Are you serving this Sunday? Would you be interested in reading at either service (zoom or in person)? You can view what positions are

available here

We Episcopalians believe in a loving, liberating, and life-giving God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

As constituent members of the Anglican Communion in the United States, we are descendants of and partners with the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church, and are part of the third largest group of Christians in the world.

We believe in following the teachings of Jesus Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection saved the world. We have a legacy of inclusion, aspiring to tell and exemplify God’s love for every human being; women and men serve as bishops, priests, and deacons in our church.

Laypeople and clergy cooperate as leaders at all levels of our church. Leadership is a gift from God, and can be expressed by all people in our church, regardless of sexual identity or orientation.

We believe that God loves you – no exceptions.

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Welcome to The Rev. Catherine Amy Kropp who is visiting us from Anchorage, Alaska this month!

Bio: The Rev. Catherine Amy Kropp is an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Alaska where she serves  Dancing With The Spirit, a traveling ministry that connects Alaska Native elders and youth, promotes spiritual, physical and wellness through the joy and love of music, and preserves Native music traditions. A Registered Maine Guide and former high school science teacher, Catherine Amy has guided groups of all ages on spiritual pilgrimages in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Alaska. She graduated from Yale Divinity School (M.Div. 2017) where she also pursued a ministry project on the practical applications of the cosmic Christ in parish ministry (S.T.M. 2019).

She is passionate about the sense of interconnectedness pertaining to social and ecological justice and developed the course Cosmic Spirituality in Action

In parish ministry, she served as a deacon at St Peter’s in Cheshire, Connecticut, 2017-2018, in young adult ministries at University Church in Yale 2018-2019, and in pastoral care and children and youth ministries as Associate Rector, St Mary’s Episcopal Church, Anchorage, 2019-2021. She recently returned from seven months, on an international mission where she served with Relief & Reconciliation International in north Lebanon at their Peace Centre, a safe house for vulnerable youth from all confessions and groups, including Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities, as part of their educational, inter-faith, and community-building mission, September 2022 - March 2023.

Mahalo nui loa for joining us, Rev. Catherine Amy Kropp! We look forward to serving with you!

Check out the latest news from the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i here

Zoë Mounts, who made a film about environment and conservation, is in the news again. 

Zoë is pictured here presenting Father George Wong, of the Maui St. John's Kula church with the certificate awarded by the Hawaii Interfaith Power and Light as a "Cool Congregation." The church is also investing in Energy Star appliances as old ones wear out and looking for other ways to get greener.

"We hope to harvest our first batch of homemade compost from our rotating composter at our Garden Day on June 17," said Zoë's mother Julenne. "We continue to coach members about how to use the waste sorting system. It takes a village!"

For more information about cost-saving, environmentally-safe practices, visit the Diocese's Environmental Justice and Creation Care webpage HERE or contact the Revs. Jenn Latham and Bree Lloyd HERE.

PRACTICING LOVING-KINDNESS

By: Leslie Scoopmire

In the reading from Genesis this weekend (Genesis 18:1-15), we find Abraham to be an example of hospitality, generosity, and consideration of others. When approached by strangers, Abraham drops what he is doing to welcome them, and to offer rest, refreshment, and nourishment to them. The rabbinic tradition holds that Abraham’s example of generosity to others flowed out of is unity with God and God’s will. 

Jewish midrash — collections of imaginative explanations and extensions of sacred texts—rabbis treat Abraham’s hospitality as even more than the simple welcoming of strangers, and is instead a sign of one of God’s key characteristics: chesed, or “loving-kindness.” 



The rabbis teach that this kind of open-hearted embrace of the other, especially if that other is vulnerable, is one of the pillars that supports the world itself. The other pillars are prayer and the study of Torah. Chesed is about cultivating a character of love, mercy, generosity, charity, and service that comes from allowing God to work within us and align ourselves with the divine spark, or breath, that God planted within us from our very beginnings.

As it turns out, Abraham was offering hospitality to God, only he did not realize it. In return, the strangers demonstrated to Abraham that his and Sarah’s needs were seen and would be lovingly, generously addressed by God. When Abraham and Sarah respond to the wondrous predictions of the strangers with disbelief, and even bitter laughter, they are caught short by this question: “Is anything too marvelous for God?” 

That same compassion and generosity lies at the root of Jesus’s sending out his disciples to heal and preach to the lost and hurting around them. The twelve received new titles, “apostle”, which means “sent.” They are “sent” to the ordinary people of Israel—for whom Matthew is writing. 

Jesus has compassion and empathy for the common people; he sees their needs, like Abraham did as those strangers approached, and is determined to fulfill their needs as shepherd would for those sheep who have no one to watch over them. Jesus compels his disciples to go engage in the same compassion and empathy. To live a grace-filled life, especially because they themselves have received grace, loving kindness, and mercy. 

This mercy, grace, and obligation to others that Abraham embodied is referenced in Hebrews 13:1-2: “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” 

Could it be that strangers are angels among us, reminding us that we are stronger when we let loving-kindness rather than anger and woundedness rule our lives? May we be inspired to live a grace-filled life, practicing lovingkindness because we ourselves know we have received grace. 

Helen Mitsui Shared Blessings Thrift Shop in Kilauea is seeking Volunteers for 2023.

Each volunteer shift is a 2-4 hour commitment for a minimum of one day per week. Experience in Retail, Customer Service, and/or Retail a plus, but not required.

Volunteers are invaluable to serving our community. Our goal is to reuse, repurpose and recycle goods — keeping as much as possible out of landfill — while providing our community with access to reasonably priced, quality merchandise.

Here are ways you can help:

* Greeters welcome shoppers and monitor our COVID guidelines.

* Customer Care helps shoppers to ensure a pleasant shopping experience.

* Merchandisers organize departments, restock the floor and display retail goods.

* Philanthropy distributes merchandise to organizations in need.

* Donation Intakers receive, sort and process donations.

Work-from-Home volunteers help prepare merchandise for sale. We are especially looking for help in these areas:

* Games: checking games to ensure all components are intact

* Stationery: packaging up cards and envelopes

* Holidays: preparing merchandise for Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Valentines, 4th of July, and more

* School, Office, Art Craft Supplies: organizing and packaging materials for reuse

* Toys: sorting, cleaning, and packaging toys

* Hardware: sorting and packaging tools, materials, electronics and appliances

Requirements?

*Team players with a genuine interest in serving the community and contributing to the reuse movement.

* Willingness to support COVID-19 safety measures set by Shared Blessings

* Physically able to lift 50 pounds (Merchandisers and Donation Intakers only)

Benefits?

Serving the community and our environment is rewarding work. We have a lot of fun! New merchandise is donated daily, so the element of surprise and wonder is constant. Get a first peek and more!

Interested?

Click on the reply button here! Let us know 1) your interests, 2) your availability to volunteer and 3) your contact information. Mahalo!

Let us pray for our own needs and those of others. We remember especially those on our prayer list. Healing of body, mind and spirit for: Ed, Andrea, Dan, Lindsey, Elise, Dale, Jane, Lowell, Sandy, Molly, Amelia, Peter, Margaret, Gordon, Jessica, Sherry, Webb, David, Linda, David, Helen, Mary, Bev, Jeanne, Chris, Carole, Elizabeth, Robert, Justin, Mike, Tony, Anthony, Penny, Betsy and family, Tom, Sandy, Dwight, Tommy, Jennifer, Joe, and the leadership and people of Ukraine.We pray that you will bring people together in worship. Enliven your church and bless our musician, our clergy and lay leadership. We pray for our sibling Episcopal congregations on Kauai: St John and St Pauls, St Michael & All Angels, and All Saints, and for all churches on the North Shore. We pray for our own congregation of Christ Memorial, Kilauea for those present, online and absent - that all of us together may be united in your ministry. 

THRIFT SHOP MISSION STATEMENT:

Our goal is to provide our community with reasonably priced, quality merchandise. We will reuse, repurpose and recycle goods and keep as much as possible out of the landfill in an effort to help Kauai and our planet toward Zero Waste. Above all we will show compassion, kindness and tolerance to each other and our community.