Pastor’s Corner: Waves

April 21, 2021

I love to watch ocean waves.

I can sit and watch them for a long, long time. I like to watch the ocean surface undulate as each wave’s trough and crest moves. I like to watch for the differences in wave height and trough depth. Will this wave surmount this rock? Will this next wave’s trough reveal the ocean floor?

As the wave begins to break, I like to watch the foam fly away in wisps and then in great sheets of wind-blown spray. I like to watch the colors change from deep blue to lighter blue to green to silver. I like to watch the wave-top bow into that slow moment before it crashes down in new plumes of spray. I like to listen to the roar and boom. I like to breathe in the moistened air.

On a beach, I like to feel the water tickle my toes, and I like to feel the receding water pull at the sand around and below my feet. I like to watch the sand move back and forth as waves rise and fall. At Pohoiki, I like to listen as retreating water carries larger stones and cinders down with a dramatic clatter before the next wave bears them up the slope once more.

Waves reshape the coastline of our island. They usually do it slowly, over generations, but as we saw at Pohoiki they can transform it very quickly indeed. Each wave does a little, just a fraction of the overall work, but each wave does some.

We are much like the waves, adding a little bit here, taking away a little bit there, from the world as we have found it. We make a difference individually, and together, we remake the world.

May we do so thoughtfully, deliberately, wisely, and guided by the grace of God.

With aloha,

Pastor Eric

Photo of Pohoiki (2019) by Eric Anderson