Thought For The Week 25 June 2023

Kia ora te whanau!

As you are no doubt aware, we are coming into the season of Matariki. Perhaps five or ten years ago I don’t think that I’d ever heard of Matariki, and now we have a public   holiday to celebrate.

Many of our public holidays in Aotearoa/New Zealand revolve around the church   calendar – Christmas and Easter being the major ones. In fact the word “holiday”     itself could just as easily be spelled “Holy Day”.

So, as Christians, how should we consider this new holiday? What relationship, if any, does it bear to our faith?

It would be wrong to assume that Matariki itself should be considered a Christian festival. Neither would it be right to “take over” and appropriate Matariki as a church event.  Even so, there are aspects of Matariki celebrations that resonate with Gospel values, that I believe we can celebrate as people of Christ and people of this place.

Matariki is a time for remembrance, and a time for celebration and thanksgiving.

Matariki is a time for sharing what we have, for caring for others, and a time for planting for the new season.

As we enter this season in our land, I invite you to reflect:

• Who will remember before God?
• What will you celebrate from the year gone by?
• How can you be a blessing to others?
• What is God planting in your life for the new season ahead?

Many blessings,

Rory