July 2025 – Reflections from David & Jonathan
- Hawai‘i Conference Office
- Jul 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 July 2025 here!
Perspective
Jonathan Roach, Associate Conference Minister
If I emailed asking to move our meeting scheduled for next Wednesday forward by one day, what day am I asking about? Would it be Thursday? Or would it be Tuesday? Your answer (Tuesday or Thursday) shows a lot about your perspective and about your relationship to time. This perspective is shaped by your culture, by your individual personality, and even by your mood at the time you answer.
If you answer Tuesday, you understand yourself as standing still with time moving around you. But if you answer Thursday, you see time as standing still and visualize yourself as moving through it. In case you are curious, about half the population would answer Tuesday and the other half would answer Thursday. In English this question is just one of those ambiguous questions that depends upon your perspective and can lead to a lot of miscommunication and even conflict.
I spend a significant amount of time working through conflict and miscommunications. I often ask people to read with me Luke 5:17-39, when Jesus heals a paralyzed man who is lowered through a roof by his friends, and then we make a list of all the possible sources of miscommunication and conflicts. It's a long list! Other times, I invite people to watch the short YouTube Video, It's NOT About the Nail. Then I ask them: so, what is it about? In this conflict-riddled world, I encourage all of us this week to consider our perspectives and others' perspectives, to slow down our communications, to listen prayerfully, to be fully present to each other, our communities of faith, and our God.
General Synod and a Tree Named Larry
Jonathan Roach, Associate Conference Minister
Just over a year ago, I preached a memorial for my friend, Rev. Larry Walter; the message was based upon Psalm 1:1-3 and was entitled, "A Tree Named Larry." Since I try to live out the sermons that I preach, I named a tree that I planted "Larry" in honor of my friend. Before General Synod, I prepared myself for Synod by weeding, mulching, and fertilizing all my fruit trees, including Larry!
Larry is a pedalai tree (Artocarpus sericicarpus) and is related to jackfruit, 'ulu, and marang. The fruit looks like a giant rambutan with edible white flesh and is native to Borneo, the Philippines, and Indonesia. A couple of days after arriving home, I went out to check on Larry; it had shot up over 12 inches in 10 days! Amazing...Larry, the pastor, did love General Synod, and I guess the tree named in his honor does, too!
General Synod 2025 did so much to weed, mulch, and fertilize the United Church of Church, and there were so many Hawai'i connections. The Synod was presided over by Moderator Rushan Sinnaduray, Senior Minister of Central Union Church; the body elected Josann Jenks from Kawaiaha'o Church to the UCC Board; David Popham, our Conference Minister, spoke in favor of an immigration resolution; and Taha'a Kahele from Hau'oli Kamana'o Church, spoke (partly in German!) in favor of a prudential resolution to bring the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) into full communion. I encourage you to watch Karen Georgia Thompson's powerful State of the Church message, read about the resolutions, and reflect upon Tony Coleman's moving sermon from the closing worship. I pray that it will weed, mulch, and fertilize you, and like a tree named "Larry" you will experience amazing growth!
Conference Minister Sabbatical Leave
David K. Popham, Conference Minister
As previously announced, I will be taking the first month of my three-month sabbatical July 21 – August 21. During this time, I will be reading the minutes of our predecessor body, the Hawai'i Evangelical Association. With the guidance of the book, What is History Now? How the Past and Present Speak to Each Other, I hope to engage the minutes by openly asking critical questions to uncover motivations and impetuses which provided the thinking patterns and narratives defining this era of our common life.
This book seeks to approach history beyond the lens of the dominate gender, culture, imperial-colonization filters for history. It also seeks to demonstrate the various ways history is related through monuments, museum curation, popular storytelling, and family tales. The Conference will have a chance to engage this book through a 2026 Lenten Book Study produced by the Conference Editorial Team.
While I am away, the Conference will be supported by the other members of the Conference Office Ministry Team. All inquiries can be made to the Conference Office and will be directed to the appropriate person on the Ministry Team who can best help you with your concern or item.
Sabbaticals remind us of the importance of rest in sustaining long-term ministry and leadership. I am grateful for the work of the Conference Council which allows for this sabbatical to be taken this summer.
