Seed Flinging

Seed Flinging
Rev. Karla Miller The Eliot Church of Newton
July 10, 2011 OT10A Matthew 13:1-23

“To God BE the glory!”
It was the first hymn of the day at the Moku’aikaua congregation, the first Christian church in Hawaii. After the singing of the hymn, the worship leader, got up, wiped her eyes and shook her head while saying, “it’s so true, so true isn’t it” and then proceeded to lead us in prayer, ending with the Lord’s prayer, sniffing all the way through it. During the announcements, she invited visitors to a history talk about the first missionaries to Hawaii and the beginnings of the church in 1820. “Because of their mission, we are here in God’s love, and we believe the missionary spirit is still alive, and that God is going to awaken Hawaii again, and do great things!” I must confess that worship was a little over the top for us (we were scared there might be an altar call at the end, asking us to give our lives to Christ...) but I have to say the missionary spirit was alive in this tiny little church. The seeds of Christianity planted by the first missionaries definitely had taken root, and this modern congregation, well, was clear about it’s mission--which was the same at it’s founding: To make disciples of all people... Asa Thurston, the first pastor of the Moku’aikaua church, and his wife Lucy Goodale Thurston would be proud.

It’s an interesting story, about Lucy and Asa Thurston, great, great, great grandparents of my beloved spouse. They were in the first company of American Christian Missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands in the early 1800’s. However did they end up there?

The micro-condensed, short story goes something like this: A native Hawaiian, Opukahaia, was orphaned through orphan warfare. Opukaha'ia, who is thought to have been ten or 12 at the time, fled from the rampaging warriors carrying his infant brother on his back. A spear thrown by one of the soldiers found its mark, and the baby brother was killed. Opukaha'ia survived, but the same soldier who had killed his parents became his guardian for the next year and a half.

During this time, Opukaha'ia discovered that a kahuna (shaman) at a nearby temple was his uncle, so he was allowed to go to live with his grandmother and this uncle. While he was visiting an aunt in a nearby village, soldiers came to take her prisoner for some infraction of the kapu system, but Opukaha'ia once again survived by escaping through a hole in the grass hale (house). While he watched, a soldier threw this aunt over a pali (cliff) to her death. Opukaha'ia returned to the home of his uncle at Napo'opo'o where he was schooled in the rituals of the priesthood, so eventually he could take his uncle's place as a kahuna at Hiki'au Heiau, the same heiau where Captain James Cook had met his demise two decades earlier in 1779.

However, Opukaha’ia wrote in his memoirs that he felt he might be better off in a different world, and so he jumped aboard a sailing ship, along with a friend. On that ship, he became friends with one of the sailor, who taught him to read and write English, by using the Bible as a Primer. Eventually the ship was sold in New York, but the boys were invited to live with a merchant. They somehow ended up in Connecticut, where Henry’s faith deepened in Christianity as he continued his education, and told stories about Hawaii. He wrote in his memoir:
Hawai'i gods. They wood-burn. Me go home, put 'em in fire, burn 'em up. They no see, no hear, no anything. On a more profound note he added, We make them (idols). Our God-he make us.

In 1818 his stories (along with a few other companions) about the islands convinced the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to send a company to Hawaii. Asa Thurston , born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and Hiram Bingham I, with whom he was ordained, were selected as leaders of the group which included a farmer, physician, three teachers, and a few native Hawaiian assistants.

However, Asa needed a wife! It was a rule that no missionary could embark on a mission as a single person. A classmate of his suggested that his cousin Lucy Goodale might be interested in this missionary endeavor, and he arranged a meeting between Asa and Lucy and her family on September 23, 1819, in Marlboro MA. The next day, they got engaged, and three weeks later, they were married. 11 days after their wedding, the brig Thaddeus set sail for a five month voyage.

Alrighty. So, can I stop here and make a commentary? The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was a new concept in that day. Founded in 1812, they were attempting to do a new thing--cutting edge ministry, we would call it today. Perhaps like contemporary worship today? Or churches in movie theatres? However, in my humble opinion, it was much more risky to sail away for months to introduce Christianity to a completely different world.

Personally, though, I am wondering, what IS Lucy Thurston thinking?

This fascinating idea of foreign mission seemed to capture the imagination of many young people of the day. In her journal, dated September 18, and entitled “Remarkable Conversation”, Lucy Goodale described her conversations with her cousin William, who was overwhelmed with passion for this new ministry of foreign mission. In fact, for almost a year, he had been talking to Lucy about her personally engaging in the missionary enterprise. That very evening, he presented her with an opportunity: by marrying Asa Thurston, she could be a part of a new mission project.

The reality of this opportunity created deep unrest in her. She wrote in her journal about how she couldn’t eat or sleep, she didn’t have a close confidante with whom to sort her thoughts, and her family--well, they were remarkable! They left her to discern on her own--they didn’t want to influence her with whatever decision she made. I just note that Lucy’s father was a deacon in the congregational church, and a man of deep faith himself. To leave her family probably forever was huge--as it would be for any of us. However, her call was growing strong. She wrote:

“Dear to my heart are my friends and country. Yet all this side the grave, how transient!” the poor heathen possess immortant natures, and are perishing. Who will give them the bible, and tell them of a savior? Great as must be the sacrifices, trials, hardship, and dangers of such and undertaking, I said, “if God will grant His grace and afford an acceptable opportunity, Lucy and all that is hers, shall be give to the noble enterprise of carrying light to the poor benighted countrymen of the Sandwhich Islands...” After this decision, I could contemplate the subject with a tranquil mind and unnmoved feelings.” (Life and Times of Mrs. Lucy Goodale Thurston, p. 9)

Five days later, she and her family entertained Asa Thurston as a dinner guest.

Honestly, I have never been a fan of the concept of spreading the gospel to the poor heathen. Probably because I am a fan of ecumenism and interfaith dialogue. However, these first missions were rooted in a belief that those who did not know Christ would indeed perish in hell. Oh, and I ought to note, these were CONGREGATIONALists. From New England. Educated at Yale and Andover Seminary. That was their motivator--that there were others in other lands that had never heard a word of the Bible or the story of Jesus. Risking their lives, these missionaries were seed flingers--throwing the gospel out into the great unknown, and trusting that something would grow.

But, back to the story---this little band of missionaries landed at Kawaihae harbor on March 30, 1820. The sailors on the sailing ships weren’t so happy to see them---the Sandwich Islands were sort of a....fun wild port to come into (spreading diseases of all kind, mind you) and they knew that missionaries, well, would try to put a stop to all of the carousing and fornicating.

The interesting thing is that they were very polite. They anchored the ship, and Asa, and Hiram (the other pastor) went ashore to ask for permission from the king and queen mothers to start a mission. This took some time--but eventually, the king gave them permission to start a mission, but they only could stay a year.

The Hawaiian religion was polytheistic, and it wasn’t uncommon to practice human sacrifice. The strength of the religion was the system of kapu--or taboos. Kapu was incredibly misogynistic, imho. : Many of the taboos put women lower than slaves---for example, women were banned from eating certain foods, such as bananas and taro; men and women coudn’t eat together--just to name a couple of more lighthearted kapus. If anyone broke kapu, either they would instantly be struck dead by the gods, or by the gods’ helpers, who would throw them in a volcano or over a cliff, or......The Kapu system was quite rigid in the day of King Kamehameha I. He was married to Queen Ka’ahumano, who, shall we say, had a very strong personality, and wasn’t a fan of the kapu system. Neither was their son, Prince Liholiho--he was more of a party boy than anything. Just prior to the arrival of missionary ship Thaddeus, Kamehameha I was killed in warfare, and Liholiho took over the throne, but his mother really ran the kingdom.

Between the two of them, they decided to abolish kapu. Everyone was stunned, when one evening, Liholiho took his dinner plate and sat down with his mother to eat. Nothing happened. No fire from the mountain, nothing. The foundation of the hawaiian religion had been rocked, and by the time the missionaries got there, everybody was breaking kapu. Some of the male islanders even offered Lucy a banana , and she offered them biscuits in return. The Kapu system was gone.

So, the islands were ripe for the message of Christianity. For a different religion, or something to add to what was left of the Hawaiian religion, without the Kapus. Those seeds planted so long ago has made Christianity a vibrant faith on the Hawaiian Islands. (I realize there is a whole dark side to the missionary movement--the westernization, the colonization, the xenophobia, the domination, the white privilege. I will say that the UCC has made a formal apology for the harm caused by the missionary movement.)

Back to flinging seeds. Today, many of us (me, especially) cringe at active proselytizing of any sort. We don’t talk about the “poor heathen” unless we are talking about ourselves. We welcome interfaith dialogue, and believe there are many paths of God.

But what is our impetus to fling seeds? To reach out? To “go ye therefore? Flinging seeds requires a lot of risk, and a lot of faith, because you don’t really know what will grow and thrive. I imagine, as a congregation in the 21st century, we will be flinging a lot of seeds out there, to see what will “take” as we define “who is our neighbor, and how can we serve them?” I think it will be amazing to see what God will grow.
Amen.