The graduation in Auckland on Wednesday was double the volume of graduands given that last year’s graduations did not take place. It was a proud moment to see my nephew Ezra capped with his Bachelor of Computer Information Science.
It’s funny last Friday I got all dressed up for a Pacific languages strategies ceremony at Parliament buildings. I walked down at 3.30pm for a 4pm function only to discover I was a week early lol. Anyhow, on Monday I received an invitation to be the church minister to actually do the Samoan blessing for the Samoan strategy which I humbly accepted. So today, I, along with eight other Pacific Island ministers will each be doing a one minute blessing for our respective strategies for each Pacific island language.
I am continuing to collate my poems that I have written over the years, many of them handwritten, not computerised, as these were written in a journal whilst on retreat. Hopefully, I can find them all. Here is another poem that I wrote for the same anthology edited by Geoffrey Duncan that I shared from last week.
“CALLED TO ACCOUNT”
There’s something that I’m feeling
that I can’t quite understand.
It’s to do with the things we say
and the words we use.
Do they complement our hearts,
God’s plan?
We talk about listening to the stories of others
and solidarity with the oppressed
but we continue to speak exclusively
and fail to recognise
when we oppress.
We can become so caught up with tomorrow
that we forget about today.
The mothers of the unborn children,
the bearers of our joys and pain.
What can we do to give voice to the voiceless,
to empower the dispossessed?
How genuine is our compassion,
our ability to confess?
Are we moving in the right direction,
or have we wandered off the track?
Let’s keep discerning the voice of God,
and allow the Holy Spirit to bring us back!
I too sometimes fall into the trap of being racist, I think we all do. When I’m on the phone for instance to Vodafone being forced to talk to someone with a very strong accent that I cannot understand and then add all the technical jargon on top of it, it can be extremely frustrating. For a start, I’m already flustered by having to wait for over an hour and I’m still not getting my needs met. This Vodafone internet connection took 3 days to complete and each time I got someone different. Finally, on the third day when it all came together, all was quickly forgotten.
That is why I say that we too can fail to recognise when we oppress, is that a fair comment? I would like to think that we all have the best intentions and that we genuinely are compassionate and empathetic people. Our Christian values of love, peace, respect, compassion, humility etc. are what ground us and give us purpose and focus. But at the end of the day we are also human and have moments and times in our lives when like Jesus with the Syrophoenician women we lose our cool and rant racist remarks that we should not take our children’s food and throw it to the dogs, referring to the woman and her ethnicity as a dog (Mark 7:24-30)
Like the Lord’s prayer says, we trespass and forgive those who trespass against us. Life is about continuing to discern our own integrity and the integrity of others. That we walk according to the values that empower and not dispossess, that we affirm and bless instead of condemn and curse. Life is not easy but having faith to be empowered and to empower others helps us in the struggle. Fa’afetai, Fei.
You can read the full E-news here: https://mailchi.mp/2c114226e1a1/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-9193331
