January 2025 – Reflections from David & Jonathan
- Hawai‘i Conference Office
- Jan 31
- 4 min read
Our Conference Minister, David Popham, and Associate Conference Minister, Jonathan Roach, take turns sharing reflections each week in our Coconut Wireless e-newsletter. Read their reflections for the month of January 2025 here!
'Eli 'Eli Kau Mai
Jonathan Roach, Associate Conference Minister
The natural world has always been a window into heaven for me. It has been where I have gone for healing, for self-care, for re-discovering and deepening my relationship with the still-speaking, still-active God who I love beyond words. Nature is where I sense sacredness, the presence of the ALL-mighty. Where the noise and clutter of life are stripped away so I can really, totally, and wholly be present for my creator and for my neighbor. When I read the Hawaiian phrase, 'eli 'eli kau mai – "Let awe possess me," it resonated in my soul. For me, it is a sacred remembrance of what was, what is present today, and the amazing possibilities of what may be.
I live on the slopes of Kīlauea…a fact that fills me with fear, with reverence, with possibility, with awe every time I stop to consider it. Episode seven of the ongoing Halema'uma'u eruption started at 6:42 p.m. on January 27 and continued through the night. I have made four visits to Kīlauea since this eruption first started days before Christmas on December 23 and with each visit, I attempt to find silence in the darkness to just be present, and I just have to stop and breathe deeply as I allow the awe to fill me to overflowing. The night, the silence, the awe have been good for my soul.
Social media, the news, and life in general have been filled with a lot of violence, anger, and conflict. Find your window into heaven, whether it be in nature or in music or in scripture or something else, so that you can be present on this Earth for God and for neighbor. 'Eli 'eli kau mai.
Faith, Hope, the Status Quo, and the New Year
Jonathan Roach, Associate Conference Minister
Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! I want to encourage us to reflect upon time this week. During this liminal time period between January 1, which is the beginning of the new year on the Gregorian calendar, and the lunar new year, which is on Wednesday, January 29 this year and will start the Year of the Snake, we have this amazing opportunity to reflect, consider, and vision on what has been and what could be. On a side note here, we also have to remember that these two dates aren't the only systems of marking the cycle of time. I learned on the BBC that on the island of Foula north of Scotland, they still observe the new year on the Julian calendar so they celebrated the new year on January 13.
But whenever you celebrate, I have a challenge for you: try something new in this new year. Now I know that most New Year resolutions have been forgotten after the first month because the status quo is hard to overcome. As theologian Hans Hoekendijk writes "now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is the status quo!" This is so true, but sometimes both as individuals and as congregations, we are successful when we try something new, and it is transformational.
Friends, let us open ourselves to the Spirit's sense of time and transformation. Let's innovate, explore, discern, experiment, and be the people of God for this time.
The Richness of Faith in a Time of Political Transition*
David K. Popham, Conference Minister
The transition of political power is always a fraught time. After all, one political agenda won while other political agendas lost. Your connection to these agendas will determine if you perceive the transfer of power as a time of celebration or a time of concern. No matter which response or mix of responses you experience this January, I urge you, above all else, to receive the rich treasure of our Christian faith which transcends political ideology and limitations.
Let us recall that life is a tapestry woven with threads of joy and sorrow, triumph and defeat. Let us embrace each thread, for it is what makes us who we are. Every experience, every hardship, every moment of joy has shaped us into the beautiful souls we are today.
Let us commit ourselves to divine love as the most powerful force in the universe. Such love possesses the ability to heal, to inspire, and to bring joy to even the darkest of hearts.
Let us affirm that we are all formed of frailty and error. Let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly– that is the first dynamic of love.
Let us remember that it is our faith that lights the way. It is a beacon of hope that reminds us that we are never alone, even in our most joyful or desperate moments.
Let us understand that patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.
God, who is as ancient as the days and as young as the fresh fallen snow, grant us the ability to turn again and again to the treasures of our faith. May we not only be enriched by these treasures, but may we add to the depth, the beauty, the texture of faith in and among all who we serve. Amen.
*These markers of faith are adapted from Sister Monica Jones, "Call the Midwife."
