Kia ora
What happened to January? It seems to have gone so quickly. We started with a lovely blessing and welcome for Lynne & Ben’s grandson Fergus, followed within the week by an unanticipated funeral and farewell for Tony Cowdry. We’ve been gradually resuming some of our regular activities – in a way it felt as though we were easing into the new year and suddenly it’s already February.
I have felt very lucky that it has mostly been a very pleasant January in Wellington: warm, not terribly windy; the sort of summer I hoped for when I stopped work. Alas, not so lucky for many of our friends and family elsewhere in Aotearoa. The images have been dramatic, the sense of community heartening and the implications daunting. My heart goes out to the many in Auckland, Te Tai Tokerau, the Coromandel Peninsula and Te Tai Rawhiti who have had their lives turned upside-down by multiple bouts of torrential rain and their aftermath.
Despite the severe weather, the commemorations at Waitangi are able to resume this year, after a COVID interruption in 2022, and our leading politicians will rightly be challenged by Māori leaders. It will be interesting to see how they meet that challenge. In a way it is a challenge to us all.
Please take the time to read the message from the Moderator, who will represent the Presbyterian Church at Waitangi this year, generously mentored by the current and soon-to-be Moderators of Te Aka Puaho (the Māori Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa NZ). We are indeed on a journey together, as a Church and as a nation, and all of our lives stand to be enriched by it.
Ngā mihi
Sue
You can read the full E-News here: https://mailchi.mp/f7759339af06/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-9293759
