The HeartBeat

A Message from Pastor Jeff

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

By the time you read this article you will have met Pastor A.F., our candidate of choice for the position of associate pastor. Hopefully you have spent some time in prayer and discernment as we prepare meet March 3 at a special congregational meeting. Together we will seek the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to lead us to a faithful community consensus about where God is leading us in these days to come regarding the leadership of our congregation. Shall we call Pastor Angela as our associate pastor? To be sure, this is a big moment in the life of our congregation; but not everything depends on us.

We didn’t get here quickly

The journey to this decision began about ten years ago when the Ministry Taskforce began to look at the missional aspirations of the congregation. Over the course of the last several years, congregational members and friends have attended ‘ohana gatherings, focus groups, and informational meetings to shape and discern a missional core for the congregation. Members felt a strong desire to enhance ministry with youth and young adults, revive ministry to the universities, and serve our neighborhood in more tangible ways. We also stated a desire to be even more welcoming and open. In 2010 a staffing taskforce was formed to see how leadership might be developed to encourage, train, and support the missional aspirations of the congregation. After many meetings with the congregation and a lot of work, they recommended calling an associate pastor.

It doesn’t all depend on us

Big decisions like calling as associate pastor are truly daunting. Adding staff is a very expensive undertaking to say the least! We are called to be faithful and responsible stewards of God’s financial and spiritual gifts. Some will ask, “how can we afford to do this?” While others will ask, “how can afford not to do this?” Both questions are valid and valuable, but not entirely complete in their scope. Like every part of our ministry, this decision is framed by “God’s work, our hands.” God promises to be present with us—calling, sending, and enlightening us as we seek to do God’s will in the world. As long as we think it all depends on us, we remain afraid to move because we might make the wrong decision. God is Emmanuel—whatever we decide.

Prayer is at the center of the process

If asked how we should decide this matter, I would answer: pray about it. While that may seem like a pat pastoral answer, it is clear to me that we got to this point by inviting God to lead us—so why stop now?

This is a wonderfully momentous time in the life and ministry of Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Many of us are excited about years of growth bearing fruit, others are wary, and some are flat opposed. In the end, we are seeking not to have our own way, but to find God’s way into the future. May God bless, keep, guide, and move us as a faithful community in Christ.

Aloha,,
Pastor Jeff Lilley
pr.jeff@lchwelcome.org

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February Council Highlights

Council met Wednesday, February 21. Here are some of the highlights of the meeting:

• Council approval of expenses incurred from the purchase of new recording equipment.
• Call Committee Update: Council approval of associate pastor call budget worksheet.
• 2012 Council goals and planning to be discussed at start of March Council meeting in lieu of council retreat.
• Since the PV installation, system has avoided 54,329.60 kg of CO₂, with a total yield of 77,613.71 kWh.
• Committee Reports: Aspiration to have each committee liaison prepare a written report for Council each month.
• Five stalls still remain unsold for Punahou parking rentals.
• M1ssion Campaign Update: Approval of proposal by Patti Look for services aimed at creating tasks and time frames for accomplishing campaign goals.
• Parking Lot Update: Landscaping committee has begun preliminary work on creating landscaping plans for lot. Parking lot dedication scheduled for Earth Day Sunday.

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Special Congregational Meeting Notice

LCH will hold a special congregational meeting Sunday, March 4, at 11:45 AM for the following purposes: To amend the 2012 FY financial budget and to consider extending a letter of call to Rev. A.F. All voting members are encouraged to attend.

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Soup and Salad Wednesdays

In the LCH tradition of observing Lent, we will again have soup and salad suppers held on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 PM. Suppers will continue for the four Wednesdays in March. Look for the sign-up sheet to contribute to the meal in the courtyard.

Please see Mary-Jo Estes or Jeanne Castello for more information.

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Fill the Ark 8

Saturday, March 3 • 4:00 PM

The 8th annual “Fill the Ark” Benefit Concert for Heifer International will be Saturday, March 3 at 4:00 PM. The children and youth are busy preparing their performances with hopes that they will raise another $5,000 to buy an “Ark of Animals” through Heifer International to be distributed to families around the world. The concert is free, but please come prepared to make a pledge or donation of at least $1 day during the Lenten season ($40 total). If one hundred families or individuals make this commitment, the children will meet their goal! A pledge sheet will be available on Sundays in the courtyard.

Please come on March 3 to see our youth perform with song, instruments, recitations, and dance. May this Lutheran Church of Honolulu tradition continue for the 8th year! For more information, please see Reid or Anna Womack.

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OYEA Malama Maunalua Bay Event

Join OYEA March 3 at Maunalua Bay in the region of the bay known as Paiko from 9:00 to 11:30 AM. We will be learning and participating in the ongoing work of removing invasive species of algae. We will also be learning about the importance of the sea grass in the area and the life that inhabits those areas. For more details please contact Tim Mason at <pastortim@calvarybythesea.org>.

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In Stitches

In Stitches, the LCH craft group, will meet March 10 and 24. We have some people learning to knit, some working on the ribbon lei, and others bringing projects of their own. Come join us! First and fourth Saturdays of each month 9:00 to 11:00 AM in the Boardroom.

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It’s Easter Lily Time

Please sign up to help decorate the nave for Easter. There is a form in your bulletin for donations of Easter Lilies. Help us make a beautiful splash of color in honor or memory of your loved ones.

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LCH to Field AIDS Walk Team

Come join Pastor Jeff and the rest of the AIDS walk team as they participate in the 2012 AIDS walk to benefit the Life Foundation. The walk will be held Sunday, April 15, 9:00 AM at Kapi‘lani Park. There are two ways to get involved. First, join the LCH Team and walk with us on April 15. Registration is free at <www.honoluluaidswalk.com>. Click on “Walker Registration” and then “join a team” under our team name “Lutheran Church of Honolulu.” After you sign up, collect pledges from friends, neighbors, by Facebook, Twitter, or email. Our team goal is $2,500! You can also support our team effort by donating either in person—just talk to team Leader Pastor Jeff or team member Sophie C.—or online at <www.honoluluaidswalk.com>. Just click on “Sponsor a walker” and type in Jeff Lilley or Sophie Cheng in the fields at the bottom of the page to make a secure donation. Click on our team page to sponsor other walkers as they join our team. Mahalo!

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What are you passionate about? I guess it is only fair that since the Stewardship Committee has asked you to share your passions I should share mine. I had a difficult time answering, but after much discussion during the annual meeting and while parking cars, I guess I would have to say my passion is a commitment to be involved. My longest and most recent involvement has been parking cars for Punahou Carnival. While I now have Jerelyn and Jean who help with the organization, recruitment, and publicity, it has been an event that I have been involved with for over twenty years.

Mahalo to all you wonderful people who made Punahou parking the awesome event it was! We had beautiful weather and a wonderful group of volunteers who spent a few hours (or more) talking story and parking cars. The malasada lady visited frequently on Friday to make sure everyone had their fill of malasadas and Portuguese bean soup. Your combined efforts helped raise nearly $8,000 for the LCH youth. It’s no wonder that this is my second most favorite “LCH event” (sorry, but Lutherfest is still number one)!

I especially want to thank all of you who took a leap of faith and voted to approve the three m1ssion campaign projects (resurfacing the parking lot, calling an associate pastor, and covering the Hörmann Courtyard) last spring. The parking lot was the first of projects and is almost complete (landscaping will soon be completed and lighting to come). I am very thankful that the parking lot was “completed” for Punahou parking. The new parking lot is wonderful. Thanks to Jim and Jim for listening to all the suggestions and making them a reality in our new parking lot, and also for their expertise and determination to ensure the job was done right. Thank you to Fred and his negotiation skills to land the bid that met all of our requirements and still be under our budgeted cost. A big thanks to Pastor Jeff for designing and making the bollards to block off the entrances. They are wonderful, light weight, easy to use, and so much safer than the barricades we used to rent! See! It pays to come to meetings and voice your opinions!

They say good things come to those who wait. At LCH we have wished and waited for years. Now, we are beginning a new path in our walk in faith together. We not only are listening to each other, but we are making things happen. We have a wonderful new music director, an awesome new parking lot, a visit from a potential new associate pastor coming, and a committee forming to take on the task of covering the Hörmann Courtyard. Opportunities abound—so where will they lead you?

Pam Buckley

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One Pot One Hope

Please join us at our next One Pot One Hope on March 31. We will be carpooling from LCH at 9:30 AM and returning by 1:00 PM. Contact Miss Peggy if you have any questions.

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Alternative to the IRA Charitable Contribution

At the time of this writing, congress has still not passed the extension of the IRA Charitable Contribution. This contribution allowed those at age 70 ½ or older to transfer IRA assets to a charity without having to pay taxes on the IRA. You could contribute up to $100,000 in a year. However, you could not take a tax deduction in addition to the tax-free transfer. Many chose to transfer their RMD (required minimum distribution) to avoid the additional taxes.

In lieu of the IRA Charitable Contribution rules, there is another alternative that minimizes taxes caused by RMDs. After taking your RMD, simply gift to charity the amount of the RMD and you will get a tax deduction for the charitable gift that will help offset the taxes. Please consult your tax advisor in using this strategy, and please remember your church first when thinking of charitable contributions!

For further information and additional gift planning strategies, please contact our congregation’s gift planner, Greg Shepherd, at: (909) 910-6823 or <cantorsearch@lchwelcome.org>.

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Lutherans break ground for a new resettlement village in Haiti

ELCA News Service—February 7, 2012

CHICAGO (ELCA)—The commitment between members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the people of Haiti was celebrated Feb. 2 at a groundbreaking ceremony in the nation’s Gressier municipality, where a new resettlement village is planned for 2012.

A project of The Lutheran World Federation, the village will provide housing for 1,200 people in Gressier displaced by an earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010.

The ELCA is funding the project with $3.5 million through ELCA Disaster Response and is further engaged with the Lutheran Church of Haiti in responding to the needs of earthquake survivors. The ELCA is the only U.S. Lutheran church in The Lutheran World Federation, a global communion representing more than 70 million Christians worldwide. The village will include the construction of 200 solar-powered homes with indoor plumbing, a “green” sanitation system and community space that includes a children’s playground and multipurpose community center. Women-headed households and people living with disabilities will be among the village residents. They will lead an association to manage the village’s common assets and allow for the ongoing participation of all involved in the project.

“We are a church that is deeply rooted in God’s mission to restore community and address the brokenness in our world,” said the Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director of the ELCA’s global mission work who, along with other ELCA leaders, attended the groundbreaking. “Through The Lutheran World Federation and the ministries of our companion church, the Egliese Lutherienne D’Haiti (Lutheran Church of Haiti), members of the ELCA have been walking with the people of Haiti in addressing the economic marginalization that has prevented large sectors of the Haitian society to reach its full potential,” he said.

Gressier is west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The 2010 earthquake nearly reduced the capital city to rubble. As in Port-au-Prince, a majority of the 63,000 inhabitants of Gressier continue to live in tents since the earthquake, according to The Lutheran World Federation.

More than 58,000 square meters of land in Gressier was donated by the government through the municipality’s mayor. The contribution was validated by Haiti’s Ministry of Finance and the State Domain. Land ownership rights are registered for development and will be transferred to village residents.

According to ELCA leaders, the construction project is more than building homes.

“It is a sign of hope,” said Malpica Padilla at the groundbreaking. While the project “is an attempt to offer a new start for families who lost their homes in the earthquake,” he said, it “is not isolated from other work being done by the Lutheran Church of Haiti.”

“Just a short distance from this place, the (Lutheran church) has a vocational training center. Here we are not engaged in brick and mortar construction, but (we are) engaging the minds and spirit of Haitians through education to lay the foundation for the rebuilding of this nation, using sustainable and durable solutions, and building on the human potential through empowering people,” said Malpica Padilla, adding that the devastating effects of poverty and economic stagnation “can rob people of their hope for a brighter future.”

Other expected results of the housing project include employing local construction workers, providing construction experience for students at the vocation training center, opportunities for micro-enterprising, training community members in managing assets and building a community-based, disaster risk reduction team.

The village project also serves as a model for relief rehabilitation and development work in other parts of Haiti, in an effort to promote “a dignified life” for community residents.

“Before many people were suffering in Gressier,” said Jean Merilus St-Urbain at the groundbreaking. “But today this new project can let us say that 200 families among the vulnerable can have hope.” Merilus St. Urbain is a beneficiary of the housing project.

Lutherans continue their work to reduce cholera infection. Since the earthquake, the Lutheran Church of Haiti also has been active in responding to an outbreak of cholera in Gressier and neighboring Sapotille.

Cholera is an infectious, contagious disease transmitted through contamination of food or water. Symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain can lead to dehydration and acute renal failure that is fatal without treatment. The outbreak has resulted in more than 5,000 deaths, according to the Lutheran Church of Haiti.

ELCA Disaster Response has invested more than $1 million worth of work with the Lutheran Church of Haiti to contain the outbreak, care for patients and support two temporary health posts in Sapotille and Gressier. The response strategy between the ELCA and the Lutheran Church of Haiti further addresses access to clean water and basic sanitation services for about 17,000 families in both municipalities.

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Process Thought Forum

We Who Carry Our Brains

In March, our Process Thought Forum will consider an article about our brains, how we respond to changes in our lives, and the assertion “our brain and its plasticity is one place where we meet God.” These thoughts come from an article by Jay McDaniel on the website “Jesus, Jazz, and Buddhism” that was inspired by a TED Talk by Michael Merzenich. The article and video of the TED Talk are both available at <www.jesusjazzbuddhism.org>, and if technology cooperates, we will watch the video during our sessions, Saturday morning, March 10, at 9:30 AM and Sunday, March 11, at noon. See Fritz Fritschel for more information.

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What’s New on the LCH Website?

Bill Potter, Webmaster

During the month of February, the LCH website chronicled parking for the Punahou Carnival, Faith and Arts Sunday (including a slideshow and a page with all the poetry and prose displayed that day), the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, and the visit of our candidate for associate pastor.

In an effort to improve communication with members, we are preparing to add a link to each page so that members, friends, and visitors may subscribe to the electronic edition of The HeartBeat, our occasional E-News, and updates from the music program. If you are not getting the email updates, click on the link, and you will be guided to enter your email address and select the updates you want to receive. Because LCH uses Constant Contact with its SafeUnsubscribe feature, you can always unsubscribe if you change your mind.

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Ciaramella: Variations on Renaissance Songs and Dances

Saturday, March 17 • 7:30 PM
Lutheran Church of Honolulu

This concert by one of America’s leading early music ensembles features lively songs and foot-stomping dances from the 15th and 16th centuries played on instruments of that time: recorders, shawms, dulcian, bagpipes, slide trumpet, sackbut, guitar, and theorbo.

Ciaramella has been praised for performing intricate Renaissance counterpoint “with the ease of jazz musicians improvising on a theme.” They will indeed play improvisations, old and new, on popular themes of the day, such as La Spagna and Ciaccona.

Tickets at the door or online at <www.earlymusichawaii.com>. General $25; students with ID $15.

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Prayer Requests

Barbie	Gus	Maggie
Carl	Judy	Ryan
Cindy	Karen	Sally
Debbie	Kristin	Stephen
Gene		Susan

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March Birthdays

Date	Name
03/01	Florine Foerster
03/05	Hunter N.
03/06	Nathalie J.
03/06	Kore Schmidt
03/07	Lillie J.
03/07	Brian Weis
03/15	Kenny Weeks
03/17	Sydney J.
03/17	Ken Von Deylen
03/18	Ken Bauchle
03/18	Donald Womack
03/23	Nicholas Castello
03/25	Evan Dodd
03/27	Gary Khan
03/28	Olivia Castro

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HeartBeat Deadline

Next HeartBeat Deadline is Tuesday, March 20!

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