The MessengerThe Messenger

CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS

A u g u s t 1 5 , 2 0 1 8

Augu s t

Upcomi ng Da t e s

25 IYAA Car Wash

25 Puna Benefit Concert

26 J’s Mini Mart

Augu s t

Boa rd Mee t i n g s

19 Deacons Meeting

Church

Picnic

Review

Over a hundred people attended our church picnic on Sunday, August 5. Members of the Con-gregational Christian Church of American Samoa and a group of fifteen visiting Okinawan students and teachers added to our numbers and experiences.

Newton Chu was asked to be the spontaneous em-cee and number caller for our Bingo game, which kept on going until two tables laden with white elephant contributions from our members were gone. Donated gift certif-icates made the lucky number prizes very worthwhile. Thank you for your generous

contributions!

Cafe 100 chili, hot dogs, greens, watermelon, and lots of dessert from KTA and the Samoan congre-gation made sure we were all filled. But the ice shave machine oper-ated by Mitchell Dodo and girls was probably the biggest hit.

Thank you to Roberta and Carolyn for getting the food ready, Joyce and Gail for guessing games, bubbles and prize ar-rangement, Eric, Jason and John for setting up and taking down tables. This was the first year that your Church Coun-cil was in charge. We should do better next year!

New Members Meeting

Do you have a friend who is interested in joining Church of the Holy Cross – or might that friend be you?

We will have two in-formational meetings with Pastor Eric about what church member-ship means at the end of August. Interested people may attend either meeting.

They will be held on Tuesday, August 21, and Thursday, August 23, at 6:00 pm in the Pastor’s Study (next to the purple “Be Proud” banner).

If you are interested but cannot attend at either time, please phone Pastor Eric at 935-1283.

Puna Benefit Concert

Eric An-derson will per-form in concert at Church of the Holy Cross on Saturday

evening, August 25, at 7:00 pm, in a benefit for

those affected by the eruption in Puna. He’ll bring guitar, ukulele, original melodies, and a healthy dose of “You’ll all sing along, now!”

Contributions will come from a free-will calabash offering.

P a g e 2

When the apostle Paul wrote about spiritual gifts, he had leadership of the Church in mind. That’s why the list of gifts he tends to use (see 1 Co-rinthians 12) emphasize Church-ready blessings: the utterance of wisdom, the declaration of knowledge, faith, miracle-working, prophecy, the discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpreting what some-one else said in tongues.

It’s fairly easy to see how any one of these would serve a congregation well. It’s fairly easy to see that a church blessed with a number of these would be a Church to seek out.

My mind wanders, how-ever, to the variety of gifts I find among the people I call friends.

They come from so many places. They’ve lived through so many experi-ences. They’ve had so many kinds of education. They speak with so many accents. They laugh at so many different things. They cry from so many different griefs. They’re at so many different ages. They have so many dif-

ferent ideas of God.

Some of these friends make me laugh. Some of these friends help me make music. Some of these friends kick me when I need a boost. Some of them give me a hand up when I need a boost. Some help me cry. Some help me play. Some help me pray.

Poor Paul. He concen-trated so on the Big Spiritual Gifts, the ones Ready for Immediate Use in the Church, that he may have missed the gift of friends. I hope he didn’t. I hope he just didn’t include them in his letters, because he had Other Things to Say.

Whatever Paul may have known or not known, however, I know what I know. I know that friends are among God’s most precious gifts to us. Treasure your friends, my friends!

Mahalo ke Akua!

With aloha,

Pastor Eric

Contact Pastor Eric

Office phone: 808-935-1283 Parsonage/cell phone: 808-464-4884

Email: esanderson.ucc@gmail.com Instagram: esanderson_ucc Twitter:

@esanderson Facebook: facebook.com/rev.eric.anderson facebook.com/

holycrosshilo

The Pastor’s Corner

Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Bible Study With

Pastor Eric

We gather for:

Deep questions

Surprising wisdom

Unforgettable stories

Seeds of thought

Refreshment for the

spirit

Bible Study:

Genesis

Sundays 8:30 a.m.

J’s Cafe

Follow the Lectionary

Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. or

Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. in

The Pastor’s Study:

August 19

1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14

Psalm 111

Ephesians 5:15-20

John 6:51-58

August 26

1 Kings 8:22-30,41-43

Psalm 84

Ephesians 6:10-20

John 6:56-69

P a g e 3

Reflections of Church of the Holy Cross

As seen through the eyes of Rev. Susumu Yamane

The Church of the Holy Cross was the topic in the following reading from his very first devotional booklet, Thoughts of God, writ-ten in 1995. The scrip-ture is from Colossians 3, which reads: “You have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right side of God.”

Thoughts of God 26th Day, Colossians,

Chapter 3 Church of the Holy

Cross By Rev. Susumu Yamane

Having been turned down by a mainland church because they were not quite ready to open themselves to the community around them, I accepted the call to the Church of the Holy Cross. What would the emphasis of my ministry be to these

sophisticated and able members? One thing it would not be. I would not involve myself in community activities, but have the church do it.

One of the first tasks for us was the develop-ment of goals and ob-jectives for the church. And what came out up-permost was a “loving and caring communi-ty.” The church turned from the mistaken observation of a “cold and snotty church” to one which visitors comment, “What a friendly church!” The members developed “Churchmanship” and leadership and organi-zational structure such that when I had my heart attack and was away six months, eve-rything went on with supply preachers, without relying on the newly-called Associate to divert from his tasks

to do mine. Church members became leaders in the Associa-tion and Conference and initiated Campus Ministry at the Univer-sity of Hawaii at Hilo, Hospice of Hilo, and Habitat for Humanity.

It was time for Miyeko to get her education and begin full time teaching. Our children grew up and out. It was a ministry of 23 years which found me developing the preach-ing, organizational de-velopment and the pastoral skills of min-istering to the dying. And Hilo became home.

PRAYER:

They are getting older and mellower, O God. Continue the vitality of the church. Cheer and enlighten them. And grant them a new peo-ple, for Jesus’ sake. Amen

Funeral services for Rev. Susumu Yamane, age 90, were held at the Waipahu United Church of Christ on Oa-hu on Saturday, August 11, 2018. The Rev. Tom Fujita officiated at the service. Besides

serving as the minister of the Church of the Holy Cross, he led Koloa Union Church and Ewa Community Church.

He is survived by his wife, Miyeko, brother

Noboru Yamane, daughters Naomi (Dan) Giovanni of Kau-ai and Deborah (Ross) Watabayashi, son Jon (Joy) Yamane of Oahu and grandchildren, Jordan, Janna, and Gavin Watabayashi.

Services for Rev. Susumu Yamane

P a g e 4

We received a message from Angie Woods, vol-unteer coordinator, on August 8th saying that the last day of serving meals at the Keaau Evac-uation Shelter would be that day. “What a bless-ing it has been to have you serve at the Keaau Shelter. Mahalo nui for blessing the people there.” The Salvation Army will be dropping off prepackaged food to the Keaau Shelter for all the meals, so no serving is needed. CHC wants to thank Lin-da Larson, Connie Yo-shiyama, Vicky Narima-

tsu, Moira Tanaka, Woody Kita, Eileen Shi-raishi, Kayleen Yuda, Gloria Kobayashi, Kay Kawachika, Jennifer Tanouye, Ann Kanahele, Doreen Lucas, Barbara Iwami, Carol Morioka, Momi Lyman, Mark Wakeland, Janet Fujioka, Ming Peng, Nalyn Ang, Mace Peng and Anne Sa-dayasu for providing the helping hands for all of us. Thank you, too, to those who offered to help, but were not able to be scheduled. Our presence was greatly appreciated! When help is needed, we are here! Praise be to God!

Mahalo Nui Loa

"Give thanks in all cir-cumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." —1 Thessalonians 5:18

Volunteers Momi Lyman, Kalili Hansen, Mark Wake-land, Linda Larson and Doreen Lucas prepare to serve food at the Keaau Shelter

P a g e 5

01 Ikeda, Gavin

01 Yoshiyama, Connie

09 Taniguchi, Lisbeth

10 Hoota, Shelby

10 Nada, David

18 Torigoe, Edgar

19 Dodo, Beverly

22 Smith, G. Bob

27 Kurohara, Randall

27 Shiraishi, Eileen

27 Shiroma, Amy

28 Sadayasu, Anne

29 Okabe, Merle

29 Watanabe, Herb

A u g u s t 01 Masutomi, Reiko

03 Tanita, Miyoko

05 Tadaki, Gary

08 Johnson, Jr. Rhonda E

09 Mishina, Faith

12 Yoshiyama, James

12 Debus, Cynthia

13 Katayama, Mary Ann

14 Okabe, Jolie

18 Kusinski, Joy

19 Chin, John

21 Kondo, Jennie

21 Matsui, Dorothy

21 Tanouye, Lolita

22 Mathews, Travis

24 Nakamura, Greg

25 Torigoe, Margaret

28 Okada, Irene

29 Masutomi, Benjamin

29 Lum, Christa

30 Miyake, Shirley

S e p t e m b e r

AUGUST

VOLUNTEERS

U S H E R S

Kay Kawachika,

Jane Kawazoe, Newton Chu

& Cindy Debus

Sunday, August 19 Lay Reader

Barbara Iwami

Chapel Decoration

Herbert Watanabe

Sunday, August 26 Lay Reader

Carolyn Lum-Bellem

Chapel Decoration

Carol Morioka

Sunday, September 2 Lay Reader

Ruth Niino-DuPonte

Chapel Decoration

Katada & Tadaki families

Sunday, September 9 Lay Reader

Roberta Chu

Chapel Decoration

Karl Kawahara &

Moira Tanaka

The Messenger The Messenger is a bimonthly newsletter distributed by the Church of the Holy Cross in Hilo. If you have an article you would like to submit it, please

send it via email in Word format to holycrosshilo@hawaii.rr.com or via postal service by August 31, 2018.

Correction

The koa cross in the Building of Faith was donated in 2004 to the Church of the Holy Cross by the Women’s Fellowship to celebrate the completion of the building. Mahalo for correcting the error in the July 18, 2018 issue.

Sunday Worship Service begins at 10:00 am

Pastor: Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Weekly at the Church of the Holy Cross

Bible Study: Sundays, 8:30 am, Wednesdays, 9:30 am and 6:30 pm

A Gathering Place: Mondays 9:00 am, Building of Faith.

Rhythm & Life: Tuesdays, 3:00 p.m., Building of Faith.

IYAA Bible Study: Wednesdays, 7:30 pm in the Lounge.

Ballroom Dance: Wednesdays, 7:00 pm, Building of Faith.

Ron Fujiyoshi, Ohana Ho’opakele: Thursdays at 9:00 am in the Lounge.

Other Congregations Worshiping Here

The United Church of Christ, Pohnpei – Rev. Bensis Henry: 10 am to 12 pm

in the Building of Faith Meeting Room.

Bedesta Church - Pastor Edmes Edwin: 1:30 to 3:30 pm, Building of Faith,

Meeting Room

Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa, Hilo [CCCAS] -

Rev. Ausage and Rev. Rae Lelili`o: 12 to 2 pm in Sanctuary.

Islamic Center of Hawaii: Fridays, 12 to 2 pm, Building of Faith Meeting

Room.

Church of the Holy Cross—UCC 440 West Lanikaula Street

Hilo, HI 96720

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS

440 West Lanikaula Street

Hilo, HI 96720

Office Hours

Mon–Thurs 8:30 am-12:30 pm

Friday 8:30 am-12:00 pm

Ph. 808-935-1283

holycrosshilo@hawaii.rr.com

www.holycrosshilo.com