Ka Elele Aloha - Christ Church Uniting Disciples and Presbyterians

December 2015
“The Messenger of Love”
Vol. 9 Issue 12
Ka Elele Aloha
Christ Church, Uniting Disciples and Presbyterians
1300 Kailua Rd., Kailua, HI 96734
Rev. Liz Leavitt
Church: (808) 262.6911
Website—www.ccukailua.org
Worship—Sunday at 10 am
Email—[email protected]
Facebook - www.facebook.com/ChristChurchUniting
traffic. I give thanks for the multitude of seekers who
join me in that hallowed quest to find parking at the
Dear People of CCU,
mall...rejoicing when they encounter the holy grail of
By the time you read this, your Thanksgiving an empty spot. I say prayers for those whose carts I
celebrations will be coming to a close. Turkey
must dodge in the grocery store aisles, recognizing
sandwiches will be on the menu. And it will be time them as fellow pilgrims and asking that they be
to turn our attention to the season of Advent.
blessed. I do all this (or at least attempt to) because I
Advent is truly one of my favorite seasons in have found that there can be great blessing in
the church. The themes that come our way
waiting. As for the musician who can sense the exact
in Advent are so rich: preparing the way, light
amount of time to hold a note and make our hearts
coming into the darkness, God doing a new thing. I
stop, so for us our season of waiting in Advent can
appreciate the ways that the Advent season
bear good fruit. It is a spiritual season which asks us
juxtaposes with the broader culture, helping us
to recognize that the eaves of our roofs and the
practice the disciplines of patience and expectation. space under our trees are not the only places in need
While Christmas songs begin playing in early
of preparation for the coming of Christmas; there is
November, when Santa arrives in early December,
work to be done in our hearts and souls, questions to
when all around we hear "Merry Christmas," the
be asked about how we will receive the one that God
church is quietly whispering "Wait, wait. Not yet."
is sending into the world.
and that is music to my ears.
As we move through our journey to
Perhaps it is because patience is not foremost Christmas this year, I want to encourage you to find
among my spiritual gifts or perhaps the idea that
some small way to practice Advent waiting, to show
Christmas is still on the horizon and not upon us yet patience and live in hope of what is to come. Let us
is comforting somehow as a minister. Whatever the not move too quickly, but rather, let our
case, I always feel grateful when Advent arrives with preparations, our patience, our prayers draw us
its opportunities to practice holy waiting. I don't
toward the manger slowly, with intention, so that we
know about you, but I don't often think of waiting as arrive exactly at the right moment. I think we will
a particularly holy exercise. Mostly I experience it as find the wonder of that moment magnified by the
an inconvenience, an impediment between myself
preparations we have made for it. I think we will find
and my appointed task. But during Advent, I try to
its joy magnified by the hope with which we waited
greet any occasion of waiting as an opportunity for
for it.
spiritual growth. I stand in line at
the post office with as much
With blessings for a holy Advent,
equanimity as I can muster. I
Liz
breathe deeply while stuck in
from Pastor Liz —
December CCU Event Schedule
Key:
K = Kitchen L = Lanai O=Ohana Rm
S = Sanctuary B3=upstairs classroom
Sundays:
8:30 am, S
10 am, S
Sunday, Dec 6th, 8:30-11:30 am
PS = Pastor’s Study
HI-5 CONTAINER PICK-UP DAY at CCU.
Adult Education
Worship & Aloha Fellowship
Thursdays:
7:30pm
Chancel Choir rehearsal
12/1, 6:30pm
Stated Council Meeting
12/5, 8:00 am
Men’s Monthly Breakfast
Honey’s Restaurant @ Ko’olau Golf
12/6, 8:30 am
Hi5 collection in CCU parking lot
12/6, 11:15 am
Mtg of Congregation, after worship &
Aloha Fellowship
12/21, 10am
Jan. newsletter information deadline
12/24, 7pm
Christmas Eve Service
12/25
12/28
Christmas Day - Office closed
Church Office closed
1/1/16
1/4/16
New Year’s Day - Church Office closed
Church Office closed
No glass bottles, please.
Please put containers in Heidels’ white pick-up truck,
which will be parked in the CCU parking.
CCU has chosen to give all recycling collections
to the Institute for Human Services . . .
~ an expression of compassion ~
~ a practice of eco-justice ~
Mahalo!
Congregational Meeting
Sunday, Dec. 6th
After worship service
to elect officers & approve
the 2016 budget
Ka Elele Aloha Dec 2015
Page 2
December in Paris
breaking agreements — all with the fate of the
planet and all its inhabitants hanging in the balance.
by Char Hosenfeld
of CCU Green Team
Despite the recent tragedies,
the long planned United Nations
Climate Conference will have
convened in Paris by the time
you read this. Each year for the past 21 years, the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty
signatories have met for a “Conference of
Parties” (COP). The 21st COP runs until December 11.
Leaders from 195 countries are working to complete
“a new international agreement on the climate,
applicable to all countries, with the aim of keeping
global warming below 2o C”. Past meetings have
produced way less than stellar results, and global
carbon emissions have skyrocketed.
In 2009 an eleventh hour COP document identified a
temperature rise of 2o C as the danger point. Carbon
dioxide levels in the atmosphere however keep
rising. And even if CO 2 levels stopped climbing today,
the planet would still continue to warm. To hold CO2
levels to the 2o C goal, keeping fossil fuels in the
ground is vital.
The Paris Climate Conference is where the years of
struggles need to culminate in real action to save
God’s green and blue creation.
For an interesting and informative article about the
Paris Conference and the history of the climate talks,
go to The New Yorker magazine website
www.newyorker.com, click the search icon on the
Over the past 2 decades, intra-country and intercountry drama has ensued, including the U.S. Senate right near the top, then enter “The Weight of the
World”.
refusing to ratify or abide by an important protocol
(U.S., 2001); last minute brokering of agreements;
For faith-based information on the Paris COP, see
governments refusing to make meaningful
Interfaith Power & Light’s “Paris Pledge” at
commitments; and governments making then
www.parispledge.org and take the pledge.
Ka Elele Aloha Dec 2015
Page 3
Memories...
by Rosemary Allen
Christmas comes again! Every few years I like to
reprint my favorite Christmas poem for you. It was
written by the late Dave Steele when he was a
chaplain at Punahou School -- and I feel it is a
timeless Christmas gift for all of us!
Christmas 1977
We place the precious Christmas manger
Upon the mantel...out of danger.
Hand-painted Kings from Hummel lands
Are putty in young, chubby hands;
And glass-blown sheep are so exquisite,
Too fragile for a child to visit.
So, while we like them very much,
We ask the kids to look...Don’t Touch!
Here children dawdled -- took their ease,
Read the sign: “Come, touch us please.”
And every child produced a fresh
Arrangement of that Christmas Creche.
While donkeys watched the Baby sleep,
Angels petted wooly sheep.
And Mary rested from the noise
As Joseph chatted with the boys.
Each child knew to some degree
Just how that scene was meant to be.
I watched with a quite a little mirth
Them orchestrate the Holy Birth.
So God, for him who understands
Entrusts His coming to our hands.
He urges us now to begin
To place ourselves, our kith and kin,
And choose, among the many choices
Where best we’ll hear those angel voices.
So...friends, with bright and shiny faces,
The King is coming! Take your places!
Dave Steele, 1977
But, once, I saw on a low table
Mary, Joseph, star and stable.
The Babe, some sheep, and several kings…
Heavy, sturdy, rough-hewn things.
r1
e
b
ovem n
N
n
nt o Davidan
e
m
eth
i mo
Keik with B
5th
A Beautiful flower
The November 15th
arrangement
flowers are
provided by the P. M.
from Paul & Dottie
Tchou family in
Brennan, and was
loving memory of
dedicated to Paul’s
Gregory K. H. Tchou.
brother who is in
Ohio, and having
November 22rd
Ka Elele Aloha Dec 2015
medical challenges.
Page 4
Awesome job,
CCU!!
A total of 8 boxes
were filled and
donated. Next
month we hope to report where
the boxes went. Mahalo to
Beth, Laurie, Fallon, Pat, Peggy
& Jan
January Adult
Study Class
The Adult Study class
beginning on January 10
and continuing through
January 31 will be a study
and reflection on the life,
times and theology of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and
its relevance for our
contemporary times and
issues. The class leaders
are Rev. Liz Leavitt and
Paul Haring. The class will include a documentary film
viewing and class discussion of challenging questions
and issues confronted by Bonhoeffer and many of us
today. Although no book will be provided for class
attendees, for those of you planning to attend the
class or are interested in Bonhoeffer, the following
book is highly recommended for prior reading to class
attendance:
“Bonhoeffer Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” by Eric
Metaxas. Available from Amazon.com in paperback
($11.52) or in a Kindle edition($9.99)
Mahalo CCU for
hosting the 2015
Handel’s Messiah.
Over 85 people
attended &
participated in this
years Sing-A-Long.
Ka Elele Aloha Dec 2015
Page 5
Saturday, November 28th
1st day of Advent with the
McCreanor family!
Ka Elele Aloha Dec 2015
Page 6
Ka Elele Aloha Dec 2015
Page 7
Birthdays
December
Melissa Belanger ......................... 2
George Wyman .......................... 3
Jill Bartow ..................................... 7
Beth Davidann .............................. 8
Cheryl Renfroe ............................. 9
Pat Gilbert ................................. 17
Krissie Kellogg .......................... 22
Carol Hanlin............................... 26
Laura Keirn-McCreanor .......... 31
Anniversaries
December
Peggy & Keith Zeilinger ......... 27
Cynthia & Peter Tchou ............. 28
Please let us know
if we have missed anyone.
We usually celebrate birthdays
and/or anniversaries
the last Sunday of the month
during the worship hour.
December
Flower Calendar
12/6
12/13 & 20
12/24 & 27
Seaver
*Everyone:
Poinsettias
Everyone:
Please bring a poinsettia plant
to church with you on 12/13,
20, 24, 27 and place on the
baptistery. Label it with your
name if you like; either leave it
in the sanctuary (it will be
watered) or take it home with
you each week, bringing it back
the following Sunday.
Ka Elele Aloha Dec 2015
Lay & Elder Worship Assignments
for December
If you are not able to fill your assignment, please try trading with
someone and/or notify the church office.
* T Prayer = Prayer of Thanksgiving
Date Name
6-Dec Liz Leavitt
Clancy & Cathy Lyman
John Heidel
Jan Stiles
Aly Miles
Duty
Minister
Usher / Greeter
Liturgist
Keiki Sermon
T Prayer / Serve Comm. /
Bldg Lockup
13-Dec Liz Leavitt
Rollo Scheurenbrand &
Charlene Hosenfeld
Courtney Nichols
Beth Davidann
Susie Jannuzzi
Minister
20-Dec Liz Leavitt
George Wyman &
Paul Haring
Marian Heidel
Liz Leavitt
Dianne Brookins
Minister
24-Dec Liz Leavitt
Marian & John Heidel
Courtney Nichols
Jon Davidann
Minister
Usher / Greeter
Scripture Reader
T Prayer / Serve Comm. /
Bldg Lockup
27-Dec Liz Leavitt
Laurie Seaver &
Dottie Brennan
Paul Brennan
Beth Davidann
Bill Muench
Minister
Page 8
Usher / Greeter
Liturgist
Keiki Sermon
T Prayer / Serve Comm. /
Bldg Lockup
Usher / Greeter
Liturgist
Keiki Sermon
T Prayer / Serve Comm. /
Bldg Lockup
Usher / Greeter
Liturgist
Keiki Sermon
T Prayer / Serve Comm. /
Bldg Lockup
www.ccukailua.org/whats-new/calendar-2
CCU December 2015 Calendar
Page 9
Ka Elele Aloha Dec 2015