Celebrating a Constitution on Matariki!

On Sunday I was asked to take the service and preach at St Peters Anglican Church at Mount Maunganui. For our church here in Aotearoa-New Zealand it was Te Pouhere Sunday, where we celebrate our church constitution. And it is Matariki - the Māori New Year. Here are the notes from my sermon where I try to hold them together to see how Matariki might help us celebrate who God calls us to be in this land at this time.

Celebrating a Constitution on Matariki!

 Mount Maunganui – Te Pouhere Sunday 2025

Readings:

Hebrew Scripture:       Isa 42:10-20  
Epistle:                      2 Corinthians 5:14-19
Gospel:                      Luke 6:46-49

 

What I want to say:
Have a conversation about Te Pouhere and why we might celebrate it
reflect on Matariki and what that might invite us to in this celebration
reflect on two of the readings and how they offer further insights
 
What I want to happen:
ask where do you hear the living God in all of this in your life as a parish

 The Sermon

     1.    Introduction:

today remember and celebrate/commemorate signing both our church constitutions
      first signed June 1857
      second – Te Pouhere in May 1992
  • ®   what do we know
  • ®   why celebrate it?
plenary

 2.    Matariki

this weekend also Matariki
-        Mānawatia a Matariki
not usual for these two events on same weekend
-        Easter was super late this year
want to offer a conversation between Matariki and Te Pouhere
For ngā iwi o Aotearoa – Matariki – or equivalent Puanga
-        important time look back and remember those who have died and give thanks
-        reflect on and celebrate the present, often with kai - food
-        and prepare for future – especially around harvests and other food supplies.
do these to help them thrive in future
è how Matariki might help us in our celebration of Te Pouhere

      3.    Remembering those gone before

Matariki traditionally been time remembering all died over previous year and releasing them
in terms of Te Pouhere
-        Matariki invites us to remember those who have gone before us
-        in this land
-        in Te Haahi Mihinare
-        and who have brought us to how we live the gospel as Anglican Church
One articles I read in preparation for today talked about importance of remembering all those Wayfinders gone before us
-        journeyed beyond their known horizons into the unknown
-        beyond their comfort zones and into their fears
®   invited to remember and give thanks for those who arrived on those first waka 800-1000 years ago
-        the first people here in Aotearoa

®   also missionaries (men and women) and their families left home to live here

®   settlers who have followed since

as we remember all these stories
®   invited to remember that the first church in this land was Māori
-        used only Te Reo Māori
-        operated largely in Te Ao Māori
-        while leadership was European
-        many of those involved in missionary work were Māori
o   a driving ethos within CMS at time was to create indigenous Anglican church
-        first Waiapu synods were all conducted in te reo Māori
o   almost everyone there were Māori
European settlers chose not to join that church and built their own churches
Invited to reflect on painful story of struggle for Māori to be able to:
-        shape their own life as te Haahi Mihinare
-        elect their own leaders
-        have their voice heard in the decision-making bodies like General Synod.
-        remember with gratitude and sorrow people like
o   Rota Waitoa
o   Henare Wiremu Taratoa

o   Sir Apirana Ngata

o   Bishop Frederick Bennett

o   Wiremu Panapa

o   Manuhuia Bennett

o   Whakahuihui "Hui" Vercoe

o   Brown Turei

 4.    Reflect on and Celebrate the Present

European settler story is not the only story of this land
-        or the only valid way of seeing the world
nor is it the only story of our church
-        or the only way of being church
invited to acknowledge that our understanding of church and seeing the world is often too small
te Pouhere invites us to have our minds expanded
-        maybe even blown
might more fully appreciate all that God is up to in God’s church
-        and in God’s world
-        all that God invites us to

     5.    An Example

One example of that is that
-        Traditionally the reappearance of Matariki signalled time prepare for kumara planting
-        also brightness of the various stars of Matariki gave important clues as to where best food supplies come over coming year

o   kumara

o   seafood for fresh water

o   food from bush including birds

-        Matariki reminds us of our inter-dependence on God’s creation
Te Pouhere gives a way for us to hear indigenous voice from Tikanga Māori and Tikanga Pasifika reminding us that we live in relationship with God’s creation
-        responsibility to not just use it as resource for short term economic gain
-        but as Pope Francis reminded us in Laudato Si

o   to care for and nurture creation in gratitude for God’s goodness to us so that all life, human and nonhuman might thrive.

-        our Pasifika siblings tell us of the cost of our broken relationship as they bear brunt of climate crisis.
Te Pouhere invites us to have our minds expanded
-        maybe even blown
might more fully appreciate all that God is up to in God’s church
-        and in God’s world
-        all that God invites us to

      6.    Scripture

for this Sunday offered texts do not hear any other time of liturgical year
Isaiah 42:10-20
words of hope and promise and responsibility to those in exile
Te Pouhere invited us to be people of hope
 
Luke 6:46-49
end of Luke’s version of Sermon on Mount – Sermon on Plain
-        addressed not to individuals but community those gathered
-        not instructions how to live our individual lives – as we often read it
-        how to live corporate life as God’s community
-        reminding us that what we do is a direct response to the God who alone gives us life
Te Pouhere is a response to what we experience God is doing already
response to work of Spirit in our giving thanks and repentance, and looking forward
-        invited us reshape our foundations as Te Haahi Mihinare
-        as we respond to God’s invitation in our midst

      7.    Look to the future

Te Pouhere invites us to bigger considerations than our survival as a church
Hear different voices
to be more than we are
Te Pouhere literally means post that 3 waka are tied to
Three Tikanga relationships are like three threads that are weaved together
suggest that rope ties our three canoes/waka together
form strange trimaran
®   where we might learn from each  other
®   hear God in voices of those we are tied to
®   -> we might become God’s Wayfinders today
®   navigating strange cultural waters we find ourselves in
®   hearing invitation to

o   journey beyond our known horizons into the unknown

o   beyond our comfort zones and into our fears

      8.    Final Question

ask where do you meet the living God in all of this in your life as a parish?


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