August 13, 2026 Minister’s Message

Aloha mai kakou!

Sunday, I stood on an overlook at Big Sur with my son Max and daughter, Gwendolyn, viewing the Mc Way waterfall.  This is the only West Coast U.S. waterfall that descends directly into the ocean. The phrase “waterfall descends directly into the ocean” does not sound that impressive – until you actually see it. So I am providing a picture – though you will have to squint to see the fall behind us.

This Big Sur trip brought to mind words Pulitzer Prize-winning Mary Oliver said in an interview, which were quoted in the American Masters documentary Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World. 

“I got saved by poetry, and I got saved by the beauty of the world.”

We are so fortunate to be surrounded by such natural beauty here on Oahu. I know we all are influenced and grounded by our sea, mountains, flora, fauna, and ‘aina. And it is good to be reminded of the beauty in other parts of the world, in all the world. (It assuages the guilt some of us feel to be so rich in beauty here.)

As we close out the summer, I’d like to share a Mary Oliver poem – 

Poem 133: The Summer Day:

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver

I’ve gotten permission from the distributor to show the documentary (which is not scheduled for Oahu release) here at our church. Please let me know if you are interested in seeing it. 

This Sunday I will be back at our church, delighted to see you!

Mahalo for all you do!

Rev. Deborah