More than 53 years ago, as Hawaii was poised to become the 50th state, the Rev. Abraham Akaka of Kawaiaha‘o Church delivered a sermon stressing that "Hawaii has potential moral and spiritual contributions to make our nation and to our world."
Akaka gave the sermon on March 13, 1959, one day after the U.S. House of Representatives passed Hawaii’s statehood bill.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower officially proclaimed Hawaii the 50th state on Aug. 21, 1959. On Friday, Hawaii observed Statehood Day.
The sermon is included in the 86th Congressional Record, according to the Rev. Abraham Kahu Akaka Ministries Foundation. Following are excerpts of Akaka’s address of March 13, 1959, available in full at akakafoundation.org:
"‘One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all’ — these words have a fuller meaning for us this morning in Hawaii. And we have gathered here at Kawaiaha‘o Church to give thanks to God and to pray for his guidance and protection in the years ahead. …
"Yesterday, when the first sound of firecrackers and sirens reached my ears, I was with the members of our Territorial Senate in the middle of the morning prayer for the day’s session. … By the time I got back from the Senate, this sanctuary was well filled with people who happened to be around, people from our government buildings nearby. And as we sang the great hymns of Hawaii and our nation, it seemed that the very walls of this church spoke of God’s dealing with Hawaii in the past, of great events both spontaneous and planned.
"There are some of us to whom statehood brings great hopes, and there are some to whom statehood brings silent fears. … There are fears that Hawaii as a state will be motivated by economic greed; that statehood will turn Hawaii (as someone has said) into a great big spiritual junkyard filled with smashed dreams, worn-out illusions, that will make the Hawaiian people lonely, confused, insecure, empty, anxious, restless, disillusioned. …
"We need to see statehood as the lifting of the clouds of smoke, as an opportunity to affirm positively the basic Gospel of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. We need to see that Hawaii has potential moral and spiritual contributions to make our nation and to our world. The fears Hawaii may have are to be met by men and women who are living witnesses of what we really are in Hawaii, of the spirit of aloha. …
"Aloha consists of this new attitude of heart, above negativism, above legalism. It is the unconditional desire to promote the true good of other people in a friendly spirit, out of a sense of kinship. Aloha seeks to do good, with no conditions attached. We do not do good only to those who do good to us. One of the sweetest things about the love of God, about aloha, is that it welcomes the stranger and seeks his good. A person who has the spirit of aloha loves even when the love is not returned. And such is the love of God.
"This is the meaning of aloha. I feel especially grateful that the discovery and development of our islands long ago was not couched in the context of an imperialistic and exploitive national power, but in this context of aloha. There is a correlation between the charter under which the missionaries came — namely, ‘To preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to cover these islands with productive green fields and to lift the people to a high state of civilization’ — a correlation between this and the fact that Hawaii is not one of the trouble spots in the world today, but one of the spots of great hope. Aloha … shares the sorrows and joys of people; it seeks to promote the true good of others. …
"Let us affirm ever what we really are — for aloha is the spirit of God at work in you and in me and in the world, uniting what is separated, overcoming darkness and death, bringing new light and life to all who sit in the darkness of fear, guiding the feet of mankind into the way of peace."
