The HeartBeat

A Message from Pastor Jeff

Oh, Holy Night

By the time you read this, Christmas will be over for the secular world. Christmas trees will be out on the curb, bags of crumpled wrapping paper will have been deposited in the dump, and children will have already broken their first toys. But we in the Christian tradition will just be getting started with our celebration of the birth of the Christ child. We have the wonderful opportunity to begin our year with birth and renewal, joy, and the sure knowledge of Emmanuel—God with us. And so we begin this new year with a wish of Merry Christmas, and the wonder of what God will have in store for us and our ministry in this coming year.

I also want to begin this year by saying thank you. A few weeks ago Pastor Angela and I were talking about the future and realized how honored and happy both of us feel to serve you as your pastors. The members of LCH understand that this is a ministry to which God has called each of you. While we may be the pastors, you are the true ministers of the Gospel in this place. While you have called us, God has called you to worship, love, bring justice and mercy, transform community, share gifts and wealth, be courageous in the face of tyranny, laugh, weep, and console one another. God is calling all of us out from the four walls of this church into the world where ministry actually happens!

An author once wrote that it seemed to him that Christians want to celebrate the baby Jesus and then keep him there forever—safe, little, harmless, and marketable. But Jesus doesn’t remain in the cradle, and we don’t remain quietly ensconced in the safe manger of our church building! You are out there every day doing ministry in the highways and byways of your life and making a positive difference for people around the world. Each month you serve a few hundred people at IHS, every month you make a nutritious meal for houseless folks in Wai‘anae, every week you bring food for Angel Network to feed the hungry. We are beginning to reach young people at UH and in the community in new ways. Each Sunday you support the wider ministry of the ELCA—which, on our behalf, urges legislators to govern with mercy for the poor, sends volunteers and materials to disaster stricken areas, and supports medical missionaries in Liberia and Tanzania.

Clearly, Jesus is not lying in the manger, and God’s people are not staying safely in the nave! That is what makes the ministry here at LCH so wonderful. You are witnesses, servants, singers, consolers, music makers, repairers of lives and people, and individuals willing to simply be present. Our creative God is winding through our lives and calling us to deeper and fuller ministry in and for the world. This breath-full God of spirit, flesh, and presence is working in this place and I thank you for your faithful and enthusiastic response.

Christmas may be over for the secular world, but we are just getting started.

Blessings in this New Year, and may the God of peace bring you joy!

Aloha,
Pastor Jeff Lilley
pr.jeff@lchwelcome.org

Top of Page

Top of Page

December Council Highlights

Council met Tuesday, December 12. Here are some of the highlights of the meeting:

• Council selected Mary-Jo Estes as the highlighted volunteer for the January newsletter.
• Punahou parking rentals are at full occupancy for spring semester.
• Sunday morning nursery attendant has resigned, with last day set for December 16. Looking for assistance in hiring replacement for the position.
• Since the PV installation, system has avoided 85,935.98 kg of CO₂, with a total yield of 122,765.68 kWh.
• Pastor Angela working with Lutheran Outdoor Ministry to come host vacation Bible school this coming summer.
• Juli Cummings and Pastor Angela working together to make Sunday school classrooms more welcoming.
• LutherPlace apartments have two vacancies. Opening serves as an opportunity to do minor renovations and to explore options for future rental use.
• Reminder that committee chair reports are due by December 28 in preparation of annual report and congregational meeting.

Top of Page

Process Thought Forum

Saturday, January 5, 9:30–11:00 AM

Repeat session Sunday, January 6, at Noon.

The Process Thought Forum will meet on Saturday, January 5, 9:30 to 11:00 AM in the LCH Boardroom. We will focus on select poetry including a Palestinian poet Mazen Maarouf and others. A video featuring Maarouf will also be shown. Learn what some poets are saying in the face of restless times. A repeat session will be held at noon on Sunday, January 6.

Top of Page

LCH on Facebook

If you’re on Facebook, go to our page and give us a “like” and after you do that, share LCH’s page with your friends! Help us get the word out of all the good stuff happening at LCH through this social media tool! <www.facebook.com/LCHwelcome>

Top of Page

Safe Guarding God’s Children

Church council leaders, Sunday school teachers, and anyone who works with the young people of LCH, are strongly encouraged to attend the Safe Guarding God’s Children training course this coming Saturday, January 5, from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM. We will meet in the Boardroom of LCH. This is a program to help foster the care and safety of all of the young people of the congregation, but it will also possibly enhance the well-being of all of the young people in your life. Please RSVP to Pastor Angela and also direct questions to her.

Top of Page

Attention 20- and 30-somethings...

If you’re in your 20s and 30s (or there about), you’re invited to a casual evening at church, Saturday, January 5, at 7:30 PM. Pupus, drinks, and awesome people! We’ll have a pile of games if folks would like to have a game night too! Come get to know folks your age here at LCH. Bring a friend and snack to share!

If you would like or need childcare so you can enjoy yourself kid free for a bit, please let Pastor Angela know ASAP.

Top of Page

Hale Haumāna—Campus Ministry

Prayers for a great start to the semester for university students, faculty, and staff. We hope you’ve had a fabulous vacation.

University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa starts back up again January 7. Hale Haumāna will be open for business that same week. LCH folks interested in participating and supporting campus ministry, please contact Pastor Angela!

We need volunteers for the Campus Involvement Fair, January 22–23. We could also use some volunteers to bring dinner to the campus house as well.

Campus House is open Monday through Friday 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM! Program and dinner every Wednesday at 6:30 PM. Find the house at 2324 Metcalf Street.

Top of Page

Writers’ Workshop

Writers’ Workshop will meet next on Monday, January 12, 2013, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM in the Boardroom at LCH.

All are welcome. For information, please contact Kathryn Klingebiel through the Church Office (941-2566).

Top of Page

Food for Thought

Food for Thought will meet next on Friday, January 25, 2013, at 6:30 PM at the home of Irmgard Hörmann, for potluck supper and discussion. (This is a change from Saturday, January 26, as originally announced.)

All are welcome. For information, please contact Kathryn Klingebiel through the Church Office (941-2566).

Top of Page

Involvement Fair Goodie Packets

Hale Haumāna (Student’s House) will be staffing a booth at this year’s UH “Involvement Fair” January 22–23. Please help to supply goodies for our welcome baggies that we’ll be handing out to students who stop by our booth. Also, if you’d like to help staff the booth for an hour or two, please contact Pastor Angela! What we could use: individual hot cocoa packets, instant coffee packets, gum, chocolates and other candies, electric tea-light candles, and small bags of pretzels. Place any goodies you bring into the box at the back of the nave. Thank you!

Top of Page

Save the Date

Youth Fundraiser February 1st & 2nd

The youth group requests your help with their Punahou Carnival Parking fundraiser. This year the carnival takes place on Friday, February 1 and Saturday, February 2.

We need adult volunteers for three-hour shifts during the carnival on Friday and Saturday. Event coordinators provide snacks and drinks, flashlights and safety vests, you just provide the fellowship! Sign-up sheets will be available in the Hörmann courtyard in January.

Thank you!
Pam Buckley, Jean Lilley, and Jerelyn Watanabe

Top of Page

Confirmation Classes

Our middle school aged students continue to work their way through faith learning and in depth learning about Lutheranism, scripture, and what this all means for them. Classes for the coming month are on January 13 and 27. Please let Pastor Angela know if you’re son or daughter would like to participate or if you have questions about the confirmation program here at LCH.

Top of Page

Exploring Boundaries and Beyond

This month’s EBB will highlight Japanese Buddhist Temples in Hawai‘i, led by Willa and George Tanabe. Join us from 5:30 to 6:00 PM for a light meal (small donation of $3–$5 appreciated) followed by presentation and discussion from 6:00 to 7:15 PM. The Evening Prayer service will follow at 7:30 PM.

Willa and George Tanabe, UHM professors emeriti in art history and religion respectively, introduce us to Japanese Buddhist temples in Hawai‘i and the architectural structures and dazzling objects within, all of which have meanings that are often hidden in ancient symbolisms. The temples were the hub of the immigrant communities and were built and flourished for over 150 years. Of the ninety Japanese temples still extant, many are still active social and religious centers, but a good number are in serious decline.

The evening is free and open to the public Please invite your family and friends.

Top of Page

Top of Page

Evening Prayer

Evening Prayer is a participatory half-hour service of hymns, prayers, readings, and choir music. The atmosphere will be quiet and meditative. Evening Prayer will fall on the first and third Sundays of the month unless there is another scheduled worship opportunity such as vespers. The third Sunday Evening Prayer will be preceded by Exploring Boundaries and Beyond and dinner.

Here is the upcoming Sunday evening worship schedule:

• January 6, 7:30 PM—Evening Prayer
• January 20, 7:30 PM—Evening Prayer
• February 3, 7:30 PM—Evening Prayer
• February 17, 7:30 PM—Evening Prayer

Celebrating Service

The church council of LCH has decided to honor and celebrate the many ways that God is working in our midst. Each month, they are going to highlight a different person (or persons) who are helping to serve in the LCH ministries and beyond. These people are great witnesses to service and faithful living.

For this month’s selection...meet Mary-Jo Estes. Mary-Jo is one of those people who, behind the scenes, keeps LCH running! She has been actively involved for many years in big and small ways. Mary-Jo has the unfortunate luxury of living right next to LCH and to our Poki parking lot. She opens and closes the lot every day, which assists our Punahou parking students, and also with various concerts and events when our Poki lot is used. If you’ve ever been to an event or fellowship hour at LCH, then you’ve also been witness (even though you might not have known it because of her extreme humility), to her gift of hospitality and welcome as she keeps our Fellowship Committee running. If you have ever been to an LCH concert or music event, then most likely the bulletin you used was put together by Mary-Jo as well. She is our stuffing, stapling, and office go-to gal! She is generous with her gifts of time, talent, and treasure in many creative ways, and she’s always there with a smile. This list only begins to describe the generous work of our sister. Thanks, Mary-Jo, for all that you do!

Much mahalo,
LCH Council

Top of Page

Kids in Church

During an interview many years back someone asked me, “What do you do about kids in church?” I wasn’t sure what the implications were behind the question. Does this person like kids in church and want to know how to better acclimate them to what is happening? Does this person dislike kids and want them out? I am still not sure what the motivation for the inquiry was. My answer though might have shocked him.

“So many people say, ‘Our children are our future.’ Well, I say that’s a bunch of crap. Our kids aren’t our future, nor are they the future of the church. Frankly, they are the church!” Children are a vital and integral part of the body of Christ that we adults are also members of. Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children” (New Living Translation, 2007).

If heaven belongs to the children and Jesus drew them to himself, then certainly we are called to find a place for them in our midst as well. Often many adults who have raised children—and even those of us who have not—loose perspective on the challenges of trying to sit quietly with little ones. I hear from new parents all the time how difficult it is. I was talking with my sister about our two-year old niece, who I am the god-parent for. She was sharing with me how impossible it feels to sit quietly while the worship is going on around them. In fact, they’ve avoided going to church because it is just too difficult.

So often the children are with us during worship for only a few minutes, or at most until the children’s sermon, then they’re brought to day care. If you’re a parent and you need a few minutes of rest and to receive the Word without disruption, then I’m so glad you’re utilizing the day care we have. But do not feel like you have to quarantine your child there. If you’d rather him or her learn they are a part of the church and a member of the faith community sooner rather than later, then keep them in worship.

I’ve had a few parents of little ones from LCH say to me, “Oh, I’m so sorry XY was so noisy today!” Or, “Pastor, we bring our kids to the day care so we don’t disturb anyone.” Really, I’m saying it publicly: You’re not disturbing anyone! You’re teaching your child the ways of worship and their supposed interruptions are opportunities for the rest of us to learn better what it is like to be a full family with members of many different ages and different needs.

If you’re a parent or grandparent, here are a few things that might be of help for you to think about if you’re struggling with worship and your child:

1. Your child, with all his squirminess, is a vital member of the body of Christ and teaches us about Jesus and the Kingdom.
2. As a congregation, we want you and your young person here! Please ask us for help and share ideas of what we can do that might support you as you raise your child in the faith.
3. Sit in the front! Yup, you heard it from one of the pastors. Come to the front where your children can see! When they can see what is happening and hear for themselves, they will be more engaged. I promise you! Don’t hide in the back and pretend your kids aren’t there or feel like you have to “put them out of the way.”
4. During worship, while you’re in the front, point out what is happening and help him or her to follow along with what we’re doing up at the altar.
5. Walk around and show your child different parts of the nave (sanctuary). You can do this before worship so you can talk more, or you can do this quietly during worship so that you’re both moving around.
6. Teach your child some of the common songs and prayers; say and sing them at home so they become familiar—the words of the Kyrie or the Gloria, common hymns, the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, etc.
7. And, finally, ask a neighbor for help. There are many friendly faces in the congregation who would be willing to hold your baby or worship with your toddler so that you can have a break and get a bit of a worship for yourself. Ask me for names. We’ll work it out together.

And, if you’re a regular worshiper in the congregation and you want to support the entire body of Christ (including the children and their parents), here’s some of what you can do to help:

1. Pray for parents and children during worship and outside of worship. Give God thanks for all of the church ‘ohana.
2. Please, please don’t stare at parents and a “noisy” child. If you’d like to turn and give a reassuring smile to a parent, that’s a different story.
3. Better yet, go and offer help. Here, use this line: “I’m so glad that you and your daughter are here. I see today seems difficult for you both. What can I do to help you? Do you need a few minutes break? I’d be happy to hold her.”
4. Even if you’re not ushering, bring over a children’s bulletin from the back of the nave if a child doesn’t have one. There are crayons, children’s Bibles, and bulletins for our young people so that they are still receiving the Word but perhaps a little differently than us adults.
5. And perhaps most importantly, if you’re getting frustrated with feeling distracted by a young person crying or making noise, remember Jesus is calling this little child forth and teaching you something about the kingdom. That crying child is not an obstruction to your worship experience, rather, he is an integral and central figure in the whole body of Christ that you belong.

If you’re a parent and have questions or suggestions, please contact me. I’d enjoy talking with you about how to make your whole family feel comfortable and fulfilled with their worship experience here at LCH. If you’re an adult without a child and you would like to help support the ministry to and for our young people and their parents, talk with me! I have plenty of ideas of how we can grow and strengthen our ministry.

And all of God’s children said, “Amen.”

Pastor Angela Freeman
pr.angela@lchwelcome.org

Top of Page

Thank you to all who have made a commitment for 2013 and turned in promises of financial support and time and talent sheets. At the end of December, more than 40 individuals or families had made written commitments to support the ministries of LCH.

If you have not done so, we encourage you to pick up a commitment packet from the usher’s stand, complete it and turn it in via the offering plates or to the church office. It’s never too late to make your commitment.

Mahalo to all who support the ministries of LCH!

Your Stewardship Team,
Pam, Bill, April, and Karen

Top of Page

2012 Annual Meeting, part 2

Saturday January 19, 2013, at 5:00 PM

Please plan to participate in the second half of our annual meeting on Saturday, January 19, beginning at 5:00 PM.

We will have fellowship time (happy hour), followed by a pot luck supper, and then on to the business of the congregation which includes the presentation of council members, comments by the council president, and approval of the 2013 budget.

Your participation in this meeting is valued and appreciated, so please plan to attend!

Top of Page

We have a new roof!

Aloha Roofing was contracted to install a new roof over the nave after a section of the original shingles slid off. The old shingles were more than 20 years old, and we found that the installation had not been done improperly. We thought it a good idea to do this roof repair before we continued to plan for the courtyard cover.

The new roof is warranted for 25 years and included new felt, flashings, pipe jacks, and algae resistant shingles. Aloha Roofing also repaired the flat cement roof area above the altar with a new silicone membrane after finding cracks in the existing coating. There was no wood rot or other damage found in the sub-roof.

The total cost of this project was $41,780.09.

Top of Page

Liturgically-Appropriate Wine Tasting

January 20 (Epiphany II) is the week when the Gospel tells of Jesus changing water into wine, so what else could we do but schedule another LCH wine tasting for that afternoon.

Join your fellow LCHers for an enjoyable afternoon of fellowship and wine. We will gather at Oeno Winemaking in Kailua at 1:00 PM.

Talk to Bill Potter for more information or to reserve a spot.

Top of Page

What’s New on the LCH Website?

Bill Potter, Webmaster

As is often the case, December started off as a quiet one on the LCH website but ended up with a flurry of holiday activity. The Congregational Life page chronicled the return of the Jesse Tree liturgy on the first Sunday of Advent and the visit of Dr. Michael Ward, internationally-recognized C. S. Lewis expert, on December 9.

Again this year, the site featured a Christmas slideshow with photos showing the decorating of the Nave and worship services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The slideshow will continue with photos from Lessons and Carols on December 30, German Vespers on January 1, and our celebration of Epiphany on January 6

Top of Page

Attendance and Offerings for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Sunday, December 30, 2012, were not available at time of publication.

Top of Page

Prayer Requests

Alicia	Elaine	Karen
Amy	Eric	Lani
Carl	Gene	Maggie
Chris	George	Stephen
Debbie	Gus	Susan

Top of Page

January Birthdays

Date	Name
01/01	Biz Person
01/03	Jeanne Castello
01/05	Fred Benco
01/06	Angie Niermann
01/06	Matthew Sato
01/12	Allen Bauchle
01/12	Mary Kubota
01/12	Michael Okikawa
01/20	Robert Raasch
01/22	Chuck Huxel
01/23	Jim Niermann

Top of Page

Top of Page

HeartBeat Deadline

Next HeartBeat Deadline is Tuesday, January 15!

Top of Page

Heavenly Humor

Kids Say the Funniest Things

“When my six-year-old granddaughter visited our small country church for the first time, she was awed by the communion service.

Accepting the bread and then the wine, she whispered excitedly to me, ‘Do we get cheese, too?’”

—Marian Holbrook, Traphill, NC

Top of Page

Copyright © 2013 Lutheran Church of Honolulu
1730 Punahou Street, Honolulu, HI 96822 • 808-941-2566
Comments welcome at webmaster@lchwelcome.org