Pastor’s Corner: Beyond Comparison

August 4, 2021

There are things that are hard to compare.

I was struck this week by my inability to grasp the changes at Kilauea’s summit. This week I visited Uēkahuna for the first time since the 2018 eruption closed Jagger Museum. The National Park Service has created a new viewing area to one side of the old stone-paved platform. I had been looking forward to this first visit, believing that I could get a better idea of the changes at the summit.

I could not.

The form of the land is so different that I simply cannot grasp it. It whispers of familiarity, but it shouts that it is totally new.

We live with a large number of things we cannot compare. How does one compare favorite tastes, for example, such as a dearly loved ice cream flavor on the one hand and lau lau on the other? How does one compare a beloved beach with a monumental mountain? How does one compare one beloved child with another? Despite all the well-known differences between keiki, we love them with an unalterable commitment.

These days of renewed COVID-19 infection are hard to compare with similar days in the year since the pandemic arrived. More people are falling ill on our island more quickly than at any time before. Our behavior, however, remains curiously unmodified. COVID spread when more people are vaccinated doesn’t provoke the same reaction as COVID spread when no people have been.

We live in times that are simply hard to compare even with what we experienced a year ago. If you’re feeling anxious and uncertain about this, you have reason. We continue to walk on shifting ground.

Thanks be to God that we do not make this journey alone. We have one another, and we have the Holy Spirit.

With aloha,

Pastor Eric

With apologies for the late posting.