Commissioning of the Reverend Michael Hughes as General Secretary
of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia:
Te Hahi Mihinare ki Aotearoa, ki Nui Tireni, ki Nga Moutere o te Moana Nui a Kiwa
Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland
9 March 2010
Homily by Archbishop David Moxon
Romans 13:10-14
Matthew 5:1-14
“The builders of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia”
I runga i te ingoa o Te Matua, Te Tama, me Te Wairua Tapu
It is right to meet for this commissioning, in a building like this, dedicated to expressing the
diversity and the art of a three tikanga church, because a General Secretary in a church like
this is faced with a unique set of complexities and opportunities. What spirituality do we
need?
We need to be challenged by the first beatitude from tonight’s Gospel: “Blessed are the
poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”. This means that we need to be open to
the riches that come from other perspectives and that when these riches are pooled together
in robust discussion we may all be enriched. Being poor in Spirit means that there is room
beyond my ego for the treasures that belong to us all. This is particularly true when the
different cultures of a three tikanga church interweave and enrich each other.
Grief or tears should not be withheld; a General Synod Office at the nerve centre of this
three tikanga church is not the place where some of the deepest pain of the Church should
be staunched. This could be a kind of weakness or vulnerability which did not belong in a
house using the Westminster method of meeting and debate. But we need to be challenged
by the beatitude “Blessed are those who mourn, for will be comforted.” This means that the
deepest feelings of the Church can belong in the household of Faith. Grief or tears are not
only possible but sometimes necessary given the depth of the suffering we are called to
understand and to respond to, both in ourselves and in the world.
You may have sometimes noticed in the heat of debate in General Synod the temptation to
get into point scoring, which can turn into what feels like a personal diminution of another
person... It becomes easy to play the person and not the ball. When ever this is done, as well
as in front of a large community of people it can have long lasting consequences. But we are
challenged by the beatitude “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth.” This
means an open act of respect for others as a first principle, without being a door mat.
Respectfulness of the other, even when strongly engaging in robust disagreement is a
hallmark of Christian discourse: we are inter relating together as members of Christ’s body,
made in the image of God: we are called to treat each other sacramentally.
In the midst of the political intensity of some official church business, you may have sometimes
noticed that we end up thinking about expedient solutions or compromises which may lack any
principle. When we do this we are challenged by the beatitude “Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” This means that standing up for
what is right is a key to the integrity of the a three tikanga church. The alternative is a kind of
emptiness or nothingness which is devoid of the Spirit of God.
We are challenged by the beatitude “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive Mercy”
We are not here to take advantage, or to stifle forgiveness when advantage has been taken of
us: we are called to enlarge our soul’s to be bigger than that, called and inspired by the infinite
compassion of God in Christ.
The business of a General Synod Office can preoccupy the mind with a thousand details
and distractions: this is the nature of our order paper and our reports as a whole years busy-
ness concentrates together. But we are challenged by the beatitude “Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God.” This means an uncomplicated, single focused gaze towards
God ... an open heart, receptiveness to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit that come deep
within. This can purify our thinking in the midst of many Babel voices in our heads.
The debate structure of a General Synod means that motions succeed or fail by simple
majority, sometimes leaving even large minority opinion feeling compromised or even
disenfranchised. The process can feel combatorial and involve a war of words. When we get
into this we are challenged by the beatitude “Blessed are the peace makers, for they will be
called Children of God”. This can mean reaching out with an olive branch, healing enmity and
looking for fair and safe reconciliation. The challenge from the beatitude is to speak in a way
that does not attack, but invites others to respond rather than retaliate and which fosters
some measure of shalom. When you point the finger at someone else it is always helpful to
remember that three more fingers are pointing back at you.
The beatitude calling us to hunger and thirst for righteousness reminds us that we are called
to stand up for what is right with a passion. To avoid the difficult questions or to approach
them casually or pre-emptively is fatal in a church set in today's fluid modern world.
The world and its ways teach us a message that is in strong contrast to the politics of the
beatitudes. The message to “Do to others, before they do to you” or the message to “be
staunch “, or the message to “gain the very best advantage over your competition” or to let
people “come to heel” or to “stew in their own juice”, is very real. However the Body of
Christ has not endured, grown and shared its great transforming vision by following these
ways: the Church has integrity and reality only because it has tried to share and live the
Gospel in which the beatitudes are set.
Consider the logo of this church we are called to build: the three tikanga flax cross: te ripeka
whiringa harakeke. There is a rich Biblical picture of Trinitarian diversity in unity, particularly
within the wholeness of God, and a coordinating synergy transfusing a vast creation of
amazing detail. It is from this Biblical reality that a three tikanga ecclesiastical arrangement
draws its inspiration for this Church. There are three partners representing three cultural
strands with their own uniqueness and life-giving heritage, freely interweaving into an ever
growing pattern of Trinitarian design.
The artist Ross Hemera was asked by the Anglican Church to design this indigenous cross,
picking up strands from all three tikanga of the church in these islands.
At the centre of the woven cross pattern is the koru, a sign of new life. The koru is presented
in red as a sign of life blood, of the life-giving love which flows through the heart of the
Christian message and Christian mission. This shape can also be seen as a ventricle of a
heart and as a foetal image of new life.
The woven pattern is a sign that all three tikanga of this church are called to interweave in
Mission, weaving being a feature of Maori, Pakeha and Pacific cultures. The design
presents flax strands moving outwards, symbolising the life patterns of the Gospel being
formed in a new creation. The centre of the design features the cross, the image of what it
cost Christ to live and die for righteousness and justice.
The way flax is woven, to build up the design can be seen as a parable of the way we build up
our own lives and the life of the church. There is a saying in Maori which is sometimes used
when flax is being woven "aroha atu, aroha mai." As one strand is put in place, the weaver
thinks "aroha atu," as the next strand interweaves with it, the weaver thinks "aroha mai" and so
the weaving and the thought builds up with each new action. The phrase in Maori means 'the
love that goes forth from me comes back to me', or love is made up of giving and receiving and
in this way life and love are built up. So it is with the life and work of a General Secretary. In
a church like ours what is needed is not bureaucracy or autocracy from the administrative
centre, but interweaving of contributions in the spirit of love. In this way a design emerges and
a shape comes into being.
We have chosen a new General Secretary for whom this way of weaving is natural. It has
been instinctive to Michael from his days as a youth worker, a student, a national executive, a
priest, and now this new opportunity.
Lastly, a new general secretary can be encouraged with the wisdom of Jesus the builder,
Jesus the carpenter. He encouraged people to remove a speck of sawdust from their own
eye before removing a log from someone else's eye. This is an image taken from a carpenter's
shop in Nazareth. The message is clearly not to judge when working with others, but to
discern, to humbly and patiently reflect on ones own spirituality before sharing with someone
else about the challenges and opportunities of their spiritual journey.
From carpentry and agriculture, Jesus used the image of a wooden yoke, both in terms of his
relationship with us, also drawing from the image of yokes around the necks of teams of oxen.
The yoke shoulder to shoulder provided the synergy and cohesion a team needed to shift
large weights, to do heavy work and to act with coordination in a way that made the cultivation
of crops and fields possible and bountiful.
And so Michael as you begin your new ministry in this amazingly diverse, challenging and
remarkable three tikanga church, think of the beatitudes, the woven flax cross (te ripeka
whiringa harakeke) and the wisdom of Jesus the builder.