• Editor’s note: “Spiritual leaders answer on…” is a weekly column inviting Kaua‘i’s religious and spiritual leaders to share their doctrines’ perspectives on a suggested subject. Every Friday a topic is printed, inviting a response. Submissions are edited for content
• Editor’s note: “Spiritual leaders answer on…” is a weekly column inviting Kaua‘i’s religious and spiritual leaders to share their doctrines’ perspectives on a suggested subject. Every Friday a topic is printed, inviting a response. Submissions are edited for content and length. Thoughts or suggestions for future topics are always welcome. Next week’s topic is guilt. The topic at the end of the column is for the following week.
Pastor Wayne Patton
Anahola Baptist Church
There is much stuff associated with the holiday season. Trees, bells, lights, ornaments, holly, poinsettias, mistletoe and figgy pudding. The warm smells of gingerbread and the rich taste of eggnog. Family traditions with our gifts, presents, stockings and children. But most of all, there is the true celebration of the season — the good news that Jesus, the hope of glory, is with us.
Some time ago I read the biography of King George III of England. George III loved going out of London to his home at Windsor Castle. Sometimes, while there, he would take off by himself on long walks. Occasionally, he would surprise the neighbors by popping into their houses. One day King George walked into a barn where a woman was milking a cow. She had no idea that he was the king. He asked her where all the other farm workers had gone. They had gone to see the king, she said, adding, “I wouldn’t give a pin to see him. Besides the fools will lose a day’s work by it, and that is more than I can afford to do. I have five children to work for.”
Taking some coins from his pocket, George gave them to her. “Well, then,” he said, “you may tell your companions who were gone to see the king, that the king came to see you.”
That is just what God did at the Christmas season. The king of kings and lord of lords came to see us. He came to give us something — to give us His life. He is Jesus. He is Christ. He is the ruler over the kings of the earth. He is the One who loves us.
Jesus has been given a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
We can enjoy all the “stuff” of the holiday season because King Jesus came to see us.
Kahu James Fung
Lihu‘e Christian Church
It’s a festive time and also a stressful time. It’s a season, it seems, of built-in contrasts and contradictions. It’s a time when people are in a rush to get everything done so that they can slow down and enjoy themselves. It is a time for spending time in prayer and meditation and also a season when we spend a lot of time at the mall. It’s been said that the holiday season has a way of intensifying all of our feelings. When people are in love they feel even more so at Christmastime. Conversely, the holiday season can be a time when loneliness and emptiness in the soul becomes even harder to bear.
I visited the Holy Land about 20 years ago. And ever since then, it’s been impossible for me to read the Bible and not have images ignited within my memory of the places associated with those passages of scripture — such as those which tell of the birth of the Son of God. I asked the tour-bus driver if we could stop by the fields, just beyond the Bethlehem tourist attractions, so that I could walk on the ground where the holy family may have walked, rub some Bethlehem dirt in my hands, gaze up into the same sky that the shepherds did as told in the biblical Christmas story in Luke’s gospel. And in simply connecting to that special place, I felt that it all became somehow more real for me — that Christ really was born in Bethlehem and God does love us in a miraculous way!
It’s made all the difference. In the sometimes-frenzy of people decorating, gift-buying, party preparations, I sense in our collective soul a yearning for that which is suggestive of the holiness of Christmas — a return to a simpler time, childhood innocence, dreams coming true, loving and being loved, the security of knowing that God is attentive to us and that everything is going to be OK.
The holiday season is an absolutely wonderful time of the year. I’m all for extending it!
The Baha’is of Kaua‘i
The winter holidays of many groups and religions are upon us. It is a wonderful, joyful time for our diverse community to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, not separately, but together. Our celebrations, however, should not emphasize material gifts and parties. The holiday season should reflect the spirit of aloha and be a time of hospitality, beneficent projects, good works and helping those in need.
How holidays should be celebrated are described succinctly in the Baha’i writings:
“Briefly, every nation has a day known as a holiday which they celebrate with joy. In the sacred Laws of God, in every cycle and dispensation, there are blessed feasts, holidays and workless days. … As it is a blessed day it should not be neglected or without results by making it a day limited to the fruits of mere pleasure. During such blessed days institutions should be founded that may be of permanent benefit and value to the people so that in current conversation and in history may become widely known that such a good work was inaugurated on such a feast day. … Such undertakings that are beneficial to the poor, the weak and the helpless should be pursued in order that, on that day, through the unity of all and through great meetings, results may be obtained, the glory and blessings of that day may be declared and manifest.”
Lama Tashi Dundrup
Kaua‘i Dharma Center
This word holyday is used by religious institutions to show honor and respect to their founder or saints. Actually, every day is a holyday to be loving , kind and considerate with one’s body, speech and mind toward others and the natural environment. We believe 2,600 years ago, the Buddha Shakyamuni took birth to set a perfect example for humans to follow. We honor that person on Dec. 5 as a holyday.
Topic for two weeks from today
• Will you speak to us on love?
• Spiritual leaders are invited to e-mail responses of three to five paragraphs to afrainier@thegardenisland.com.
• Deadline each week is 5 p.m. Tuesday.