Stories

  • Story: Surprise - April 5, 2026 Acts 10:34-43John 20:1-18 Sometimes a bird on the mountainsides just takes a liking for a particular ohi’a tree. I don’t know whether the nectar tastes better, or if you get a particularly crunchy kind of bug, or if there’s something else that gets a bird excited. This is about an i’iwi who … Continue reading Story: Surprise
  • Story: All the Things - April 5, 2026 Acts 10:34-43John 20:1-18 You’ve heard, I know, that there are some birds that winter with us here in Hawai’i, and that they fly to Alaska for the summer. Those birds might prefer to fly on a big jet, like you and I, but they use their own wings, even though some of … Continue reading Story: All the Things
  • Story: The Colt - March 29, 2026 Philippians 2:5-11Matthew 21:1-11 Today’s story doesn’t take place in the forests of Hawai’i. Nor does it take place in our time. It starts in a small village not far from Jerusalem, and it takes place on a day we’re familiar with because we celebrate it each year. Surprise! It’s Palm Sunday. He … Continue reading Story: The Colt
  • Story: Late - March 22, 2026 Ezekiel 37:1-14John 11:1-45 The Manu-o-Ku chick was hungry. Of course he was hungry. Mom and Dad had fed him, then flown off to find more food. He sat on the branch where he’d hatched, and waited for them to come back. He was hungry. He got hungrier. The sun kept moving across … Continue reading Story: Late
  • Story: Visible - March 15, 2026 1 Samuel 16:1-13Ephesians 5:8-14 ‘Apapane depend on finding flowers for their nectar, and also to find the bugs that they eat, because those bugs tend to like eating the nectar. For an ‘apapane, a grove of ohi’a in blossom is like a long buffet table with all the variety they could ask … Continue reading Story: Visible
  • Story: Comforter - March 8, 2026 Exodus 17:1-7John 4:5-42 I don’t know precisely why the ae’o was upset. I don’t know whether someone had squawked something at her, or if one of the fish she caught tasted bad, or whether the sun was too hot for her that morning. I suppose she might have been frustrated by a … Continue reading Story: Comforter
  • Story: The Fast and the Futile - March 1, 2026 Romans 4:1-5, 13-17John 3:1-17 Saltiness, sweetness, bitterness, and sourness. Those are the four senses of the human tastebuds. I’ve told stories about the first three over the last three weeks. Shall we go for sour? Let’s go for sour. He was the fasted akekeke in his generation (the English name is ruddy … Continue reading Story: The Fast and the Futile
  • Story: The Crunchiness of Life - February 22, 2026 Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7Matthew 4:1-11 Saltiness, sweetness, and yes, I’m visiting another one of the taste buds. I’m afraid it’s bitterness. That’s not a favorite for many people. Now, coffee drinkers do tend to like some bitterness to it, but the birds of the mountain forests don’t drink coffee. Instead, they drink nectar, … Continue reading Story: The Crunchiness of Life
  • Story: Finding Sweetness - February 15, 2026 Exodus 24:12-18Matthew 17:1-9 Last week it was saltiness. This week it’s sweetness. We’re making our way around the taste buds, I guess. I don’t actually have plans to visit sourness or bitterness, but who knows? An i’iwi was having a hard time. They’re used to sipping nectar from ohi’a flowers and koa … Continue reading Story: Finding Sweetness
  • Story: The Salty Koa’e ‘Ula - February 8, 2026 Isaiah 58:1-12Matthew 5:13-20 Salt is a funny thing. Your body, my body, pretty much every body of every person and every creature needs some salt. Without salt, we get sick. On the other hand, if we have too much salt, we also get sick. Not too much, not too little. That’s the … Continue reading Story: The Salty Koa’e ‘Ula