Tā Apirana Ngata once famously said; ko to ringa ki ngā rākau ā te Pākeha hei ora mō te tinana, ko tō ngākau ki ngā taonga a ō tipuna Māori, hei tikitiki mō tō mahunga. Ko to wairua ki Te Atua, nana nei ngā mea katoa.
Embrace worldly things for your wellbeing, your heart to the treasures of your ancestors as adornments for your brow. And your spirit to God, creator of all things.
As Mihinare we have always embraced global knowledge alongside our iwi mātauranga, so with this in mind, it was indeed a privilege for Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa to be joined by global leaders of the Anglican communion and the Governor General of New Zealand, Dame Cindy Kiro for Te Rūnanganui.
Our esteemed colleagues joined us to acknowledge our Te Oranga Ake o te Ao kaupapa and also to acknowledge Archbishop the Right Reverend Don Tamihere as a Primate in the communion ahead of the upcoming Lambeth gathering.
The following highlights their greetings and responses to the theme of Te Oranga Ake o te Ao.
The Rt Hon Dame Cindy Kiro, Governor General of New Zealand
Throughout my career, one of my motivations, has been to find ways of remedying circumstances or difficulties that limit our ability to be true to ourselves and to bring our particular gifts to the collective wellbeing of our nation.
The foundation values of my work in health, education and social policy have been whanaungatanga, manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga. I will continue to champion the work of people whose wisdom and experience helps people take their rightful place in the world.
Nationhood is both a reflection of our whanaungatanga and an essential part of our belonging to this place. It enables us to work together for the public good and to address the challenges of our times more effectively. We’ve certainly had a lot of these in the past few years.
I will do what I can to foster an inclusive Aotearoa, New Zealand, where everyone no matter what their background can make a contribution and they know they are valued and respected based upon a sound understanding of our history, our Tiriti relationships and our mutual understanding and respect going forward.
Thank you for what you do to support so many facets of personal and social wellbeing in our communities and I wish you well as your chart a way forward in your discussions today. After such a challenging year I hope you can all look forward to a restful holiday season and find the time to do things that sustain you and give you personal joy.
The Right Rev and the Rt Hon, The Lord Sentamu
The 97th Archbishop of York
Glory be to God in the highest, indeed I greet you most warmly in the name of our risen and descended lord, Jesus Christ.
You are having a fantastic time and against the backdrop of global distress, economic and community uncertainty we need to hold on to hope.
Hope in the end is believing is part of the evidence and watching the evidence change. It’s just like when there are a lot of clouds and you cannot see the sun. We know that it is actually shining quite brightly.
We need to hold on to joy because joy is actually one of the greatest gifts that Jesus Christ promises to us, joy that nothing can ever take away from us.
We also need to not only hold on to hope and to joy but on to love, because in the end anyone who loves god, they find themselves loving others and loving themselves and their community so I wish you a fantastic synod, a fantastic gathering although it is going to be done virtually may the Lord bless you always. And as that song ends, ake ake tōku oranga.
The Most Reverend Hosam Naoum
Archbishop in Jerusalem
Greetings and peace from the holy land, from Jerusalem and Bethlehem, especially at this season of advent as we bring greetings to you, all of our sisters and brothers in Christ and to you and to the clergy and the Archbishop of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, as you gather for synod.
We remember you in our prayers and we give thanks for the witness and ministry of the church in that part of the world that welcomes the first sun of the day.
It’s so wonderful to be in touch with you and to bring you greetings on behalf of all people in Jerusalem on behalf of the clergy and the institutions and all the people and the ministry here in this land.
We are really delighted to see that you all and we are using the subject and the theme of John 10:10 about life abundance.
So I pray to the Lord that you will continue in this wonderful mission in bringing life in abundance to your people, and to those who are under your care.
Again, best wishes for advent season and for Christmas, and the days and the years. Ahead. God bless you from us all in Jerusalem.
Archbishop of Perth, Kay Goldsworthy
Hello, everyone.
My name is Kay Goldsworthy, the Archbishop of Perth and I’m really pleased to be able to send a greeting to you all, as you gather as members of the Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand in Polynesia for the biennial synoptical conference of the Māori congregational, the Māori community of the church of New Zealand.
It’s lovely to be able to do this to be alongside sisters and brothers in this way.
Western Australia and Perth, in particular, is home to the first peoples the Nyoongar peoples and the local community is known as the Whadjuk.
As you gather at the very beginning of December, we will have moved into the season known as barrack season in which it is hot. And I hope that where you are your weather is mild and good and conducive to being alongside each other as you seek to discern God’s leading as you pray for God’s presence with you.
And as you look to the plans, hopes and dreams that you have in God, for the life of your church and your community.
This has been a period of time when we’ve been aware, as we have not been for many, many years of how it is that God calls us to be alongside each other for strengthening purpose in prayerful support and to seek the good for all his world.
So I do pray that you, under the leadership of Archbishop Don and others will have a wonderful time with each other, God bless you.
The Most Rev Michael B. Curry
Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church
I want to thank you for this wonderful invitation to bring you greetings for the Māori Anglicans and article conference, as you gather in sacred synod on behalf of your friends in the Episcopal Church.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God placed us all in this world that we might flourish. Jesus once said in the 10th chapter of John’s gospel; “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly”.
That abundant life that Jesus spoke about is life that is in harmony with the God who created us, with each other as children of God and therefore brothers and sisters, one with another and in harmony with the entire creation, the entire world that God has made.
In John chapter three, verse 16. Jesus said to Nicodemus “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son Jesus”.
Years ago, I thought that passage was only referring to God so loved us who are human.
And to be sure God does love us that the text says God so loved the world.
The Greek word for that used in the Greek New Testament is the word cosmos.
The cosmos, the world’s everything that God has made, as the Nicene creed says things visible and things invisible. God so loved the world that Jesus came into this world.
I am passionately convinced the older I get the longer I live that God came into this world and the person of Jesus to show us the way we’re right way and to be reconciled with the God who created us all with each other as brothers and sisters, children of that God and as part of God’s grand and glorious creation.
In the beginnings of the Bible, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden are in paradise.
And they remained in paradise, if you will, as long as they are in a loving relationship in communion with God to each other, and with the creation when that loving and right relationship with God each other in creation, when it’s fractured or broken, that’s when they get kicked out of paradise.
The Bible is trying to tell us something. The way to Paradise is in that loving communion in relationship with the God who made us with each other as the children of God and indeed, with all of God’s grand and glorious creation, that that way of love is the way to hope, it is the way to true joy.
That way of love is the path of life. Jesus said; “I have come that you might have life and not bargain basement life that this world can give you not not not cheap life, that that that this world will try to give to you right and have it abundantly flourish as God dreamed and intended from the very beginning of this world.
The God’s way of love God’s way of unselfish living God’s way of caring for others as well as the self-caring for and loving God. All that God loves is the key to human flourishing at its very best.
I speak to you from the United States, at a time a very real division and struggle in our country and culture. The divisions here are very real.
The motto of the United States that on many of the official kinds of things is the Latin word e pluribus unum, e pluribus unum, from many, one from many diverse people, one nation and is the actual official motto of the nation and yet there are those who would resist our diversity and seek to fashion a nation without this nation will only behold when we lift up a God given variety of our humanity.
But a year ago, I decided to look up the origin of that saying E Pluribus Unum from anyone and I knew that it had something to do with the writings of Cicero from the Roman Republic.
And then I’ve discovered that Cicero wrote, and I quote, when each person loves the other, as much as he loves themselves, then he Pluribus Unum. Then from many becomes possible.
I know that Cicero was right.
But Jesus said: “You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and strength”. This is the first and great commandment and the second is like unto it, you shall love your neighbour as yourself on these two love of God love of neighbour, love of self on these and all the law and the prophets.
And Jesus said it based on Moses, the way of love is the way to heal a society like ours here. It is a way to heal the hurts of a hurting world. It is the way to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.
Jesus said, I’ve come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
God love you.God bless you. May you flourish in your time of sin and then go forth into this world. Help us to flourish into what God intends for the world that God loves.
The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby
The 105th Archbishop of Canterbury
Kia ora,
I am delighted to send my greetings to you. This is a moment to reflect on the highlights of your mission and encourage one another in your ministry of loving service.
It’s also an opportunity to seek God’s guidance on where the Spirit is leading you to develop your ministries to seek the flourishing of all God’s children. As you look to the future together, my prayer is that you will listen to learn from and love one another witnessing to the God who calls us to pursue peace and offers us hope.
The hope we find in Christ is not passive. It empowers us to be changed and to change things around us in turn. It makes space for God to be at work in our lives and to join him where he is at work in the world.
This is a hope that calls us to the differently it calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves. It compels us to care for God’s creation. To be a Christian, is to be part of a family that is both local and global to seek a deep relationship with Christ and journey with brothers and sisters as you discern his call for you.
I pray that your synodical conference will be fruitful. To be in synod is to walk together and I ask God’s blessing for you all as you gather and pray together.
May God grant you the wisdom, the inspiration, the courage and the imagination as you seek to be witnesses to his grace in your lives. In your communities, and in the world.