Dying Re-imagined

Do you give death and dying much thought? In a healthy way, I mean?
Is dying a notion we reflect on at all?
Or avoid?
Or perhaps obsess on? [Don’t.]
No doubt there are various approaches.

I’m prompted by two stories, one recent, one historical.  One fictional, one emphatically not.

I’ve just read a thought-provoking book, Tuck Everlasting.  Written for teenagers (by Natalie Babbitt), its premise builds around a family who find a spring in a forest, drink of it, and find themselves immortal.  The story explores the implications, especially the Tuck family’s misery in living forever in precisely their present form and age, while all around them others (spouses, children, friends, etc) grow old and die.  At the time of the story – although one of them is still only seventeen – they have already existed like this for 87 years; and their daughter, who didn’t sup of the spring, died three years ago, aged 91.
Imagine …

You’d think we would welcome immortality.
But, wait … Could that possibly be worse than death?
What if some could (live forever) and others couldn’t, so decisions had to be made?
Or … what if we could all have it – immortality?  Then we wouldn’t face the torment of seeing our loved ones age and pass on …
Yeah, but … the planet couldn’t hold or support us if that was the case …
And what about the bad guys?

So sobering imagining all this and cause for reflection – at a number of levels.  Think about it.

I have a dying story.

I was on exercise in Central Queensland.  I was part of the Orange forces, arrayed against the Blue forces.  It was evening – a beautiful tropical evening.  Flying was done for the day, our aircraft secured and camouflaged, and a group of us were sitting in a circle outside our dusty tents, shooting the breeze, as aircrew do, well fed and, if I recall correctly, drinking beer.  Two soldiers, appropriately dressed in desert cam, so arousing no suspicion, bearing familiar weapons, sauntered up to our group and one of them handed a slip of paper to one of our circle.  Unbelievably, they then took a step back, raised their automatic rifles and blasted us – full circle – rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!  We dived for the ground, folding chairs clattering and tumbling, bodies tangling – all in the intense shock of the first half second.  By the time we recovered and crawled uncomprehending to our knees, the two had vanished and we looked around at each other sheepishly.  What the hell?!
Our member with the note, still in his hand, unfolded it and read, “Bang.  You’re all dead,” and it dawned on us.  Two Blue Force soldiers had somehow got into our camp and brazenly wiped out (albeit it with blank rounds) three Huey helicopter crews.

It was a memorable experience for me.  The closest you can come to experiencing death without actually being deaded.  So sobering and cause, would you not agree, for reflection – at a number of levels.  Think about it.

How we strive to avoid death.  Wired to survive, at all costs.
Difficult for most to even to contemplate it – dying.  It is the worst thing that can happen to a living person, nē rā?  A person without a faith, anyway.

But imagine dying wasn’t on the table …

There’s a lot more to the matter than we usually give weight to, and … well, go on: think about it some more, and see if you can’t come to a more balanced view (and acceptance) of it.  I’m not sure how my own death experience has helped.  It was a rich adventure, at least.  Maybe that’s the thing … dying could be imagined a last great adventure.

For numerous perceptive quotes from ‘Tuck Everlasting‘, go to https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1955922-tuck-everlasting.

Waitangi Reflection

Bruce Gilberd and Joan Fanshawe

Two examples of God’s call for justice from the Old Testament:
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke. (Isaiah 58:6, RSV)
He has told you O mortal what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8, NRSVA)

The reflection expressed the effort required to face and move past some long held but incorrect beliefs about the history of New Zealand following the Treaty.

A recently read book Becoming Pakeha, by former Bishop of Waiapu, John Bluck, covered his life long interaction with Māori, from his childhood in Nuhaka (near Mahia) to establishing trust and friendship with local tangata whenua after choosing to retire in Pakiri (near Leigh).  Much emphasis is given to the deep tie that Māori have to place, that can be traced back by whakapapa. This is not a sense of ownership so much as  a deep spiritual sense of belonging to that place, and forms a great part of the difference that can be felt when the Treaty is discussed.

For us, then, a response to the challenge in Isaiah’s message to “loose the bonds of injustice” is to recognise the importance of up to date information and commentary on the Treaty, what was really meant then, and how we need to address issues arising now. This should come from a wider source than is maybe provided in our usual media choice, or – even more suspect – forming our opinions based on what is posted on social media and talkback radio.

The double hulled canoe mentioned in the prayer below is a great metaphor to illustrate a future that can happen. As people of faith we must look to faith resources where we will find strength to be part of the fulfilment of justice: making a commitment to find ways to be in true partnership, with the best outcome for all people. 

But where does one look to find trusted sources of information?

Bruce explained some of his thinking about the original intention of the Treaty and how he’d been reading some of Ned Fletcher’s detailed book The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi. Fletcher’s research very thoroughly examined early letters and directives from England leading up to our unique founding document.
This book (of a thousand pages) might be a bit heavy for some, but Bruce says the introduction and summary are well worth reading. It is available through the Library.

Below are links to other articles and reviews that might be of interest. Feedback on additional helpful resources is welcome. 
John Bluck’s book Becoming Pakeha is available to buy online or at Carson’s in Thames … and maybe the Library.  Joan downloaded the Kindle version and highly recommends this book: especially to those who have grown up in New Zealand, there’s much to relate to. 

Ned Fletcher talks about the research behind his book (Oct 2 2022):
https://e-tangata.co.nz/history/ned-fletcher-theres-no-clash-between-te-tiriti-and-the-treaty/

David Williams, Professor of History at Auckland University  (Feb 5 2023):
https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/david-williams-the-treaty-in-english-or-maori-is-still-our-best-way-forward/

Paul Temm QC: an excerpt from his 1990 book The Waitangi Tribunal: the conscience of the nation:
https://e-tangata.co.nz/history/what-if-the-treaty-had-been-honoured/

We conclude with a prayer, in te reo Māori and English, a karakia written by Bishop Brown Turei:

E te Kaihanga,
Nāhau mātau i tārai i Waitangi, anō he waka hourua,
whakarewangia i runga i te tūmanako; anō he waka eke noa,
whakaterengia i runga i ngā waikarekare;

Creator God,
By your hand we were fashioned together at Waitangi,
like a double-hulled canoe,
launched towards a hope-filled future;
cast together in the same vessel, traversing turbulent waters

He tia, he tia;
He ranga, he ranga,

Our backs bowed in effort, our journey continues, one paddle-stroke after another;

Whakarere iho te kakau o te hoe,
Kia tutuke ai i ngā oatitia;
te tika anō he awa nui.

Help us to strive together in unity,
that we might fulfil the oaths we have made to each other;
That justice may roll like a river,
and righteousness like an everlasting stream;

Ko Ihu Karaiti hoki tō mātau Ariki,
Te Kurahautū o tō mātau Kuratīwaka.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
The One Who Guides our Waka of Faith.

Āmine

Let us all keep exploring together, encouraging each other along the way.
Grace and peace be with you.

Limit to Free Speech

Jacinda’s sudden exit from the PM-ship has upset me.  Not the exit itself but the underlying stink of the hate mail she’d drawn.

I’ve always favoured free speech.  It’s a no-brainer.  In a free, democratic, non-fascist society, folk should be able to have any opinion about anything they like, and be free to express it.

Americans, of course, enshrine that right in their First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech …” The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, in its Article 19, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
Free-thinking individuals would have no problem with either of these, nor with New Zealand’s own (1990) Bill of Rights’ parroting of the UN’s, almost verbatim.

End of story?
It’s not provisional, nor conditional.  A right is a right, surely. 

No, sorry.  It’s not so straightforward.  My thinking is evolving on this one, and here’s why:
1. A right is a right as long as it doesn’t impinge on the rights of someone else; and
2. A right is a privilege and comes with a responsibility.  A responsibility to use that right responsibly.  And maturely.

People are people, right?  And every human being has a right to be respected for who she is, regardless of his foibles or quirks, beliefs, attitudes … and (let’s start listing a few other challenging miens) their ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation – or the rugby team they support.
This is where I’ve landed:  you can hate someone’s ideas or what they stand for.  Or their age or their social status or their religious affiliation or their rugby team.  And express it – preferably with cogent, well-informed (and formed) arguments. But not the person themselves.  No. As co-passengers in this waka of life, we maturely respect (nay, love?) them for who they are.  I don’t have to agree with their opinions or their life choices; probably won’t, in most cases, because mine are pretty screwy too.  But they deserve my respect as fellow travellers.
I cherish the right to speak freely, to express my opinions – strongly – about their choices, etc; against their choices.  But not to express hatred of the individual.  He/she is made – created – in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).  On that basis alone, he/she has my respect.

So.
I feel ashamed of the immature, faceless offal that charades as free speech on the Internet.  Much of it is so unjust, ill formed and expressed, and plain wrong.
You are most welcome to hate the policies of Jacinda Ardern, but you are not entitled to hate her, or express such – to attack her as a human being.  Or anyone else.  Free speech doesn’t extend that far.  Free speech is your right, yes, but it obliges you to use it maturely, and to respect the person. And if it takes legislation to establish that, then so be it. You asked for it.

Play the ball, not the woman, or man.  You have not that right.
Promote your ideas.  Challenge mine.  Disagree with fad topics and woke-ness or alt-right conspiracy theories.  Debate maturely.  But play the ball.

So say I.
Your opinions on this blog are welcome, but expressions of personal hate or attack are irrelevant and sub-human.

What’s Your Ministry?

By Pat Lee

(Based on Matt 4:12-23; Isa 9:1-4; I Cor 1:10-18)

What does the word ministry mean to you?
Who do you think can do ministry?
Do you know what your ministry is?

At the beginning of our Gospel reading today, Matthew tells us that Jesus left Nazareth when he heard that John was in prison. According to Matthew Henry (whose commentary on the whole Bible is classed as perhaps the greatest theological classic of English literature and a must for preachers and students), John’s imprisonment was the sign for Jesus’s ministry to begin. John, as we heard during Advent, was the forerunner for Jesus. He was the one who was to “prepare the way” for Jesus, and now he is in prison and Jesus’s time has come.

So, Jesus left Nazareth, where he grew up but was not accepted, even by members of his own family, and went to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias) in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, to fulfil the prophesy spoken by the prophet Isaiah, that we heard read this morning.

Jesus was that light, the one they had been waiting for since Isaiah’s time. His message was the same as John had been preaching: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come.” Matthew Henry says that Jesus preached often upon this subject, “wherever he went and he and his followers ever reckoned it worn threadbare, and now that it was so much nearer, the argument was so much stronger.”

When Jesus began to preach, he began to gather his disciples – who were to become the preachers and teachers after his crucifixion and resurrection. As he was walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee he saw Peter and Andrew, who were fishermen, casting their nets.  These were the first two to be called, followed by James and John, “the sons of Zebedee”, and then later by the other eight disciples. Each of these first four immediately began to follow him.
There is some contention from some writers about this sudden response. One writer wrote, “Those immediate responses of Peter, Andrew. James and John strike me as a bit impulsive. That kind of dramatic action doesn’t appeal to most of us.” I would have to agree, but I would also add that it was exactly what happened to Paul on the way to Damascus (in Acts 9). His response was also immediate. This can and still does happen now in our times.

Jesus does not call us all in the same way. I had a dramatic call to follow him, but Michael did not. His was a very different, slow awakening when Christ called him. Many of you will not be able to pinpoint a precise time of calling because you have always known and believed in Jesus. There is no one right way. None is wrong. Jesus knows the best way for each of us. What is required whenever or however we are called is to be loyal to the call and to follow Jesus. Jesus chooses us. We don’t choose him. He chooses us to follow and be devoted and loyal to him.

We don’t know what went through the disciples’ minds when they heard the summons. Nor do we know what possessed them to leave everything behind to follow him. We can only guess. Many of us, too, have heard that same voice calling at different times in our lives, and our hearts have been strangely warmed. It has a convincing ring because it comes from the one who made our hearts in the first place and knows them inside and out.

If the disciples had known then what Jesus’s end would be, they might have had second thoughts about following him. But the kingdom of God was at hand, Jesus said, and there was no time for second thoughts. We do know what Jesus’s end on earth was like and how his death on the cross was for our salvation. He is our Redeemer.

Well, the disciples left everything. Discipleship was not periodic volunteer work that could be offered at one’s own convenience and on one’s own terms. Jesus didn’t offer them a benefits package or a golden parachute clause, and said nothing about a retirement plan. They soon discovered that they were leaving everything to become the hated of the world (Matt 24:9). It would cost them everything, but it would be worth the cost. It was not easy following Jesus. But when they realized that he had saved their lives by his death, they were able to do much better in the ministry he had called them to in the first place.

Jesus knew that he would need these disciples to take over from him when his time on earth had been fulfilled, so he taught them as he went about his ministry, teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom; and curing every disease and sickness among the people. Sometimes they let him down, sometimes they got in his way, and sometimes some of them even thought they knew better. And we know that they made a pretty good job of what they had been trained to do after Jesus’s resurrection.
Jesus was their role model. They learnt from him as they saw him ministering to the crowds of people who came to him. Jesus told them that they would be able to do the same things he did, and even more,

Each of us has been called to become involved in ministry too. Jesus is our role model also.
We are called into different ministries, some within the church, some in the community, and in our families. When my husband was alive he used to say to me, “l don’t have a ministry.” And I would say to him, “Yes, you do. You make crosses [little wooden ornamental crosses – Ed] which we give to people when they’re troubled, ill or dying.”
Every single one of us here today has a ministry. If you don’t know what your ministry is, ask the Holy Spirit to show you and you may be surprised.

Some of you may be thinking, “Please don’t send me to Africa, God!”
That’s not likely, but your ‘Africa’ might be right under your nose – here in Tairua. Some people’s ministries are obvious to us, like the ones we see here in the church, but others are not, and all are equally important. God knows our strengths and weaknesses better than we do ourselves and will call us into the ministry that suits us best.

If God is speaking to your heart about something he wants you to do, step out in faith, because you will be equipped for it. This is what the disciples did when they became his followers and learnt from his ministry.

[Almighty God, renew your people with your heavenly grace to carry out the ministry you desire each of us to do. Give us the guidance and strength that we need, and equip and sustain us to fulfil the task well, to bring glory to your name. Amen.]