Friends in Christ,

I pray that this message finds you and your loved ones well and that you will remain well even as the COVID19 virus makes its way through the population of our islands and our world.

I have been paying close attention to official reports this week, as I am sure many of you have been doing. According to infectious disease control experts, there are concrete steps that ordinary citizens can take that will slow the spread of this pathogen. Slowing the spread to avoid overloading our limited health care resources will save the lives of people in our community. For this reason, the public is being asked to suspend public gatherings.

After much prayer and in consultation with other church and community leaders, the Board of Trustees of Waiola Church and your kahus have made the decision to comply with these directives and suspend our public worship services for a period of at least two weeks. We will continue to monitor the situation as it develops and follow official public safety directives. Please check the church website for updates - www.waiolachurch.org - and follow us on Facebook Live Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out by phone or email.

This decision was not made lightly. Neither was it made from a place of fear or panic, but from an abundance of love for our neighbors and a sense of social responsibility. Perhaps we will look back in a few weeks and decide that we acted with an overabundance of caution. I would prefer this to the alternative, looking back in grief or remorse that we did not act in time.

A large percentage of our congregation falls into the high-risk categories and could become seriously ill. Another percentage are at significant financial risk as the pandemic affects their jobs and livelihoods. We will need to look out for one another in the days and weeks ahead. We will need to reach out to other people in our community and love our neighbors like we never have before.
It will be a challenge to share aloha without sharing space. What does it mean to BE the church when we cannot COME to church? How can we continue to support the ministry of the church when we cannot drop our offerings into a calabash? With care, commitment, and courage we can rise to this challenge and allow it to make us stronger and more loving Christians. Trust that ke Akua is always with us…. that Christ is alive within us… and that aloha will bind us together, whether we are gathered or scattered in Christ’s name.
Grace and peace,

Rev. Meg Watson, Kahu
Waiola Church