爱玛王后。在这张照片中爱玛穿着寡妇的衣服。照片拍摄于伦敦。1865年爱玛前往伦敦拜访维多利亚女王。（主教博物馆资料室）

很久很久以前……

很久很久以前，有一个蓝色和绿色组成的脆弱星球，它的名字叫地球。在这个星球上，在一片浩瀚的湛蓝海洋中央，有一个火山岛。岛上面对灿烂夕阳的西面山坡上，矗立着一座小小的红屋顶教堂。如果站在教堂的前门远眺大海，你的视线首先要穿过一个墓地的墓碑。我们的故事就从这个墓地开始。

在这里，在这个别离生命的地方，我们庆祝新的生命。新的生命？难道不是逝去的生命吗？不是的。这是复活节的早上。美丽芬芳的夏威夷花环垂落在墓碑上。点缀在墓碑、凯尔特十字架和嵌在地里的石碑之间的，是无数的复活节彩蛋。在这个特别的早晨，孩子们穿着黄色、粉色和淡紫色的衣服，像复活节彩蛋一样色彩缤纷。他们兴高采烈地在祖先们长眠的地方跑来跑去。你能想象他们的祖先们会多么高兴吗？生命的轮回在这里有了片刻的联结，这是古老的灵魂和新生的天真生命的重逢。

聚集在这个小小的乐园里的，是很多来自不同时空的见证者。我会成为他们的故事的收集者，一个编织记忆的人。我会整理这些故事，慢慢抽丝剥茧。

就像很多古老的故事一样，我的故事中也有一位王后：爱玛王后。正如童话故事中美丽善良的王后那样，她也热爱她的人民，总是想要给他们最好的。于是她让人建造了这座教堂，这座小小的，位于一片蔚蓝中央的火山岛山坡上的教堂。英国国教传统中的优雅和庄严深深吸引了爱玛王后。在教堂内部拱顶上刻着一句话，“以圣洁的美敬拜上帝”。这句话帮助我们铭记过去。

这座教堂有143年的漫长历史。不是每个进入教堂的人都从此过上了幸福的生活。在他们的故事中，我看到了不公、丑闻、心碎，甚至是谋杀。然而如果你后退一步，观察整体的画面，就能看到它们之间的无数联系。

我们现在转过身，面对这座小教堂。拾阶而上，从教堂的前门走进去。一开始进入教堂我们会觉得里面太昏暗，什么都看不见，这是因为外面的热带阳光太过强烈。不过只要过一会儿，我们的眼睛就会适应从彩色玻璃窗户透进来的光线，这时我们就能看到教堂内部的格局。

这座教堂有11个窗户，左右3个窗户和木座椅平行排列，两个窗户在唱诗台的两边，还有3个窗户位于圣坛上方。靠近门口的第一个窗户的彩色玻璃表现的是基督教来到夏威夷的情形。基督教最先到达的地方就是这里的凯亚拉凯库阿海湾。《彩色玻璃窗户》小册子的作者写道：“最先来到这里的是夏威夷人。他们驾着独木舟，依靠浩库帕阿（北极星）和浩库里阿（大角星）导航，就像智者跟随着他们的星星。很多年以后，马里希尼（新来的人）坐着大船来到这里，开启了一个新的时代。他们的风帆看起来就像夏威夷新年用的旗幡。第一次基督教活动在凯亚拉凯库阿海湾进行。巧合的是凯亚拉凯库阿的意思是上帝的通道。”

离这里不远处就是夏威夷人和西方文明的代表第一次接触的地方。举行基督教活动的当天，库克船长也在场。我们通过他的太平洋航海日志能看到土著对白人水手的反应。大堡礁的土著相信他们是体型巨大的婴儿，新西兰人以为他们是地精。但是夏威夷人相信，驾驶带着风帆的巨型船只的库克船长是神明。

这有什么可奇怪的呢？毕竟夏威夷人还处于半石器时代。他们虽然学会了耕种和蓄养家畜，但是这些年轻的岛屿上没有铜，没有任何金属。这在很大程度上限制了他们的技术发展。库克带来了几千年文明凝结的智慧：希腊人、罗马人、阿拉伯人、希伯来人和基督徒的智慧，以及数学、科学和医学知识，还有文艺复兴和启蒙运动的成果。他也带来了青铜时代、铁器时代和工业革命初期的技术。这些都是几千年来人类的发明创造。船上的钉子、轮子、枪、刀、大炮、望远镜、镜子、钟，对前来迎接他们的夏威夷人来说，都是做梦也想不到的东西。他们与夏威夷人的第一次接触影响巨大。当然这些影响有好有坏，但是我们不必先忙着下结论。夏威夷人感受到了神秘和奇迹，对这些远道而来的人无比崇拜。他们热情地欢迎库克船长和他的水手，向他们献上最珍贵的礼物。

Once upon a time, there was a fragile blue and green planet named Earth. On this planet, in the middle of a vast turquoise liquid, was a volcanic island. On the western slope facing the pink sunset, was a tiny church with a red roof and a pointy steeple. If you stand at the front door to gaze at the sea, you must look through the headstones of a cemetery. Our story begins in the cemetery.

Here, in this place of departures, we celebrate new life. New life? Don't I mean past life? No. It is Easter morning. Lovely, fragrant flower leis(1) are draped over the headstones. Dotted in, and around, and behind the Celtic crosses and the marble makers, are Easter eggs. This one special morning the children--dressed in yellow, pink and lilac, just like the eggs-- wander over the graves of their ancestors with delight. Can you imagine the pleasure those ancestors might feel as well? The circle connects for a few moments, a symbolic reuniting of old souls with young innocent life.

Here, in this tiny piece of paradise, is a cloud of witnesses freed from time and space. I shall be a gatherer of their stories, a weaver of memories. I shall sort them out and tease out the tangles.

Like so many old stories, our story has a queen in it: Queen Emma. Like good and beautiful queens in fairy tales, she loved her people and always wanted the best for them. So she had this church built--this tiny church on the slope of the volcano in the middle of the liquid blue. Queen Emma saw in the Anglican tradition a grace and dignity that she found irresistible. On a high arch inside the chapel are the words, "Warship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." These words help us remember.

The church has stood for 143 years. Not everyone who enters in lives happily ever after. In their stories I hear of in justice, of scandal, of hurt feelings, even of murder. But if you stand back, far enough away to see the whole tapestry, you can see threads of grace, silken threads that hold it all together.

Let us turn around now and face the little church. Climb the steps and enter the double doors. It seems too dark at first to see anything because we have just come in from the tropical daylight. After a moment our eyes adjust to the dim light coming in from the stained glass windows, and we begin to see a doll house of a chapel.

There are eleven windows, three on each side lining the rows of wooden pews, two next to the north choir stall, and three up high above the altar. The first one, closest to us by the door, acknowledges the coming of Christianity to Hawaii. Christianity actually arrived right here, in our own Keylakekua Bay. The writer of the Stained Glass Windows pamphlet explains:

First came the Hawaiians in their sailing canoes, using the stars, Hokupa'a(the North Star) and Hokule'a(Arcturus) for navigation, much like the wise men once followed their star. Many years later, the malihini(newcomers)came to the islands in talk ships and started a new era, their sails resembling the Makahiki Banner. The first Christian service was held on the shore of Keylakekua Bay. It is mysterious irony that the words Ke-ala-ke-kua mean Pathway of the God.

Near here is the place of first contact between the Hawaiians and the representatives of Western Civilization. Captain James Cook was one of those there that day. We know from journals kept on his voyages through the Pacific how other indignous islanders reacted to the white sailers. The Aboriginal people of the Great Barrier Reef believed them to be overgrown babies. The New Zealanders thought they were goblins. But the Hawaiians believed that Captain Cook, in his magnificent ship with sails like wings, was a god.

Why is anyone surprised? The Hawaiians lived in a semi Stone Age society. They did have agriculture and had learned to domesticate animals, but there was no copper, no metal on these very young islands. This seriously limited their technological development. Cook brought wisdom from thousands of years of culture: Greek, Roman, Arabic, Hebrew and Christian, the world of mathematics, science and medicine, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment. He also brought all the technology of the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the beginning of the industrial revolution, literally thousands of years of human invention. On the ship were such things as the nail, wheel, gun, knife, canon, spy glass, mirrors, clocks, things beyond the wildest imaginations of the Hawaiians who greeted them. That first contact was a mighty meeting! Good and bad would both surely result, but let us not get ahead of ourselves. Mystery and wonder were certainly present! Full hearts and thanksgiving all around. The Hawaiians gave abundantly of their hospitality, gave without reserve, offered their beautiful gift of aloha.

（1）lei 夏威夷花环。不管是鲜花、树叶还是种子制作的花环都统称lei。