Join us on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, at 11:00 AM for a song streaming live from Church of the Holy Cross. May it bring a lift to your day.
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What I’m Thinking: A Little Humility
The apostle advised his readers to do the will of God as best they could – but also to be aware that they did not, could not know everything.
Here’s a transcript:
I’m thinking about the twelfth chapter of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans (Romans 12:1-8).
Paul wrote that we should present ourselves in our bodies as a sacrifice to the living God, by which I’m fairly certain that he meant that all our deeds, our actions, and our words ought to be done with some notion of fulfilling the will of God, at least as best we understand it. Paul followed that with a caution, not to think too well of ourselves, which is very much a temptation if we see ourselves as following and enacting the will of God.
It is, I think, some of the most honest advice that the Apostle Paul ever wrote in his letters. I’m pretty sure that his besetting temptation was, in fact, arrogance. The temptations to think that he knew more than he did, to proclaim more than he knew. You can see it in a number of places in the letters, both where the Apostle Paul recognized it and drew back from it, and the places where he didn’t recognize it and did it anyway.
That’s advice that is good for Paul’s time, for Paul. It’s advice that is good for our time, for us, for me.
First of all, to be cautious about what we claim to know, to be careful about the things that we say, to make certain that we identify our opinions as opinions, our faith as faith, and to maybe not declare it quite so firmly as established fact. By all means, bring out that which supports your opinions, but know also that there is far more to know than any of us can know.
And of course, that first point still remains an excellent challenge for all of us, to strive to do that which God has called us to do, to love our neighbors as ourselves, to love God with all our heart and soul and mind.
Romans twelve. Romans eight is, by far, my favorite in this letter, but there are good words here to guide us in each day of our lives.
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you are thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
Church Office Closed Monday, August 17
The church office is closed on Monday, August 17, because the telephone system is not working and other local services are also closed. We will be happy to greet you in person (and hopefully on the telephone) on Tuesday, August 18.
Be safe, everyone!
Sermon: Great Gathering
August 16, 2026
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
Matthew 15:21-28
Who’s in? Who’s out? Who’s us? Who’s them? Who gets the benefit of the doubt? Who gets doubted without benefits?
These are not new questions in the United States, as you well know. The history of Americans’ opinions of people from different national and ethnic backgrounds has some real ugliness in it, and some real bright points. We live far more companionably with people of different sexual orientations than I ever expected – I never thought I’d see legal marriage for LGBTQ relationships, and for now, at least, they’re both legal and generally accepted in many places.
It was once illegal for people of different races to marry in some US states; those prohibitions have crumbled. American immigration law is, I’m sorry to say, a horror show from its origins with the Chinese Exclusion Act, relentlessly racist and, in these days, enforced with cruelty that’s been encouraged at the highest level.
These questions are older than the Hawaiian Kingdom or the United States or any government of the world. The Book of Ezra describes the rebuilding of Jerusalem when the Persian Empire permitted Jewish exiles to return around five hundred years before Jesus’ birth. The exile lasted around seventy years – nearly three generations – so the people had learned to think of at least some of those around them as neighbors. As the children grew into young adults, they began to marry among these neighbors, even though intermarriage was discouraged. Ezra, a priest, announced that the non-Jewish wives would have to go back to their families’ homes in Persia.
If you want to read something heartbreaking, read the tenth chapter of Ezra. It not only says that those families were broken up. It lists them. By name.
Curiously enough, at near the same time another prophet took up the pen. His work ended up as part of the Book of Isaiah, which is a composite work of at least three different authors writing at different times, and also includes a few chapters of Second Kings. Chapter 56 is considered by scholars as the place where this post-exile writing starts. And how did this writer begin?
Thus says the Lord:
Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come
and my deliverance be revealed.
2 Happy is the mortal who does this,
the one who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,
and refrains from doing any evil.
3 Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely separate me from his people,”
and do not let the eunuch say,
“I am just a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
5 I will give, in my house and within my walls,
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
6 And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath and do not profane it
and hold fast my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
I read there some sections our lectionary editors omitted. The Torah did place limits on who could enter the religious assembly – a worship service, basically – which included men with injuries to their genitals. I really don’t understand why that should be relevant to anything, but then I don’t understand why a lot of things were considered relevant. Leviticus 21 bans someone who is blind from serving in religious leadership. Well, I’m rather pleased that we’ve discerned that that wasn’t a meaningful issue, given that my daughter Rebekah is blind and was ordained as UCC minister this year.
Human history around disability isn’t that good.
As Samuel Giere writes at Working Preacher, “Isaiah 56-66 returns to a basic question: With the diagnosis and the renewed promise both in view, what now? The first movement in this ‘what now?’ is Isaiah 56.1-8. It addresses the reality that God’s blessing spills over the boundaries assumed by God’s people — the insiders.”
At much the same time Ezra was breaking up families – which was not, in fact, required by the Law of the Torah – someone we’ll call Isaiah spoke another vision. He proclaimed God’s welcome not just in the city, not just in the community, but in the place of worship. He proclaimed God’s welcome not just for those foreigners who hadn’t been banned in the Law, he proclaimed it for eunuchs who had been banned in the Law. Isaiah envisioned a realm of God that was greater than the precincts of a Temple, that was wider than the walls of a city, that was more extensive than the boundaries of a nation.
Let it be a great gathering.
The great gathering did have qualifications. “Maintain justice, and do what is right.” This had been the refrain of Israel’s prophets for generations. As Joel B. Kemp writes at Working Preacher, “For the writers of Isaiah 56, admission into God’s community is contingent upon a few ethical (rather than ethnic) requirements.”
Here I invite you to a choice. The Bible was written by many people over hundreds, even over a thousand years. They didn’t believe the same things about the world as we do, and they didn’t believe the same things about the world as each other. They didn’t believe the same things about God as one another. As we’ve heard today from Ezra and from Isaiah, they could and did believe radically opposite things about what God considered right and good and proper at the very same time.
So we have a choice.
We can go with Ezra. We can choose an ethnic group or national heritage and hold that as the highest allegiance and the source of what is good and right. We can be Swedish or Norwegian or English (to start with my own background) or Japanese or Hawaiian or Chinese or Okinawan or American (whatever that means) or Micronesian or one of a host of identities. We can say, “I’m in, you’re out, and there’s nothing you can do about it as long as we hold the power to keep you outside.”
Ezra 10 says we can do that.
We can also choose to form a community made up of people of many ethnicities, many heritages, many backgrounds. We can choose to form a community made up of people we’d previously chosen to ignore or dismiss, like those with disabilities or like those with a sexuality different from our own. We can choose that, knowing that it’s the more difficult way. It requires discussion and debate and discernment about what is good, and right, and fit.
Isaiah 56 says we can do that.
Which will we choose?
So what did Jesus do?
He did… both. Which is awkward.
He refused to aid this Canaanite woman’s request to heal her daughter, and he did it with an insult that wounds us even in translation. He called her and her daughter dogs, and that was exactly as insulting as it sounds. And then, she turned the insult back on itself brilliantly: even the dogs eat the crumbs from the children’s table.
Jesus told her that his community would be Ezra’s community. Her reply reflected Isaiah’s community. She seems to have changed his mind. Suddenly the blessings he was bringing could be shared with those outside of Israel. Suddenly a new world had opened.
Expanding into that world became one of the most noteworthy features of the new Christian Church following his death and resurrection. New life for Jesus became new life for Jews and new life for Gentiles as well. Apostles like Philip and Paul began working with Gentiles to create new Christian communities around the Mediterranean. The foreigners were warmly invited into the Way of Jesus.
As Debie Thomas writes at JourneyWithJesus.net, “Right now, we are living through times so fraught and so tenuous, everything depends on exactly how good the Good News really is. It’s not good enough if it’s good just for me, or for the people who look and think like me, or for the people I already happen to like and love. Is it Good News yet for those dying of Covid? Is it Good News yet for the starving and the incarcerated and the unemployed and the homeless? Is it Good News yet for the people across the border? Is it Good News yet for the people you’ve been conditioned all your life to ignore?
“If the answer is no, then we have work to do. Remember, Jesus himself has gone ahead of us, widening the gates and throwing open the doors to welcome the voice of a despised foreigner.”
So there’s your options. A community which accepts some and denies many, or a community that welcomes as many as we can.
You can have either one and claim the Bible justifies it. It does.
I know which one I’d rather live in. Give me Isaiah, not Ezra. Give me Jesus – at least after he’d heard the wisdom of the Canaanite woman.
I’d like the Great Gathering, please.
Amen.
by Eric Anderson
Watch the Recorded Sermon
Pastor Eric writes sermons in full, but he tends to make changes while preaching, some of which are intentional.
The image is Isaiah by an 18 century icon painter – Iconostasis of Transfiguration church, Kizhi monastery, Karelia, Russia, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3235458.
Worship for August 16, 2026
Thank you for joining us for this live stream (or recording, as the case may be) of Sunday worship. May it bless you! You may need to click “Play” to launch the stream, which will be live around 9:50 AM.
Welcome to the live stream of worship from Church of the Holy Cross for Sunday, August 16, 2026. You will find the service outline below, and you may download and print the PDF to follow more easily.
Service of Worship August 16, 2026
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor
WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD
Please note that audio and video of this service are being live streamed on the Internet and will be recorded. The right rear section of the sanctuary will not be captured by any cameras. Please be aware that in other sections you may be visible at times.
Prelude: Little Fugue in F Kayleen Yuda
Lighting of the Candles
Ringing of the Bell
Welcome: Rev. Eric S. Anderson
* Call to Worship (based on Psalm 133) Stefan Tanouye
Leader: How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity.
People: So the Psalmist wrote, and so we have found when our families live in love.
Leader: The Scriptures are full of times when kindred lived in conflict.
People: To our sorrow, we have seen the same in our families, too.
Leader: Let us find the way to the blessings of families united in love.
People: We worship the God who calls us together and bathes us in the waters of community.
All: Let us worship God!
* Hymn #179: We Yearn, O Christ, for Wholeness (v. 1 – 3)
* Invocation (based on Psalm 67) Stefan Tanouye
We pray that all the peoples praise you, O God, that the world resounds with songs of joy that ring musically in your ears. You have given us the increase of earth and the beauty of creation, and these alone inspire our praise – but bless us also in this time of worship that we might join and amplify the song of a world united in harmony. Amen.
Please be seated
WE SHARE THE WORD OF GOD
Anthem: Embrace My Way and Cross Holy Cross Singers
Time with the Children Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Scripture: Stefan Tanouye
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
Thus says the Lord:
Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come
and my deliverance be revealed.
And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath and do not profane it
and hold fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar,
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.
Thus says the Lord God,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel:
I will gather others to them
besides those already gathered.
Matthew 15:21-28
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that moment.
Sermon: Great Gathering Rev. Eric S. Anderson
WE RESPOND IN WORD AND DEED
Pastoral Prayer Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
* Hymn #398: Shadow and Substance (v. 1-3)
Call to Offering Stefan Tanouye
How do we make this a holy place where people may rejoice in a house of prayer? By maintaining justice, by doing what is right, and by welcoming all who seek God’s blessings with warmth and with love. In our offerings we pool our resources so that we can extend God’s love together. Whether you share your gift here in the church today, through a gift online, or via an envelope in the mail, let the offering now be received.
Offertory: Rondeau Kayleen Yuda
* Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Amen
* Offertory Prayer Stefan Tanouye
Accept these gifts we pray, O God. You have given us everything of which we’re aware and even more. Help us to share these blessings with those around us, and to welcome them into this house of prayer. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
* Hymn #388: Help Us Accept Each Other (v. 1 – 4)
Please be seated
Announcements Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Benediction Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Postlude: Double Chorus Kayleen Yuda
* Please stand if you are able.
PERMISSIONS
Little Fugue in F
Contributors: George P Telemann, Kevin Norris
Tune: © 1981 Lorenz Publishing Company,
a division of The Lorenz Corporation (Admin. by Music Services)
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
We Yearn, O Christ, for Wholeness
Text by Dosia Carlson, 1986
© 1986, 1993 by Dosia Carlson
Streamed by permission of the family
Tune PASSION CHORALE by Hans Leo Hassler, 1601
Harm. by J. S. Bach, 1719
Public Domain
Embrace My Way and Cross
Rob Glover
Tune: © 1997, GIA Publications, Inc. Text: © 1997,
GIA Publications, Inc.
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Shadow and Substance
Text by Dan Damon, 1989
© 1994 Hope Publishing Company
Tune TWILIGHT by Dan Damon, 1989
© 1994 Hope Publishing Company
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Rondeau
Jacques Champion de Chambonnieres, Stanley E Saxton
Tune: © 1980 Lorenz Publishing Company, a division of
The Lorenz Corporation (Admin. by Music Services)
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Help Us Accept Each Other
Text by Fred Kaan, 1974
© 1975 Hope Publishing Company
Tune AURELIA by Samuel S. Wesley, 1864
Public Domain
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Double Chorus
Contributors: Roger C Wilson
Tune: © 1950 Lorenz Publishing Company, a division of The Lorenz Corporation (Admin. by Music Services)
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
IMPORTANT DATES
Today, August 16 – Church Picnic after Worship Service
Saturday, August 22 – Service Day, 8:30 – 11:30 AM – come and help spruce up our church campus
Saturday, September 19 – Walk to End Alzheimer’s, Lili`uokalani Gardens, registration at 7:30 AM; walk or donate a pledge to someone walking on behalf of our church (contact Nina or Anne)
Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m. – One Song from Church of the Holy Cross streamed live
Wednesdays, 5:00 p.m. – Bible Study in person, in Pastor’s Study or via Zoom (see the link in our e-newsletter The Weekly Chime)
Interested in pickleball? Contact Connie at 808-936-7534 or Ruth at rnduponte07@gmail.com
Other Faith Groups that meet at Church of the Holy Cross
The United Church of Christ, Pohnpei – Sanctuary, 12 noon
Rev. Bensis Henry
Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa – Sanctuary, 2:00 p.m.
Rev. Sitau Ofoia, Jr.
The Bedesta Church – Sanctuary, 4 p.m.
Rev. Edmes Edwin
Pastor Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Moderator Lorraine Davis
Vice Moderator Elwood Kita
Lay Reader Stefan Tanouye
Chapel Decorations
Organist / Pianist Kayleen Yuda
Music Director-Accompanist Bob Grove
Hand Bell Director Evan Montemayor
IYAA Choir Director Stuart Mori
Projected Imagery Sue Smith
Live Stream Director Ruth Niino-DuPonte. Bob Smith
Videographers Eric Tanouye, Bob Smith, Woody Kita,
Mace Peng, Cindy Debus
Sound Engineer Ben Yamaki
Sunday School Teacher Gloria Kobayashi
Sunday School Aide Johanna Narruhn
Office Manager Kahealani Mahone-Brooks
We welcome you to worship this day. Church of the Holy Cross seeks to help its members, friends, and visitors follow the guidance of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, encouraging all people to love one another according to the teachings of Jesus. We live and teach the faith, speak good news, minister to people near and far, and work with other households of faith and helping agencies to improve our community and our world. To support our ministries, please visit our Donate Page.
A Song from Church of the Holy Cross: August 12, 2026
Join us on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, at 11:00 AM for a song streaming live from Church of the Holy Cross. May it bring a lift to your day.
What I’m Thinking: Part of the Renewed Nation
Who is included in God’s vision of community? More people than we tend to think.
Here’s a transcript:
I’m thinking about the fifty-sixth chapter of the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 56:1, 6-8).
Isaiah appears to have been an assembled work. There’s a lengthy section that is primarily the work of a prophet named Isaiah, who lived in Jerusalem in the 700s before Jesus. There’s also a lengthy insertion, which is literally copied from the book of Second Kings. And then beginning about chapter 40, we get another writer.
Isaiah scholars believe that this one appears to have been an exile in Babylon, so hundreds of years after the initial Isaiah. He brought different concerns, and he brought a different sense of God’s promises. This part of chapter 56 is concerned with the restoration of the nation, which had been conquered by the Babylonians in 587. And here in chapter 56, it’s very clear that Isaiah expressed God’s promise that the exile people would at some time be able to come home.
But would there be anyone with them?
This portion of chapter 56 is very clearly answering the question, “Could others then Jews become a faithful part of the restored nation?” God’s answer was a clear, unequivocal, “Yes.” Those who wanted to be a part of the community and who would act according to its rules and its standards and its laws: they would be welcome. They could come and sacrifice in the rebuilt temple of God, and their prayers would be heard.
I don’t need to tell anybody that these are fractious days, days in which division and separation is very much the way of things. If you look through the Scriptures, you will find plenty of support for the notion that we should be separating people into little bits and bobs of communities. But Isaiah heard from God that that was not how it had to be, and many years later, along came Jesus, who in a conversation with a foreigner initially rejected her plea for healing, for her daughter, but was persuaded, was persuaded, and let his power find its way to a sick little girl.
Which will we choose? Will we choose the fractures of division and embrace the ways of dissension, even hatred, or will we be persuaded as Jesus was, as Isaiah was, to welcome the stranger and celebrate with them, and all of us together be faithful to God?
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
Worship for August 9, 2026
Thank you for joining us for this live stream (or recording, as the case may be) of Sunday worship. May it bless you! You may need to click “Play” to launch the stream, which will be live around 9:50 AM.
Welcome to the live stream of worship from Church of the Holy Cross for Sunday, August 9, 2026. You will find the service outline below, and you may download and print the PDF to follow more easily.
Service of Worship August 9, 2026
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor
Kahu Pat Dunham, Guest Pastor
WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD
Please note that audio and video of this service are being live streamed on the Internet and will be recorded. The right rear section of the sanctuary will not be captured by any cameras. Please be aware that in other sections you may be visible at times.
Prelude: Siciliano Kayleen Yuda
Lighting of the Candles
Ringing of the Bell
Welcome Kahu Pat Dunham
* Call to Worship (based on Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45) Lorraine Davis
Leader: Give thanks to the LORD, call on God’s name.
People: We come to sing God’s praises and tell of God’s wonderful works.
Leader: Seek the strength of the LORD; seek the presence of God.
People: We come to remember the wonderful works, the miracles and judgements of the LORD.
Leader: Abraham and Sarah, Joseph and his brothers knew the saving grace of God.
People: We worship the One who blessed their lives.
All: Let us worship God!
* Hymn #72: Sekai no Tomo (v. 1 Japanese, v. 1 – 4 Eng.)
* Invocation (based on 1 Kings 19:9-18) Lorraine Davis
Long ago a prophet came to you, O God, expecting you to thunder your will in earthquake, wind, and fire – and you addressed him in a sound of sheer silence. We ask you to move our spirits in worship today, O God, in such as way that we recognize you, respond to you, and praise you. Amen.
Please be seated
WE SHARE THE WORD OF GOD
Anthem IYAA
Time with the Children Gloria Kobayashi
Scripture Lorraine Davis
Psalm 85:8-13
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
The Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him
and will make a path for his steps.
Matthew 14:22-33
Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Sermon: Step Out of the Boat: Trusting Christ in the Storm Kahu Pat Dunham
WE RESPOND IN WORD AND DEED
Pastoral Prayer Kahu Pat Dunham
Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
* Hymn #51: O Sing a Song of Bethlehem (v. 1-4)
Call to Offering Lorraine Davis
Faith can challenge us. Sometimes it feels exactly like walking on a stormy sea. Even our gifts may stretch our faith beyond our comfort. Bring your offering today with a commitment to step out in faith and discover new wonders of discipleship. Whether you share your gift here in the church today, through a gift online, or via an envelope in the mail, let the offering now be received.
Offertory: Fughetta Kayleen Yuda
* Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Amen
* Offertory Prayer Lorraine Davis
Receive these gifts, O God, from our humility and our commitment. Our love for you is great, but sometimes our courage is small. We bring this offering in faith that you will increase the good it does. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
* Hymn #497: Guide My Feet (v. 1 – 4)
Please be seated
Announcements Kahu Pat Dunham
Benediction Kahu Pat Dunham
Postlude: March in D Kayleen Yuda
* Please stand if you are able.
PERMISSIONS
Siciliano
Contributors: Johann Sebastian Bach
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Sekai no Tomo (Here, O God, Your Servants Gather)
Text by Tokuo Yamaguchi, 1958
Trans. by Everett M. Stowe, 1958
© 1958 United Methodist Publishing House/Abingdon Press
Tune TOKYO Japanese Gagaku mode
Arr. by Isao Kozumi, 1958
© 2016 Augsburg Fortress
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
O Sing a Song of Bethlehem
Text by Louis F. Benson, 1899
Tune KINGSFOLD trad. English melody
Harm. by Ralph Vaughn Williams, 1906
© 1906, Oxford University Press
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Fughetta
Gottlieb Muffat
Public Domain
Guide My Feet
African-American spiritual
Arr. by Joyce Finch Johnson, 1992
© 1992, Pilgrim Press & Joyce Finch Johnson
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
March in D
Contributors: G F Handel
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
IMPORTANT DATES
Today, August 9 – Church Council meeting in the Lounge
Sunday, August 16 – Church Picnic after Worship Service
Saturday, August 22 – Service Day, 8:30 – 11:30 AM – come and help spruce up our church campus
Saturday, September 19 – Walk to End Alzheimer’s, Lili`uokalani Gardens, registration at 7:30 AM; walk or donate a pledge to someone walking on behalf of our church (contact Nina or Anne)
Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m. – One Song from Church of the Holy Cross streamed live
Wednesdays, 5:00 p.m. – Bible Study in person, in Pastor’s Study or via Zoom
Interested in pickleball? Contact Connie at 808-936-7534 or Ruth at rnduponte07@gmail.com
Other Faith Groups that meet at Church of the Holy Cross
The United Church of Christ, Pohnpei – Sanctuary, 12 noon
Rev. Bensis Henry
Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa – Sanctuary, 2:00 p.m.
Rev. Sitau Ofoia, Jr.
The Bedesta Church – Sanctuary, 4 p.m.
Rev. Edmes Edwin
Pastor Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Guest Pastor Kahu Pat Dunham
Moderator Lorraine Davis
Vice Moderator Elwood Kita
Lay Reader Lorraine Davis
Chapel Decorations Barbara Iwami and Bill & Nancy Chen
Organist / Pianist Kayleen Yuda
Music Director-Accompanist Bob Grove
Hand Bell Director Evan Montemayor
IYAA Choir Director Stuart Mori
Projected Imagery Sue Smith
Live Stream Director Ruth Niino-DuPonte. Bob Smith
Videographers Eric Tanouye, Bob Smith, Woody Kita,
Mace Peng, Cindy Debus
Sound Engineer Ben Yamaki
Sunday School Teacher Gloria Kobayashi
Sunday School Aide Johanna Narruhn
Office Manager Kahealani Mahone-Brooks
We welcome you to worship this day. Church of the Holy Cross seeks to help its members, friends, and visitors follow the guidance of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, encouraging all people to love one another according to the teachings of Jesus. We live and teach the faith, speak good news, minister to people near and far, and work with other households of faith and helping agencies to improve our community and our world. To support our ministries, please visit our Donate Page.
Worship for August 2, 2026
Thank you for joining us for this live stream (or recording, as the case may be) of Sunday worship. May it bless you! You may need to click “Play” to launch the stream, which will be live around 9:50 AM.
This service includes the celebration of Holy Communion. If you will be worshiping from home, please prepare and have ready some bread or other staple food and grape juice or another beverage for that portion of the service.
Welcome to the live stream of worship from Church of the Holy Cross for Sunday, August 2, 2026. You will find the service outline below, and you may download and print the PDF to follow more easily.
Service of Worship August 2, 2026
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor
Rev. Dr. Jonathan Roach, Guest Pastor
WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD
Please note that audio and video of this service are being live streamed on the Internet and will be recorded. The right rear section of the sanctuary will not be captured by any cameras. Please be aware that in other sections you may be visible at times.
Prelude: Meditation On Asian Hymns Kayleen Yuda
Lighting of the Candles
Ringing of the Bell
Welcome: Rev. Jonathan Roach
* Call to Worship (based on Isaiah 55:1-5) John Narruhn
Leader: Hear, everyone who thirsts; come to the waters, and be refreshed.
People: We come this day for our thirsty souls to be renewed.
Leader: Whether you have money or not, come buy and eat!
People: The LORD has promised to meet our needs in body and soul.
Leader: Why would anyone spend their earnings on what does not satisfy?
People: We come this day to God, the source of life and light.
All: Let us worship God!
* Hymn #475: God’s Eye Is on the Sparrow (v. 1 – 3)
* Invocation (based on Psalm 17:1-7, 15) John Narruhn
Hear a just cause, O LORD. Attend to the cries of our need and the cries of others who long for justice and long for peace. Bring your vindication and your steadfast love. We shall be satisfied to behold your face in righteousness, as we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Please be seated
WE SHARE THE WORD OF GOD
Anthem: One Bread One Body Kayleen Yuda
Time with the Children Rev. Jonathan Roach
Scripture: John Narruhn
Genesis 8:6-12
At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven, and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent out the dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground, but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark, and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove, and it did not return to him anymore.
John 1:29-34
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”
Sermon: On the Wings of a Dove Rev. Jonathan Roach
WE RESPOND IN WORD AND DEED
Pastoral Prayer Rev. Jonathan Roach
Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Call to Offering John Narruhn
The wings of doves have brought signs of salvation to those who sought for assurance in the midst of difficulty. Through our gifts, may we be the doves who bring hope to those who struggle to nourish their bodies and their souls. Whether you share your gift here in the church today, through a gift online, or via an envelope in the mail, let the offering now be received.
Offertory: I Need Thee Every Hour Kayleen Yuda
* Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Amen
* Offertory Prayer John Narruhn
O giver of all that is good, accept what we offer here. With it we bring our desire to aid our companions on life’s journey, and we bring our deep love for you. Amen.
* Hymn #562: Take My Gifts (v. 1-3)
Sacrament of Holy Communion
Invitation
Consecrating the Bread and Cup
Prayer of Thanksgiving
* Hymn #282: Every Time I Feel the Spirit (v. 1 – 2)
Please be seated
Announcements Rev. Jonathan Roach
Benediction Rev. Jonathan Roach
Postlude: Toccata: Rejoice Always Kayleen Yuda
* Please stand if you are able.
Permissions
Meditation on Asian Hymns
Hymn Tunes from the New Century Hymnal-1995 #Tokyo; #33 Toa-Sia,
#333 Sheng En, A
God’s Eye Is on the Sparrow
Text by Civilia D. Martin, 1905
Tune SPARROW by Charles H. Gabriel, 1905
Public Domain
One Bread, One Body
Contributors: John Foley
John Foley Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Take My Gifts
Text by Shirley Erena Murray, 1991
© 1992 Hope Publishing Company
Tune TALAVERA TERRACE by Colin Gibson, 1991
© 1992 Hope Publishing Company
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
I Need Thee Every Hour
Contributors: Albin C Whitworth
Every Time I Feel the Spirit
African-American spiritual
Arr. by Joyce Finch Johnson, 1992
© 1992 the Pilgrim Press and Joyce Finch Johnson
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Toccata: Rejoice Always
Contributors: Richard Williamson
Tune: © 2024 Lorenz Corporation (Administered by Music Services) All Rights Reserved. ASCAP Text: © 2024 Lorenz Corporation (Administered by Music Services) All Rights Reserved. ASCAP Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Important Dates and Announcements
Today, August 2 – Board of Trustees meeting after Worship service in the Lounge.
August 16 – Church Picnic after Worship Service
Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m. – One Song from Church of the Holy Cross streamed live (canceled this week)
Wednesdays, 5:00 p.m. – Bible Study in person, in Pastor’s Study or via Zoom (see The Weekly Chime for Zoom meeting link.) (canceled this week)
Pickleball Lessons – Contact Connie 808-936-7534 or Ruth at rnduponte07@gmail.com to sign up
Other Faith Groups that Meet at Church of the Holy Cross
The United Church of Christ, Pohnpei – Sanctuary, 12 noon
Rev. Bensis Henry
Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa – Sanctuary, 2:00 p.m.
Rev. Sitau Ofoia, Jr.
The Bedesta Church – Sanctuary, 4 p.m.
Rev. Edmes Edwin
Pastor Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Guest Pastor Rev. Dr. Jonathan Roach
Moderator Lorraine Davis
Vice Moderator Elwood Kita
Lay Reader John Narruhn
Chapel Decoration Anne Sadayasu
Organist Kayleen Yuda
Music Director-Accompanist Bob Grove
Hand Bell Choir Director Evan Montemayor
IYAA Music Director Stuart Mori
Projected Imagery Sue Smith
Web Master Ruth Niino-DuPonte
Videographers Eric Tanouye, Bob Smith,
Mace Peng, Woody Kita, Cindy Debus
Streaming Sound Director Ben Yamaki
Sunday School Teacher Gloria Kobayashi
Sunday School Aide Johanna Narruhn
Office Manager Kahealani Mahone-Brooks
We welcome you to worship this day. Church of the Holy Cross seeks to help its members, friends, and visitors follow the guidance of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, encouraging all people to love one another according to the teachings of Jesus. We live and teach the faith, speak good news, minister to people near and far, and work with other households of faith and helping agencies to improve our community and our world. To support our ministries, please visit our Donate Page.
Sermon: It’s Bigger Than You Think
July 26, 2026
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
If you’ve been trying to count the Scripture passages I say are among my favorites, well, add another one. Or maybe I’ve already mentioned it. In any case, it’s true. This section of Romans includes some of the words that ring most true in my soul.
I’ve known what it is not to know what or how to pray because the sadness and the hurt go so deep. I’ve been in places where prayer itself has seemed impossible – although God had supported me through many stresses and trials, I simply couldn’t find not just words, but even a direction for prayer in the sorrow of my soul.
How important it is to know that in those profoundly disconnected times, the Spirit helped me in my weakness, interceding with groanings too deep for words.
Sometimes I became aware of that. Other times, I didn’t. It didn’t matter. The Spirit was there, groaning with me whether I knew it or not.
As Israel Kamudzandu writes at Working Preacher, “The inarticulate moans or groans of the Holy Spirit are not oriented to the human conscience but they are directed to God on behalf of a believing faith community… The reality is that human beings run out of words, especially in moments of sickness, death, hunger, poverty, and whenever life confronts us with pain.”
It doesn’t stop there for me. That next verse about all things working together for good for those who love God – well, I know there’s some problems there. Let’s face it, not all things work together for good period. There are plenty of people who do evil and seem to delight in it. There are storms and earthquakes and although they have no conscious intent to harm, harm they do. The history of these islands, going way back or staying recent, reveals both evil intent by human beings and evil impact by impersonal force or human accident.
But still. I read that verse with relief. Maybe everything doesn’t work for good, but God does. God doesn’t set the world into the courses of evil. God acts to mitigate the harm, to transform it into something else. When human hubris and arrogance crucified Jesus Christ, God brought forgiveness in Jesus’ own words and then resurrection in Jesus’ own life. If God was willing to transcend the rejection of God’s most precious gift, then what will God refuse to transcend?
I can’t think of anything.
As Erin Heim writes at Working Preacher, “In Christ, God does not meet our human violence with divine violence or retribution but, rather, takes on our human violence and overwhelms it with God’s self-giving love (8:32–34). In Christ, God promises to bring justice and wholeness through God’s overwhelming love. In Christ, God’s love has had the final word, and in Christ, the ending is sure.”
The question that has occupied a lot of Christians over the last two thousand years is: for whom is this ending sure? That is, once God’s love has had the final word, for whom has God spoken?
It’s a knotty problem.
The plain sense of the English translations with which we’re familiar uses the word “predestined.” A lot of theologians and Bible scholars have concluded, based on that word, that God has chosen some people to become Christians and to be saved in advance. Some theologians and Bible scholars have further concluded, based on this passage, that God has chosen other people not to become Christians and not to be saved. Among those who believed this were Augustine of Hippo and John Calvin. Calvin was one of the Reformation thinkers behind our own Reformed tradition. Our church was more influenced by Calvin than by Martin Luther.
Did the Apostle believe that some people were blessed ahead of time and some people were cursed?
I don’t think so. The reason I don’t think so is found in the purpose of Paul’s letter to the Romans in the first place. When he wrote the letter, Paul hadn’t visited Rome. He seems to have known something about the leaders there, and he seems to have known at least a little about conditions for the Christians in Rome. But he hadn’t been there, and… he planned to visit.
He planned to visit on the way to Spain.
Why was he going to Spain? For the same reason he’d toured around the cities of the Anatolian peninsula, modern Turkey. For the same reason he’d visited the cities of Macedonia and Greece. He was introducing the news that Jesus Christ had lived, had taught, had died, and had rose again for the blessing of humanity. He firmly believed that embracing that truth brought eternal life to those who did so. So he set out to bring that word to a horde of strangers he’d never thought to meet. He set out in journeys fraught with risk and hazard – in his Second Letter to the Corinthians he mentioned that he’d been shipwrecked no less than three times. Now he proposed to take the longest sea journey of his ministry from the eastern Mediterranean to the western.
That’s an enormous amount of effort for someone who believes that God has predetermined it all. If God has set it all out ahead of time, what difference do the actions of any human beings matter? God has set it. It’s determined. It’s done.
Paul couldn’t have believed that and done the things he did.
In Paul’s day, people believed in big powerful deities and in local gods whose influence was limited to small areas or whose concern was limited to particular nations. In contrast, Paul taught of a God who could exert power in many places, but who was concerned for and extending grace to people of many backgrounds, even every background. As Michael Fitzpatrick writes at JourneyWithJesus.net, “Class, race, sexual orientation, wealth, fame, gender, religion, marriage, political party — none of these categories by which we carve up humanity into various tribes counts for or against a person in the Kingdom.”
Paul’s travels and labors were in service of a first century quest for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Church of Jesus Christ and the Realm of God. “How much grace did God have?” people might have asked him. “It’s bigger than you think,” Paul would have replied. Paul did reply: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
It’s bigger than you think.
These are days of factionalization, of separation into my group and your group, of division between the “We’re entitled” and “You’re nots.” It’s not the first time in human history; it won’t be the last. Isn’t it obvious that such thinking feeds the violence of the automobile attack on a Pride parade in Berlin yesterday, or the wars in Iran, Palestine, Ukraine, and more? Doesn’t it buttress the fears of women who receive no justice when they are assaulted?
In contrast, Paul taught of a church in which male or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free – the most significant categories of his day – no longer mattered. God’s grace was for all. Did Paul fully recognize the implications of his own thinking? I don’t think so. He was still a person of his time, as we’re people of our time, and there were limits to his imagination just as there are limits to our imagination.
God’s grace is bigger than we think.
Of all the things I try to teach you from this pulpit, of all the things I try to convince you of from this pulpit, of all the things I try to persuade you of from this pulpit, this is the one I most earnestly want you to remember, to believe, and to live from:
God’s grace is bigger than we think. It’s for you. It’s for me. It’s for them. It’s for everybody. It’s for the ones we don’t think it’s for. It’s bigger than you think.
Amen.
by Eric Anderson
Watch the Recorded Sermon
Pastor Eric writes sermons in full, but he tends to make changes while preaching, some of which are intentional.
The image is usually known as “Earthrise,” taken by NASA/Bill Anders December 24, 1968 – http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a410/AS8-14-2383HR.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=306267.
