Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 5, 1 May 1998 — Celebrating the living water of Waiola [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Celebrating the living water of Waiola

; May marks the beginrdng of a year-long celebration for the 1 75th anniversary of one Hawai'i's oldest kalawina (congregational) houses of worship.

By Monu Boyd WAIOLA CHURCH in historic Lahaina, was the inspiration of Keōpūolani, sacred wife of Kamehamehal. Appropriately, the eongregation Ls led today by a native Hawaiian named for the feather eloak that Kamehameha wore as a symbol of divine authority and mana. Kahu Kekapa'ahu'ulaokepo'ohiwiokamehameha Pau'ole Kealakala'i Lee blends his l zest for history and contemporary issues into his unique pastoral style. Donned in tradiūonal Hawaiian kihei, Kahu Lee aligns Hawaiian and Christian values he was taught as a child not to mix. "Growing up in Hilo in Haili Church, I would ask, 'Why express religion through

someone else's culture?'," explained Lee. "I began to develop a theology based on our native culture. Hawaiian and Christian values are really quite similar, and both employ metaphor and story telling." A graduate of Kamehameha Schools, Kekapa majored in history at the University of Hawai 'i at Hilo. After serving in the army, he attended Fuller Theological Seminary in Califomia. Over the past decade, Kahu Lee has lead the congregation at Waiola and conducts monthly services at Kahakuloa Church on Maui's northem coast. He also teaches Christian education at the Kamehameha Schools elementary campus on Maui as a volunteer. "Waiola Church was founded in 1823, just three years after the arrival of the New England missionaries in Hawai 'i. At that time, Keōpūolani had taken ill at Waikīkī, and

desired to leam more about the 'palapala' (the holy scripture). Along with her teacher, a Tahitian convert named Tau 'ā, and missionaries Charles Stewart and William Richards, she set out for Lahaina to an area at the border of the Waiokama and Waine'e districts. There, in a grove of kou trees, a large hale pili was erected, and the preaching of the palapala began," Lee said. The original stone

building was completed in 1832 and seated nearly 3,000 on lau hala mats. Called "Ebenezer," that was eventually replaced with another, named Waine'e (moving water) Church for the land on whieh it stood. The constant blowing of the Kaua'ula gales from the uplands eventually damaged that building prompting kūpuna in the area to re-name the church Waiola, or "living water," whieh offered more stability than "moving water." The hand-cut lava rocks from the previous structure now comprise the church yard's surrounding wall. Waiola Cemetery on the southem end of the church grounds is rich in history; the graves of Kamehameha I's sacred wife and daughter, Keōpūolani and Nāhi'ena'ena, and otherroyalsareprominent. Commissioned by Princess Pauahi Bishop, the tombs are decorated by hālau hula, Hawaiian oiganizations, church-goers and the community. "The missionaries were really people of their time," continued Lee. "Their harsh attitudes really made it difiHcult for Hawaiians to

become a part of the church, or become baptized. Basically, the missionaries were the leaders, and the Hawaiians, including the ali'i, were not. Our ancestors worked very hard to be accepted by the church in light of the abolition of their traditional religious practices," he added. Today, Kahu Lee describes Waiola as a pu'uhonua or plaee of refuge. "Ourchurch is a plaee where you're accepted

unconditionally. We open our facilities to community groups to discuss important issues such as Hawaiian sovereignty and education. We are open to being considered as a site for a Pūnana Leo pre-school and encourage after school eultural programs too." Asked about sovereignty, he expressed commitment adding that at the time of the overthrow, thousands of Hawaiians left the Kalawina church in support of Queen Lili'uokalani. "In 1993, atthecentennial observance of the overthrow, the United Church of Christ (UCC) offered a formal apology to Hawaiians for iLs complicity in the overthrow of the Queen and paid $1.25 million in restitution, enabling the Hawai'i Conference of the UCC to establish the Pū'ā Foundation, a 501 e (3) organization dedicated to the church, community development and ho'oponopono," he said. "What we need today in our movement towards selfdetermination is solid leadership. I feel that Hawaiian churches ean be integral in righting past wrongs." ■

** I began to develop a theology based on our native culture. Hawaiian and Christian values are really quite similar, and both employ metaphor and story telling. w — Kahu Kekapa Lee

The names of Kamehameha family ali'i are memorialized amidst the graves of maka'āinana and missionaries at Waiola Cemetery. Kaumuali'i, last independent ruler of Kaua'i and Ni'ihau who married Oueen Ka'ahumanu after Kamehameha's death, is also buried here. Kekau'ōnohinui was a granddaughter of Kamehameha I, and Llliha was a nieee of Ka'ahumanu.

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