Deep roots, Good Fruits (2)

Prayer of Adoration

God of all time, help us enter the New Year quietly,

thoughtful of who we are to ourselves and to others,

mindful that our steps make an impact

and our words carry power.

May we walk gently.

May we speak only after we have listened well.

Creator of all life,

help us enter the New Year reverently,

aware that you have endowed

every creature and plant, every person and habitat

with beauty and purpose.

May we regard the world with tenderness.

May we honor rather than destroy.

Lower of all souls,

help us enter the New Year joyfully,

willing to laugh and dance and dream,

remembering our many gifts with thanks

and looking forward to blessings yet to come.

May we welcome your lavish love.

In this new year, may the grace and peace of Christ bless us now and in the days ahead.

- Vinita Hampton Wright; Offered by Douglas Ruschman

Intro & Pepeha

Kia ora koutou Nga mihi ki te whenua Nga mihi ki te mana whenua Nga mihi ki te Atua, te arikinui o te Ao Ko wai au? Ko the Magnet toku waka, Ko Matanaka toku maunga Ko Waikouaiti toku awa, I ora mai oku tupuna na te awhina o Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki. He manene ahau i tenei whenua. Ko te Maungarongo toku marae Nō Ōtepoti ahau Ko Te Tihi o Maru kei te kāinga inaienei He minita Perehipitiriana taku mahi Ko Grant toku ingoa whānau Ko Bruce toku matua Ko Glenys toku whaea Ko Andrea taku wahine Ko Oliver raua ko Jonathan aku tamariki Ko Rory ahau

Whakatauki

To reach the branches, I must go through the roots

Kia tae ki nga peka, me haere ahau ma nga pakiaka

Your Stories

Matthew 13:8 NIV

Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

Share about a time when having deep roots in your faith has borne fruit in your life

Three Roots

Whakapapa - Identity

in ourselves, in Christ

My study leave journey

My identity is in my own family history, but as a person who has deep roots in Aoteroa, my identity is shaped by te Ao Maori.

Our Lord is the creator and sustainer of all things and has unique gifts for his world in Aotearoa, through te Ao Maori, through our shared identity, if we can only learn to live in loving partnership together.

So, I’ve come to learn, and not hust up here, but in here. In here. Kanohi ki te kanohi. Manawa ki te manawa

Scripture

If we don’t know Jesus, how can we abide in him?

Scripture speaks to us in a fresh voice every time - aissgnment story

Spirit

Experience

Breath of life

gifts are a blessing

Fruit rather than gifts

1 Corinthians 13:8–13 NIV

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Seeking after the fruit of the Spirit will draw our roots deep

Galatians 5:22–25 NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Think Like a Tree

The tree that grows slowly will grow strong (unlike a plant that grows fast with no roots)

Trees with deep roots will survive the storm

Maungarongo Garden

Hinewehi Mohi

In 1999, Mohi performed the New Zealand National Anthem at the opening game of the 1999 Rugby World Cup.[2] Mohi was asked to sing the anthem and she requested permission to sing it in both English and Māori but was told that she could only sing it in one language, with the unspoken expectation that it be performed in English. Mohi decided to sing the anthem in Māori instead, which received wide backlash in the New Zealand press at the time.[2] Mohi was bemused by the reaction, after being immersed in spaces in New Zealand that had celebrated Māori culture.[6] This proved to be a turning point, sparking a national conversation about cultural identity and the first language of New Zealand,[7] and is the reason why the anthem had begun to be sung bilingually since the early 2000s.[2]

So, as I reflect on my time as a Presbyterian Minister, as a seek a deeper understanding of my own identity as Pākehā o Aotearoa, As I look up in this whare, and see the symbol of the burning bush, I am encouraged to dig deep down and seek the goodness of God with deep roots, trusting that through his love, our lives will produce good fruits in our land.

14Kia manakohia ngā kupu a tōku māngai;

me ngā whakaaro o tōku ngākau i tōu aroaro,

e Ihowā, e tōku kāmaka, e tōku kaihoko.

Psalm 19:14 NIV

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Benediction

Ephesians 3:14–21 “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”