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Good Friday

Every year on Easter Friday we have a Shadow Service at Te Wairua Tapu. At 10.30am the bell is rung ten times and seven participants dressed in black make their way up to the altar during the singing of one of our Maori hymn. Setup on the altar is seven lit candles and then each participant steps forward to a reading lectern situated in front of the altar and presents their appointed shadow. They deliver a five or seven minute reflection based on their understanding of betrayal, inner agony, loneliness, accusation, desertion, mockery and death. In addition, they take into consideration what Jesus may have experienced as he faced each of these shadows on his way to the cross at Calvary and ultimately his death on it. When they have completed their reflection, each participant goes up and extinguishes one of the candles burning on the altar. As this service unfolds it becomes noticeable how very sombre, solemn and sad it must have been for Jesus.

Today in Sydney, 10 April 2020, it’s cold, cloudy and wet. A day that truly reflects what Christians know to be, a dark and gloomy day for followers of Jesus Christ. I am not going to reflect on all the shadows but reflect on the shadow of death.

Theologian Jurgen Moltmann, in his book The Crucified God, he quotes Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust, who writes of his experiences in Auschwitz, a prison where thousands of innocent Jews were executed during World War 2. Wiesel tells of a gruesome execution which all the members of the concentration camp were forced to watch. 

The Nazi SS troops hanged two Jewish men and a youth in front of the whole camp.  The men died quickly but the violent death pangs and convulsions of the youth lasted for half an hour. 

Someone behind me asked, ‘Where is God? Where is he?’  

As the youth still hung in torment in the noose after a long time, I heard the voice call again, ‘Where is God now?’ Where is he? And I heard a voice inside me say: ‘Where is God? God is here. God is hanging there on the gallows…’

As Christians, we get to experience the pain and suffering of God.  Where is God? He is hanging on a cross in the form of his Son Jesus? Just as the sign above Jesus’ head states at Golgotha, “This is the King of the Jews” and the insults yelled at him by one of the criminals, “aren’t you the Messiah? Why don’t you save yourself and us?”

In the same way, when we lose loved ones to death, especially those that are unexpected or sudden, deep down inside of us we scream, why? Why us? Where is God? God is with us…God is dying with us…When someone dies, so does God!  And that pain we feel, that pain is God! That is God dying inside us!

Jurgen Moltmann states: ‘To speak of a God who could not suffer would make God a demon.  And any other answer would be evil.’  

But why must God suffer?  Because it’s all about love! God’s love takes place in the world not outside. ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish or die but have eternal life.’ It may seem a contradiction but God is even more present with us, when we try to do without God.  Golgotha and Auschwitz show what we often tend to forget. God is not present because of something we do.  God is present in spite of what we do.  It is in our human nature to sin.  Yet, in spite of it, God is present!

When I witness others suffering from the pain death causes, it’s so hard in some situations to say to them, God loves you and God is with you because at that time, death is so overpowering that there is no room for God and they lose sight of God.  But the reality is that God has not lost sight of them.

Today, with the loss of life globally for thousands of people, many deaths will go unoticed, many families will never get to grieve but God knows and God grieves with every life lost and every single person suffering from the sting of death because God is present with us in and through Jesus Christ. On this day, let us remember that the death of Jesus on the cross was the death of our king.  It was something he had to do not because he wanted to do it but it was and is the ultimate expression of God’s love for us. We know what takes place on the other side of the cross but it’s not time to go there, just yet.

Archdeacon Karipa
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Maundy Thursday

MAUNDY THURSDAY
The Last Supper
 
SENTENCE:
We are to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to us, and we to the world.Galatians 6: 14 (adapted)
 
READINGS:
 
1st Reading – Exodus 12: 1-14
 
Psalm 116: 1-2, 12-19
 
2nd Reading – 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26
 
Gospel Reading – St John 13: 1-17, 31-35
 
Tena koutou katoa e te whanau o Te Wairua Tapu.
 
Tonight, would have marked my 19th year in a row, without miss, celebrating Maundy Thursday at Te Wairua Tapu.  Meeting at 7.30pm with likeminded people to remember the last supper Jesus spent with his disciples. The amazing thing is that those who have attended every year, the numbers were always 12 or 13.  We might have got an extra one or maybe one less but the attendance has always hovered around the 12/13. But not tonight. Tonight, is different, very different as the core group of our faith community is unable to gather physically to celebrate Maundy Thursday.
 
Whether it was divinely directed or bad marketing on my part over the years, those numbers tell you a story. History, especially one in which you live out, gives an insight into the character and values that a community of faith hold onto such as having a vision, being consistent, staying focused and on track, commitment, sacrifice, servanthood, reverence, humility and the list goes on.
 
You can wish for whatever you want or even command something into existence but when it comes to God, the outcome of prayer is never what we desire but what we need. God always gives us what we need to develop one’s faith. The lesson I have learnt is that some, if not most of the time, ‘it is what it is’. You can’t make grass grow, it’s already there, you watch it grow. When it needs water, you water it. In some way, the same principle applies to faith. You teach, you nurture but it is God that ultimately feeds and grows one’s faith not you or me.
 
Jesus loved his disciples to the end. He loved them so much that he spent his last night sharing in a meal and humbling himself to cleanse their feet. Why would they ever think anything was going to change? For them, Jesus wasn’t going anywhere? They were all special, even though Peter didn’t appreciate Jesus washing his feet, they were all feeling pretty good about themselves. Complacency, biggest blind spot even with faith! Stay awake and keep watch. As we all discover, at the end of the meal and the very next morning, they all fall away from Jesus and in their own space they desert him. How could they totally understand the journey Jesus was on cause their faith had not fully matured. Jesus knew he would have to leave and left them with this final act of unconditional love. The significance of this sacramental memorial is to remind us that no matter how strong we think our faith is or what we believe, there is always an element of mystery that surrounds the last supper and you realise, like disciples, your faith and my faith has not yet fully matured. As we look towards Good Friday and the pain and suffering Jesus encounters, we will never know what he experienced but when we look around the world and see the suffering of all humanity and all of creation you get a better idea of why God cries and why Jesus must walk to the cross at Calvary. Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. Lord Jesus, we thank you for surrendering your life for our sins and the sins of the world.

Archdeacon Kaio Karipa
 
COLLECT:
Gracious and eternal God, in the sacrament you have given us a memorial of the passion of your Son Jesus Christ; grant that we who receive the sacred mysteries may grow up into him in all things until we come to your eternal joy; through our Saviour Jesus Christ.  Amen
 
Archdeacon Kaio Malcolm Karipa
Sydney Maori Anglican Fellowship
 
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Palm Sunday

Lent 6-Palm Sunday 

Today is Palm Sunday. And, what a way to spend it. At home, in isolation and daylight saving has also ended, giving us an extra hour in solitude. Wow! 

At this time, however, I would rather be at Te Wairua Tapu with my brothers and sisters in Christ to witness and celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. But it’s not to be. Instead, after three weeks, I’ve been in our whare with my whanau cluster getting used to each other and being cut off from others. Of course there are now signs of frustration, a few cracks in ones armour due to encroachment on personal space, rooms getting transformed without permission, dirty dishes left on the bench and the list grows. Definitely signs of psychological readjustments taking place. But still plenty of respect for each other. 

However, being in this space that we now find ourselves, gives us plenty of time to really think about what is truly important to you and I. He aha te mea nui?

I wonder what was on the mind of Jesus as he entered Jerusalem? What was driving him to stay on this path? Was it the mana that was being bestowed upon him by the people? I think not. What was he thinking? He could have walked away at anytime but he didn’t. You see, when we don’t take time to think and process what lays ahead of us we are disadvantaged. in fact, without us knowing, we are in the dark. Jesus wasn’t. He knew exactly where he was heading and why he was going there. His relationship with God was definitely deepening at this time and Jesus knew it was God guiding him to what was awaiting in Jerusalem. 

E te iwi, although our families, friends, extended whanau and all people are the most important in this world. He aha te mea nui? 

For me, God is the greatest of all and Jesus shows us this. By continuing to be obedient, Jesus is about to embark on an act of pure un-selfless and unconditional love for all humanity and creation. When do we really stop to think about others? How have and how do we treat people? Now is a good time to ask yourselves these questions as Holy Week begins tomorrow. Where everything turns nasty. But do not lose sight of Jesus as you will discover, God’s ways are definitely not our ways.

God of kings and criminals: your ways are not our ways. On the way to Jerusalem, with shouts we acclaimed you; on the way to Calvary, with shouts we condemned you. Mercifully grant us the way that leads to life, For you are alive and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

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No Bible Study or Church Services @ Te Wairua Tapu and Living Water Fellowship on Sunday’s until further notice

Kia ora Koutou,
There will be no Bible Study or Church Services held at Te Wairua Tapu by ourselves and Living Water Fellowship on Sunday’s until further notice. Archbishop Glen Davis has issued a public statement on the future of Church Services because of the spread of COVID – 19.
“In light of the Prime Minister’s announcement this morning, banning enclosed gatherings in excess of 100 people, I have decided that the Anglican Church in Sydney should suspend all public church gatherings until further notice” We will keep you informed, and may our journey in Lent continue to be courageous and filled with the spirit of Christian love.
Archdeacon Karipa
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March 2020

Lent 2020
Bible Study 9am – 10am
TWT Wahine High Tea @ the Vicarage
Whaea Te Huinga Haeata accompanied by her nephew Richard visited Karakia today
Matua Abe Poharama visiting from Wollongong
Thank you to Angela Gaare for our new Communion Ware and methodology for Sunday 15th March
Karakia before heading to Canberra for the National Kapa Haka Regionals
And we are off
TWT Wahine

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February @ TWT

Sydney Waitangi Festival Karakia
Maori Section, Rookwood Cemetery
Archdeacon Karipa thanks Revd Bill Mei for being a faithful servant, and sharing his love for Christ Jesus with us