Thursday, July 25, 2013

Standing with our Whanaunga

On Sunday 7 July Kaeo congregation relocated for the day to the Te Ngaere Marae of Ngāitūpango. The Waitangi Tribunal was due to arrive in the afternoon to spend the week hearing evidence from Whangaroa Hapū. Te Ngaere is an important place in Whangaroa history, as for all of Ngā Puhi. It is remembered as the place of the first Whakaminenga (assembly) of the rangatira of the north, who gathered in response to the European newcomers so that they could strategise about how best to relate to them and get mutual benefit. Their deliberations were the basis for a number of communications, including meetings, with the Crown, as they sought to work directly as local sovereigns with the newcomers' sovereign in England.
In the morning, prior to the tribunal's arrival, all the supporting people of Ngā Puhi – Ngā Puhi Nui Tonu – were welcomed by the home people of Ngāitūpango. Our church congregation chose to be there because the Whangaroa hapū are our own people. We stand with them as their relations.
As I sat in the morning powhiri listening to the speeches of a number of people I now think of as friends, I was thinking of words I might have used to convey the greetings and love that we of Wesleydale Church brought, just by being there. The spirit of whanaungatanga, of being one people before the Creator (however we name the source of all that is) – that's what I carried in my mind and heart throughout that day and each time I was able to sit and listen at the Tribunal Hearing.
My thoughts began with the creator, which is where Māori whaikorero regularly begins.
He hōnore, he korōria ki te Atua, he maungorongo ki te whenua, he whakaaro pai ki ngā tāngata katoa.
Ko te mihi tuatahi ki te Atua Kaha Rawa, ki a Io, Io Matua Kore. Ko ia te Kaihanga o te ao me te pō, te Matua i mua i tōna mata he iwi kotahi tātou.
The purpose of the Tribunal hearing goes deep for our Whangaroa people – he kaupapa nui tēnei. Nō reira – therefore, our presence was one small way of acknowledging that, and of expressing our wish to be alongside as they took courage to speak of past and future, of pain and aspiration. Rural ministry has shown me that the only way to deal with hurt and loss is to face it, to bear to sit with it, and together work for a new season to come. It's also taught me the power and empowerment of solidarity.
I tae mai rā mātou mō te kaupapa hōhonu nei ki te tū kei taha i ō mātou whanaunga, ngā hapū o Whangaroa. E ngā whanaunga, e hoa, e hiahia ana mātou ki te awhi, ki te tautoko i tērā rā powhiri, i ngā rā e rima o te wiki Taraipiūnara, i ngā wā hoki e whai ake nei.
He wā ki te kōrero nei. He wā ki te whakarongo. Nō reira, tō mātou mahi ki te whakarongo. Ōku whakaaro, tōku titiro, e hia kē nei ngā hua nō tēnei kaupapa whakarongo, mō te oranga hei te iwi, mō te oranga hei te motu, te iwi me te tauiwi ngā tahi.
Na, anō te pai, anō te ahuareka o te nohoanga o ngā teina o ngā tuakana i runga i te whakaaro kotahi. (Psalm 133:1)
Through listening and continuing to listen to our Whangaroa relations, I've gained a glimpse of a future I hadn't dreamed of until now: well-being and livelihood on the land for people who belong there, who want to live on and with the land. And finding a way to this without adding injustice to what has already been an overdose of injustice.
If you are wondering how, take a listen to people of Whangaroa hapū. “Hearing people to speech” is something we can all do for those around us, just as we need to do for those dear to us. It's what relationship is about.
And if you are wondering why this “Rambling” has parts that not everyone will understand (some of you will say that is always the case when Robyn gets going!), the fact is that this newsletter goes out for all who are interested in our parish and community, and a number of them are first language Māori speakers. By only writing in English we perpetuate the situation in which part of our community is kept invisible. Its voice (reo) is kept silent.
Big apologies though to those for whom the reo is your reo: apologies for my faltering attempts to communicate with you. I think I understand when kaumatua friends apologise for their English, knowing that things that matter are spoken most clearly in the first language. Yet they persist, because it's important to do what we can to communicate one to another. I want to give that a go too.
Shalom, Robyn
Forgiveness means that I continually am willing to forgive the other person for not being God--for not fulfilling all my needs. I, too, must ask forgiveness for not being able to fulfill other people's needs.... When you forgive people for not being God, then you can celebrate that they are a reflection of God.                                                                                                    Henri Nouwen

Space for Change to Take Place

This is a bit of a re-ramble, as it's time to focus our vision again for the new facility in Kerikeri.
As our church website puts it:
Our decision to build is based on the belief that this can be a facility for the whole community.  The Kerikeri Union church congregation will, through regular worship and activities, provide heart and warmth for the building, but the vision is that it be the community's building.
When it came to decision time, when we saw the figures and how much had changed since we began five years ago, I know many felt it a daunting prospect: to spend all that money; to do something that cannot just be a reproduction of what we had before... For to be viable financially and in terms of being an effective mission operation in the local community, the new facility has to be utilised every day of the week. As the website says:
Our site at 144 Kerikeri Road beside the Heritage Bypass offers an exciting opportunity to build a church and community facility that will be both a hive of human activity and an oasis for reflection and spiritual uplift.
Can we do it? I believe we can, but I know we'll keep asking this question, because it is no automatic process “build the building and it will just happen”.
Peter MacKenzie, Executive Officer for our union parishes umbrella group, visited early this year and heard about our plans. He said that if it is to be a facility truly for the community, the community needs to share in its development. User groups and other community groups were consulted at the beginning of the project to assist with the brief for the design. Past user-groups are first on the contact list for joining us in the new building. But we can't just build and expect all to come. We need to convey a sense that it is their building not just ours.
We talked about this at a workshop in June last year where the quotation from Henri Nouwen alongside captured our attention. It is so easy to slip back into old habits, thinking that we are being hospitable because we say “everyone welcome”, and we do want people to come and join us (and be like us) and make our group bigger.
The vision for our facility doesn't preclude people coming and joining our church congregation or becoming part of the work we are doing as a church in our community. But that's not so much the focus as the likely flow-on effect. Like collateral benefit from us being people who are open and accepting and, before all else, offering a space for growth in personal and communal well-being.
Building the kingdom” means, for us, providing the space in which kingdom values – lives shaped by the Master Jesus – will flourish.
Go make disciples” means doing our bit to help God's spirit grow in people's hearts and minds. It's like we tend and care for the soil – a living, life-giving space – in which seeds can sprout and thrive.
I think of the new facility as community space where those who use it feel at home: space where people can be themselves, where things are happening, whether church-based or in other groups, that help people grow and develop in body, mind, and spirit.
It means a place which is common ground for all present, where the common good is at centre stage.
That is, not a church building that we let the community use, but a community building for which we act as kaitiaki. The church congregation will take responsibility to ensure the facility has a safe and welcoming spirit, as well as to maintain its physical environment and manage its shared use.
One other thing struck me as we made our formal decision on plans and the money. Our temporary accommodation has proved to be ideal to our current needs and for many who live in the vicinity it is very convenient. However the decision involved not just thinking about now, or the next few years. Here's how I've expressed my gratitude to the congregation for their future-directed, community-facing (and Christ-centred) decision:
Thank you especially to older members of the Kerikeri congregation, for whom the regular life of worship in the Ted Robinson Chapel is just ideal and could be seen as enough for your lifetime. The new facility is a vision that younger generations in the congregation are already very excited about. On behalf of the younger ones in your midst, thank you for being willing to be bold for the sake the future!
Shalom, Robyn
May 2013
Space for Change to Take Place
Hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. It is not to lead our neighbour into a corner where there are no alternatives left, but to open a wide spectrum of options for choice and commitment.

Source: Reaching Out by Henri Nouwen