This occasional weekend column called ‘Pondering:…’ has this week been brought forward to be mid-week. It is a sought after response to last weekend’s opinion piece by Robert Jensen: Pondering: Keeping Tiriti Hikoi on track.
The ‘Pondering:…’ column is where people from within the ‘Team of 40,000 Baptists’ can share issues they are thinking about in a way that opens up a topic from a particular perspective. Feel free to comment on these pieces on Facebook or our new Mailbox or contribute your own pondering. Opinion pieces are the views of individuals and need to be considered within the context of the diversity of our union of Baptist churches in New Zealand. When commenting or contributing, please follow our Guidelines for articles, opinion pieces and online comments.
“He uri au no Ngai Tūhoe me Ngāti Porou” Ngaire Button is a descendent of Ngai Tūhoe and Ngāti Porou, “I have 6 children and 6 grandchildren. I have been a follower of Jesus for over 40 years.” She is a member of St Albans Baptist Church in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Community Development has been Ngaire’s life work, including as a Māori Health Equity advisor. She has served on the local Community Board, has been a Christchurch City Councillor, including being Deputy Mayor (2011-2013). Ngaire is currently studying theology at the University of Otago.
Hutia te rito o te harakeke
Kei hea to kōmako e ko?
Kī mai ki ahau
He aha te mea nui o te ao?
Māku e kī atu
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
If you pluck out the centre shoot of the flax
Where will the bellbird sing?
If you ask me what is the most important thing in the world?
I will reply,
It is people, it is people, it is people.
When the Chiefs of Te Aupōuri (one of the five tribes of Muriwhenua in the Far North) planned to take the lives of some unwelcome visitors, the Chief’s daughter, Meri Ngaroto, advocated for them to be spared with the words of this well-known proverb.[1]
Using the flax bush as a metaphor to demonstrate that to “Hutia te rito o te harakeke” take out the rito, the single leaf at the centre of the flax bush, would be to kill the whole harakeke plant. In the context of the day Meri Ngaroto was saying if you massacre these people the impact will be much greater than the individuals you see before you. Whole families and communities will be harmed by an act against each individual.
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata speaks of our connectivity together. If Te Aupōuri had chosen to follow through with the plan to massacre their visitors, the impact would have been widespread and likely have also affected Te Aupōuri themselves. The song of the kōmako relates to the sharing of mātauranga, our cultural knowledge and wisdom passed down through the generations. Taking a life would “silence the song of the bellbird” changing the spiritual and metaphysical landscape of future generations and thereby interrupt the whakapapa of the whānau, including the legacy of those who had gone before – the tipuna, and those who will come after – the mokopuna.
The apostle Paul had a similar message for early Corinthian believers.[2]
In the context of giving instructions on the spiritual gifts Paul takes the time to discuss diversity within the church. Using the human body as a metaphor to illustrate our connectedness, Paul instructs believers to understand and appreciate each other’s differences as a God given aspect of the divine composition of His church.
1 Corinthians 12:24-27 “..but God has put the body together, giving greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that all parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.”
Like the ears and the eyes, the nose and the toes every culture is different and has its own contribution to make to the body.
In the context of the use of the spiritual gifts Paul is saying: He tangata, he tangata, he tangata – the body of Christ is connected, our thoughts and actions impact each other and consequently the health and vitality of His church.
We are better together. The gospel will flourish in Aotearoa when every member of the body flourishes. Church life will be enriched by the inclusion of diverse voices in the congregation and at leadership level. Our mana is not diminished by the sharing of power but rather grows and develops in ways we could never achieve mono-culturally.
In Aotearoa New Zealand we have a unique opportunity to partner with our indigenous population.
There are many opinions and voices regarding Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Māori version) / The Treaty of Waitangi (English version). I am often asked if I think Te Tiriti is legally binding, my answer is that I believe God thinks it is, and that’s good enough for me. Many learned scholars have invested into the discussion on the Māori and Pākehā versions of the Treaty, and these discussions are important to our development as a nation. However this discussion has often resulted in the missionaries who translated the Treaty, from English to te reo Māori, being blamed for the eventual outcomes – which is not fair.
Whether we are legally obliged to honour the Treaty or not is not the point. As followers of Jesus we are held to a higher standard than the law – that of justice.
Joshua was tricked into making a treaty with the Gibeonites[3] and over 400 years later King David was still required by God to honour it.[4]
The truth is that neither version of the Treaty has been honoured and this failure has had a profound impact on the Church. The church of the day had a powerful influence in the establishment of the Treaty relationship.[5] Henry and Edward Williams, James Busby, Bishop Pompallier, were men of faith who genuinely believed that the signing of the Treaty was necessary for the future wellbeing of Māori. These men were so well respected that Māori Chiefs looked to them for advice when signing the Treaty on February 6th 1840. What happened over the ensuing 150 years has resulted in the degradation of the legacy and memory of these men of God, a widespread distrust of the church by Māori and most sadly of all the loss of everything that matters for our Māori brothers and sisters.
Te reo Māori, the language God gave Aotearoa New Zealand [6] has been desecrated, land stolen, environment and food sources polluted and cultural identity extinguished – the bellbird has no place from which to sing.
The relationship between Māori and the church has been assaulted and we can’t find our way past the road block of injustice on the way back to Jesus.
The Baptist Union has committed to a bi-cultural journey because it is the right thing to do, not because our arm is held up our back by legal obligation.
To be successful the church must take a position on Te Tiriti – The Treaty of Waitangi.
We are neighbours in this beautiful land, Māori and Pākehā living, working, playing and going to school in community together. We have fought alongside each other in two world wars. We share the love of sport especially rugby, we celebrate together at our wins and weep at our losses. We have intermarried like no other cultures in the world. AND when one member suffers the rest of the body is impacted.
Let us honestly and prayerfully seek to understand our connection together, celebrate diversity in our churches by being inclusive and take the time to learn about the story we as Kiwi’s are a part of.
Endnotes
- Quince, Khylee (2022), “Law and gender: beyond patriarchy” symposium – keynote speech, transcript: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/577228a5e4fcb512c064f2a7/t/62e0d48b8059a41922f970b2/1658901643692/Quince+-+Sistahs+in+Arms.pdf
- 1 Corinthians 12:12–31
- Joshua 9:3-26
- 2 Samual 21:1-13
- Reese, Alistair (2024), He Tatau Pounamu : The Treaty of Waitangi : a covenant of reconciliation; Te reo Māori translation by Tamati Nicholas (Ngāti Ranginui). Karuwhā Trust and Venn Foundation, Longley Print
- Genesis 11:6-9
Other references
Fitzgerald, Caroline (2004), Letters from the Bay of Islands: The story of Marianne Williams, Penguin.
Newman, Keith (2010), Bible and the Treaty: Missionaries among the Māori – a new perspective, Penguin.
More opinion pieces
Read other contributions to our ‘Pondering…’ column here.
Photo credit: A kōmako (bellbird) on harakeke (a flax bush) in New Zealand, by Acres on Adobe Stock
