September is shaping-up to be a wild month for our parish. Let me walk you through it briefly here in preparation to walk through it altogether as a church in under a week.
Sunday, September 1
I will travel to Maui in the morning to preach and celebrate Holy Communion at Kingsfield Anglican Church —a sister church of ours on Maui. The church-planter there, Fr. Jason, will be going on vacation at the end of this week and so Fr. Chris and I are both taking a Sunday for the next two weeks to cover for him.
After the service I will be catching the 1:40 PM flight back to Oahu where I will preach and celebrate at All Saints. As exhausting as they are, I love the Sundays where I get to worship with beloved people from our network on more than one island —Sundays where I can be with God’s people on two islands. What’s that? You want to join me on one of these trips to our sister churches on other islands? Can you swing your own ticket? Yes? Well, I’d love to have you! Reach-out and let me know and we can discuss details.
Sunday September 8
I will be travelling home from Seattle (where I will have spent the weekend at the wedding of a dear friend to All Saints —Todd, whom those of you who were with us at synod met. I will be the concelebrant at his wedding on Saturday and will be arriving in Honolulu around 11 AM with greetings from our friends at Harbor Anglican. As you think about it pray for our friends in Seattle, and know that they pray for you.
Sunday School starts on the 8th. We aim to have several groups: 1-2 yr olds; 3-4 yr olds; 5-8 yr olds; 9-12 yr olds; and everyone else, 13 yrs and up, in our adult class. We will be meeting in various rooms ont he Olivet campus from 3:00-3:45 before the service. Pray that this is an edifying and enriching season of Sunday school for our parish, and please let me know if you’d like to help with any of the children’s groups as a volunteer.
This will also be the Sunday that we formally welcome Dcn. Dawson and his family back from sabbatical. Pray for them over the next few weeks as they prepare to re-enter formal ministry.
Sunday September 15
The 15th is the Feast of the Holy Cross. Wear red to church. This is a day that hasn’t fallen on a Sunday in a while (not in All Saints’ history actually) but is a high occasion for Christians to celebrate the power of the Cross of Christ —that, as Thomas a Kempis suggests, there is no way to true life or lasting peace except the way of the Cross. (I’ve written on that theme here, if you want to read that).
As usual, Sunday school will precede the service at 3 and potluck will follow the service after.
Sunday September 22
On the 22nd we will have our Annual Parish Meeting immediately following the service (which will be a bit shorter to make room for the meeting). Our Annual Parish Meeting is a time for us to (1) give thanks for what God has done in our church this past year; (2) cast vision and pray together for the coming year; (3) hold a small business meeting to select new vestry members and approve the 24-25 budget; and (4) rejoice together in our life as a parish. Please plan to be there, and pray towards our time together.
Note: we will be missing a few folks on this Sunday who will be playing key roles in the installation of the new head pastor of the First Chinese Church of Honolulu. Pray for those who will be participating in that and for the pastor and congregation of the First Chinese Church. We are blessed by our growing relationship with them.
Sunday September 29
Michaelmas, or the Feast of St. Michael and all the Angels, lands on a Sunday this year and we intend to keep it in full festal pomp. The church will be vested in white and gold (like Christmas and Easter), we’ll have games and activities for kiddos during potluck, and we’ll be putting together a more organized fellowship meal for our time after the service, we may even have a baptism or two. More details will be coming-out in the next few weeks as to the plan and preparations for Michaelmas, so look for those.
Also on this day we will officially “welcome” Fr. Matthew out of his time of discernment and rest (since joining our church in July) and into the clergy bench at All Saints. We’ll mark this in the same manner we marked the “welcome” of Dcn. Ben —during the Passing of the Peace.
This is a good day for all of us to invite our friends and neighbors to church, especially those who might be compelled by having a “special” reason to attend: angels, feast day, party, games, plenty of food.
Pray that the Lord of Hosts, the Captain of the angel armies of Heaven, would send us out of September with the power of the Holy Spirit —that He who makes his servants flames of fire (Ps. 104:4), would refresh in us the flames of the Pentecost fire (Acts 2:3-11).