50171
By Keith Brake
Montezuma Magazine editor
Linda and I watched the news come on last week, and they showed a “breaking news” video of a raging fire.
“Wow, that looks like Lahaina,” I said.
I have been there more than once. Mostly wooden, one-story Front Street in Lahaina, Maui, was as unmistakable to me as the steel and glass skyline in the heart of downtown Des Moines.
“Was” is the operative word. Front Street remains, but the buildings on either side of it are ash.
Montezuma and Front Street in Lahaina have or had at least one thing in common: A United Methodist Church. So, what I’m attempting to do here is localize an international story with something we can identify with.
About 40 years ago, I was amidst a seven-year hitch as coach of a women’s softball team in Illinois. The idea came up of having an exchange visit with a Hawaiian team.
The idea had legs, and we wound up matched with a team from Lahaina.
We went there first. They came to the mainland the next year.
I remember hearing screams of joy from some of our players when they walked into their hotel rooms. I’ll never know how the native Hawaiian hostesses pulled it off, but they had put our girls in an oceanside resort.
Na Honolua was a slow-pitch team. We were fast-pitch. We agreed to play a slow-pitch/fast-pitch doubleheader, in a park in the middle of Lahaina.
We practiced slow-pitch and thought we’d be decent. We were not! When it came time for the fast-pitch game, our first batter drew a base on balls, and didn’t stop runnning until she reached third base!
So, to be competitive, the girls had to play other games.
The Hawaiian girls played barefoot. And with big smiles. Always, the biggest smiles. The lasting impression I got was that they found a way to inject joy into just about everything they did.
The next day they took us to a beach up on the north end of Maui, one that I think only the locals knew about. They treated us to a real native Hawaiian luau.
If you go to Hawaii and have a chance to attend a hotel luau, jump at it. The real thing is well, . . .raw. And possibly. . . alive. (But the side dishes were great!)
The next year, the girls’ trip to the mainland was their first. We put both teams on a float that went down State Street in a local festival.
The Hawaiian girls marveled at acre after endless acre of corn. And in being in a parade.
We got them introduced on the field before a White Sox game. They gawked at the Chicago skyline. Again, squeezing the most out of every living moment.
We were from two different worlds, but we were united by balls, bats and gloves – and by being under an American flag.
Today, I’m wondering if any of them were involved in the Lahaina Fire.
The United Methodist Church in Lahaina was located right smack on Front Street, pretty close to the edge of the worst burn zone. It was a 102-year-old wooden building, with native trees and plants in the church yard, along with flowers.
Long steps led down to Front Street. On the opposite side of the street: A short stone wall, then the Pacific Ocean. A huge breakwater shields Lahaina Harbor and the town from towering waves.
The church burned down to its brick foundation.
The good news is that the congregation has a head start on rebuilding. They wanted to do some refurbishing at the church, so they had some money saved.
The pastor, John Crewe, says Lahaina United Methodist has a service ministry of providing a temporary church home to many island visitors. He starts the service by blowing into a conch shell, rather than ringing a bell.
Last week, he added what’s below to the top of the church website’s landing page:
“As the shock of witnessing the damage from the Lahaina Fire begins to wear off, we will now endure waves of grief. I really don’t have the words to express the grief I am feeling now.”
“With the grief, however, I detect a lifeline of hope. I know that my church has never been just the building; the building was cared for lovingly by you, my beloved church ohana (extended family).”
“You are the church and I am honored to be your pastor. My focus now is ministering to you, wherever you have been scattered, holding on to Jesus’ words in John 16:33: ‘In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.’”