Aotearoa Sunday Homily – Colossians 1:3-14

“Take care of our children. Take care of what they hear, take care of what they see, and take care of what they feel. For how the children grow, so will be the shape of Aotearoa.” These are the words that Dame Whina Cooper would convey to the many women she was serving on the Maori Women’s Welfare League so many years ago.

Reflecting on these words… one child comes to mind whose life was shaped by what she heard, and what she saw and what she felt… whose life was greatly influenced by the same missionary woman Charlotte Brown… that Becky speaks of… whose life was so tragically taken during a skirmish between two tribes… whose death gave life to her beloved gospel being spread throughout the Eastern, Western and Southern tribes… whose altered lives would shape the Aotearoa we live in today. These were the fruit bearing seeds sown by the 12 year old Tarore of Waharoa.

Paul me ana hoa (and his ‘mates’) were giving thanks to God for the Colossian Christians who were living out the gospel. The same gospel that Tarore lived out in her very short life… for peace… the same gospel that Heni Te Kiri Karamu lived out when she gave a thirsty enemy water… for compassion… and the same gospel we celebrate here today… for unity. Like Paul, let us thank God for the fruit bearing Christian women from our past, and in the present, as well as the future. Who… you might ask? Well… ever the advocate for our ladies… I want to take this time to thank the wahine that make our Māori Bishops look good of course!!

Like Paul and his companions:

• In our prayers we thank God for (Hana Te Unuhi Mere Paaka - his first wife who died whilst he was a priest) Arihia Rangioue Pokiha who in those daunting years of the first Māori Bishop that she had married… comprehended the grace of God and shared in the faithful ministry of Christ on Frederick’s behalf also.
• In our prayers we thank God for Agnes Waikeria Anihana who, filled with the knowledge of God’s will, toiled gracefully alongside her love, Wiremu Panapa.
• In our prayers we thank God for Katerina Clark who having learnt from the strength of her mother-in-law Hana the skills to do good works, served her Maori people without any ‘known’ complaint at the side of Manuhuia.
• In our prayers we thank God for Lady Beverley Watkins who, made strong with all the strength that comes from God’s glorious power, endured everything with patience as she shared the love of Paul with a whole nation.
• In our prayers we thank God for Lady, Doris Te Parekohe blessed with the spiritual wisdom and understanding to nurture the roles of Kahui Wahine knowing that those good works would complement the demanding work of Whakahuihui.
• In our prayers we thank God for Mihi King for that same wisdom to motivate Kahui Wahine to serve faithfully as she does alongside the busy life of Brown.
• In our prayers we thank God for Gwennyth Fay Hansen who inspired and enabled Kahui Wahine to bear fruitful teachings whilst supporting Waiohau Ben.
• In our prayers we thank God for Lorraine Cross who makes known God’s will by enabling other wahine to share in the fellow-servanthood of Muru.
• In our prayers we thank God for Helen Himiona who offers hope, through the gospel, with pastoral care within an earthquake stricken ministry that she shares with John.  
• In our prayers we thank God for Lynnore Bonnington who, like Paul me ana hoa, thanks God for the fruits that is witnessed in others, and sharing in the rigors of faithful ministry alongside Te Kitohi.
• In our prayers we thank God for Kamana Paenga who filled with the knowledge of God’s will offers an understanding that bears fruit alongside a very tuneful Rahu.   

It is these industrious heroines in our midst, the bearers of future fruits, culminating from 200 years of women’s ministry in Aotearoa… doing good works… which they are called to do, weaving us together each strand unique and each strand strengthened by the company of the other. We all know that they are good works by the things that they do… and by the good they do… and done in a way that people know why they are doing it. These faithful fruits do the best work they can possibly do, and often without fanfare or praise… and they do it in a way that reveals the fruit of the Spirit with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. And do we thank God when we see these things in our sisters? You bet we do!! We should always be thankful to God when we see the fruit in others.

Paul and his mates gave thanks to God because the Colossians were growing. They were maturing. They were becoming more Christ-like… and it is in our children that we can weave a faithful maturity also. And by this act we should be nurturing a growth that can “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, continuing to bear fruit and increasing in the knowledge of God.” We can see already some generational Christians, having been borne out of faithful Christian homes, who are themselves, witnessing the fruits in others. Children of our faithful heroines sowing seeds of their own. Children of the faithful women we honour today who are now handed the responsibility to weave good works into policy making, law, technology, social media and 21st century thinking.

Take care of our children – bring them up to know God and the joy that God brings into our lives. Take care of what they hear – because we have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth and the gospel and for this reason since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying. Take care of what they see - may they be made strong to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to God. Take care of what they feel - made known to each of us by the love in the Spirit.

The Bible tells us everything we need to know for life and salvation, and as we read it, the Holy Spirit helps us to understand it and remember it and practically apply it, and this is Paul’s second prayer – for them and for us – that they and we actually live out what God has said in His Word. It’s not enough to know what the Bible says. It’s not enough to know what God has said to do and be. We have to also live it out. We have to do and be what and who God has called us to be… and when we do that, we bear fruit and people will see that what we are doing is for God and according to His Will and His Ways. In our prayers let us thank God for the children, for how the children grow, so will be the shape of Aotearoa. Amen.