Speaker & Worship Leader:- Maria Hayward

The service opens with a whakatauki (proverb) and introduction to the theme. The readings are a personal story and an outsider’s perspective of Te Ao Māori in Aotearoa, reminding us of our unique and special home. The talk will cover the basics of pronunciation and key words that may have meaning for members. 3 waiata will be sung. The discussion will comprise a mini te reo lesson in small groups.

Video to come

Audio to come

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Maria Hayward © 14 September 2025

I’d like to begin with a whakatauki. This proverb, which talks of searching, listening, working and striving together, with love and compassion, so that we can reach our goal – seems to fit with the shared effort that is required to sustain and grow Te Reo in Aotearoa.

Ma te titiro, ma te whakarongo, ma te mahitahi, ma te manawanui, ma te aroha. Ka taea e au.

The theme for Māori language week this year is: Ake ake ake – keep going, sustain the language. Last week while I was researching for today’s korero, I found a photo online that triggered a strong emotion in me because of a personal connection. I share this with you as a way of illustrating how easily we, as pakeha can dismiss or not concern ourselves about the effects of colonisation and institutional racism. We know it’s wrong – but we don’t always feel it. It has never affected us. But sometimes it does. An event or a situation does come close to home.

Speaker:- Dan Te Whenua Walker,
Worship Leader:- Ted Zorn

Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the various readings, videos, etc. shared in the service.

Dan Te Whenua Walker © 19th March 2023

Links

Opening words:- ‘When I First Asked For My Whakapapa’ by Miriama Gemmell,
Commentary on this by Essa May Ranapiri in the Spinoff.

Reading:- excerpts from Dame Anne Salmond’s “What is the future of Māori-Pakeha relations?” 

Closing words:- Dana Worsnop, “I Want to Be with People” 

with:- Tunisia Set Ārena
Worship leader:- Nina Khouri

Links

Welcome:- includes an adaptation of “Come Whoever You Are” By Marilyn Falkowski

Chalice Lighting:– is an adaptation of “Every Endeavor Begins With a First Step” By Charles F Flagg

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 26 June 2022

Welcome this morning to history. This is the first public celebration of an indigenous peoples’ holiday in the world. Matariki, sometimes referred to as the Maori New Year, has become a celebration for all New Zealanders. It centres on a cluster of stars that in the west were known as The Pleiades or Seven Sisters. They are 410 light years away and are part of the constellation Taurus.

The Maori named them after the brightest of nine stars called Matariki, the mother of the other eight. Each star is honoured for a specific thing.

with Rachel Mackintosh

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Rachel Mackintosh © 14th February 2021

Reading: The Skeleton of the Great Moa in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch

The skeleton of the great moa on iron crutches
Broods over no great waste; a private swamp
Was where this tree grew feathers once, that hatches
Its dusty clutch, and guards them from the damp.

Interesting failure to adapt on islands,
Taller but not more fallen than I, who come
Bone to his bone, peculiarly New Zealand’s.
The eyes of children flicker round this tomb

Under the skylights, wonder at the huge egg
Found in a thousand pieces, pieced together
But with less patience that’s the bones that dug
In time deep shelter against ocean weather:

Not I, some child born in a marvellous year,
Will learn the trick of standing upright here.

Allen Curnow, 1943

Musings: The art of walking upright here

Last week was Waitangi Day. Marking the signing on 6 February 1840 of Te tiriti o Waitangi. So it may seem as though today’s service is a week late. To adapt a Christmas poem:

“When the waiata on the marae is stilled,
when the sound from the megaphone is gone,
When the rangatira and the manuhiri are home,
when the workers are back in their workplaces,
Then the work of Waitangi begins”

The work of Waitangi is the work of all of us, no matter how much we feel we know or don’t know.