Dear Aunty,

Why is the Methodist Church celebrating 200 years since the arrival of missionaries when colonisation has caused so much harm? Piripi

Dear Piripi,

To understand the past requires feeling into an era and attitudes that aren’t ours. It is unwise to make judgements on individuals or cultures without knowing what motivated their behaviour. Your question makes the mistake of presuming missionaries were colonists. Missionaries were invited to come to New Zealand by Maori. Some Maori had already experienced European culture in Australia and England and were keen to acquire new skills and knowledge. Maori chiefs provided land for the purpose of establishing missions. The missionaries’ motivation was to share what they perceived as the best from their own culture with a culture that knew nothing of these good things.

Committed Christians believed the most important gift they had to share was knowledge of Jesus. To know Jesus is to love and serve others. NZ’s first missionaries were not ordained clergy. They were Christians with practical skills recruited by clergy. Rev Samuel Marsden organised the first Anglican mission but lived in Australia where he became friends with a Wesleyan minister, Rev Samuel Leigh. Marsden invited Leigh to visit New Zealand in 1819. With Marsden’s encouragement, Leigh set about establishing a Methodist mission and returned with his wife Catherine in 1822. Early relationships between the two missionary societies and Maori were based on friendships and sharing skills. Missionary children were raised bi-lingual. It was the missionaries who devised a written form of te reo and enabled Maori to read and write in their own language.

Manaaki koe Aunty

Dear Aunty,

I find it hard to believe that Jesus floated up to heaven while the disciples watched him disappear into a cloud. How can this story be true? Verity

Dear Verity,

It depends what you mean by ‘true’. On Ascension Sunday this story from Acts 1:4-9 is the focus of the whole service - prayers, hymns and reflection. Congregations who use PowerPoint or print service sheets might include visual depictions. There are many splendid paintings to choose from. There is no expectation of a Biblical picture that it’s a factual record of a historical event. The purpose of religious art is to enhance the focus of the story by adding colour and detail. Are the messages of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan any less true because they didn’t happen? Faiths are rooted in concepts, not facts. I find it helpful to consider every Bible story as parable. The message of the Ascension is, Jesus was no ordinary man. His teachings and personality made an impact on all who met him. His closest followers were devastated when they understood Jesus was no longer with them physically. I view this story as a particular moment, when as a group, the disciples realised Jesus could be with them in a different way and that they would receive the power to continue his way of being and spread his revolutionary teachings.

Truth comes in many forms, Aunty