Pastor’s Corner: Thank You

September 6, 2023

Thank you.

When I participated in Interfaith Communities in Action’s Walk to End Family Homelessness last month, sponsorships from you ran to over $1,000. ICIA will use those gifts to achieve our goal of ending family homelessness on Hawai’i Island. My head bows in wonder. Thank you.

I’ve recently signed the letter accompanying your gifts to the Bread for the World offering. You contributed over $1,700 to Bread for the World’s efforts to end hunger in the United States and across the globe. My heart overflows. Thank you.

We’ve also dispatched the contributions you’ve made thus far for Maui relief to the Hawai’i Conference. That is over $9,000. It would not surprise me in the least if there are still more gifts to come. My tears overflow.

Thank you.

One of the strengths of this church over the years has been our willingness to extend ourselves for our neighbors. We’ve done it through direct service like the meals we brought to the Sacred Heart shelter five years ago. We’ve done it by assisting the work and the founding of agencies like Habitat for Humanity. We’ve done it with financial gifts to those in need and to the organizations helping them. We’ve been a helpful presence in our community and beyond.

In this moment when the needs have been so urgent and so great, our response has been quick and substantial. In such a moment, one thing needs to be said, and I say it once again:

Mahalo nui loa, dear friends. Thank you for being you, and for sharing yourselves so generously and so widely.

Thank you.

In peace,

Pastor Eric

Photo from February 2023.