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| Image by Sandee Pachetan |
A GREETING
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.
(Psalm 22:22)
A READING
My child, keep your father’s commandment,
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
Bind them upon your heart always;
tie them around your neck.
When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light.
(Proverbs 6:20-23a)
MUSIC
Aotearoa is the Maori word for New Zealand
MEDITATIVE VERSES
Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead.
(Deuteronomy 6:6-8)
A POEM
The countryside, what was here before?
Landscapes of forest and mountain
Familiar yet unknown to me.
When I go away I will know the difference
When I return I will know this land
The depth recognized through contrast
Defined by difference
As the sun and moon complement
Light and dark
Sorrow and joy
And,
As in yin and yang
I will know nothing is completely separate.
When I go away I will know
So fully
And I will return and say:
This is my place to stand
My turangawaewae
My Aotearoa
- from "Turangawaewae" by Tuesday Pixie
VERSE OF THE DAY
Honour everyone. Love the family of believers.
(1 Peter 2:17)
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| Image by Jocelyn Kinghorn |
In many places in the Hebrew Bible, there is an instruction to be bound by teachings, both the teachings of the Torah, and other scriptures, and the teachings of tradition passed down through families from generation to generation. In Deuteronomy, there is a command to bind the very words themselves to the body that has led to the orthodox Jewish practice of wearing phylacteries and tefillin. In the Proverbs reading today, we hear an instruction to bind the teachings of parents to the soul of children as we go through life. If we do so, these teachings will help guide us in all that we do. In the imagination of the writers of these texts, the teachings are actually embracing those for whom they were given.
The Maori story of creation revolves around a loving embrace. The inseparable love of Ranginui, the ‘sky father’ and Papatūanuku, the 'earth mother’ produces children, but they exist between the parents' locked arms in a suffocating space, without light or the abillity to stand fully up. The children rebel and, joining together, conspire to separate the parents, pushing away the father into the sky and then becoming divided themselves as to which parent they will ally with. Their new freedom has increased the earth and filled it with life. Still the mother and father continue to yearn and pine for each other.
Today’s music is sung in Maori. The word “whanau” means “family” and “Aotearoa” is the Maori word for New Zealand, where most Maori people live today, especially on the North Island of that country. The song asks the question, “what is the most important thing in the world?” and then responds, “it is people”. This is immediately followed by the words “love coming towards us, love coming out of us”.
The short verse from Habakkuk reminds us of the ancient belief that the elements of the land could not teach or instruct as God can. The verse is meant to 'wake up' those who think that worship idols can equal God. But this 'awakening' might be seen differently today: in a contemporary understanding of Indigenous spirituality, including Maori people, everything in nature is an ancestor, a family member, capable of teaching us so much. To care for the earth and the trees and the waters is to care for family.
To live in relationships of love means that sometimes we embrace and cling tightly, and sometimes we hold the other at looser distance, with the connection still running vividly among us. What we strive not to do is exploit or burden the one we love. How does this challenge our own relationship with nature, with Creation? How can you be encouraged to see the “love that is coming toward us, and the love that is coming out of us" in all that lives around you?
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A STORY OF ENDURANCE
Tāne Mahuta is the name of the largest kauri tree in New Zealand, at a towering 177 feet tall and 53 feet around. The kauri are sacred trees to the Maori, uniquely related to their Creation story. Tāne is the name of the eldest son who forced the parents apart so that the children could live. He goes on to become god of the forests. For many Maori, the tree is more than a landmark, but is indeed an ancestor. More recently, the kauri trees have been suffering from dieback disease which has devastated the few of its kind in the same grove as Tāne Mahuta. Frustrated by the inaction or too-modest efforts on the part of government authorities, the Te Roroa tribe, who are the custodians of Waipoua Forest where Tāne Mahuta lives, stepped in. They closed the area around the tree to prevent tourists from accidentally spreading the fungus. Then they prohibited any traffic in the area altogether. They also stationed stewards and keepers to patrol the forest. The efforts extended for long enough to allow Maori scientists and others to come up with ways to prevent the spread. As a result, the 2000-year-old tree it still thriving today. Go here to read a non-paywall New York Times story about the tree. A beautiful account of the Maori creation story, told in sand art, can also be viewed here.
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| Tane Mahuta as it once stood, in 2014. Image by TravelNZ. |
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LC† Awakened by the Spirit is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!