Page 2 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - May 25, 2022

2 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK MAY 25, 2022
A Celebration Of Community
A healthy social life is found only when, in the mirror of each soul, the whole community finds its reflection. — Rudolf Steiner
True Facts
Iwas recently ordained at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Planning the ceremony quickly became overwhelming: making sure dear mentors and family ar- rived safely from around the islands and the continent, choosing a caterer and menu, helping design a bulletin for the service, and selecting music and readings that were meaningful to me and to the occasion.
“T
also seen it attributed to Confucius, and others simply suggest its origins are unknown. Wow! A quote about the truth, and we can’t even agree on its truthful origin.
hree things cannot be long hidden — the sun, the moon, and the truth.” I enjoy that quote, often attributed to Buddha. But I’ve
call. It was about countless others and their engagement in shaping and supporting a life. It was about the gather- ing of a community, including our ancestors (who had their own part in shaping and sup- porting) around a shared table to celebrate each other and to honor what they had achieved in bringing me to this day.
Brianna Lloyd serves as as- sociate pastor at the Luther- an Church of Honolulu. She also periodically works as an on-call chaplain with Pacific Health Ministry.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Lynne Johnson and Robin Stephens Rohr.
As for the moon, I realized its power when trying to comfort crying toddlers decades ago. Simply take the tot outside at night, point up and say, “Look, the moon!” Sure, it’s a diversion, but it usually works wonders to calm the teary storm. We now hear talk about revisiting the moon, perhaps colonizing it, or even Mars. Ho-hum. Perhaps we should first figure out how to make this mortal coil more habitable before we start planning escapism into celestial realms. Talk about getting away.
I began to resent the plan- ning and attention to this one vocational call. Why, I won- dered, in a call that emphasiz- es service to others, did I have to spend energy on this service to honor and celebrate my own call? I would rather acknowl- edge the holy work that each of us does every day — from washing dishes to caring for children to tending the land. Why was I not planning a feast
The gathering of community, says the author, allows individuals to support one another.
music director who master- fully organized the bulletin and music, to mentors who preached and presented me for ordination, to my spouse and family who helped set tables and who have accom- panied me on this roundabout journey, to the canopy of stars that shone above our catered meal, the service was only a small part about me and my
The sun is life-giving, of course, and after coaching a tough soccer defeat, I would query my AYSO soccer tyke teams by asking, “Hey, team. Is the sun going to come up tomorrow?” Perhaps confused or at least (again) diverted from their sadness, they’d all nod affirmatively. “Good,” I’d say, “because as long as the sun rises tomorrow, we’ve all got a chance” — whatever that meant. Looking back, I realize that perhaps my most profound pronouncements worked best with 2- and 9-year-olds, surely easier groups to cajole or compose than tainted adults.
that extols the sacred singing of birds, the cooling touch of trade winds, the sheltering strength of mountains or the reliable faithfulness of pets?
We see, feel and celebrate the sun and moon ... and then there’s the truth, which has taken a beating of late. Opinions are like bellybuttons — everyone’s got one. Pol- itician/philosopher Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts.” Alas, that seemingly pragmatic, rock-solid truism has been sorely tested. Mark Twain presaged today’s real- ity when he allegedly said, “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”
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Which brings me to our upcoming 2022 local elections that become reality in mid-July, when mail-in ballots will be sent out statewide. Now would be a good time to search for the real facts via objective candidate observations on issues that matter to you. Go beyond perennial posturing, pontificating and pandering, and search for substance to help you make educated choices.
Hmm. Somehow I’ve now transitioned this treatise from referencing a possible classic Buddha quote to sug- gesting that we all study up to be ballot-ready. Must be the full moon.
Think about it ...
In the days before the ser- vice, I began to recognize something else. From church members who pitched in to prepare the sanctuary and to clean up afterward, to the office administrator and
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