Exodus 3: 10-14; Ephesians 4: 1-3

There is set of really funny commercials for Dos Equis beer that features “the most interesting man in the world.   He is so interesting that supposedly even his enemies list him as their emergency contact.  He is so capable that he can send a letter without postage and it would still get there.  Legend goes that when he met the mythical Sasquatch, it was Sasquatch who asked to take his picture.  The most interesting man in the world is the life even of parties he does not attend.  He even lives vicariously through himself.  This man has lots of life advice for others.  He proclaims: “find out what it is in life you don’t do well and then don’t do that thing.” Friends, today we talk about how we should live life.  I refer specifically to our calling in life.  In our Hawaiian sermon series we have looked at four circles decreasing in size described by Hawaiian concepts: we have looked at the earth and how we care for it, we have looked at people and how they treat each other, we have looked at the family and how it faces today’s challenges.  Today we consider the smallest circle of personal calling and responsibility. Rather than ever smaller circles , we could look at our four sermon concepts as these Russian dolls with a smaller one inside a bigger one and that one inside an even bigger one and so one.  The Hawaiian term for today is kuleana.  It is another one of those Hawaiian terms with a huge range of meaning which affirms the connectedness of all things in Hawaiian culture.  The original meaning of the word is “piece of property.” The meaning evolved from there to: accountability, responsibility, purpose and calling.   An expert on Hawaiian culture named Kauilapele writes in his blog:” ‘kuleana’… means something like, “responsibility”, “affair” (like, “this is my affair to take care of”). But I rather like to think of this word as meaning, “path” (even though technically the Hawaiian word for that would be different, like “ala” (“ala kai”, path of swimming in the sea, or “ala moana”, path to the ocean)). Many here often say, “This is my kuleana. Or that is not my kuleana.” The kuleana for ….myself has changed.” He talks about how his sense of calling could change.   He continues: You could say I was “called” somewhere else. My “kuleana” (or at least what I thought it was) had changed. In an instant.  He believes that his kuleana is part of something bigger. He says: “I am saying here that, for myself, there is a “Higher Kuleana.”  So we can say in spiritual terms is something we own, something we are called to do that’s part of something bigger.

In Ephesians we are reminded that we must:” walk in the manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.”  This verse combines the idea of kuleana with the idea of pono, right action, which we discussed two weeks ago.   In Exodus we find a man, Moses, who struggles with his past. He is a cross-cultural man, a Hebrew adopted by the Egyptians who marries a Midianite woman. He is a diverse as Hawaiians.  But by striking the Egyptian guard of the Hebrews he has forced himself into exile.  He tends the sheep, but inside of him his kuleana, his calling, is burning.  So it is no surprise that he runs into the burning bush. He is being called to help his people and free them from oppression.  But Moses resist and says:” Who am I that I should go to the Pharaoh, so that You may bring my people… out of Egypt.”  But God convinces Moses and Moses asks God what he should say God’s name is. God orders Moses to say:”I AM WHO I AM,” has sent me to you.”  God’s name speaks for itself, but at the same time it is a name that cannot be spoken, because it is too sacred.   Friends, in the end Moses must live out his kuleana, his calling and his responsibility.

So, friends, what is your kuleana in this world, in this time?  Everyone has one, no matter how small.  What is you sacred task for which you are on this earth?  What is your contribution?  Of what can you say:” this is my kuleana,” as a Hawaiian pastor friends said to me not long ago?”  Friends, I think you and I have a problem with this these days.  We cannot pay attention to our calling, because too much is crowding in our heads.  So many worries, fears, resentment, so much anger.  We peer into the past and find reason for regret and bitterness, but mostly we look into the future and we want to control what will happen, days, weeks, months, years ahead.  But we know we can’t control it.  The election is one example.  We pour so much emotional energy into that, but there is little we can do but to donate or make phone calls.  The decisions are most likely going to be made in states far away. But we do it anyway.  So often, we spend our mental and emotional energy on the future so that we cannot fully appreciate what we must do right now, this very moment.  So we have no room for reflecting on our calling, no time to find out what we’re here for. May we find a way to live in the here and now even though it is so hard, and find our true calling and responsibility. Friends, what is your kuleana? May God help you find it.