Advent ‘helps to bring
By Mary Adamski
the real Christmas spirit’
Star-Bulletin'Tis the season of lavish eating, masses of lights and glitter, the colors red and green.
That may be true in the shopping malls and many homes where the secular season of Christmas starts more than a month before the holiday itself.
But at St. John Lutheran Church in Kailua, the color theme was blue, the only glitter was the light of the first two Advent candles, and it was a simple potluck bread-and-salad supper that drew about 50 people Wednesday night.
"Let our hearts be quiet. Help us to ponder the miraculous event about to occur," said vicar Chris Marien in the prayer service that followed supper. The sound of a constant rush of traffic outside underscored the sense of retreating into a spiritual observance. "We're on our way. Help us prepare for the birth of a savior."
Most Christian congregations in Hawaii mark the season of Advent, the four weeks leading up to celebration of the birth of Jesus, in observances that have preparation, hope and expectation as the themes. The centuries-old observance -- which traditionally featured fasting and repentance, much like Lent, which precedes Easter -- now often is used to focus on sharing abundance with those who are needy and disadvantaged.
"We as a culture have lost the preparation and expectation that surrounds Christmas," said Dick Eber, who chatted with friends at congregational supper. "I'm here because it's the only time I can slow down and enjoy the Christmas season."Mele and Alex Faumuina and her daughters, Victoria, 7, and Caitlin, 5, had already done Christmas shopping after work by the time they got to St. John's. "You can stay at malls till you drop," said Mele Faumuina. "This helps to bring the real spirit of Christmas, to remind us of the real reason. We want the children to keep the focus, and celebrate the birth of Jesus."
Robert Duran, 13, one of the 10 members of the confirmation class who sponsored the second of four Wednesday suppers, said: "It reminds you of the reason for Christmas. It can be about presents if you want it to, but it doesn't have to be."
Today, members of St. Andrew's Cathedral gathered for a similar observance, "Advent Quiet Day" at a Nuuanu Valley home.
"It is an attempt at spiritual discipline, a pause, a time to do some reflection. People are not reflective," said the Rev. Peter Courtney, dean of St. Andrew's. "And when I do it, it is a time of challenge. The point of being a Christian is to change, to be open to the possibility that God would have us be different.
"The central theme is repentance, which is saying, 'Be different, act different, understand yourself different.'
"We are all distracted by this great secular holiday of Christmas. The secular forces have just about won -- just try to find a religious reflection anywhere," Courtney said. "People don't need to worry about finding a creche (on public property).
"I don't think it's bad; it just is. Whining about it won't do any good. Christians have to work with what they've got and live their lives with some integrity."
The color purple traditionally was used in churches for Advent, symbolizing penitence and the kingship of God.
"These days, many places use blue, the color of Mary, the color of expectation," Courtney said. "We hang greens, new shoots sticking through the snow, symbolizing new life. We don't use flowers now. . . . On Jesus' birthday, we have no end to the flowers and the color."
Light the lights—
By Mary Adamski
it’s Hanukkah
Star-BulletinMembers of the Jewish community will light the first candle on the menorah tomorrow night as they begin the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah, which recalls a successful fight for religious freedom 2,165 years ago.
A large version of the traditional eight-branched candlestick will be lighted at 6:30 p.m. on the front lawn of City Hall. The Hanukkah display by Chabad of Hawaii is one of five displays by private organizations permitted in the midst of the Honolulu City Lights show. Another public menorah will be displayed at Waikiki Gateway Park.
The public celebration will feature musical entertainment by students from the Chabad Cheder Hebrew School and the serving of hot latkes, a potato pancake traditionally served on the holiday.
For many Jewish families, it is a season of festive dinners with family and friends, with a new candle on the menorah being lit on each successive day.
The holiday commemorates the victory of the Maccabees, Hebrew freedom fighters who defeated the ruling Assyrian regime and recaptured the temple in Jerusalem. When they prepared to rededicate the temple, which had been defiled with pagan images and practices, the Jews found there was only a small jar of lamp oil that had been undefiled. Although it was only enough for one day's lamplight, it burned for eight days. The menorah lighting each year marks that miracle.
Members of Temple Bet Shalom gathered last night for a community meal.
Temple Emanu-El will celebrate in a unique way this year, hosting a private screening of "The Prince of Egypt," a new Steven Spielberg movie about Moses. The special showing at Wallace Theatres in Restaurant Row will be at 7 p.m. Friday, following the 5:30 p.m. Shabbat service at the temple. Tickets are available by calling the temple office, 595-7521.
Congregation Sof Ma'arav will hold a Hanukkah party at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 20 at Waialae Ridge Recreation Center, 2203 Halekoa Drive. Each family is invited to bring its own menorah, a potluck dish to share and a few potatoes for latkes.
Chabad of Hawaii will hold a party at 4 p.m. Dec. 20 at Chabad House, 3430 E. Manoa Road. It will feature a buffet dinner, live Jewish music and prizes for children. Tickets are available by calling 988-1499.
The Hispanic-American community will celebrate a religious holy day and a pre-Christmas cultural tradition tomorrow in events in Honolulu. Hispanic community's
holiday rites tomorrowThe feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe will be commemorated at a Spanish language Mass at St. John the Baptist Church in Kalihi.
The noon Mass will be preceded by an 11:30 a.m. procession of people in traditional dress of Central and South America. Believers celebrate a 1531 apparition of Mary, the mother of Jesus, to Juan Diego, a Mexican Indian, at Tepeyac, Mexico.
Tomorrow evening, the Hispanic Center of Hawaii will sponsor a traditional "posada" through downtown Honolulu beginning with a 6:30 p.m. concert at St. Andrew's Cathedral's Tenney Theatre and ending with a party at the Academy of Arts' Linekona Center.
During the posada, people re-enact the story of the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. The candle-lit procession goes from door to door, being told at each stop, "There's no room at the inn," until they finally find a place where they are invited in.
In Latin American cities or neighborhoods, the posada begins nine days before Christmas and continues nightly.
At the party, children vie to break the pinatas, hollow decorations filled with candy.
The massed choirs of several Oahu Seventh-Day Adventist churches will present five free performances of a Christmas cantata this month. Seventh-Day Adventists
present free cantataNada Kegley will direct the 50-voice chorus in "The Song Proclaiming the Wonder of Christmas" by David Clydesdale and Karla Worley.
The group opened last night at the Pearl Harbor Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
It will perform again at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Kailua Seventh-Day Adventist Church; 7 p.m. Friday at the Diamond Head Seventh-Day Adventist Church; and 6 p.m. next Saturday at the Kaneohe Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
A costumed enactment of the biblical story of Jesus' birth at Bethlehem will be presented during the main performance at the Central Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 2313 Nuuanu Ave. It will be at 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20.
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