February 5, 2006

Glynn Cardy

Epiphany 5     Isaiah 40:21-31
     1 Corinthians 9:16-23
     Mark 1:29-39

The Maori word 'taura' means a rope and 'whiri' means 'to plait', the technical process used in rope making. 'He taura whiri' is 'a plaited rope'. [i]

This is a metaphor used by orators to express the art of peoples – as strands in the rope - coming together, keeping their uniqueness but combining their strengths in order that the community as a whole becomes stronger

Making ropes the traditional way, Maori twisted and rolled strands of scraped flax together to make longer strands and then plaited as many as sixteen together to make ropes, some round, some square. The strands might vary in thickness and colour, and new ones were easily spliced in. A rope thus made was many times stronger than any of its strands alone.

Waitangi is about history and symbol. At its worst it is about devastating effects of losing land to greed and racism and the denial of injustice. It is about ignoring the need for reparation and rebuilding of justice-centred relationships. It is about blaming those oppressed for their oppression. 

We need to know the history of our land and feel the pain of it. But we need also to know the history of our land and feel its promise, the hope of our forbears, and work for it.

At its best Waitangi was and continues to be about bringing the strands together, without loss of mana and integrity. It is about welcoming other cultures being spliced into that rope. It challenges us to value the skills of rope-making, weaving diversity without losing identity. The Waitangi vision for this country is not a melting pot of races stirred into an amorphous mix. Rather it is about strong, independent cultures working together, sharing their strengths, and valuing the conciliatory art of talking and translating across difference.

Our Pakeha Anglican connection with Waitangi goes back to Henry Williams, he who with his son worked late into the night to translate the Treaty into Te Reo Maori.

Henry arrived here in this land in 1823 having fought in the Anglo-American War of 1812. That war convinced him of the futility of all war. He converted to a peacemaker.

In Aotearoa Williams could see that the other missionaries were not succeeding in converting Maori to Christianity because they spent too much time trying to make Maori live like the European settlers. He also told them that they should learn the Maori language and culture. Williams's courage [especially in settling disputes], his warm regard for people, and his acceptance of Maori custom [except where he saw it in conflict with the Gospel] earned him respect and affection. It also led to a huge expansion in the number of Maori who saw merit in Christianity.

Henry was a strong supporter of Te Tiriti O Waitangi seeing the rule of British law as a protection against unscrupulous land deals and general lawlessness.

After the Treaty was signed, there was a lot of conflict. Settlers became suspicious of Williams because he was very friendly with Maori. Williams was also overtly political. He raised the ire and hostility of the settlers, for example, when he purchased land in trust for the Maori owners to prevent further alienation of Maori land.

A number of accusations against Williams, one of which – the acquisition of land for himself in the Bay of Islands – continues today. That land was purchased with the full and continuing agreement of the Maori sellers. It is important for us to realize the political nature of such accusations as various church leaders, like Williams, tried to thwart the settlers' greed for land and the politicians' connivance. The issue of Church acquired land is still used today to thwart our criticisms of government.

As you may be aware there are a number of mistranslations between the English and Maori versions of the Treaty. Some Maori thought that Williams had misled them when he told them what was in the Treaty. He had not told them that the English version said that they would be under the control of the British Queen's representatives in Aotearoa. The Maori version indicated that there were two sovereign peoples in the same country, each with their mana intact.

The influence of Henry Williams was significant in convincing Maori to sign the Treaty. Was he therefore a puppet of European colonialism whose agenda was often to seize as much Maori land as possible, by fair means or foul? Or was he trying to build a country, based on peaceful interactions, where two races, two languages and two culture ways of operating existed? I think the latter. The failure of the Treaty to prevent land alienation was a great disappointment to him, as were the civil wars of the 1860s that he lived long enough to see.

The Christian faith is not culturally bound. Originally it was Jewish, then Greco-Roman, and came to this country predominantly via the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic cultures. Williams understood that Christianity must be freed from its cultural packaging in order to take root in another culture, and that that is not easy.

The Anglican Church of Aotearoa , New Zealand and Polynesia today has three major cultural streams – as our name suggests. Faith is expressed in the language and thought forms of all three. It has great diversity, great potential for conflict, and an amazing openness to grace.

What has been and continues to be important for our Church, and I suggest for our nation, is people who can talk across and between cultures. It is vital we have people who are bi or multi cultural; that is people who know more than one language and way of thinking.

In a recent review Vincent Ward talking about the movie River Queen says New Zealand has been formed not by Maori and Pakeha so much as by the people in between Maori and Pakeha trying to find a way of co-existing. [ii] His movie is about the experience of trying to fit into a community where you don't necessarily know all the rules, and in trying to learn about another culture learn mostly about yourself.

Those who can broaden their minds to understand contrary viewpoints and what gives rise to them are the peacemakers and nation-builders. Our world is badly in need of such people. We need people who have walked the path of realizing the iniquities of the past, feeling the shame of that and the communal culpability, and knowing the need for redress. We need people who see the continuing need for relationships across culture and difference, and work at those relationships, in order that the riches of both are shared with each other and with the world. 

Rope making is an art, like peace-making and nation-building. It involves skill, co-operation, and continuous hard work. As a nation we are at last beginning to recognize the enrichment and strength that comes from weaving many diverse strands together. But the task of creating a unique national identity is an on-going one.

At Waitangi on 6 February 1840 , Colenso tells us, Governor Hobson said to each rangatira who signed the Treaty: 'He iwi tahi tatou'. Presumably he was coached by somebody, probably Henry Williams. Colenso translated this into English as 'We are now one people'. In doing so, he overlooked three subtle points. First, the word 'iwi' means 'nation' as well as 'people'. Secondly, if Hobson meant 'one people' he should have said 'he iwi kotahi'; 'tahi' without the prefix 'ko' means 'together'. Thirdly, the last word, 'tatou', certainly means the first person plural, 'we/us', but it is a special form, one without an equivalent in English. Use of 'tatou' signals the fact that the 'we' in question comprises two or more distinct groups. This short sentence in Maori packs in a lot of meaning. A fuller English translation would be: 'We two peoples together make a nation.' Today we might give it a wider interpretation: 'We many peoples together make a nation.'

[i] I am indebted to Joan Metge for her Waitangi lecture found at http://www.waitrust.com/panui/waitangi%20doc.doc

[ii] http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=0002199B-5DFC-13D0-BE5683027AF102CF