E NEWS 25TH OCTOBER 2024
Morena e hoa ma, kei te pehea koutou? Here we are at the end of October, these months are just slipping away so quickly. Christmas is just 2 months away. I wonder what plans you have this year? Our usual Christmas Eve service is shaping up nicely, every year I think, “how can I share the Christmas story differently this year from other years? In the light of the devastation going on in the Middle East I wonder what hopeful stories I can pull out of the rubble for us this Christmas?
Yesterday I was at Parliament for the second reading of the Samoan Immigration Bill. In 1983 Muldoon revoked the citizenship status of all Samoans born in Samoa on or after 13 May 1924 and before 1 January 1949. This bill is progressing, all political parties spoke in support of the bill yesterday. I sat in the gallery full of Samoans from all over Aotearoa. According to Carmel Sepuloni, “it is the right thing to do and honours the spirit of the Government’s formal Dawn Raids apology.”
Talking about the Dawn Raids, I went to the play “Dawn Raids” last night at the Opera House, I tag teamed between Queen Margaret College Board of Trustees and the theatre. As you know I have been part of the Vaka of Stories, the gathering of first and second generation accounts of Dawn Raid experiences on families and individuals in the 1970’s. Many victims have since died but their children live on with their recollections and traumatic experiences and stories. The play last night written by Oscar Kightley a well-known Samoan writer and personality. It captured the story of one family extremely well and highlighted the racist abuse inflicted by NZ police including one Samoan police man who was extremely conflicted by his job and the expectations placed on him as a police officer. I didn’t realise it was only playing 2 nights in Wellington on Wednesday and Thursday so it was a pleasant surprise to bump into so many friends and families from all over Aotearoa NZ.
We have good news to share as a Parish Council. We now have a Rainbow Room Co-ordinator Her name is Caroline Korybut who works as the Queen Margaret College After School and Holiday Programme Co-ordinator. Caroline is volunteering her time and our hope is that we will be able to encourage/invite some of the children/families from QMC junior school to come to our church over time. On December 8th we will officially relaunch our Rainbow Room programme and hope we will have some children present to join us on that morning and into the future. Caroline has a BS in Psychology from Santa Clara University in California and experience in working with children, she has a track record of being a strong advocate for children and has worked with vulnerable children. She has been attending our services in recent months. I will formerly introduce her on Sunday.
This Sunday our lectionary readings come from the final chapter of Job where God blessed his life more than he had before and our Gospel reading is actually last week’s reading Mark 10:35-45 which looks at the question James and John wrote to sit on the right and left had side of Jesus in glory. Jesus’ response “whoever wants to be come great among you must be your servant”. In Samoa, our most well-known proverb is “O le ala I le pule o le tautua” The pathway to leadership is through service. My theme is “what is our aim and purpose in life?” Those of you who grew up with the catechists may remember that in Sunday School you might have been taught that our purpose in life “is to glorify God”. These were rote learnt answers and not sure if people believed that or not but knew it was the right answer to say if you were ever asked. The last chapter of Job restores Job back into society, and he has a new family and new animals etc. But it was the community who built Job back up “everyone bought a gold ring and some money” God didn’t wave a magic wand and it all happened. For me, this is my culture the fa’a Samoa at its best that’s how our inheritance works too. Look forward to exploring this more with you on Sunday.
Our new website is now live, please visit it when you have a chance. Take care, noho ora mai, Fei
You can read the full E-news here: https://mailchi.mp/a4b30e76f95a/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-10131190
