WORSHIP SERVICEEffective 7.30.2020 due to the recent rise in COVID-19 cases:
LIMITED SEATING AT SANCTUARY has been SUSPENDED. STAY AT HOME WORSHIP will be resumed until cases decrease. WORSHIP ONLINE with us at: www.facebook.com/WailukuUnionChurch – 9:00 a.m. We will keep you posted. Thank you and stay safe! GIVE ALOHA AT FOODLAND TO HELP US RAISE FUNDS!
Wailuku Union Church is participating in Give Aloha, Foodland’s Annual Community Matching Gifts Program. This program honors Foodland’s founder, Maurice J. “Sully” Sullivan, and continues his legacy of giving back to the community. How It Works From September 1-30, customers are invited to make donations of up to $249 to participating Hawaii non-profit organizations at checkout. Donations are accepted at any Foodland, Sack N Save or Foodland Farms checkout. Foodland and the Western Union Foundation will match a portion of each donation. Individuals must use their own Maika'i number to make a donation. Donations made without a Maika'i number will not be matched. How to Donate At checkout, present your Maika'i card (or provide your number) and inform the cashier that you would like to make a donation to Wailuku Union Church, code number 78926. If you do not have a Maika'i card/number, you may request to establish one. Your donation will be added to your grocery purchase total. You may donate up to $249 per organization; any portion exceeding $249 will not be matched. The amount you donate and the name of our organization will appear on your receipt. Donations must be payable to Foodland or Sack N Save. Acknowledgement of Your Donation Donor names will not be released to our organization. Therefore, if you would like to us to know of your gift, please contact us directly so that we may properly acknowledge your gift. You may ask the cashier for a duplicate receipt to submit to us. Are These Contributions Tax Deductible? These contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Please save your store receipt for tax purposes since it will be the only record you will have of your donation(s). Matching Gift Matching gifts will be determined at the end of the program. Our organization will receive 100% of all customer donations given to us, plus each donation made with a Maika'i card, will be partially matched by a gift from Foodland and the Western Union Foundation. Questions? Please contact Community Relations at Foodland at (808) 732-0791 ext. 7388 if you have any additional questions. WUC RUMMAGE SALE
Where: In Dodge Hall
(located behind the Sanctuary) When: Saturday, September 19th By appointment only - no more than 5 people at a time Masks are Required. WUC COVID-19 Worship Plan
The Bicentennial Year of Christ’s Aloha in Hawaii
I grew up in Waimea Larger Parish on Kauai. In 1970 I learned the word ‘Sesquicentennial’, as my church celebrated the 150th anniversary of the landing of the Thaddeus, which brought the first missionary company to Hawaii in 1820. I played trumpet, as our High School Band marched in a parade from the river mouth down Kaumualii Highway into Waimea town. Now as a pastor serving in this heritage denomination on Maui, I have been contemplating the vitality of our churches 200 years after missionary activity. The Good News of Jesus Christ was well received by the first hearers in Hawaii. New England Style church buildings networked the Hawaiian landscape as a missionary strategy into our communities. I have come to faith through this legacy. But today, many of these buildings have become anchors that tether our congregations to the ground. Families are attachment to these building and have as their mission the up keep and restoration of these monuments of faith, even although there are only few members left and their resources are scarce. The sanctuary building is a symbol of God’s presence in their community. But our obsession with these ‘shelters of the transfiguration’ have caused us to miss the ongoing missional presence of Christ into our communities. Except for today. Our Bicentennial anniversary of the missionaries’ arrival is marked with the presence of a deadly pandemic. Threatening our neighbors, community and life as we have come to enjoy it. Our churches are no longer being able to conduct services from their facilities, but are reaching out via, text, phone calls, posts, letters, cards, photos, Facebook and conference call platforms. We listen, pray, check in and stay connected with stories, humor, love, prayers and concern. In this format, our resources are abundant. Masks are sewn, services are viral from homes, our network into the community is anchored by theses outpost of faith into the world. Like a dormant seed, the faith planted in us is sprouting and bearing fruit as a faith community. Our churches are animated in new and imaginative ways. We are missional in our staying apart and staying ‘aloha’. The products of this 200 year old mission continues to be important, in new, provocative, transforming and adaptive ways. Fifty years ago, Mr. Suga, Mr. Ishi, and I got into Rev. Baybrook’s VW van and drove out to Puhi to pick ti leaves for a laulau sesquicentennial feast in the Waimea Social Hall. These were the “Peter and John” of my ‘church up bringing’, along with Mr. Okada, Mr. Matsukawa, and Charlie Kaneyama, these disciples of Christ left an indelible mark of faith, devotion, joy and humor on my life. Pastor Robb A product of missionary aloha (I’m not 200 years old) Aloha Church, 4.7.2020
Aloha from an isolated island in the Pacific. We have had a few cases here. but this week we learned of our first death from Maui. We pray for the family's loss. We are not immune from the effects of the COVID virus. God in your mercy, hear our prayer. We are doing the best we can to be faithful people in this time of apocalypse. Dr. Barbara Rossing from Luther Seminary describes apocalypse as to reveal, as Toto does by pushing back the curtain to expose who the Wizard of Oz actually was. Our President is being exposed for who he really is. Our nation is being exposed for the kind of people we really are. Our Christian faith is being exposed as we resist the temptation, to panic, hoard, worry and fear. As God's people, help us to reveal our God of love, compassion and life. God in your mercy, hear our prayer. I listened to a pod cast of Krista Tippet interviewing Padrag O Tuama on prayer. He prayed the stations of the cross, everyday for ten years. 14 stations of abduction, torture, and murder through which he discovered; hope in protest, hope in truth-telling, hope in generosity, by seeing the character of Jesus revealed. He began to see the kind of dignity that might be available to him through the imaginative love of God. His parting words of this interview were that these shadowing parts of Jesus’ end, have become a shelter for him. The light of God touches every darkness with sparks of love and life. God in your mercy, hear our prayer. Let us find shelter in our living under the shadow of COVID-19, that these shadows would reveal the shelter of God's imaginative love. God in your mercy, hear our prayer. From my Bubble of Aloha, to your Bubble of Aloha, Pastor Robb Prayers of the People Prayer Request can be called in to the office (244-9177) or made on our web page or through email wuc@hawaiiantel.net We check these often and will alert the Prayer Tree at your request. Offering Mail your offerings in 327 S. High Street, Wailuku HI 96793 Our Web page; wailukuunionchurch.weebly.com, has “PayPal”. Food Pantry-Opened The Food Pantry is opened on Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. They are taking the necessary precautions to keep you safe, so please keep them safe: 6 feet apart, elbow coughing, refrain from touching your face and sanitize your hands. Thank You. |
Mission Statement"Love God, follow Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit, faithfully share God's mercy and grace."
THIS WEEK IN
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Wailuku Union Church
