The year of living gratefully,

There is a movie about the intrigue of South East Asian politics in 1965 called the “Year of Living Dangerously.”  In that country that certainly was a good description of what was going on.  At Parkview it is instead a Year of Living Gratefully.  This year we celebrated our hundredth year as a congregation and we have been doing that under the theme coined by Hannah Seno “One hundred years and beyond: moving forward in faith and service.” This theme is written on two banners our Parkview kids produced under Jana Nakase Lee’s guidance and they hang underneath the balcony.  We are grateful because so easily things could have turned out differently. Instead of thriving, the church could have faded.  Instead of being a place of relative harmony, it could have been a place of conflict.  Instead of being a community of understated faith, we could have been a group divided by theological battles. Instead of happily being a multicultural family, we could be a dysfunctional family accentuating our differences.

Within this year of living gratefully, there have also been months with a character all its own. May was a month of official celebration when we had our special worship service, our banquet, our cookbook was produced and our stained glass windows displayed.  August was our Hawaiian month when we celebrated our Hawaiian spirit and connection more than ever before.  September has been the month of fundraisers with the rummage sale and the Breakfast buffet (Thanks again especially to the Fong family!) .   But I would like us to dedicate one more month, the month of November as a “month of service.”  This is appropriate because as in May we experienced the high of the anniversary celebration, in November we reach the zenith of gratitude for the year with that beautiful and meaningful American holiday of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is also the time that we are most aware of the suffering of the poor and lonely, especially since the air is turning cold.  So the idea of service and gratitude are naturally paired in this country.  With the help of Lois van Beers and May Lee we are organizing a food preparation service on November 13 for an abused women’s shelter here in town. We will be cooking for their gathering and would love to have you join in. At the end of November we will be preparing and delivering our Christmas baskets for the shut-in and the ill.  As you will remember there were five types of projects we planned for this year of living gratefully: music presentations (concerts by Curvd Air and the Millington Strings), food celebration (cookbook , banquet etc.), environmentally friendly activities (our garden, light bulb changes, recyclable take out containers and the reusable Parkview shopping bags),  campus beautification (stained glass windows, fence painting, windows guard upgrading, deck building and courtyard improvement). The final emphasis was on service.  May November provide that emphasis with new service and repeat service and a recommitment to serving our neighbor. Thank you for all you do. May God bless our ministry. Aart