Standing on Te Ranga, longing for a better way.

We can bring a number of emotions to our gathering this week.

Yesterday, Saturday we remembered the Battle of Te Ranga, the follow up to the battle here at Pukehinahina. This was a short sharp and deadly battle with left between 110-150 Maori dead, including Henare Wiremu Taratoa and Rawiri Puhirake. In our church calendar we remember Taratoa on Saturday, the day of his death. The loss of life, particularly that of kaumātua in this battle led nga iwi o Tauranga Moana to surrender shortly afterwards. This in turn resulted in significant land confiscations, which in turn resulted in both the loss of mana and the economic base of life for Maori. That loss and the socioeconomic effects of these events are still felt today.

Sadly these events also led to the end of Te Haahi Mihinare (The Maori Anglican Church) in this region. It was said that Maori were taught to look up to heaven in prayer and when they looked back down the Europeans had taken their land. All this leaves me (John) feeling angry that this happened, sad that Maori have been subjected to such loss and deprivation, sad that Browns hard work was nullified over night, and hopeful that because we are willing to own these stories we might do better in the future.

Today, Sunday, is Te Pouhere Sunday, a day we celebrate our church constitution. It seems appropriate this year that this commemoration is on this Sunday. Our constitution was born out of stories like this. For those Maori who stayed within our church, there was a long desire to have more authority over what Anglicanism might look like among tangata whenua. It was born when we as Anglicans understood our role in the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its sacred importance for our land and our church. Many still find our “new” arrangement confusing, and some still find it objectionable. Others find hope by the promise held in Te Pouhere, and long for the day we fully live it out

One of those who inspired the writers of Te Pouhere was Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipi Te Waharoa, who we remember on Monday, the anniversary of his baptism. Tamihana, a Ngati Haua chief, became a Christian under the influence of Alfred and Charlotte Brown. He dedicated his life to peace-making, both with the traditional enemies of his tribe and with the new European settlers. He played a key role in creating te Kingitanga as a means of establishing mechanisms of peace, and creating ways in which Maori and European could live in peace side by side, neither one dominating the other, each benefiting the other. He is known as a prophet and as Kingmaker.

Wiremu Tamihana is someone who lived the gospel. His faith shaped his involvement at every level of New Zealand society. He was not willing to settle for the way things were, within his own society or in his people’s relationship with the newcomers. He longed for a better way built on Christ’s peace and justice. He invites us to long with him, to face the tragedy of the story of this land over the last 200 years, and to join with people like Taratoa, other Maori Anglican leaders, and those who wrote Te Pouhere. We are invited to work with them to find a better way for us to live into the future.