Thoughts on Pentecost
Bosco
Peters reminds us that Pentecost is the last day of Easter. “Easter,
Ascension, and Pentecost do not form three seasons. The Easter Season
celebrates the three dimensions of the resurrection, ascension, and the sending
of the Spirit. These fifty days, a seventh of the year, form our great
"Sunday" of the year. Just as Sunday is the first and the eighth day,
so the "great Sunday" of the fifty days of Easter begins with the day
of the resurrection and continues through eight Sundays, an octave of Sundays,
a "week of weeks."[1]
Today
also marks the birth of the church, when a group of terrified men and women
were given the strength, courage and wisdom to continue Jesus’ ministry of
living God’s love for all. Because of the events we remember today this group
who hid behind locked doors took the gospel through Persia to India, North
Africa and down to Ethiopia, north to Armenia and beyond, and west to Rome.
Many were martyred. We stand on their shoulders today.
Another
miracle of Pentecost is people heard the gospel being proclaimed in their own
language. Generally religions worship in the language of the founder. For Jews that is Hebrew. But from the
beginning God’s Spirit led the disciples to preach and pray in all languages. God
met people in their own language and culture. Today we understand this to mean
that the risen Christ in present in all cultures, waiting for his followers
(us) to join in God’s mission.
Over the last week, in our lectionary, we have
remembered missionaries who took the gospel around Aotearoa, and particularly
around our Diocese. They are all Maori.[2] It
began on Monday 13th when we commemorated
Ihaia Te Ahu of Nga Puhi. We
continued with a series of commemorations of Maori Christians chosen from many
Maori Christians of their time as representative of the outstanding Maori
witness that caused the gospel to be sown and to take root in many parts of Aotearoa.
Ihaia was one of the earliest of the Maori clergy. He went with Thomas Chapman
of the Church Missionary Society to Rotorua and then to Maketu. On Chapman’s
retirement in 1861 Ihaia was ordained, serving first in Maketu and then in 1882
becoming the first vicar of the Ohinemutu Pastorate. Ihaia’s godly, patient
ministry in complex and challenging circumstances was very influential. He died in 1895.
On Tuesday 14th we remembered Ngakuku, father of Tarore, and a
Ngati Haua chief of the Waikato. He accompanied Archdeacon A.N. Brown on some
missionary journeys and also became a missionary in his own right in the Bay of
Plenty, Urewera, and East Coast areas. He was involved in pioneer work in the
Opotiki area. After the tragic death of his daughter Tarore in a raid in 1836,
he was able to forgive those who took her life and encouraged others to do
likewise.
Wednesday 15th was the commemoration of Piripi Taumata-a-kura of Ngati Porou. Piripi was responsible
for introducing the gospel to his people in the East Cape area in the early
1830s. He had been influenced by the gospel in the north, and on his return had
taught and preached, using short prayers and hymns, referring to Bible texts
written on scraps of paper. He successfully negotiated restraint based on
Christian principles in an inter-tribal battle in 1836. He gained great mana
among his people and eventually made the way possible for a missionary training
team of nine young Maori from Paihia to carry on his work.
Te Wera, a Nga Puhi chief was remembered on Thursday 16th. Te
Wera settled at Mahia on the East Coast, creating peace with his former enemies
there and providing a mantle of protection and solidarity throughout a large
part of Ngati Kahungunu. Because of the peace and order he introduced,
hospitality towards missionaries became possible. By the time of his death in
1839 an indigenous Maori Christian mission was growing within the kinship
networks of the area.
On Friday May 17 we commemorated Wiremu Te Tauri, Missionary in Wanganui,
and Tamihana Te Rauparaha, son of Te Rauparaha and Missionary to Te Wai
Pounamu on Saturday May 18th.
At this Pentecost may we pray for the courage, strength and wisdom of
these our tipuna in Te Haahi Mihinare, and join the Risen Christ in God’s
mission.
[1]
Bosco Peters, on Easter is 50 Days. < http://www.facebook.com/events/259012627567219/>
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