First Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
May Newsletter
Volume 114 Issue 5
May 2008
HOA ALOHA
A Time of
Celebration
Pastor Jimmy Hutcherson
As Paul often
wrote his parishioners, “I thank my God in every thought of you.” How
grateful and delighted I am to be your Pastor. I especially
am looking forward to this merry, merry, month of May. The weather is
great. It is Spring. Signs of life are
breaking out all over. The church is growing, hugs are flowing, so let
the singing begin!!
May in the church year is a daybreak. This May we celebrate with the
introduction of new church leaders on May 4, followed by lunch and the
seating of the new Board. It is a time of celebration
as another year of offering the gospel ministry has been laid
at our feet. It is a time to renew
our commitment to the Savior and His mission through the church. We
want you and everyone to have a part in the challenging, but exciting ministry.
The highlight of the month will be the
I want to recognize and send our church’s gratitude to
Terry Sousa, who willingly and humbly accepts many tasks around the church and
often keeps the trains running on time. He is always life-affirming and
helps all of us at the church to laugh and not take ourselves so
seriously. He brings joy to our midst and the gift of creativity to his
efforts. For all this and the love he brings, we honor him.
We said good-bye and wish a warm aloha
this month to Dean Walker. In the past few months, he has availed himself
to much work here at the church. We have appreciated all he has done and
will miss him. We send our prayers, our love, and God’s blessings with
him as he returns to
I hope this month, as we prepare for
summer, graduate our Seniors, and look forward to some
time off, you remember the love given through Christ Jesus, and His calling
upon all our lives to serve the unfortunate around us, and to grow in
fellowship and grace. We hope we see you in church in May!
See ya
Sunday!
Pastor Jimmy
UPCOMING
EVENTS
4 Board Meeting
POSTPONED.
10 Swap Meet from 9:00 a.m. to
1:00 p.m.
10 Sunday School fund-raiser at Richardson Field
from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
11 Mother’s Day. Board meeting and lunch.
18 ‘Ohana
Night . Join us for a very special evening as
the
HELP WANTED!!!!
Keep in touch
with the church office if you are an able bodied man or woman who can help when
it comes time to remove the old pews and paint the floor of
the Sanctuary. Also, Alan, Tamra and Terry would like to let anyone know that they can
assist Family Promise. There are still one or two days that you could
donate a cooked meal. If you are not a cook (like me!), you may donate
funds to pay for food, and the crew will prepare it for you.
“Thy Word is
a Lamp unto my feet
and a Light unto my path….”
Those words were sung by Meana and her mother, Mea Moon, during our Communion time
at a recent church service. It was such a fitting song, given that was
the day that Gary van Eppen of Gideons
International spoke about how the Word of God never comes back void and
how people’s lives have been changed through their
ministry.
OUR GOD IS VERY MUCH ALIVE! ISN’T THAT WONDERFUL?
NICK’S SEMINARY UPDATE
I have
returned to my seminary after having been in
It was nice to see everyone at
church. Thank you for all of your love and support during this sad time
in my life.
I have been working on the Lord’s Supper
texts mostly from Luke and 1 Corinthians most of this semester in
my New Testament Exegesis class. One of the interesting things is the use
of the Greek word, Anamnesis, or “remembrance.” The Gospels of
Mark and Matthew do not use this word. The word has so much meaning as
Jesus said, “do this in remembrance of me.” At Disciples churches, we
celebrate communion every Sunday as a testimony of faith, and as a memorial
service. The Lord’s Supper is one of two sacraments performed by the
church including baptism. But the Lord’s Supper is the only sacrament
that Jesus said to do in remembrance of him and therefore it is a
very sacred and special ritual. The Lord’s Supper is
also celebrated as table fellowship for the body of the church, and in Disciples
churches, all are welcome to the table. As Paul would decree, “so then,
my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other.” The
elements of bread and grape juice are both distributed at the same time, and
they are eaten and drunk at the same time (with everyone in the congregation
participating). This is the kind of closeness and intimacy that Paul was
referring to.
Many blessings to you all!
Nick Kolivas
nicholaskolivas@aol.com
BOARD BUZZZZ…..
Well, the clouds parted, the sun shone through in giant
beams onto a sparkling shoreline as the angelic
choir broke the enchanting silence with a chorus of “Hallelujah!!” Yes,
the 2008 Annual Board Meeting of First Christian Church of
It takes weeks to compile, type and fasten
together a year’s worth of information including financial goings
on, as well as the many ministries of First Christian Church. I would
like to thank Lorna Soong and Winifred Kam for their
diligent efforts in the compilation of this highly sophisticated, in-depth
assessment of the past year.
You can get your own copy of the annual report! No,
not at Borders, or Barnes & Noble, but at the Church Office during business
hours simply by asking the secretary for one.
Let us be thankful that we
have nine months until the next Annual Meeting. Hmm, that doesn’t make
sense, does it? Well, it seems that at one point, a former treasurer
thought it would serve the church well to end our fiscal year on March 31 of
each year as this would leave us closer to tax time.
Recently, another opinion arose that basically said, the fiscal year is the
literal year, and we may very well need more than two weeks to prepare
tax receipts for our parishioners. Therefore,
because of this change, our 2008 fiscal year will be nine months long.
Good thing I don’t age in
fiscal years, or I would be 71 on my next birthday!
Jeffrey
“Terry” Sousa
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Wow! Another month has flown by.
It is hard to believe how quickly time flies. Soon it will be summer. The
children are excited at least.
In April, the
children worked on learning about the sacrifices that Jesus has made
for each and every one of us here on Earth. They learned about his
sacrifices both in life and in death. Let me tell you, it is not so easy
to teach a young child about sacrifice, giving up something that is important
and valuable so that others may benefit. Many time I
felt that the children just did not “get” it. This is an age where
everything is “all about me” for a child. “What can I get” and “I want
this, and I want it now!” But I wanted the children to
learn that Jesus teaches us that it is not always just about one person, it is
not just about “me”. And just when I thought that the children had worn
out this lesson, they surprised me nonetheless.
All month
long the children have been asking about our summer camp, they loved it so much
last year. It seemed that all they wanted was to know where they were
going, what they would be doing. No one, it seemed, was getting anything
out of our lessons. So finally, I told them that I thought it would be a
great idea for them to raise funds for the camp, to earn some of the money
rather than to just expect the camp to be there for them. I came up with
some ideas. I told them that we could sell cookies, or maybe even Jamba Juice. But then, one child asked me, “could we sell some of our own stuff?” I asked what she
meant and she said that all of the children could gather up their old clothes
and toys and have a yard sale. The more the children talked, the more
ideas they came up with. They talked about baking and making treats for
the sale, doing crafts for the sale, giving up their toys. I was so
happy. Sacrifice! They were listening. So, of course, I could
not say “no”. We held our little fundraiser on Saturday, April 12.
The children brought a bunch of clothes and toys, some that they didn’t really
want to let go, but they did. I was so proud of them. And to top it
off, we will be doing it again on Saturday, May 10, at Richardson Field.
It will be a combined swap meet and bake sale fundraiser for our upcoming summer
camp. Please, drop by and see us if you can.
Sabrina Feliciano
This
month’s ‘Ohana Night will feature the Honolulu Men’s
Chorus, which was founded in 1988. It is dedicated to promoting
understanding and support within the communities and peoples of
MAY DEACONS, ELDERS, WORSHIP LEADER
SCHEDULE
|
DATE |
ELDERS |
DEACONS |
WORSHIP LEADERS |
|
May 4 |
Tim Earhart |
Miguel Sayers—Alan Feliciano |
Lorna Soong |
|
May 11 |
Tim Earhart |
Alan Feliciano—Gayle Silva |
Al Degrate |
|
May 18 |
Lorna Soong |
Al Degrate—Joan Hudson |
Tim Earhart |
|
May 25 |
Tim Earhart |
Miguel Sayers—John Heller |
Tiffany Sebbern |
MAY
DAYS 2
Violet
Burns 8
Deborah Kim 15
Nancy
Kay Hunt 16
Alan Texeira 17
Meilani Wang 18
Ruth
Brennan 25 Jody
Walsh
PRAYER REQUESTS
Alan Feliciano
Donald Blaser
Dean Walker
Andy Bentley
Burnell Hutcherson
Pastor Jon
Nick Kolivas
and Family
Al Gardner
Dorothy Winstead
Tamara Pomerantz
Melissa Lapinad
Terry Sousa
Louise Ondrik
Fran DeCosta
Jamel Sebbern &
The Sebbern
Family
Ha Kyu
Hyun
Isinory Manuel & family
Charles Chapman
Opal Terbeek
Danny Sayers
Crystal Sayers
Lana L. Sayers
Nell Silva
John Fazakerley
FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH STAFF
Pastor:
Jimmy Hutcherson
Facilities:
Tamra
von Blankenburg
Secretary:
Lorna Soong
Music:
John
Fazakerley
Administrator:
Ian McKnight
Youth
Activities:
Sabrina Feliciano
Board Chairman:
Terry Jeffrey E. Sousa
Co-Chair:
Tamra von Blankenburg
Web
Site:
Nicholas Kolivas
First Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
AN OPEN AND
AFFIRMING CHURCH]
Church
Schedule
SUNDAY
SCHEDULE
Sunday
School 10:00 am
Worship
Service 10:45 am
Dong San
(Korean) 1:00 pm
CHURCH INFORMATION
Office Hours
Monday -Friday
9:00 am 3:30 pm
Phone: 808-521-3500
Fax:
808-521-3600
Visit
our Website at:
www.firstchristianchurchhonolulu.org
( first christian
church
Newsletter and Calendar
available on our website .
CALL US AT 808-521-3500 AND US KNOW IF YOU WOULD ENJOY
A COPY
OF THIS A NEWSLETTER MAILED TO YOU
GOD BLESS YOU!!
SEE YA SUNDAY!