Kia ora e te whanau
Thank you for your warm, welcoming emails. I appreciate them very much, especially in these lockdown days that mean we haven’t had the opportunity to meet. Thanks, too, to everyone who’s participating in and assisting with the YouTube services. It’s a new way of operating for all of us and has its challenges! We are fortunate to have the technical expertise of Laetitia in the office and Tom Gray in Dunedin to pull the services together.
I bring you the good news that this week we have children lighting the rainbow candle online for us. Thank you Kezia and Jasper! It’s important to keep the children involved in the life of the community in any way we can. We want to keep everyone involved! If anyone would like to participate in any way please contact us via the office or minister@standrews.org.nz
Wednesday 29 April was the 180th anniversary of 32 rangatira from Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Toa signing te Tiriti Raukawa Moana – the Cook Strait (Henry Williams) sheet of the Treaty of Waitangi on the the small schooner ‘Ariel’ in Te Whanganui-ā-Tara, Wellington harbour. This, and the continuing impact of colonisation on us Māori in Aotearoa, is the topic of my reflection this week. I’ve listed below some resources you may be interested in reading if you haven’t already. This is a small selection and some of them are several years old, but still worth reading. I understand this can be a sensitive, confronting and uncomfortable issue for some Pākehā, but I think it is a core part of our calling as Christians to work towards justice for everyone and I would like to see the churches taking more of an active role in challenging racism and inequity. I see it as part of the big picture of that message our Prime Minister regularly gives us: be kind. The demands of practicing kindness on the scale required to help redress enduring wrongs are great. You’ve probably all read articles expressing hope that the space this pandemic lockdown has enforced on many of us has provided time to think about how we would like the world to be afterwards. I encourage you to imagine a more equitable country. Have a look at the articles. One of them is from the excellent news service E-Tangata, which I follow and which, in my opinion, is one of the best in Aotearoa New Zealand. If you don’t have a computer, email me and I will have the articles printed and posted to you.
As an aside, I’m part of the group Julia Craig writes about in her article “Love thy trolls”. Believe me, that can be a challenge!
I hope you are all doing well during the lockdown. For many of us, Level 3 hasn’t changed things much. Remember to let us know at the church if you need or would like support of any sort. We are here for you. In the meantime, stay safe, stay home if you can, and be kind.
Arohanui,
Niki
Articles
Max Harris: Racism and White Defensiveness in Aotearoa: A Pākehā Perspective
e-Tangata, 10 June 2018
First Sir Paul Reeves Memorial Lecture given by Dame Anne Salmond.
New Zealand Herald 18 August 2012
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10827658
Julia Craig: Love Thy Trolls: What Pākehā Can Do About Online Racism
Pantograph Punch, 13 April 2020
https://www.pantograph-punch.com/post/love-thy-trolls
Te Kawehau Hoskins and Alison Jones on Māori-Pākehā relationships
December 2019
Ani Mikaere: Are we all New Zealanders now? A Māori response to the Pākehā quest for indigeneity
Bruce Jesson Lecture, 31 October 2004
Books
Ani Mikaere: He Rukuruku Whakaaro: Colonial Myths, Māori Realities, Huia Publishers, 2011
Ranginui Walker: Ka Whawhai Tonu Matu: Struggle Without End, Penguin Books, 2004
Anne Salmond: Tears of Rangi, Auckland University Press, 2017
To view the full e-news click on this link: https://us5.admin.mailchimp.com/campaigns/show?id=3852909
