How would you describe Lutheran Church of Honolulu—its community, its mission and ministry—through images? What colors do you see when you think of LCH? How do we communicate God’s mission and ministry at LCH on an outside church wall in pictures? What does a passersby see/feel when they look at the outside mural? Will they be able to get a glimpse of who we truly are as they look at the mural? These are all important questions that we will consider as we begin the visioning process for the creation of the LCH Mural by Estria Miyashiro of the Estria Foundation (estria.org). In this mural, we become visual storytellers, expressing our heritage and mission to the community.

In preparation for the wall mural painting, there will be a workday on Saturday, April 18, to prepare the wall facing Punahou Street for the mural. Here are a few things that need to be done:

• Bushes will come out
• New lights will be installed beforehand
• Church name letters will be removed
• Wall will be pressure-washed (1–2 days before priming) to remove mold, dirt, and oils. This will probably happen on Monday, April 27, during the day (pending appropriate weather)
• Priming on Tuesday or Wednesday, April 28 or 29

Visioning Process for the Mural Design—We hope everyone who wishes will come and participate in the visioning process for the design of the mural. The visioning process is guided by our belief that “God works in mysterious ways.” Experience has shown that the same idea will come out on different days, in different settings, and with different people; so we will have multiple sessions, and all are welcome to come to any and all visioning sessions. New ideas will come out at each session, and then be woven together in the final design. In these sessions, participants are encouraged to:

• Lead through meditation and prayer
• Connect with the Divine
• Talk through the exploration of our ideas
• Leave space for silence and thought
• Write ideas on a large paper, taking notes
• Connect the right and left sides of the brain
• Recognize the significance when two or more people receive the same picture, message, or thought

There will be three different visioning sessions of 30–45 minutes:

• Blessing and Session #1—Sunday, April 26, around 11:10 am
• Session #2—Monday, April 27 at 6:00 pm
• Session #3 – Tuesday, April 28 at 10:00 am

Sketch Approval—On May 3, the congregation will be presented with the mural design during regular 10:00 am worship and be able to see how it visually articulates our faith community to our neighbors. The presentation will take place during the sermon time (approximately 10:30). and tThe Council will meet briefly after the service (approximately 11:10) to approve the design. The congregation is welcome to share their thoughts with council members before the council’s meeting after worship.

Painting—After the sketch approval, Estria will be begin outlining the mural at 6:00 in the evening on Monday, May 4. Everyone, including youth, are invited to join in the painting. There will be sign-up sheets for 2-hour blocks. Each block will accommodate a maximum on 20 volunteer painters and 4–6 helper volunteers. Painting is scheduled for:

• Tuesday, May 5, from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm
• Wednesday, May 6, from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm

Blessing and Unveiling will take place during worship on Sunday, May 10, at about 11:30 am.

As you can see by all of the details described above, this is a very important piece of the legacy of Lutheran Church of Honolulu as we share with the community the story of God’s work, with our hands at LCH. We hope you will participate in telling our story to the community and beyond. If you have any questions about this project, please reach out to Keane Ishii at 808-352-5135. Mahalo.

Blessings and prayers,
Pastor Lesley