Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Kaiapoi Pa

In recent weeks one could be forgiven for thinking that Pakeha in New Zealand are either continually at odds with Maori (or vice versa) or that our history together has been one of contention and nothing else. It might also be thought that the history of the church vis-a-vis Maori had always been fraught.

News, like that about Hone Harawira, doesn't tend to help much. (See Wikipedia for a very up-to-date summary of his situation.)

However, today I came across a blog post written by Steve Taylor which draws out three stories that present a rather different picture of our mutual history. They each connect to the Kaiapoi Maori pa, which was put to seige and finally destroyed by Te Rauparaha; the other link in the stories is Christianity, and its power to change and bring forgiveness and peace.

Check this sermon out (and don't be too picky about the lack of proofreading!)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

ta Mike. appreciate the link and the commentary. you are right, to write, that there is much to learn from each other.

you are also right, to write, re proofreading. sermons by nature are to speak, not to write.

it takes time to then turn them into written pieces, time i'd rather spend with people or my kids! so thanks for letting me do that

steve
www.emergentkiwi.org.nz