Matariki hit a new high this year, finally claiming its slot in the calendar and the national consciousness.
Notable celebrations were held across the motu, not least in that dawn ceremony in Wanaka. Our political leaders, who lined up with due solemnity, were eclipsed by the celebration orchestrated by Kai Tahu. One was welcomed into a rich, renascent , and confident spirituality. History was unravelled before our eyes.
Past, present and future flowed into one another. Karakia , waiata, passionate oratory swept one into a different realm. A portent, perhaps, of things to come,
Sobering, then, to pose another question in the light of this. What has our Pakeha culture to offer that is remotely comparable?
I am a religious historian, coming from a long line of Scottish ministers, some Gaelic speaking, deep rooted in their Highland or Lowland culture.
As a student in Dunedin in the 1950s, I vividly remember the platoons of nurses and students who poured into Knox Church.
The congregation had a close nexus with the university and with city business. When in town Walter Nash would visit the church manse. The churches were still a power in the land.
My training as a young minister in Otago, Edinburgh and then Tubingen took critical scholarship and scientific openness for granted. Relevant, sometimes prophetic, preaching was expected of ministers. Spearheaded by groups such as the Student Christian Movement, the old denominational structures would soon give way to Church Union, or so it seemed.
And the church scene today? Presbyterianism, which I know best, hangs on by its toe nails. The churches which survive tend to sit on the periphery of society, having been eroded for generations by cultural and sociological change, and at times by a sad loss of moral credibility, intellectual rigour, and pastoral sensitivity.
For many New Zealanders, today’s churches are no longer on the cutting edge of things
What, of anything, has taken their place? Some observers speak of a vacuum of spirituality, though this seems to ignore the plethora of fine poets, novelists, composers in little Dunedin alone. Occasionally, too, I’ve been lucky enough to attend community weddings or funerals facilitated by a gifted celebrant.
Attention is being paid to spirituality issues in our medical faculties and teaching hospitals. Impressive work on exploring holistic approaches to personal welfare is being pursued by the innovative Selwyn Foundation, to name but one.
A shrewd friend wondered, though, how any emergent Pakeha spirituality can survive without an institutional base comparable to the marae?
Who knows? Occasionally one still comes across church communities whose social engagement and innovative worship pull you in, mind and soul.
Traditionally churches acted as identity markers for the local community, took care of the vulnerable, offered folk a set of values and the odd hint about life’s meaning. Need we assume that all that is irrecoverable?
One thing is sure. The spectacular, heart-warming, tangi for Kiingi Tuheitia has just given us all an object lesson on what is possible. Made you proud to be a New Zealander.
Will we Pakeha take up the challenge?
— The Rev Dr Peter Matheson is Emeritus Professor, Knox Theological College, Dunedin
