Park Street Church Services

Park Street Talk photo LM

Fielding questions about the Hawai‘i missionaries in the sanctuary of Park Street Church on Sunday, October 20. Panel included (from l.) Malia Kaai-Barrett (incredible singer) from Kawaiaha‘o Church, Margaret Bendroth, Executive Director Congregational Library in Boston, Pastor Kenneth Makuakāne from Kawaiaha‘o Church in Honolulu, Chris Cook Christian History of Hawai‘i Researcher. (Mahalo Leonard Mahoe for photo)

Park Street Church invited me to speak between services on Sunday, October 20, during the Hawai‘i Mission Bicentennial services held in the church’s sanctuary. An article covering the services was posted to NewBostonPost.com.

 

Hawai‘i Mission Bicentennial in New England

A month-long commemoration is underway across New England commemorating the departure of the Sandwich Islands Mission for Hawai‘i from the Park Street Church and the Long Wharf in Boston in October 1819.

A group from the Hawaiian Mission Houses is presenting across New England the one-man play My Name is ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia with top Hawai‘i actor Moses Goods in the title roll.

moses at AAS
Moses Goods performing My Name is ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts on Tuesday, October 8, 2019.

At the Congregational Library on Beacon Street in Boston, on Wednesday, October 9, 2019, I joined Moses Goods and Noelani Arista, author of The Kingdom and the Republic – Sovereign Hawai’i and the Early United States, in discussing the impact of ‘Ōpukaha‘ia on Hawai‘i and New England. This followed Moses’ performance.

final 3

Photo courtesy Carin Sommers
Christopher Cook speaking at the Congregational Library in Boston on Wednesday, October 9, 2019.

I am scheduled to speak at the Park Street Church in Boston on Sunday, October 20, between the morning services in the community hall at the church. I will be joinning Kahu Ken Makuakane of the Kawaiaha‘o Church.

The Hana Hou tour also starts on Sunday, October 20. I am serving as the interpretive guide for this week-long tour of historical sites linked to the Christian history of Hawai‘i and of New England.

Go to missionhouses.org for information on activities coming up during Hawai‘i Week in Boston October 17-23, 2019.

Watch for updates at www.obookiah.com on the exciting Hawai‘i Mission Bicentennial events coming up in Boston and beyond.

 

When Revival Swept Hawaii

Ulukukui Grove Pilaa Kauai 1830s
Image: Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Library
The Rev. William P. Alexander of the Waioli Mission Station, Hanalei, Kauai preaching to a native Hawaiian congregation in 1840 during the Great Revival

My article on the Great Revival in Hawai‘i led by the Rev. Titus Coan in the late 1830s has been published by Christianity Today magazine on their website, in the Christian History section. I am honored to have been given this opportunity. Mahalo to my friend Leon Siu for opening the door to this assignment. The famous Ulukukui grove at Pila‘a on Kaua‘i is pictured in the article. This site served as an open air church during the Great Revival with ministers from the Wai‘oli mission station traveling to Pila‘a to hold services amidst the largest kukui tree grove in the all the Hawaiian Islands.