REFLECTION 9TH FEBRUARY 2025  

“GOD DEFEND AOTEAROA, NEW ZEALAND”
By Rev Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai 

This year I did not attend any formal Waitangi Day commemorations I stayed home and watched it on Television.  Last year I was in Samoa when the Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters attended a special Waitangi Day Dinner at the Taumeasina Resort put on by the Samoan Prime minister the Honourable Fiame Naomi Mataafa which I was duly invited to.   

I remember attending  a special service at Westminster Abbey Queen Elizabeth II was present I’m sorry I can’t remember what the occasion was.   I was in the front row of the Abbey there was floor space in-between me and the Queen of Elizabeth,  I have never seen let alone been so close to royalty before.  When the congregation stood to sing the national anthem “God save the Queen”  the Queen remained seated and her regalness and grace oozed out of her as she sat probably for the umpteenth thousand time as people sang the national anthem.   I’ve never sung God save the queen  in the actual Presence of any royalty let alone the actual Queen before.  I felt privileged and honoured it was awe inspiring for some reason for a little young girl from the Pacific.  This was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria who was the Queen referred to in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.  It seems appropriate on this week as we celebrated Te Tiriti o Waitangi on Thursday 6th February that we put some time aside as a church to continue to reflect on our place and our understanding of this important Day in the lives of New Zealanders.    Waitangi literally means “Crying Waters”.  It has been 185 years since the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.  There has been much crying over the different interpretations between the English version of the Treaty and the Maori translation of the Treaty.  Today we continue to struggle with this issue.   

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Treaty of Waitangi and all the issues associated with it.  Perhaps an easy question to consider is “What did Queen Victoria do in the Treaty of Waitangi?”  One explanation of its three clauses transferred kawanatanga (governorship) from the Confederation and individual chiefs to Queen Victoria; guaranteed Māori continued possession of their taonga (property), with the right to sell land to the Crown should they wish; and granted Māori the ‘rights and privileges’ of British subjects.  This includes protection from discrimination and the right to participate in New Zealand’s democratic society. Tangata Whenua continue to claim that they did not cede sovereignty to the Crown.   

Our 3 workshops last year on Belonging to the Land was an excellent introduction and explanation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.  Another good book to supplement this is “Huia come home” by Jay Ruka.  I have the churches library copy at the moment.  This is a winsome telling of the history of the church in New Zealand. The huia is an extinct indigenous NZ bird, used as a symbol in this book for Maori culture, swallowed up by the western culture brought by the European settlers. The book is a call to the church in New Zealand, to remember the original intent behind the historic Waitangi Treaty, and to look again at and welcome in Maori culture – with some fantastic insights into things we can learn by looking at the gospel through the Maori worldview.
  
Even before David Seymour’s Treaty’s Principle Bill we here in Aotearoa as a country  have difficulties expressing our national identity. Waitangi Day is witness to that. For many people Waitangi Day is just a holiday; except when it falls on a Sunday like this year.   For others Waitangi Day is associated with protest. We struggle to come together around this day which symbolises the birth of our nation through the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.  It will be interesting to watch Sunday Theatre this evening on the “What really happened on Waitangi Day?” 
 
In the words of Rev. Dr. Allan Davidson who I had the privilege of studying Church history under he says: “We are living at a time for which there are no blueprints for the kind of society and world we are becoming. Part of our struggle in New Zealand is in learning to live with our past in the present in a way which helps us go into the future celebrating our diversity and affirming our unity. Another part of our struggle as a country is with the religious, cultural, ethnic, economic diversity that provides us with much richness, but challenges us with new understandings of toleration and inclusiveness. 

In 1840 the church through its missionaries helped make possible the Treaty of Waitangi. Hone Heke, the first chief to sign, even went as far as to describe the Treaty as a covenant, that is, what was agreed to in 1840 was invested with sacred character. Henry Williams in 1844, during the war in the north had 400 copies of the Treaty printed and distributed among Maori. As someone deeply involved in its signing, Williams described the Treaty as the Maori “‘Magna Charta” whereby their lands and rights would be secure to them’.
 
On Sunday the 9 February 1840, New Zealand’s first Governor, William Hobson, attended a church service at Christchurch, Russell, in the Bay of Islands. The preacher was the Head of the Church Missionary Society, the Rev’d Henry Williams. Williams took as his subject ‘the duties and opportunities of government’. Unfortunately, nothing of his sermon survives. For Williams, his topic would have seemed quite appropriate. He was a minister of a church with special rights and privileges by law in England. The Church of England, as an established church, was comfortable with its role as ‘chaplain to the nation’. There was no ambiguity for Williams when Hobson asked him to help translate the Treaty of Waitangi into Maori. Williams and many of the other Church Missionary Society missionaries took an active role in securing Maori adherence to the Treaty. ‘Missionary influence’ in securing acceptance for the Treaty ‘was significant simply because many Maori trusted the missionaries’ good intentions.  The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in Wellington on April 29, 1840. The signing took place on the schooner Ariel in Port Nicholson, now known as Wellington.  

Historian Michael King commented in an interview that one of the lucky things for New Zealand ‘was that we were formally colonised at a time when the evangelicals were in charge of the British Government and we got a treaty.  And that treaty, for all its imperfections, was motivated by humanitarian concerns.’ In 1840 the churches through Anglican and Methodist missionaries, with the Catholic Bishop, Jean Baptiste Pompallier having a walk on part, were centre stage in helping lay the foundations for the New Zealand nation.
Of course many protest today that the Treaty is a fraud for these reasons:  In brief, Maori in the first article of the Treaty ceded their ‘kawanatanga’ (governorship), or in the English text ‘sovereignty’ to the British Crown. The second article affirmed the ‘Tino rangatiratanga’ (sovereignty) or ‘entire supremacy’ of ‘their Lands and Estates, Forests, Fisheries and other properties’ and made provision for them to sell land. The third article of the Treaty guaranteed Maori the rights and privileges of British subjects. The meaning of all this is very contentious and complicated by different versions and two languages which don’t always say the same thing. Talking about current issues to do with the Treaty is like crossing a minefield blindfolded. 

Michael King in his Penguin History concludes that for New Zealand.  The bicultural reality remains a given, about which all New Zealanders need to be informed, and through which they will have to continue to negotiate as national governments, as local governments, as community organisations and as individuals.
 
Finding ways to negotiate and enter into dialogue requires imagination and courage. Throwing words or mud at each other will only cause further discontent. Confrontation provokes confrontation. We need to take seriously our history and be willing to enter into dialogue with one another and find creative ways in which there can be a win / win situation.
 
What God wanted instead was justice among the people, a justice that flowed freely from love an unbreakable and steadfast love, the sort of love that God models with the people.  Our New Testament reading for today: Colossians 3: 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as Jesus forgave you.”  In Te Reo: 13 Kia ata hanga tetahi ki tetahi, me te muru hara tetahi ki tetahi, ki te mea he riri ta tetahi o koutou ki tetahi. Whakarerea hara pera me te Ariki i muru nei i a koe. 

 What does God require of us as a church community, as citizens and people of Aotearoa New Zealand, as partners in God’s creation the Oikumene?  Micah reminds us to do just 3 things to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.  The way we respond to these questions is part of our life’s purpose and mission.  Amen.

[1] 08.02.04 Allan Davidson – Church, Nation and Waitangi – Seeking Justice, SUNDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2004 Church, Nation and Waitangi – Seeking Justice.  A Sermon for the Sunday after Waitangi Day – Allan Davidson.  ST. LUKE’S COMMUNITY CHURCH, REMUERA, AUCKLAND.

Audio of selected readings and reflections

Audio of the complete service