Firstly; let me begin by thanking the people of Opoho for the
invitation to St Marks to join you in todays service. It is always wonderful
when we get together as southern Presbyterians to share in our common worship.
I call St Marks, Pinehill, Gods little green acre in Dunedin, so thank you from
us.
Secondly, congratulations to everyone here today for having the
Treaty of Waitangi as the theme for todays service. Last year Margaret invited
me to take part in service at Opoho to mark the occasion of the signing of the
Treaty of Waitangi. It has taken 12 months to get here, let’s just say we took
the scenic route from Pinehill to Opoho, but we are here, and it is wonderful
to be here as last century I was a member of this church. I was a student at
the Theological Hall and I lived around the corner. No student wanted to come
to Opoho as the majority of our teachers were members of this parish but I took
it as challenge and I survived.
Luke
4: 21 – 30:
Survival is something that Jesus seems to be struggling with in
todays text. Nazareth was a small town at that time with a population of about
500 people. In a town that size everyone knows everyone. In this reading they
know him as Josephs son. In the same reading in another Gospel he is Joseph and
Marys son so they certainly know him and his family connections. He would have been no stranger in the
Synagogue it would have been his family church. Then he goes into the
synagogue, reads the scroll and says today it has been fulfilled in your
hearing. He gets into a bit of a debate and they throw him out.
They say a prophet is without honour in their own hometown. Its
sought of an unwritten rule in many churches that when you become a minister
you do not return to you home parish as a minister and its based on this
reading, that Jesus was rejected in his home town when he began his ministry.
In my first year as a minister I was posted to my home church, I
questioned the wisdom of that decision quoting this reading of Jesus being
rejected in his hometown. My Mother responded to me in the meeting saying: Your
not a prophet boy, you a minister, now get over here! Any thoughts I had of
being a prophet went out the window, I was a minister and still very much……….the
boy!
I think you see that in the reading when they ask isn’t this
Josephs son? Put into todays language it would come out something like….hey aren’t
you that kid who use to hang around with his old man one his building jobs?
I use to get that all the time….hey, aren’t you Millie’s boy? Yip,
Jesus know the feeling mate.
I talked with my mentor at the time the Rev Tom Hawea about going
home as the minister, actually as his minister. He said to me look at that
passage again. Its at the beginning of his ministry. He’s just been baptised,
he’s survived the temptations, he then goes home to start his ministry, where
better to start then with your own family.
Yet in my eight years in my home parish as their minister it was
the most rewarding time of my ministry. I grew up with a number of people as my
minister when I returned home, they had retired and I became their minister.
That was truly a humbling experience ministering to those who had ministered to
you when you were a child.
I got to ordain my sister as an Elder, ok we fought like cats and
dogs as brothers and sisters do. Every time we had a disagreement in our
teaching sessions, I would say……excuse me I’m the minister here…my sister would
say…yes your my minister but, I’m your big sister and big sisters are always
right!
I got to ordain my uncle, 6 cousins and one nephew as Amorangi
ministers,
I got to baptise all my own grand-children. At the 75th
anniversary of the parish I did some baptisms, 75 in one day, all nephews and
nieces.
I use to tell people I had the greatest job in the world, I work
with my own family and I get paid to do that.
After that I was prepared to confidently go into the world knowing
that I could handle whatever challenges came my way.
Jesus had a set agenda and a set timeframe in which to achieve his
task and I guess that’s why he had to move on from his hometown and couldn’t hang
around a bit longer. Yet this issue of hometown, family, belonging, rejection
is something he continues to struggle with. A few chapters on his Mother and
brother arrive to take him home as they think he is mad making all these
outrageous claims. He responds by redefining what it means to be his family, my
mother, my brothers are those who hear the word of God then go out and do it.
Three days from now we mark the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi
in Waitangi. This is the second time I have not been there. I always had parts to
play in Waitangi, in the powhiri onto the lower Marae, in the dawn ceremony and
in the Ecumenical service. Totally loved my time there. In spite of what you
see on TV it was always a special peaceful time, the protests only lasted for
5-10minutes when the Prime Minister arrived regardless of what political party
was in power. As soon as the Prime Minister was gone everything went back to
normal.
The dawn ceremony was started by a Kaumatua from the East Coast,
Tom Te Maro. One-year things got a bit out of hand and Tom said to everyone,
the first thing we should be doing is everyone getting together (protestors,
local people, visitors and politicians) on Waitangi morning before the sun
rises to get ourselves right with God. We did and it set the agenda for years
to come. Until someone asked the politicians to pray, that was a mistake. The
Prime Minister would begin his prayer….dear God…can I just say that as the
government of this country……the leader of the opposition would pray….dear
God….can I just say that if we are elected the government, we will honour the
Treaty by low cost housing, affordable heath care etc. It was quite painful
listening to the politicians praying, someone should seriously teach them how
to pray.
The Treaty of Waitangi is very much about redefining what it means
to be a country….to be New Zealander’s (how every you may want to pronounce Noo
Zeelanders or Nea Zelanders) or kiwis! As Churches we had an important part to play
in Feb 6 1840, in translating the Treaty into both languages, in translating
the speeches on the day, answering questions, in seeking further signatures
around the country.
I once submitted an idea that I called the Presbyterian Gift to the
Treaty, my suggestion was to establish a Heads of Churches Body (Anglican,
Roman Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian) and every time the Crown and Iwi
got into dispute, as they always do and always will, then both sides come
together with the Heads of Churches to work through their differences. Got
great support from the Churches except they wanted to know why are you
Presbyterians there, you weren’t there in 1840! Didn’t get any support from the
Crown but I did get quite a bit of support from Iwi who thought it was an idea
worth considering.
They say that Presbyterians weren’t there at Waitangi in 1840 which
is correct but one of our ideas from a Presbyterian minister in Australia was
worked into the Treaty, the right of Crown pre-emption in land sales. John
Dunmore Laing knew that there were many shady land deals prior to 1840 and he
wanted all land sales prior to 1840 ruled invalid and investigated. The right
of pre-emption is in the Treaty, so I call that the Presbyterian gift to the
Treaty of Waitangi.
I also say that the Presbyterian Church is the Church of the
Treaty. The Treaty was signed on 6 Feb 1840, the first Presbyterian Scottish
settlers arrived in Wellington on 20 Feb 1840, 2 weeks after the Treaty was
signed. We were certainly in Wellington when the Treaty arrived there in April
that year to be signed. In the following 179 years the Treaty and the
Presbyterian Church have grown side by side and we certainly do have a rich
history of the Treaty within our Church. Its mentioned in our Book of Order,
which makes it a constitutional relationship within our church, and as it is in
the Book of Order, we simply cannot side-step it the Treaty no matter how much
we may want to.
A classic example of this engagement is here today with Maurice
Andrew and Simon Rae, who engage with the Treaty and what it meant when they
were in leadership positions at the Theological Hall. Maurice engaged with the
Jim Irwin and the Wananga a Rangi and Simon had Sonny Riini who was the Maori
cultural teacher to the Church. I’m sure they would have stories to tell.
We do have a rich and proud history as a Church with the Treaty of
Waitangi, something we should never forgot and certainly something we should
always honour and celebrate on Feb 6 every year.
Now just to let you know my next service at St Marks is 17 Feb and
my theme is celebrating Scottish Presbyterianism. The Treaty is 179 years old
this month and so is Presbyterianism in this country and we will be trying our
best to sing Scottish hymns and to say the Lords Prayer in Scottish Gaelic
(thanks Pam).
I’m so glad that I have been able to celebrate the Treaty today
here with Opoho and St Marks and when it gets to Wednesday, think I will stay
home and watch TV and enjoy our balmy weather.
God bless you all.
Rev Wayne Te Kaawa
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