving from personal experience.
When I first saw the carving, I was already struck by how “painterly” it
is. Except for the Bible passage, there
are no right angles in the entire piece.
When Pastor Dean explained that the artist was known for his
watercolors, it became clear to me why the carving looks as if it were created
with brush strokes. The chat made me curious about the artist. I thought others might also be interested.
THE GROUNDING BIBLE
PASSAGE
The artist was commissioned
to interpret Revelation 22:1-2.
On either side of
the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its
fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the
nations."
THE ARTIST—HON CHEW HEE
Hon Chew Hee was born in 1906
on Kahalui, Maui, and died in 1993 in Kaneohe.
Hee grew up in China, received training in Chinese brush painting, and returned
to the U.S. in 1920, age 14, to study at the San Francisco Art Institute (with academic
acclaim). He returned to China to teach. From 1932, he lived in San Francisco,
founding the Chinese Art Association. He
moved to Hawaii in 1935 to pursue art as a freelancer and to teach both Eastern
and Western styles of painting. He
taught with Isami Doi (one of my favorite artists) at the YMCA and learned wood
carving from Doi. He founded the Hawaii
Watercolor and Serigraph Society. In the
‘50s, he studied in New York at Columbia University and in Paris for 3 years.
 |
| Self Portrait |
Hee worked in many mediums
including Chinese brush painting, watercolors, murals, printmaking, oils, and, of
course, our Tree of Life. Look at the images below for examples of his astonishing depth.
He has painted murals for Hilo
Hospital, the Inter-island Terminal of Honolulu International Airport, Manoa
Library, Enchanted Lake Elementary School, Pukalani Elementary School, and
Mililani Library. His works of art are
in many public collections, including: the Hawaii State Art Museum, the Hawaii
State Capitol, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the National Taiwan Museum and the
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Missouri).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hon_Chew_Hee
(accessed July 19, 2020)
 |
| Chinese Brush Painting |
 |
| Fisherman Coolie |
 |
| Chinese Longevity Character with Hawaiian Petroglyphs |
 |
| Mural at the Hawaii State Art Museum's Sculpture Garden |
 |
| Junkboat Musicians |
 |
| Parisian Rooftops |
 |
| serigraph |
 |
| Wet on wet watercolor |
THE INSTALLATION
Pastor Dean was blessed with
the opportunity to observe and help with the installation of the curved
carving.
Robert and Howard Wong,
architects of the Sanctuary, chose Hee and commissioned the altar piece. The work was carved in sections of four to five
at a time in his studio in Kaneohe where Pastor Dean visited several
times. The passage does not identify the
12 fruits of the Tree of Life and this gave the artist freedom to include local
fruit and flora. A Chinese shipwright
was hired to do the actual installation, which was completed in 2-1/2 weeks,
just before the dedication of the church in the Fall of 1965. The shipwright, with assistance (including
from Pastor Dean!) and under the watchful eye of the artist, began in the
center, completed the right side first, and then the left. Each piece would be fitted, then taken down
to be shaved and fitted, with the process repeated until it was corrected
fitted.
CARE AND FEEDING OF THE
TREE FOR THE FUTURE
Pastor Dean recalls that, for
a great many years, altar flowers were placed on a pedestal to the side of the
altar and that the candelabra on each side of the altar were used only for
special occasions. Additionally, the two
overhead spotlights were trained on the cross rather than aimed down in the
chancel. The purposes of this setting were
to draw primary attention to the 3 crosses (the actual cross and two shadows),
to the Tree of Life, and to allow room for the altar Bible and, when time, the
communion elements. Perhaps such a
worship setting could be used from time to time.
The wood is redwood so that
it is termite resistant but it needs regular care to remain healthy. According to the artist, the piece should not
be varnished. It must be cared for and
hand rubbed with tung oil (the same substance used to seal the wood of Chinese
junks). There are blackened portions of
the Tree. This is not a product of the
wood. It is mold. The mold must be carefully physically eradicated
with steel wool before cleaning and oiling.
Just a thought . . . this
time of sheltering-in-place may be the best time for this care and feeding to
happen. The scaffolding and resulting smell
and mess will all be gone by the time we can physically worship together again,
even with physical distancing. Just a
thought!
CARE AND FEEDING OF OUR
NEIGHBORS—FAMILY PROMISE UPDATE
Family Promise is an
important (and very effective) mission project of CCH. Lorraine Lunow-Luke recently sent out its
latest newsletter. Excerpts are included
here. You can donate at the Family Promise website by clicking on this sentence.
SCALING
OUR IMPACT
Prior
to the current pandemic, many households were one unexpected life event away
from eviction and homelessness. COVID-19 is the life event that took us all by
surprise. Families that live paycheck to paycheck (about half of Hawaii’s
households) are more vulnerable than ever. While we have worked to prevent many
families from becoming homeless through short-term rental assistance (we’ve
already experienced a 400% increase in requests for help), many will inevitably
lose their housing once the State’s moratorium on evictions is lifted. Some
projections anticipate a 30-40% increase in homelessness in the coming months
and year.
We
are quickly scaling our services to meet the upcoming need. Compared to this
time last year, we have helped 110% more families in the first half of 2020.
We've accomplished this by increasing our Prevention and Diversion services,
offering new housing resources through our Rapid Re-Housing and Permanent
Supportive Housing programs, and creating new shelter options through
partnerships with Camp Mokuleia and a Waikiki hotel.
But,
more is needed. Unfortunately, the wait list for our services grows daily. As
it stands, Oahu’s homeless service system does not have the capacity to meet
the current need, yet the demand continues to rise. We are looking at new ways
to increase the community's safety net for newly homeless families through
safe, family shelter options and rapid re-housing resources. We are also
continuing to invest in prevention and diversion programming to help keep
families in housing. If you are both willing and able to support vulnerable
families, click the "Donate" button at the bottom. . . . As a community, we will get through this
challenging time together.
A VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER
Be on the lookout for more
information about the event coming soon!
AWARENESS OF OPPRESSION IN
AMERICA
by Pastor Frances
The Chinese have their memory
of immigration exclusion, violence in Chinatowns, ongoing scapegoating of
Chinese scientists, academics, and ordinary people. The Japanese have their memory of internment
camps and loss of property and businesses.
The Marshallese and other Pacific Islanders are still in the throes of
recovering from their atolls and their peoples being used for U.S. nuclear experimentation after WWII.
Those of us growing up in
Hawaii know very little of the Black experience of oppression.
Why is it important for
Christians to know and remember suffering?
Simply put, those of us following Jesus’ path and ministry are called to
love our God and our neighbors.
Throughout the entire Bible, God explicitly instructs God’s people to
counter injustice when suffered individually and collectively. Without our knowing and remembering our and
other peoples’ experiences of oppression, we would be acting like all those
people in the New Testament who just didn’t get it when Jesus spoke!
So, I’d like to share a bit
of Black history by sharing the story of Fannie Lou Hamer through excerpts from
a PBS series of “Women in American History.”
(accessed July 13, 2020)
Fannie
Lou Hamer was born in 1917, the 20th child of Lou Ella and James Lee Townsend,
sharecroppers east of the Mississippi Delta. She first joined her family in the
cotton fields at the age of six. [B]y adolescence she was picking hundreds of
pounds of cotton a day. In the early 1940s she married Perry Hamer, known as
Pap, and worked alongside him at W.D. Marlow’s plantation near Ruleville, in
Sunflower County.
The
Hamers adopted two daughters, girls whose own families were unable to care for
them. . . . Hamer’s own pregnancies had all failed, and she was sterilized
without her knowledge or consent in 1961. She was given a hysterectomy while in
the hospital for minor surgery, a procedure so common it was known as a
“Mississippi appendectomy.”
On
August 31, 1962, . . . Hamer joined 17 of her neighbors on a bus to [register
to vote]. Officials blocked most of the
group from even attempting to register; Hamer and one man were the only ones
allowed to fill out the application and take the literacy test, which both
failed.
On
the drive back to Ruleville, the bus was stopped and the driver arrested -- the
bus was too yellow, the police claimed.
When
Hamer got home, she found that plantation owner . . . was already aware that
she had tried to register to vote [and] demanded that she withdraw her application.
She refused . . .“I didn’t go down there to register for you. I went down to
register for myself.” Marlow ordered her off his land [separating her from her
husband and daughters].
 |
| After beatings in jail. |
On
June 9, 1963, Hamer and several fellow activists . . . sat at the bus station’s
whites-only lunch counter. Before long the police [arrested] six people. In jail, several of the activists were beaten
by the police and by other African American inmates, whom the police forced to
use blackjack weapons. The damage done to Hamer’s eyes, legs, and kidneys would
affect her for the rest of her life.
In the following months, Hamer increased her public profile, both through her SNCC [Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee] work and as one of the founders of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which challenged the dominant force in Mississippi politics, the pro-segregation Democratic Party [including direct opposition by President Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey].
Hamer
died in 1977 from complications associated with heart disease and cancer.
On Being a Sharecropper
This Little Light of Mine ·
Fannie Lou Hamer
Fannie Lou Hamer's Powerful
Testimony
Editor’s note on watching
videos: Click once on the arrow in the middle of the screen. If another arrow pops up, click that
arrow. Click on the broken square on the
bottom right side of the screen for a larger picture. Get rid of pop up ads by carefully clicking
on the “x” on the upper right side of the ad.
MORE PRAYER AND MORE
RESPONSE
by Pastor Frances
PRAYING THE PSALMS
We all have favorite psalms. From our recent “The Practice of Prayer”
class, here are some of the participants’ favorites:
Psalm 8 O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in
all the earth! When I look at your heavens, the work of your
fingers, the moon and the stars that
you have established; what are human beings
that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait
for the Lord.
Psalm 30:5 For God’s anger lasts only a moment, but God’s favor
lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for
the night, but rejoicing comes in the
morning.
Psalm 35 Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
Psalm 37 Exhortation to Patience and Trust
Psalm 51 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and
right spirit within me.
Psalm 100 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
Psalm 147 How good it is to sing praises to our God, how
pleasant and fitting to praise him!
Take a look through this list
and read them all for an amazing panorama of the human condition, of our
condition. You will find that each of
these Psalms has a different “flavor”, that each will elicit different emotions
from you. Each of these can be our own
prayer. No matter how familiar your
favorite psalm can become, keep it fresh and vital by deeply reading the psalm. Every once in a while, reading a psalm out loud, to someone else or just to yourself, and imbue it with full-throttle emotion.
I’ve included two videos that
are examples of praying viscerally and vitally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9q-08aTNh8
Reba McEntire - Back to God
(Official Video) 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYKkOBqqD4w
Raúl Esparza delivers a
powerful and moving performance of "Hallelujah" on the 10th
anniversary of 9/11 at the Kennedy Center
WISDOM FROM FR. RICHARD
ROHR
excerpts from the website of the
Center for Action and Contemplation
excerpts from the website of the
Center for Action and Contemplation
ON PRAYER
"What is the practice that
matters now? A practice is any act habitually entered into with our whole heart
that takes us to the deeper place. Some of these practices, we might not think
of as prayer and meditation: tending the roses, a long, slow walk to no place
in particular, a quiet moment at day's end, being vulnerable in the presence of
that person in whose presence we're taken to the deeper place, the pause
between two lines of a poem. There are these acts that reground us in the deep dimensions of our life that matter most; so if we're faithful to our practice,
our practice will be faithful to us. . . .
In this contemplative
practice, sit and renew your awareness that you're sitting in the presence of
God all about you and within you. As you inhale, inhale God's silent "I
love you," in which God is being poured out and utterly given away to you
as the miracle of your very life. Then when you exhale, exhale yourself in
love: “I love you.” And so, we are breathing [along with God], "I love
you. I love you. I love you. I love you." From the reciprocity of love,
destiny is fulfilled, and the foundations of suffering are healed.
As we sit in the midst of the
arising of the anxiety, when we inhale, we inhale this love of God loving us
through and through, anxiety and all, finding no hindrance in our anxiety,
loving us so unexplainably forever. Then when we exhale, we exhale ourselves in
love, anxiety and all, to the love that loves us."
ON RESPONSE
(written by Barbara
Holmes, faculty of Fr Richard’s Center for Action and Contemplation)
"[Fannie Lou Hamer is] a
contemplative exemplar because of her spiritual focus and resolve. Her
practices spoke to the depth of her contemplative spirit. In the face of
catastrophic suffering, Hamer worked, loved, sang, and resisted the powers that
be. She was jailed, beaten, and hunted by the enforcers of the social order
after registering to vote. The treatment was so brutal that [civil rights
leader] Andrew Young was sent to get her out of jail. Yet, she was kind to
jailers who had been beating her for a week. . . .
Hamer was centered; she drew
power from the example of her parents in their struggle to transcend the
impossible situation of their lives. She faced daunting odds, as she was not
dealing with an abusive individual but instead the power of federal, state, and
local governments and cultural traditions that deemed her to be a nonperson.
This designation of non-personhood did not deter her, for her contemplative
entry into a deeper “knowing” came through her commitment to nonviolence.
Adherence to the spiritual disciplines of civil rights activism required that
she love the crucifier, bless the torturer, embrace the jailer, and pray for
his or her salvation. . . ."
(written by Fr Richard)
"Society’s conventional image
of a mystic is that of a person who withdraws from the world in order to
journey inward. . . . The mystic is stereotyped as a guru sitting in splendid
isolation on a mountaintop, utterly unconcerned with the world’s affairs.
But theologian Dorothee
Soelle [Sölle], herself something of a mystic, argued that there’s actually
little accuracy in this portrayal. Far from being withdrawn from the world or
indifferent to the suffering that goes on in it, the mystic is uniquely motivated
and qualified to respond to social and economic injustices. Genuine mystics,
like Buddhist bodhisattvas, don’t renounce the world for the sake of a private
spiritual illumination. Rather, they use the enlightenment they’ve achieved to
do something about the world’s ills.
Soelle became interested in
questions of religion and politics at an early age. She grew up under the Nazi
regime and, like many Germans of her generation, never got over the shame of
belonging to a nation that willingly collaborated with mass murderers. She was
especially worried by the acquiescence of so many people who claimed to be
Christian, and eventually concluded that part of the explanation was that they had
compartmentalized their faith, transforming it into a private and
“otherworldly” thing. Convinced that such privatization is a perversion of
faith, Soelle worked as a theologian to demonstrate the social responsibility
of religion and as an activist to put her theology into practice. The spiritual
fuel of these activities was her conviction that the mystical worldview is
revolutionary enough to resist “powerful but petrified institutions” that trade
in oppression and violence."
BY SPECIAL REQUEST FROM BOBBI LUM-MEW
Bobbi wanted a repeat of a
video that was included in a previous newsletter and I’m happy to comply!
Zach Williams, Dolly Parton -
There Was Jesus (Official Music Video)
CLOSING PRAYER—SING ALONG
https://youtu.be/uDa0YmZD0Jk
Hawaiʻi Aloha - Words by Rev.
Lorenzo Lyons,
Music by James McGranahan
This is not a pandemic video
but it feels like one! Dozens of artists,
over 1000 students from 10 Hawaiian charter schools, and recorded live across
27 locations.
Hawaiʻi Aloha - Words by Rev. Lorenzo Lyons (arrived as a
missionary in Waimea, Hawaiʻi, July 16, 1883), Music by James McGranahan
E Hawaiʻi e kuʻu one hānau
e
Kuʻu home kulaīwi nei
ʻOli nō au i nā pono lani
ou
E Hawaiʻi, aloha ē
|
O Hawaiʻi, o sands of my
birth
My native home
I rejoice in the blessings
of heaven
O Hawaiʻi, aloha
|
Hui:
E hauʻoli nā ʻōpio o
Hawaiʻi nei
ʻOli ē! ʻOli ē!
Mai nā aheahe makani e pā
mai nei
Mau ke aloha, no Hawaiʻi
|
Chorus:
Happy youth of Hawaiʻi
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Gentle breezes blow
Love always for Hawaiʻi
|
E haʻi mai kou mau kini
lani e
Kou mau kupa aloha, e
Hawaiʻi
Nā mea ʻōlino kamahaʻo no
luna mai
E Hawaiʻi aloha ē
|
May your divine throngs
speak
Your loving people, o
Hawaiʻi
The holy light from above
O Hawaʻi aloha
|
Nā ke Akua E mālama mai iâ
ʻoe
Kou mau kualona aloha nei
Kou mau kahawai ʻōlinolino
mau
Kou mau māla pua nani ē
|
God protects you
Your beloved ridges
Your ever-glistening
streams
Your beautiful gardens
|
A
practice of gratitude is not about dismissing sadness, anger, fear, or
confusion. Rather, it offers us the opportunity to see that we often experience
multiple feelings at once; to welcome joy into the same places where we hold
grief; to turn our attention to what is quietly growing and breathing day by
day, which, to our possible surprise, includes ourselves.
Kristin
Lin
No comments:
Post a Comment