Stories

  • Story: Good Advice - April 26, 2026 Acts 2:42-47John 10:1-10 What do you need to know if you’re an ‘elepaio? It helps that most of the ‘elepaio are very curious, so they tend to ask themselves the questions and then find out the answers. Is it sunny on that side of the tree? Are there bugs to be had … Continue reading Story: Good Advice
  • Story: Seeing Further - April 19, 2026 Acts 2:14a, 36-41Luke 24:17-35 The ‘apapane was young. He didn’t have his red and black feathers yet. That was OK. He knew they’d come. He was content even with the somewhat odd look of red patches on his mostly white chest. He’d be wearing red and black soon. It was also OK … Continue reading Story: Seeing Further
  • 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