The voices in our lives

Dear friends,

It is a good to breathe relatively clean air again after 18 days on the island of Hawaii. Carolyn and I enjoyed focusing on completely different things. We kept ourselves busy, but took time each day to enjoy what the island has to offer. Each time we come back it grows on us, emotionally and… literally, as it is always getting bigger. I silenced the voices of the news channels and pretty much watched nothing and read nothing. I also wrote nothing and said very little. A lot of voices were silenced that way and it was healthy. Also you almost never hear anyone honk their horn on that island.

It took only minutes after landing in California to realize the voices out there in our country. Our Guatemalan-born Pentecostal Lyft driver was yelled at by airport security and threatened with a five hundred dollar fine after just seconds at the pick-up curb. It was a reminder of how it is not a good time for most refugees and immigrants. I will let you determine how bad, but our own Maurine Huang can tell you a lot about it. We need to be aware.

I am fortunate to hear the voice of a refugee every day, my wife’s. I may not always want to listen, but I know it is infused by her life’s experience as a child in a family that lost everything. Refugees are tough, enterprising and resilient. They say: ”life here may be hard, but it’s not as hard as where we came from.” They and other immigrants are the heart of America. It was her voice I listened to when she said: ”let’s take some inheritance money, take out a mortgage on a small place in Hawaii, fix it up and rent it out to tourists. “So far her strategy has worked.

I listened to the voice of the island the past two weeks and a half: the sound of construction against the background of the incessant rush of the waves, the Hawaiian tunes at Lowe’s and Home Depot, the trade wind pressed over the whitecaps in the Alenuihaha channel on the island’s north tip, the whistling breath of Spinner dolphins off a kayak on Kealakekua Bay. The island says:” I welcome all of you: subsistence farmers, eccentrics and recluses and owners of private jets and yes quirky pastors and beckon you with my reefs, aquamarine waters, white and black beaches, wealth of tropical fruits, fragrant colorful flowers and emerald mountains.” But it is like living on a whale. The island is alive. It spews fire and belches gases, it can burn your eyes and constrain your breathing. It will shake its rocky earth ten days a day. It can break people’s hearts. It reminds you that you are only visiting and that whatever you do is temporary. It will do as it wishes.

As Chelsea is transitioning to a more limited role this summer (with children, youth and younger people), I have appreciated (most of the time) and respected her clear voice. With Chelsea and Marcus you always know whose side they are on. They are completely committed to the poor in chances in this society. Her voice will stay part of us as she continues her ministry that has been enabled and empowered by your support. We intend to stay in touch.

I know the voice of Joyce Uyeda is staying with you and that you are frustrated by having to put your mourning on hold for another six weeks or so. She was for many years the social conscience of this congregation. A task that now falls to all of you.

A chair of one of the committees of the Presbytery asked me: ”In the wake of the Stephan Clark shooting , how are we going to educate our congregations about racism.” I told her that congregations everywhere are aging and that I thought we needed to develop partnerships with African American congregations. Their voices need to be apart of us. If I told Joyce that, she would already be out the door making it happen. May we honor her legacy.

I am grateful for the voices at Parkview, because I know they belong to well-intentioned people. I don’t mind them not always being in unison. A church should ring with voices. Chelsea has done the preparatory work for our Mission Insite Study, an on-line demographic tool that helps congregation think about their voice. We are hoping to rekindle our neighborhood groups for socializing and discussion. We can’t wait to hear your voices. May the voice of Christ ring crystal clear in the midst of your lively deliberations. May God bless our ministry with the wealth of God’s Spirit. Aart