Category Archives: Worship

Blue Christmas • Wed., Dec. 18, at 7:00 pm

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The Longest Night: A Service for Grief and Remembrance during the Holidays

This service of Blue Christmas recognizes that for some of us the holidays can be a difficult time, full of more emotion than joy or cheer. In a season of conversations around shared tables, of family, and of gift-giving, some of us grieve the loss of loved ones, the struggle of finances, the feeling of loneliness, or the despair of a world unraveling. Christian hope trusts that, even in these darkest moments, God remains with us. This is the journey of Advent; we are not left alone even in the darkest places.

This service begins at 7:00 pm and will only be offered in person. All are welcome.

A Season of Preparation—Advent at LCH

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December 1 • Advent I
10:00 am Sunday Worship: Signs and Strength
7:30 pm 50th Advent Procession: Hallock’s “O” Antiphons
December 8 • Advent II
10:00 am Festival of Carols in Brass Re-Imagined
December 9 • First Mondays Concert
7:00 pm Sunday Worship: Promises and Portents
December 15 • Advent III
10:00 am Sunday Worship: Proclamations and Prophets
7:30 pm Advent Compline
December 18 • Blue Christmas
7:00 pm A Service of Remembrance with Hope
December 22 • Advent IV
10:00 am Sunday Worship: Blessings and Bethlehem

All are welcome to these services. All services, except for the Blue
Christmas worship, will also livestream on the LCH Facebook page.

Memorial Service for Pr. Jeff, followed by JeffFest • Sat. Oct. 19

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Pr. Jeff on their boatPastor Jeff’s Memorial Service is scheduled for 4:00 pm on Saturday, October 19, at LCH. Pacifica Synod Bishop Dave Nagler will preach. The service will be live streamed on the LCH Facebook page. Overflow seating will be available in Isenberg Hall.

LutherFest is now JeffFest and is scheduled to begin at approximately 6:00 pm on Saturday, October 19, in the LCH Courtyard. Brats, salads, beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided. Please bring a non-perishable dessert, as the LCH refrigerator is full. Volunteers from other Hukilau churches are being sought to help with cooking and set-up in order to allow LCH member and friends to attend the service.

On Sunday, October 20, in the 10:00 am worship service, Bishop Dave Nagler will be preaching, and Pastor Ruth Peterson will lead worship. Kimberly, a social worker from Joy of Christ, will also be with us and is making herself available for emotional support.

Compline will not be sung Sunday evening.

Our sincere thanks to all the clergy, active and retired, the bishop, and many others who are assisting the LCH family through this very difficult time. And mahalo to each of you for continuing to support one another and the Lilley family.




The Lilley family has asked that memorial gifts made in honor of Pr. Jeff go to the Hawai‘i Health and Harm Reduction Center (H3RC) for their transgender program. Checks may be made out to Lutheran Church of Honolulu and sent to the church (1730 Punahou Street, Honolulu, HI 96822) or made via PayPal using the button to the left.

Holy Week and Easter Worship at LCH

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March 24 + 10:00 am + Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. The service begins in the courtyard as a brass quartet leads worshippers in a procession with palm leaves around the church, recalling Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The service then moves inside for a reading of the Passion Gospel and Holy Communion.

March 28 + 7:30 pm + Maundy Thursday

We remember Jesus’ command to “love one another” as we wash feet and share communion. Music includes Duruflé’s “Ubi caritas” and “Tantum ergo” by Jessica French.

March 29 + 7:30 pm + Good Friday

This powerful service recalls the bitter suffering and death of Jesus that leads to new life. The story of the Passion will be told through William Byrd’s setting of the “The Passion according to St. John” sung by the LCH Choir.

March 30 + 7:30 pm + Easter Vigil

Following the service of readings and the kindling of the New Fire, we move from darkness into the light of resurrection. The resurrection will be welcomed with Will Todd’s “Jazz Missa Brevis,” with full jazz combo, traditional Easter hymns, and the first Eucharist of Easter.

March 31 + 10:00 am + Easter Sunday

Christ is risen! Join us for our 10:00 am festival choral service, featuring a brass quintet to add a celebratory element to worship.

Lenten Wednesday Evenings • February 21 through March 20

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Lenten SuppersLenten Soup and Salad Suppers at 6:00 pm in the Hörmann Courtyard

Please join in this wonderful time of fellowship and prayer, beginning each Wednesday of Lent with a simple soup and salad supper. Suppers are served at 6:00 pm, prior to 7:00 pm Lenten services in the nave. A sign-up sheet will be available in the courtyard for contributions to each week’s meal and for help with set-up and clean-up. See Mary Jo Estes or call the LCH office for more information.

Evening Prayer: Healing and Wholeness through Our Senses

Join us mid-week during Lent as we share Holden Evening Prayer. The sung prayer service begins at 7:00 pm preceded by a soup-and-salad supper at 6:00 pm in the church courtyard. This year’s Lenten theme, Healing and Wholeness through Our Senses, builds on our Stewardship theme for this year.

All are welcomed and encouraged to share this intimate prayer service and supper with us as we journey, in brokenness and healing, through the Lenten season.

Lenten Wednesday Evening are February 21 and 28 and March 6, 13, and 20, beginning at 6:00 pm in the Hörmann Courtyard. All are welcome.

Ash Wednesday Worship + Wed., Feb. 14 + 7:30 pm

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Imposition of Ashes on Ash WednesdayThe season of Lent begins with a very special worship on Ash Wednesday, February 14 at 7:30 pm in the Nave.

This beautiful evening service begins the Lenten season of reflection, prayer, and preparation as we hear the words from Genesis 3:19, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Ashes, a sign of mourning and repentance, are placed on our foreheads as a reminder of our mortality, but the ashes are in the shape of a cross, a sign of promise, and life, and hope.

Ash Wednesday—and the whole season of Lent—calls us to reflect and remember the precious gift of life and love that God has given us in creation and community and to re-center our thoughts and spirit on what truly matters.

As we gather around the communion table in worship on Ash Wednesday, we see our neighbor with the same smudged cross on her head, recall that our mortality is joined to hers forever in Christ, and remember that together we share the joy of life with all of God’s world.

A Season of Celebration—Christmastide at LCH

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Join Us this Christmastide

Blue Christmas
Wednesday, December 20

7:30 pm • A Service of Grief and Remembrance
In-person only, no livestream

 
Christmas Eve
Sunday, December 24

10:00 am • Choral Eucharist for Advent IV

5:00 pm • Family Worship

7:00 pm • Festival Prelude

7:30 pm • Choral Eucharist
with music provided by the LCH Choir

Christmas Day
Sunday, December 25

10:00 am • Choral Eucharist
featuring the tenors and basses
of the LCH Choir
 
 
 

 
New Year’s Eve
Sunday, December 31

10:00 am • Choral Eucharist
A Service of Lessons and Carols

 
All are welcome to these services. In the spirit of mutual care, we encourage those attending in person to wear masks. All services,
except for the Blue Christmas worship, will also livestream on the LCH Facebook page and our Worship Services page.

49th Annual Advent Procession • Sun., Dec. 3, at 7:30 pm

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advent graphicJoin us for Lutheran Church of Honolulu’s annual Advent Procession, a beloved Hawai‘i tradition since 1975. This year the service, led by Barry Wenger, our organist and director of music, will include seasonal readings, hymns old and new, and glorious choral selections by the LCH Choir.

Music this year includes selections by Wilbur Held, Peter Hallock, Hildegard of Bingen, and Arvo Pärt. The full list of music to be performed is available on the December music list.

For those not attending in person, the concert will be livestreamed on our Worship Services page and the LCH Facebook page and then archived on the LCH Facebook page

Pet Blessing Service in Celebration of the Feast of St. Francis • Sun., Oct. 8, at 5:00 pm

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Pr. Margrethe KleiberJoin us Sunday, October 8, for a special worship service to bless any of your furry friends and to remember dear pets who have died.

Bring your pet or a photo or memento of your pet to church. For those worshipping online, email a photo of your pet, along with the name of your pet, to willowchang@hotmail.com.

The service will be held in commemoration of Francis of Assisi, who is widely regarded as the patron saint of animals and ecology.

We will have water dishes in the courtyard. Join the fun and probably a bit of chaos!

LCH Welcomes Pastor Margrethe Kleiber

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Pr. Margrethe KleiberPastor Jeff Lilley has been granted a period of sabbatical beginning October 1 and extending through the end of the calendar year. He will concentrate on physical, mental, and spiritual health, including working with a spiritual director. In addition, he plans to work on music and visual arts. He is thankful for the opportunity for renewal, and he and Jean plan to spend significant time with family (especially twin grand-daughters due in November).

The Rev. Margrethe Kleiber has graciously agreed to serve part-time as pastor of the congregation during the sabbatical. Pastor Kleiber, a former member of the congregation whose service in the ministry has taken her around the world, will attend to the core areas of preaching, teaching, and pastoral care. You can learn more about Pastor Kleiber on our Leadership page.

Having Pastor Kleiber with us while Pastor Jeff is on sabbatical presents an opportunity for volunteers (and staff), to take on additional responsibilities over the course of the next three months. Please speak with Congregational President Dan Dennison if there are areas in which you would like to volunteer.