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Sermon Rua Taupo 29 July 07
OT: Isaiah 43: 1-7
Next weekend the Maori Synod of the PCANZ are organising a visit to Ruatahuna and Maungapohatu.
Wayne te Kaawa has described the programme in this way:
The church brought land in Maungapohatu in the 1920s for a school and mission. They operated until 1950 when both closed.
The local hapu of Tamakaimoana asked if the church could return the land to them in order for the property to be restored and put to use for the benefit of the community. The church has agreed to this and a special service will be held in Maungapohatu on Saturday 4th August 2007.
On the Sunday 5th August 2007 in Ruatahuna we will have a 90th anniversary service as 2007 marks the 90 years since PCANZ made a commitment to the Tuhoe Iwi sending Sister Annie Henry and Mrs A Gorrie into Tuhoe to start schools and missions.
On Monday 6th August at Whakatane Museum the Tuhoe people will be guests of the Whakatane District Council. When J G Laughton and Sister Annie Henry retired, Tuhoe gave them many precious gifts in appreciation. Finely woven cloaks, carving and some gifts intended for King George V.
Map
Rua Kenana was considered a Maori prophet by the Tuhoe. He followed on from Te Kooti, and he and his first wife had a vision on the mountain of Maungapohatu. Rua was very influenced by the history of the Old Testament, and modelled his community that he developed at Maungapohatu along lines similar to the Israelites.
In 1907 Rua constructed his new community at the foot of the mountain. The people called themselves Iharaira (Israelites) and, like Rua, grew their hair long in imitation of the Nazarites, the people separated unto God.
Rua began his community at Maungapohatu and erected some impressive dwellings and communal buildings.
Round house photo.
The isolation of the site presented its own challenges, but they were very disciplined and grew crops for food.
The time in which this was happening was leading up to and including the First World War, and Rua was treated with suspicion because the Tuhoe were not being conscripted into the Army.
The authorities began to hassle Rua over things like a dog tax, and the Tohunga Suppression Act.
Alcohol was to be a problem for the community – it was forbidden to trade in it, but sly grogging occurred, and so Rua in an attempt to control it, purchased alcohol. For this he was charged. Rua believed that the Maori and the pakeha were treated the same when it came to the purchase of alcohol, but this was not the case.
In 1915 the authorities charged him again on matters regarding sedition, and a police party went to Maungapohatu and arrested him. The court case in Auckland was a controversial one. . The jury threw out the charge of sedition and were unable to come to a decision on the other charges, but found Rua guilty of 'morally' resisting arrest on the first occasion. With this lever, the judge Chapman pronounced a sentence of one year's hard labour followed by 18 months' imprisonment. Eight of the jury protested publicly and with a petition to Parliament against this harsh interpretation of their verdict. It cannot be said that Chapman was impartial. He considered that Rua had a long history of defiance of the law and that, as a member of a race 'still in tutelage', he needed to learn that the arm of the law reached 'every corner'.
While Rua was in prison, the Presbyterian mission had established itself at Maungapohatu and opened a school in July 1918. Rua gave his support to the school on the understanding that, in return, the Presbyterians would never erect a church there. This was the unusual basis of the co-operation that developed between Rua and the missionary, John Laughton.
Judith Binny in her book puts it this way:
“John Laughton came to understand the principle that worshippers in different faiths could share their services and come together in the one house. He knew that the community believed that Rua was the Messiah, but there was no purpose in seeking directly to challenge that faith. The respect which Laughton gained among the [people] and the Ringatu at large stemmed from his capacity to accept their legitimacy, for they shared one God. We would suggest that this fundamental principle of Laughton’s life derived from his early missionary experience of working alongside Rua Tapunui and grew with their mutual respect, for both men were visionaries.” Page 146.
In 1926 John Laughton left Maungapohatu and came to Taupo. Laughton’s assistant, Jon Black and Sister Annie carried on in his place.
In 1963, John Laughton laid the foundation stone for the Church Hall here in Taupo – this stone can be seen in the fernery in the foyer.
Two Photos of the occasion.
My take on this period of early church history in the Bay of Plenty and the Urewera is this. The Church had sullied its relationship with Maori after in the late 1860’s by siding with, or being seen by Maori as siding with the British Army, and the land grabs by the settlers, clearly in breach of the Treaty of Waitangi. From this grew religious movements that incorporated both Maori and Biblical features. The religious movement by Rua had the intention of maintaining Maori integrity, but including features of the bible. Rua’s community was well disciplined, and aimed at self-sufficiency. To be self sufficient in the harsh environment of the Urewera was difficult.
Even so they could have survived had it not been for pakeha hostility, and in the case of Rua’s time in prison, racial discrimination on the part of the presiding Judge Chapman. Now into this context of oppression and hostility came John Laughton and Sister Annie, and they came alongside Rua and his community and befriended him. He was treated with compassion and with integrity, and the relationship developed in such a way, that over time, this witness bore its own fruit.
The event of next weekend will celebrate this relationship, and acknowledge with the returning of the land, that the era of the community at Maungapohatu is now in a different phase.
With the connection through John Laughton, we in Taupo are a part of this time in history. It is a great example of how simply standing alongside people and being a friend is what Christian evangelism is all about.
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