Celebrating the Holy Sovereigns

Our Responsibilities to the 'Āina and Kānaka 'Ōiwi
​Rev. Jennifer Masada - St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church - Kapa’au, Hawai'i
November 23, 2025 - Celebration of the Holy Sovereigns

Welcome to the last Sunday of Pentecost and the close of this year’s celebration of the Season of Creation! Let’s get to some down-to-earth conversation about creation. 

Today, we could retell the “creation story” from Genesis or we could talk about the lovely images of rocks, rivers, and mountains in the Psalms. But we’re not going to. Today, we’re getting real by talking about our responsibilities to God's creation and people who show us how to fulfill them. We’ll start with two leaders who deeply understood that faith is about caring for the people and the land. The Holy Sovereigns Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV remind us that creation is not an idea. Creation is a relationship.

Those of us who live here, worship here, and plant roots here are part of that relationship. These past 12 weeks, we’ve been asking what it means to be part of creation. We are not separate from the rest of the planet; we are part of it. Our Eucharistic Prayer says we don’t own the earth; we belong to it.

And today, standing in spirit with the Holy Sovereigns, we hear this truth: Belonging does not give us rights. Belonging as part of God’s creation gives us responsibilities. 
At Diocesan Convention last month, Bishop Bob began his report in a way that caught my attention. He didn’t start by citing statistics or talking about institutional accomplishments, but with gratitude for the Holy Sovereigns who entrusted the land beneath our Cathedral, entrusted the Church with the spiritual well-being of Kānaka ʻŌiwi and all the people of these islands, and entrusted us with creation care. 

Entrusted. Such a powerful word! The Church was entrusted, which means WE are entrusted. That’s where it gets real. Trust implies relationship. Trust implies ongoing responsibility. Trust implies accountability.

And then — with humility — he said aloud what many have carried silently: that the Church has not always lived up to this trust. We have turned away, excused harm, ignored suffering, or hidden behind neutrality. We have forgotten what belonging requires. (We’ll read the bishop’s words later today during our commemoration of the Holy Sovereigns, printed in the order of worship.)

His words of lamentation are deeply moving. The confession is important but not to shame us. It frees us. Because repentance is not the end of the story. It is the doorway back into right relationship. Ho’imi pono — to seek right relationship.
The bishop reminded us of our diocesan commitment to live out three Hawaiian Christian values: malāma, pono, and mana.

He said, “Ministry here must seek to care for others, creation and all that God has given us (malāma), to live righteously and in respect one for another (pono), and to find the holy (mana) that comes from God in all creation and all of God’s children.”
I am grateful to Bishop Bob for articulating our ministry so clearly! I hear his words as clear instructions to us at St. Augustine's. Our commemoration this Sunday involves so much more than a simple head nod to Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV. It is more than a mere check box to complete once a year and then forget for the other 51 Sundays.

It's important to pause to reflect on why St. Augustine's is here, why we seek to serve our community, and how that's connected to the initial invitation from Queen Emma and King Kamehameha that allows us to be here now. This is an opportunity to acknowledge the past wrongs of the Church by recommitting to our sacred responsibilities to our Hawaiian founders today and actively working to uphold those responsibilities in the coming years.

This does not sidestep the gospel — this IS the gospel we are called to live in this place. We hear this clearly in Jesus’ parable we heard today about the three people who were given responsibility to care for someone else’s property. 
One man believed he should hoard and hide what had been entrusted to him. The two other men understood they were called to expand and share what was entrusted to them as part of their responsibility to the whole community.

And that is the question before us: What has God entrusted to us and what are we doing with it?

We have been entrusted with this sanctuary; with the grounds on which we worship; and with care, love, and compassion for the neighbors who pass our driveway every day. We are entrusted with stories older than those of the Church and with a diverse Kohala community that reflects the image of God in many cultures, languages, and faces.

And the Holy Sovereigns entrusted us with something even deeper:  kuleana. Kuleana does not mean burden. Kuleana means honored responsibility, responsibility rooted in relationship, reciprocity, and love.

Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV served as living examples of how to carry out such sacred responsibility, especially toward the vulnerable, the sick, the poor, and the displaced. Among their many acts of service: Queen Emma walked miles to raise funds for a hospital because she believed healing was a sacred right; the king advocated for education, dignity, and inclusion. Their faith was not abstract; it was real. They made their faith come to life in the world and ripple outward to multiply and benefit many others.

As I think about the work we do together in North Kohala, I believe we are indeed committed to and actively working toward fulfilling our responsibilities! The ministries we carry out show how we are directing our hearts and our daily work as a church to provide a safe and inclusive place; to alleviate economic stress through our Thrift Shop; to work toward food security with our many community partners; to connect with our neighbors through food, art, music, and traditional culture. 

Let's continue this work, which benefits all people in our community, while also being mindful of how our efforts relate to our commitment to the Kānaka 'Ōiwi and to the ‘āina that feeds us. We have so much more to do and, at the same time, we can be grateful for the work of each person in this community of faith. That is real and abundant work!

So as we move from this Season of Creation, let us remember the Holy Sovereigns. Let us remember our kuleana: to make our faith come alive with acts of love. 
In the quiet waiting of the weeks to come, we’ll listen for Spirit as we watch the lights of our Advent wreath grow. We’ll pause and reflect. We’ll remember that we belong to this earth, and, more than ever, God’s creation needs our abundant faith in action. 

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