Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner

Pastor’s Corner: Grateful

December 17, 2025

As you receive this, Christmas Eve should be just a week away. How quickly this Advent has flown!

This weekend promises wonders: Friday night’s Community Christmas Concert, the Singalong Messiah on Saturday afternoon, and the Christmas pageant “The GOAT” on Sunday morning. A week from today, we’ll rejoice in the carols and candlelight of Christmas Eve.

That’s a lot to be thankful for. I also give my thanks to the many people who’ve made these things happen. Mahalo to all who helped decorate our sanctuary: Connie Yoshiyama and the volunteers from her pickleball classes, Janet Fujioka and her crew, Joyce and Tim Nakamoto for the Giving Tree, Eric Tanouye and the Greenpoint Nurseries employees who did the heavy lifting.

Looking ahead, I’m grateful to Gloria Kobayashi and Johanna Narruhn for working with the young people to prepare the pageant. I thank our new choir director, Bob Grove, for his hard work preparing the Holy Cross Singers for Christmas Eve, and for working with Ian McMillan on the Singalong Messiah.

I’m also grateful to the Suzuki and Shiroma families for donating the new tiles in the Building of Faith floor, which lays out a permanent pickleball court for that ongoing ministry. Thank you to the folks who contributed so generously to our Advent Devotional, especially our hardworking Office Manager, Momi Lyman. She’s done more than I could have asked – and I asked her anyway.

Mahalo to all the birds who wandered in front of my lens this year. What a blessing it’s been to experience the fiery dances of Pelehonuamea so many times. I’m grateful that I’ve had more time with family this year, though some of the time has been sad.

Most of all, I’m glad to celebrate this holy time with you, to give thanks for God’s greatest gift of all: Jesus the Christ, our Savior and Friend.

Merry Christmas!

In peace,

Pastor Eric

Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner

Pastor’s Corner: Thanksgiving

November 12, 2025

Dear friends,

Is it possible to thank God fully?

I’m sure I don’t know how. How do you thank One who has given so much – given, in fact, everything?

When the Holy One has given us an infinite Universe, how do finite creatures give thanks for it all? It’s a logical impossibility.

Nevertheless, it’s a good thing to try.

So for the most distant star I give thanks, and for the air moving deep in my lungs I give thanks. For the deep embrace of the planet I give thanks, and for the precious sensation of a child’s grasp of my index finger, I give thanks. For the great love of a self-giving God, and for the tender love of a sibling, I give thanks.

I give thanks for the blazing sun and for the gentle moon. I give thanks for the warming fire and for the chilling ice. I give thanks for the bee that swoops among the flowers and for the hawk that soars above the trees. I give thanks for the anemones waving in the pool and for the honu napping in the sun.

I give thanks for the faithful people over centuries who heard the word of God and wrote it into books. I give thanks for the faithful people who heard our still-speaking God and did the good things that they heard. I give thanks for the faithful people who paused, not understanding, and waited until they were more certain what was right and good and true. I give thanks for a God who has never left us alone.

I give thanks for loss that reveals love. I give thanks for love that risks loss.

I cannot give thanks enough, but it’s worth a try.

Happy Thanksgiving!

With aloha,

Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Pastor

Photo of a (grateful) ‘apapane sipping nectar from an ohi’a blossom by Eric Anderson.

Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner

Pastor’s Corner: Love and Gratitude

November 27, 2024

Despite the persistent effects of nostalgic Thanksgiving films, stories, pictures, and memories, Thanksgiving is a remarkably adaptive holiday.

While many will prepare a turkey for the main dish this week, a good number will prepare something completely different, something that better matches their preferences to their gratitude. Even those serving turkey have scoured the media, the Internet, and their cookbook shelves for a new way to prepare it. We may giggle at the idea of a turkey stuffed with a chicken stuffed with a duck, but doesn’t it illustrate our flexibility around that iconic dish?

As a child, Thanksgiving was a meal we celebrated with Gramma Anderson, mostly at her house in western Massachusetts. We weren’t always there, even if she did have a dining room that best matched the front of a holiday card. My parents hosted everyone a few times, as did my aunts and uncles.

As an adult, Thanksgiving gatherings grew substantially. In addition to blood family, dear friends began to join the celebration. We added a “Thanksgiving Day Croquet Tournament” which took place between dinner and dessert. My parents were the regular hosts for quite some time as they had a dining area big enough for everyone (we borrowed tables and chairs).

Then they shrank again as people graduated, moved, and passed on.

The consistent things about Thanksgiving throughout have been love and gratitude. The locations have changed, the faces have changed, but the love and gratitude have been the same.

May they be a part of your Thanksgiving celebration this week and every year.

In peace,

Pastor Eric