Change!

Theme:
The Way Forward
Sunday 18 April 2010



Acts 9:1-6, 7-20

Psalm 30

Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-14
In the name of God – who is love. Amen.


“The only constant is change” is an expression of which many are familiar, but is in reality often met with resistance – especially in the church. Yet as today’s focus passage from Acts reveals, change is part of our heritage of faith. We are people of a living Spirit who calls and guides us in ways towards inclusion, healing and witness.

Yesterday I went to a very special service at the Cathedral, yes it was the Ordination and Installation of Bishop Ross Bay our new diocesan Bishop of Auckland. And it was a wonderful service full of colour and ceremony.

And yesterday’s service is certainly a ‘change’ for our Diocese. Bishop Ross will bring his own unique style of leadership to the role of Bishop, there maybe many changes, changes in Archdeaconries, staffing changes in the Diocesan Office and a new Dean for the Cathedral.

Today’s reading from Acts is about the change that happened to Saul as he walked along the road to Damascus. The encounter that Saul has with the risen and ascended Jesus begins with a flash of light that puts Saul on the ground. Then there is the voice identified as coming from “Jesus whom you are persecuting” that calls Saul by name and directs him to Damascus. He is to wait there until he is “told what you are to do.” When Saul gets up, he can see nothing he has been blinded, and is led by his companions to Damascus.

Today’s story also focuses on the story from Ananias perspective, who is asked to follow Jesus in unexpected and daring ways.

His story is overlooked in the drama of Saul’s experience. Ananias is described as “a disciple in Damascus.” Christ appears to Ananias in a vision, telling him to go to Saul. Like the rest of the dispersed Christian community in the area, Ananias had good cause to mistrust Saul. Saul had done so “much evil” to the church, and had authority from the chief priests in Jerusalem to “bind all who invoke” the name of Jesus Christ. Yet, Christ assures Ananias that Saul “is an instrument whom I have chosen.” Ananias is challenged to a turning of his own, and accepts the risks of going to Saul to bring healing to this former enemy.

The Spirit brings restoration to Saul through Ananias’s word (“Brother Saul”) and touch. The narrative ends with Saul’s proclamation of Jesus as the Christ. Both Saul and Ananias have had encounters with Christ that transform them for bold witness, and will later transform their communities and the others they meet. Tradition includes a name change for Saul in this encounter, and he takes on the Greek name Paul. And Paul goes on to travel to many places preaching the word of Jesus everywhere he went.

We may never share anything that is quite as dramatic as what Saul experienced, but we may all be able to share some elements of what countless numbers of people have undergone in their conversion to following Christ.

I was reading Bishop Ross’ article in the Anglican last week and I was impressed by the fact that he came to know God through the nurture of the church youth group, and the local Anglican Vicar Lloyd Cullen. He writes that “ he had little to do with the church, but while he was at High School he was invited to take part in a tramping trip to Mt Tongariro.” He says “the help and care from those young people left a lasting impression, it was genuine friendship, given selflessly to a complete stranger. It was given freely and did not have to be earned.” He was then invited to join the church youth group and new friendships began to deepen, and he experienced an understanding of what faith was all about. He says “My vicar planted the thought of ministry, though I did not pay it much heed at that time.” At the age of 21 he enrolled at Bible College (now Laidlaw College) to study theology where his journey towards Ordination, Priesthood and now Bishop began.

Bishop Ross says “I came to faith through the ministry of one of our parishes and I have been nurtured through the ministry of many others.” He was led by the spirit and was open to going on the youth club tramping trip, and this has become a true “walking track” experience for him, and he says he still likes to go tramping.

I believe we all need to be open to what the spirit sends us and the experiences and opportunities that happen to us. We need to be aware and seeking to follow where the spirit leads us.

As a young mother in Wellington, I was nurtured to grow in faith by a group of young Christian mothers. I took my daughters to a playgroup which was run by the local church, much like Shann’s “Mums and Little Ones group” that we have here on a Thursday morning. Out of this playgroup began a ‘home group’ where this group of young mothers met and discussed bible passages and so my faith deepened and grew. We were open to the spirit leading us to new ways of exploring our faith and were given a deeper understanding of Jesus Christ. And we all had a common interest that binded us together and that was our children. Now some of those children have children and they themselves are young mothers. I went back to Church in Wellington just before Easter and attended their “Mainly Music Group” for young children and met a lady there who had been in my original group, she was with her daughter and granddaughter. So the cycle of caring and ministering for others continues in that place but in another name: that is “Mainly Music”.

So what do these stories tell us?

Christ calls us, restores and commissions individuals and communities to serve as witnesses to transforming and enduring ways of love. In following this way forward, we encounter God, in whose presence we live and serve. We are God’s hands and feet and voice in this World. So how do we and our church understand the mission we have received from God?

Can we be more nurturing to others, especially visitors to church services? Can we be more involved in church activities, not just coming to church and sitting in the pew? I believe we need to become involved, to be able to share our faith, attend home groups, participate in Sunday services welcoming at the door or tea duties or doing readings. Assist with the young people’s activities, or as Kathy last week requested, help with Bible in Schools. As Bruce Pratt said last week, the rewards and the satisfaction you get back from helping in such small ways can be so rewarding and fulfilling. There is so much we can do as individuals in the community to share our faith and to care and nurture people.

What is required for us to risk changing?

Its not much - simple everyday things like talking to each other and often we find we have a common point of interest to share and discuss. And the God’s Spirit will be there to lead and guide us as we reach out to others.

Bishop Ross challenges us all in his letter, which is included in today’s pew sheet. He says “The vision statement speaks of living out our mission in relevant and innovative ways. I challenge you to form greater connections with the wider communities in which you are placed so that your ministry is genuinely contextual to your situation and the Church is seen as reaching out in service to others and in proclamation of the Risen Christ. In these ways we can work to see God’s kingdom come on earth.”

Change can bring about uncertainly about what the future holds for us, but we are people of a living spirit, a spirit that calls and guides us towards a better way of living, a better way of being church in our community. On this third week of Easter we continue to explore what it means to live as the Body of Christ and I pray that those gathered here today for worship will receive new visions of how to be part of an ever expanding body of witness. I pray that the spirit will show us the way forward, leading and directing us, as we work together in our church community and the wider community towards the fulfilment of the vision which God has given to us.
Amen





Revd. Isabel Mordecai 17/4/2010

References:
“The Anglican” Easter 2010 pg 11
A Letter to the People of the Diocese of Auckland from Bishop Ross Bay. 18/4/2010
Seasons of the Spirit Congregational Life – Lent and Easter. Pgs 96 – 107

Sermon 11 April 2010 – Giving and Thanksgiving Sunday
Acts 5: 25-32, Revelation 1: 4-8, John 20: 19-31

May my words offer inspiration, challenge and response. Amen.

What do you give?; a rather imposing question, that we are very reluctant to ask....especially after the recent media coverage over the last couple of months with regard to some institutions that under the name of church have, in my opinion, not been responsible for the practical needs as well as the spiritual nourishment that we might all desire in ‘being’ church. Through pressure to give more and more and more and more, especially financially, people are desperately struggling to pay bills and even to eat. And rest assured - that is certainly not how I think God wants it to be.

Rather when we talk about giving and gifting to the church and to the wider community we are responding to offering some of our gifts back that we have been given; gifts in terms of money, yes, but also in terms of talents and time and love. It is actually about spirituality.

Bishop Richard Randerson promotes in his book ‘a Word for the Season’ that spirituality is to do with using our gifts well. Spirituality is to do with life, what we believe, what we value, how we relate to others, how we see ourselves, and to what in life we devote our energies. Spirituality is to do with sharing with others. And we all have ideals about this.

A journalist once interviewed a farmer and asked him what he would do if he had two farms. The farmer replied he would keep one and give the other to someone who needed it. (The farmer was indeed an idealist). The journalist next asked what the farmer would do if he had two houses, and received the same reply. “And what”, said the journalist, “would you do if you owned two horses?” “I’d keep them both for myself”, said the farmer. “Why?” said the journalist, “what makes the difference?” “You see,” said the farmer, “I own two horses.”

It is indeed much harder to put into practice our ideals when we face the reality. But facing the reality is what we are challenged with today. In real terms it may not be appropriate, or wise, to give away half of everything – probably not. But in real terms there is a place in each of our circumstances where we can be generous; where we can give back. And that is up to each one of us. But it is about sharing.

As Bishop Richard suggests, spirituality is sharing whatever we have, be it in terms of possessions, time or human compassion, with others. Spirituality is to do with using the gifts we have to serve others. To illustrate Bishop Richard talks about a woman who used to lecture in Law at a University, and she would try to talk to the students in class about justice. “Look, Miss,” they said, “we’re not really interested in justice; we’re here to get a qualification to enter a prestigious and highly paid career.” Now I am sure that this is not the case with everyone who goes to Law School. But the same attitudes can arise in any work or profession. The point is how we ‘share’ what we value in all components of our life is part of our spiritual walk.
By contrast I think of the famous New Zealander, the late Sir Edmund Hillary, a humble bee keeper who was the first to conquer Mt Everest (with Sherpa Tensing Norgay in 1953) was so grateful for the support of the people of Nepal that he devoted much of the rest of his life to building schools and hospitals for them.
Spirituality is using the gifts we have received from God not only for our own enrichment, but in the service and enrichment of others.

And this morning, our Giving and Thanksgiving Sunday is about reflecting and giving God thanks for all the amazing gifts we are given throughout our lives; in our relationships, in our positions of responsibility, in our workplaces, in our families, in our homes, in our communities, and in our churches. Such gifts are God-given, and such gifts are to be shared.
But what does our Biblical readings set down for today say about giving? The readings for the Sundays after Easter are meant to provide religious instruction, primarily for the newly baptized, but we all can benefit from this teaching. There are several points for consideration. The first concerns our responsibility for handing on the religious tradition that has been handed down to us. In other words, handing down our gifts of tradition to the next generation. As Christians, we are all called to this responsibility, regardless of our age, our occupation or our state in life. How is this to be done? Actually, the ways are quite straight forward. We hand it on through our modelling of the gospel, through loving, through sharing, through giving, whether it is done formally or informally; we proclaim the message of resurrection, new life and love as we live out its ethical values. What we say and how we act proclaims, “We have seen the Risen Christ.” How we share the gospel is often how others experience the gospel. A challenge for us all today - Can people honestly say through what we do and say, ‘I have seen the Risen Christ’?
A second point, in our readings today, concerns the role the Christian community plays in our lives. Community-based societies, like those described in the Bible, are well aware of the importance of belonging to a group. Membership gives identity, meaning and support. Today’s readings confirm this. There is a communal dimension to every post-Resurrection appearance of Jesus. In fact, Thomas’s predicament (his doubting) was a consequence of his absence from the community of disciples a week earlier. God’s embraces community. We live in a society that values individualism and so often it is harder for us to work as members of the body of Christ. But what we give as individuals is limited - it does not go as far as we would like - in terms of proclaiming the gospel of love, but if we put our resources together we can indeed function more effectively as a community and make a bigger positive difference to the world around us. So people can indeed say, ‘I have seen the Risen Christ’. So we are to give to the church so that we can collectively proclaim and share the gospel to the wider world. And we are to give to the church (financially, practically, spirituality and emotionally) so that we can ‘be’ community.
But our readings today also highlight that we are not perfect and often we do not always get it right and sometimes we need to be inspired. Sometimes life is so hard just to simply survive and meet our own needs that doing and giving anything more just feels too hard. Sometimes we have been hurt by the church or society and feel resentful, quite rightly so in many cases. Sometimes we doubt what we are doing? Sometimes we doubt what we believe. So how can we even try to give when we do not want to even receive?
It is important for us to remember that Jesus does not come to the disciples in a blaze of glory, surrounded by angels or accompanied by sounds of trumpets. Rather he comes quietly; he seems to surprise the disciples in our Gospel reading this morning. And he comes with his wounds. He is not all neat and tidy, but still bears the marks of his suffering, the marks of his humanity. As humans, we struggle to hide our woundedness as a sign of weakness, yet the risen Christ still bears his woundedness and comes to meet us and bring us peace. Christ’s resurrection gives us hope that we will be healed and made whole – we can indeed share and gift to others, even if we do not feel worthy to do so, and even if we do not feel ready.
When the risen Christ came to the disciples in the upper room, he brought them peace, he breathed his spirit on them and commissioned them to live and share the message of love, forgiveness, and peace. Jesus’ appearance to Thomas reminds us that doubts do not disqualify us from discipleship. Jesus says to Thomas and to us, “Do not doubt, but believe.” The theologian Paul Tillich said that doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; rather it is an element of faith.
On this April morning, when the world outside our doors has put away, or more likely eaten, the Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies and moved on, we continue to be challenged to live the resurrection story. We are challenged to reach out and embrace the future in faith, believing that Christ’s resurrection will enable us to make a difference to the world in the gifts we give. We are challenged to seek peace and reconciliation, knowing it is the work of Christ and the Church. And most of all, we are challenged to remember that while we may look at ourselves and see elements of doubting Thomases, God looks at us and sees the best: God sees beloved people, faithful friends, spirit-filled partners in the ongoing work of creation. Resurrection is a gift God brings to us. Resurrection is what brings us new life and new opportunities. Resurrection is not simply a one off event but the Risen Christ brings us opportunities every day to experience new beginnings, new life in all it fullness. And so it is up to us as to how we respond to such a gift. And it is up to ‘us’ as a community. Does what we give, bear witness to the resurrection? Can we indeed give something of what we have received, so that people can say ‘Christ is risen! Alleluia!’?

Why Are You Weeping, Mary?

Easter C
Why Are You Weeping, Mary?
St Johns Campbells Bay, 2010
John 20:1-18
May my words inspire and enliven our faith. Amen.

“Woman, why are you weeping?” the angels asked her.
Jesus asked her the same question, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
Why are you weeping when it is Easter Sunday? May be we could ask ourselves the same question – Why do we weep?
Well, we could say it is because we feel deeply about something or more likely someone. It moves us, it affects us way beyond our minds, it is our passion and deep love; full of emotion. Weeping helps us express what we can often not even begin to put into words. Weeping is what we do when we are deeply hurt, upset, or lost or afraid, or absolutely exhausted, or disappointed, or devastated, or relieved; when we are deeply moved.

Today, at this Easter service, we gather here to worship as Christians have done for centuries. And we acknowledge that it has been a pretty rough week emotionally. This morning we enter into the Easter story, told from St Johns Gospel. Women, over two thousand years ago, who came to the grave of Jesus on that first Easter morning were no doubt absolutely exhausted, emotional drained, deeply lost and hurt and probably a very afraid and disappointed – they were devastated.

These women had witnessed the awfulness of Good Friday; the whippings, taunting, suffering, horrific death of Jesus. These women were devout followers of Jesus. These women, at the break of dawn, quietly walked along the path to the place of Jesus’ burial. It was still dark, and they carried with them their ointments, their perfumes, their oils to anoint the dead body of Jesus on that Sunday morning.
And our Gospel according to St John focuses particularly on one woman; Mary Magdalene. The Gospel of John tells us the Easter story of Mary Magdalene.

Mary Magdalene was deeply attached to Jesus. The word, “magdalene,” means “from Magdala” and Magdala was a small town near Capernaum. We know from the first three gospels that Jesus had healed her of a disease of demon possession. Mary Magdalene accompanied a band of women who traveled with Jesus and his disciples. This band of women often paid for the disciples’ food and supplies. This band of women was at the crucifixion of Jesus and saw it all. As, with the other women,
Mary Magdalene’s heart must have been devastated, as she saw Jesus crucified. And now according to the Gospel of John, she came to Jesus’ grave early in the morning while it was still dark. She saw that the stone in front of the grave had been rolled away and so she ran to find Peter and John to tell them what had happened. I assume that Mary Magdalene ran to the Mount of Olives where Jesus and his disciples stayed overnight when Jesus visited Jerusalem. She found Peter and John. John was not called John but the disciple whom Jesus loved. Many Biblical scholars assume that “the beloved disciple” was John, who contributed greatly to the account we have in the Gospel of John. In other words, Mary found Peter and John, and John became the equivalent of an eye witness at the scene of this event.

Peter and John ran to Jesus’ grave. Sure enough, the gravestone was rolled away. John, the younger, got there first. John bent over and looked in but did not go in. Then Peter, the older fisherman, finally got there. They both walked into the grave, Peter first, and saw that Jesus’ body was gone. They saw the linen shroud in which Jesus’ body had been wrapped lying there. The linen cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, was rolled up and not with the linen wrappings that had been on Jesus’ body.
The Gospel of John tells us that at that very moment, John believed. He was making a faith statement about himself. John had not seen the Risen Christ, but in that moment of looking at the linen clothes, he believed. John still did not understand the Scripture that Jesus would rise from the dead. Even so, John believed, before Peter, before anyone else.

John, the teller of details, continues his story, focusing particularly on Mary Magdalene.  The Gospel gives us much detail: As Mary was standing outside of Jesus’ tomb, she was crying. The Greek word implies “weeping deeply or sobbing.” The word for “weep” occurs four times in this story. As she was weeping, Mary bent over to look into the tomb. As she was bending over, stooping, looking into the tomb, weeping, she saw two angels. And the angels asked a pivotal question of Mary, “Woman, why are you weeping?” And that is the key question for today, “Why are you weeping Mary?” That question echoes through the centuries and into our hearts today, “Why are you weeping?” Mary replied, “Because someone has taken away my Lord and I don’t know where they have put his body.” Then, after Mary had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there but she did not recognize Jesus. She thought it was the gardener. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? What are you looking for?” And then Jesus said, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabonni which means Teacher.” Jesus said, “Do not hold onto me for I have not ascended to my Father. Go and tell the other disciples that I am ascending to my God and your God.”

And Mary went and told the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.”! And I can imagine that Mary Magdalene was still weeping – indeed her deep, deep sadness had turned to amazement and jubilation, but her tears symbolised the deep passion and feelings that she experienced as she expressed her love and relationship with Jesus.

Do we too weep as we experience Jesus’ death and resurrection – are we so deeply affected that people might ask us, ‘Why are you weeping?’. And if they do ask us, can we fully explain why? - Probably not, but my point is that the deep, deep emotion that Mary expressed as told by St John can deeply, deeply move us and inspire us. As a follower of Jesus, Mary’s whole being was affected so deeply and so beautifully and so passionately that it was indeed her that Jesus chose to appear to first. What an honour!

So Easter morning is one of jubilation – of great joy at the resurrection of Jesus. It is a morning where we experience great passion, great love and deep emotions. It is about new life – how amazing is that!

Today, Easter Day, our punga logs (which have been our Lenten symbol in the church) have been resurrected by being amongst new life and beauty; flowers and greenery bringing joy to all. But in order to have got there we have been there a long journey of Lent. But a journey that has to be taken; as flowers grow out of seeds that have died and are transformed, new life grows through the mystery of the cross.

So may be my question to all of us is – why are we NOT weeping? This life-changing, amazing, earth shattering reality cannot help but move us even if we take it on board ever so slightly and lightly.

The hope of the resurrection is that this world is not just where Jesus died - this world is where Jesus lives! And because Jesus lives, we have been set free to live as well. Easter did not happen just once in the past. It has the potential to happen every day. Each of us can experience death and rebirth in our every day lives. Today is the festival when all those “little” resurrections are brought together and integrated with the overarching resurrection, which is the core of our faith.

But sometimes resurrection is hard to believe in. Some days it is hard to see with eyes of faith. Some days it is hard to see new life amongst us. That is why we need the church – each other, and also our traditions and reminders of the biblical stories and resurrection event - so that in those times of struggle and doubts, we can support and grow one another's faith. That is why we celebrate communion; the sacraments might seem like child's play to the world. Eating bits of bread, drinking sips of wine - to a casual observer it would appear a harmless tea party. But when we look with eyes of faith, when we listen with ears of hope, when we experience such passion and emotion as Mary, we discover anew Mary's gospel: I have seen the Lord! When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we dare to imagine a different world, a world not imprisoned by the powers of evil and death, but set free for love, justice, peace and new life. How can we NOT weep at such a reality?

I often wonder what happened to Mary Magdalene after she was the first person to have seen Jesus? You would think that Mary Magdalene would have become a legend in the earliest church, that she would have been talked about and written about and sung about in the most ancient traditions of the church. But Mary Magdalene disappears into the passing pages of human history. That is, Mary Magdalene is not mentioned in the Book of Acts, nor in the letters of the Apostle Paul, nor in the pastoral letters of the New Testament. She is not mentioned in ancient church history. We don’t hear about Mary Magdalene until the Middle Ages when Mary is associated wrongly with the woman caught in adultery or associated with the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears. But we cannot loose Mary’s story; her passion.

For me, I remember Mary Magdalene as the first person who experienced Jesus from the tomb. She experienced the resurrection and her belief transformed her feelings of sadness into deep emotions of joy. She is the one whom deeply loved Jesus and through such emotion she wept!
So why then are we NOT weeping?
Can we too experience such deep emotion as we celebrate resurrection today?
Amen.

Journeying Together

Journeying Together – from a three tikanga church perspective
Good Friday Reflections, 2 April 2010, St Johns Campbells Bay, Michael Hughes

I have been asked to reflect briefly on this Good Friday around the theme of ‘Journeying Together’ from a three tikanga church perspective.
I do this out of my experience, however limited, of working and ministering at the provincial or international level in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia / te Hahi Mihinare ki Aotearoa ki Niu Tereni, ki Nga Moutere o te Moana Nui a Kiwa. And that full title of ‘this church’, the Anglican Church in this part of the world, gives us a few clues immediately about what such ‘journeying together’ here might mean.

Let me begin though with some words of greeting:
Maloelele, Ta’alofa lava, Bula vinaka, Kia orana, Namaste, Tena koutou, and Greetings in the several official languages of this church. These are the languages of Tongan, Samoan, native Fijian, Cook Island Maori, Indian Fijian, Maori and English.
And so from these greetings we get a sense of an international partnership being reflected in the make up of this church, as we do also in the title of the church.
The full title of this church reflects not only this multi-national make up, and the implied ‘ethnic journeying together’ that this entails, but more focusedly it also reflects the structural partnerships of ‘this church’, which form the basis of our constitutional shape; our ‘journeying together as three tikanga’.

Firstly, we are the Anglican Church in this place. Part of a global international communion of independent and largely autonomous provinces around the world, around 38 in total, which associate through some common bonds of affection, and a historical relationship with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with other national or provincial churches which have stemmed from the ministry of the Church of England, Ireland and Wales.
So, there continues some global ‘journeying together’ with other churches of the communion, and of late that particular journeying has been experiencing some strain and tension as some matters of difference have seemed to overtake the matters in common. But we are still ‘journeying together globally’ in the main, and many are deeply committed to continuing that journeying together despite the differences, or maybe some would even say with the differences.

By naming ourselves as Anglican we are also differentiating our distinctiveness over against other denominational churches – Roman Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, etc, which speaks indirectly of another whole set of ‘inter-denominational Christian journeying together’ which call us to find ways of relating with other Christians.

We are not only then the ‘Anglican Church’, but we are the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia – so we are a located church, a contextualized church, we are the church in ‘a particular place’, with all the distinctive elements that particular location and context implies. We are the church in this country, Aotearoa New Zealand, doubly named to reflect its bicultural history, its treaty of Waitangi foundation, and its commitment to working at bicultural partnership. Thus there is a ‘journeying together in this place’, as the first people of the land and as people who have come to this land more recently to live in partnership and journey together.

And yet it does not stop there, for the Anglican Church has designated this Province to include more than just ‘this land’, but also the largest geographical diocese in the world, that of the Pacific, which admittedly is way more water than land, and which incorporates several independent nations in one diocese, and which is the part of ‘this church’.
This is the Diocese of Polynesia, which is the third partner, or tikanga, in ‘this church’ alongside Maori and Pakeha.
Thus we are the Anglican Church, yes, and we are the Anglican Church in this land Aotearoa New Zealand, yes, and we are the Anglican Church in this province of Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia.
So, lots of implied ‘journeying together’.

Then we are also te Hahi Mihinare ki Aotearoa ki Niu Tereni, ki Nga Moutere o te Moana Nui a Kiwa
The literal translation of the Maori part of the name of ‘this church’ is loosely:
Te Hahi Mihinare = the Church of the Missionaries
Ki Aotearoa – of Aotearoa
Ki Niu Tireni – a Maori transliteration ‘of New Zealand’
Ki Nga Moutere – of the islands
O te Moana Nui o Kiwa – of the big sea of Kiwa
Kiwa – is an ancestor figure that many of the Pacific peoples share in common and who was renowned as a great ocean navigator and explorer

So we have ‘The Church of the Missionaries in Aotearoa New Zealand and the islands of the great Ocean of Kiwa – the Pacific Ocean.

Now I have mentioned several times the concept of tikanga – stemming from ‘tika’ = right/correct. So, implying ‘the correct or right way’ for the people who follow, – i.e. tikanga Maori, tikanga Pakeha, tikanga Pasefika. So, the correct way for Maori, or the correct way for Pakeha, or the correct way for Pasefika/or Polynesia. The way that is culturally right for them to be Christian, to be Anglican, and to be Church, within their shared cultural heritage and norms.

Such a way of working, of being church, implies of course a great sense of ‘journeying together’ alongside each other, in parallel but not in competition. No one way, or tikanga, being better or more important, or primary, over the others, but rather each bringing to the ‘journeying together’ its riches and wealth of tradition and cultural expression, and each thus enriching the whole of the church – especially when the three come together in one setting. As it did in part at my liturgical welcome to my new provincial role recently held at Auckland Cathedral. There were on that occasion leaders from all three tikanga, and various languages and forms from differing tikanga were used, but there was a sense of the three ‘adding to’ and ‘enriching’ the whole as we sought to ‘journey together’ in shared worship.

This three tikanga ‘journeying together’ is perhaps most apparent in the General Synod/ te Hinota Whanui, of this church. This biennial gathering is of representatives of each of the tikanga together in a shared space, for reporting, governance and decision making. The General Synod is presided over by the three Archbishops, one of each tikanga, who together in their shared office represent the primacy, or the head of this church in this Province. This Synod is a place where each of the tikanga ‘journey together’ in equal partnership, regardless of numerical supremacy, but rather on equal footing as three who seek to work as one. This is not only reflected in the presidency of the three Archbishops but also potentially in the empowerment of the tikanga as partners, within a traditional Anglican polity, or system. So when it comes to voting, like any Anglican Synod the voting is done in houses, Bishops, Clergy and Laity, and a majority is required in all three for agreement to be reached. But the General Synod, in honoring the equal ‘journeying together’ of the tikanga partners, also constitutionally has the option of calling for a tikanga vote, so a vote by each of the three on tikanga or cultural grounds. In this case, which has only ever happened a couple of times in the life of the church since this new constitution came into being in 1992, the majority of each tikanga must also agree for agreement to be reached.

It is a unique piece of church polity, and yet it is borne out of a generous ‘journeying together’ as cultural partners, which seeks to empower each and all the tikanga, as partners together, rather than allowing for the numerically superior to dominate.

This somewhat unique way of relating, and of ‘journeying together’, as tikanga in this church is depicted in the provincial symbol of Anglicans in this part of the world, that of the woven flax cross, which is on our prayer book and now also on the roadside sign here at St Johns Campbells Bay. It is, as Archbishop David Moxon said recently, an image ‘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 sign of life-blood, of the life-giving love that flows through the heart of the Christian message and Christian mission’. Thus it contains Maori koru, pacific weaving, and the missionary cross in a unique blending together of a shared tikanga journey.

So then, apart from including this symbol, and the church’s full name, on our signage, how else can we express and engage in such three tikanga ‘journeying together’ locally here?

I would suggest in some of these ways:
1. Seeking to understand something of the unique make up of this church in this province.

2. Praying for our tikanga partners and for their unique expression of worship and mission.

3. Seeking to learn about the other cultures that make up this church.

4. Learning a little of the other languages of this church – at the very least maybe words of greeting and perhaps snippets of liturgy. Our prayer book contains these resources there for us to use.

5. Maybe even seeking out some first hand experience of engagement with the other tikanga than our own – through attending worship, or courses, or events held in other tikanga or joint three tikanga experiences where a mix of all three are to be found.

Such is the richness and the diversity of the journey we are offered by the church we are a part of, it is up to us to take it up if we wish to more fully ‘journey together’ as a three tikanga church.