Thought For The Week 5 March 2023

This weekend Brent, Luke, Andrea and myself have been travelling to Kaikōura for the Alpine Presbytery Gathering. While much of the business of Presbytery is conducted by Presbytery Council, and the Presbytery committees, once or twice a year we gather together for inspiration, big-picture thinking, and necessary business.

This time around both the inspiration and big-picture thinking will come from our guest speakers, Douglas Harema and Hana Seddon. They will be engaging us in a kōrero about what it means for us to be honouring our bicultural commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

You may be wondering, “What’s that got to do with us?” As I’ve matured as a Christian, I have realised more and more that following Jesus isn’t just about what I  privately believe, but is about engaging, with love, in the world that God so loves that  He sent his only Son. This is reflected in our parish’s deep commitment to caring for creation that goes back well before my time here. The same is true of engaging, with love, in the ways of being that are unique to our shores.

Whether our people have been here 12 years or 1,200 years, this whenua is the corner of creation that God has loved us into. Just as we can’t abstract ourselves from the physical reality of the world we live in, we cannot abstract ourselves from the cultural realities of our land. That means taking our covenant commitment to tangata whenua seriously. We do not lose anything from this, but gain, richly. Just as caring for creation enables us to draw closer to the Creator, so caring for our identity as peoples of this land will help us to draw closer to the One who loves us all.

Nga manaaki,

Rory