Waitangi Day Sermon
Marcelles Amiatu
Today our country celebrates Waitangi day.
178 years ago today, the leaders of two peoples,Maori and Pakeha negotiated and signed a document for all to live as one. To love one another.
Our gospel today talks about love, it talks about covenant. Jesus in today's gospel says:
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Love each other as I have loved you. That pretty much sums up our sermon for today.
Jesus in our gospel this morning is explaining to his disciples how their joy and their lives may be completed and fulfilled by remaining in his love and loving each other. Jesus is painting a picture for his disciples so that they may come to understand his "Treaty" the Treaty of Jesus, the covenant of Jesus, the command of Jesus. To love one another just as he loved us.
The main point of our gospel this morning is clear. The picture of the intimate union, relationship of believers with Jesus. The disciples lives depended on their union, their relationship with Christ.
The Treaty was intended by Great Britain to be an exchange of sovereignty in return for a guarantee of the authority of the chiefs and the protection of Mäori land and resource rights.
When the Treaty of Waitangi was signed 178 years ago, two people became one.
For the people to live as one, a covenant was needed so that each party would continue to look-out for each other - to supply for each other, and to love each other.
Just as the Treaty of Waitangi serves as the founding document of our country, and is central to New Zealand law. The treaty of Jesus serves as a reminder for Christians to keep his commands, to abide in him, and to love one another as he loves us.
So because of the Treaty of Jesus, there is this gift, of being one with God just as the Treaty of Waitangi brought to peoples together. But do your best to preserve this gift. Keep this Treaty of Jesus a living gift.
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Just as we do our best to preserve the Treaty of Waitangi we must also do our best to preserve the Treaty of Jesus as a living Treaty and work toward it’s full and final settlement.
The challenge for us as Kiwi’s. Today all celebrate the Treaty of Waitangi. But what are we doing about the Treaty of Jesus today? Is it just an event some 2000 years ago, or do we need to make it our own today? Do you need to acknowledge that we are God’s taonga, confess the ways that we have lived apart from God, and decide to step back under God’s tino rangatiratanga? Do we need to commit ourselves to keeping the Treaty a living document, and work together toward full and final settlement? Such is the Treaty of Jesus and the beauty of one people and faith.
Ki te ingoa o te Matua, o te Tamaiti, o te Wairua Tapu.
Amene.
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Just as we do our best to preserve the Treaty of Waitangi we must also do our best to preserve the Treaty of Jesus as a living Treaty and work toward it’s full and final settlement.
The challenge for us as Kiwi’s. Today all celebrate the Treaty of Waitangi. But what are we doing about the Treaty of Jesus today? Is it just an event some 2000 years ago, or do we need to make it our own today? Do you need to acknowledge that we are God’s taonga, confess the ways that we have lived apart from God, and decide to step back under God’s tino rangatiratanga? Do we need to commit ourselves to keeping the Treaty a living document, and work together toward full and final settlement? Such is the Treaty of Jesus and the beauty of one people and faith.
Ki te ingoa o te Matua, o te Tamaiti, o te Wairua Tapu.
Amene.
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