Celebrating the Gift of Water

Transcription

1 ATR/100.1 Celebrating the Gift of Water Winston Halapua* I stand in your midst and I stand with the multitude of God s creation and I speak with the species around us, about us, and underneath us. My friends, it took me three hours to fly from Fiji to Auckland, and then twelve hours from Auckland to Los Angeles, in one of the fastest contributions to technology. And during those hours, I was above the ocean and around me were the clouds and between me and the ocean were the clouds. They are all water. So, the question I would like to raise today as a starting point is, why do we have so much water? We gather here today because we are in a water crisis. I wonder how other species look at human beings. We are very funny. I d like to say thank you to New York, thank you to this church. What you have done has benefited where I come from for years and years. I have long held this place in my head, in my heart, in my prayers. I represent 28 million square kilometers; my diocese is the largest in the Anglican Communion. There are fourteen island states and territories. Five of them are wonderful states that scientists say may disappear before the end of this century. Hence, the question of water comes in. Where are you? In a common home where both you and I have equal access to the joy of a household, why is it that when it comes to water, you drink and enjoy yourself, and drain out what is left over rather than giving it to me? And, at the end of the century, I and others are drowning because of the leftover water that was not given to us. The readings for tonight are for us, for an ongoing conversation as we begin to face this sacred issue. It is an issue of reality, it is an * Winston Halapua is the archbishop and primate of the Diocese of Polynesia and Aotearoa New Zealand, responsible for a number of New Zealand-based Samoan, Tongan, Indo-Fijian, and Fijian congregations. He is the author of Waves of God s Embrace, an exploration of the people of Polynesia and their profound connection with the ocean. He is also dean of the College of the Diocese of Polynesia at St John s College, Auckland, and a lecturer in the School of Theology at the University of Auckland. This was the opening sermon at the Water Justice Conference, Trinity Church Wall Street, on March 22,

2 8 Anglican Theological Review issue of life, and if you say it is an issue of commodity, I would say, hang on. Allow me in my voice as we have sung together, as we hum together, to tell you what I have heard in all these voices. Can we allow ourselves to hear different voices before we proceed? Friends, I stand here to share with you how I started my theological education. It was incredible. I left Tonga for Fiji; Tonga is the only kingdom in the Pacific. I left to another home because of God s call. And I can share with you that in all the years when I was young, when I was small, when I was ready to put my hands on God s work, I was confused because I was brought up in a school of thought that held that theology and science don t have a meeting point. What do we say about this notion, to someone who, through his own faith, through the support of the family, and the support of the church, enlarged his mind and his sense of his call? When I went to the theological college, I started to think about this. The rest of the years were a conversation of what we humans are and what other creatures are, too, and what we don t have in common with them. I found more not in common than I found common ground. And so, my friends, the story of Genesis and the story of the book of Revelation are two stories where we may have some difficulties if we approach the conversation from the perspective of science. But God brought me with the waves of the Pacific Ocean to bring this message as a starting point of the conversation tonight. For us, science is God s gift and theology is God s gift. We need one another. Economy is God s gift and other philosophies are God s gift. The planet and all of creation are God s gift. We need to have conversation. We need to find more common ground, because we have more common ground than what we know. Genesis, for people from Oceania, is a story. We were born with stories, we live on stories, we die in stories. Without stories, we are nobody. We can hear other voices, but for us, the important issue for the story of Genesis is the question of where. That s the fundamental question for us in Oceania because we are people of voyages. When we left Southeast Asia in 3 4 BC, we voyaged in conversation. Our ancestors looked for the star. Where is the moon? Where is the sun? Where is the star? Where are the waves? Where are the other beautiful gifts of God? Because the question of where tells you about the beginning. And when you weave them together, they assist you to find your destination. When I went to school, my teacher, who was brought up with Western concepts, said to me, Winston, please get straight to the

3 Celebrating the Gift of Water 9 point. Don t go here and there. Friends, how can you change me? I am a child of the voyager people. When we voyage, we do not take a straight course. We will both arrive at the same destination, because when we tell stories, we convey our message. The first question for us is, where do you come from? Because it s your context that helps us to see you as an individual. Where do you come from? And then the question, where did it come from? Because, in Oceanic perspective, if we begin with the wrong questions, we begin with only one aspect of the story. Let s begin with the beginning so that we pick up the rest as we journey together in our conversation. The story of Genesis tells us our beginning. The book of Revelation tells us of what has happened to people who remain in their faith. And I return today to ask the question, Where are we? And so, my friends, I introduce you to the threepart sermon. For the second part I invite all my household, in this common home, to pray with me. Before we pray together, I d like to explain two words that emerge from our prayers together. One is moana. Moana is the ancient Polynesian word for the ocean. When other nations came and told us, You belong here and belong there, and This is the ocean, we said, Thank you. Thank you for the gift. But this is the moana. We are ocean people. The second word is lotu. Lotu means that when you see nature as beautiful, when you see nature and the environment in the presence of God, and that lifts you up, that is lotu. Lotu is often interpreted as prayer and worship, but this interpretation has limitations. And so I say to the dancers and musicians, as you dance today you have lifted us up in lotu. When they danced and moved in and embraced us at the altar, I saw the story of creation become real in this church tonight. The Spirit of God was moving and void and darkness disappeared. Shall we pause for the second part of the sermon and to allow you to have space, too? Let us pray together. Loving and Embracing God, You are God of the Universe and all creation You create and give life and see that your creation is good. We praise you for your gift of the Moana [Ancient Polynesian word for ocean] which covers most of the surface of your planet earth. We thank you for the Oceans of the world.

4 10 Anglican Theological Review We thank you for the flowing of the Oceans into one another and around the continents and islands. We thank you for the life giving of the Oceans, for the oxygen, food and resources they continually provide We thank you that the Ocean is home for most species, small and great. We are people of the Moana (Ocean). Our ancestors navigated by the stars and crossed the waves to find new homes. The voice of waves breaking on the reef speaks of your constancy and your love and your care for creation. May we hear the cries of sea creatures endangered by the selfish greed of humanity. May there be deep listening to the voice of waters rising to engulf land. May ears be open to the groaning caused by refusal to honour creation. May ears be open to suffering caused by a love of power which destroys. We beat a lali-drum alerting people around the world to the danger of climate change which threatens nature and human life. We blow a conch calling for the worship of a life giving God of immense goodness. Our forebears set out across the Ocean. We set out on a venture to protect our home the planet earth; Help us to challenge short-sighted greed. Help us to address unjust structures and practices and to change our relationship with creation to one of care. We affirm our guardianship of the precious gift of creation. We have a vision, we have courage, we have your guidance. We have the presence of the Risen One whose power of love is greater than all the power of destruction. Grant that together we may bring peace to our Planet Earth to its many creatures and its many people. We lotu (pray) in the name of Our God Creator, Redeemer and Life-Giving Spirit. Amen. 1 1 Archbishop Winston was invited to write a prayer for the International Worship Service for the Climate that was held at Copenhagen Cathedral in October. Prayer

5 Celebrating the Gift of Water 11 So, my friends, tonight I stand to say that the glass of water that is pleasant and good for New York is also good for Suva. When I left last Friday, I lotued with more than sixteen leaders of different nations in Oceania. They came together to prepare themselves for the United Nation Ocean Conference in Suva in June and in New York at the end of the year. This is what they said before I prayed with them: We don t need any more talk, we don t need any more conference. The sea level is rising. Move and move deliberately and move fast. Isn t it the story we heard last Sunday about the woman at the well? There was the issue of firstness. Jesus said, give me a drink, and when Jesus raised the parable to another level, she said, give me that living water. Here it reminds me of the new book of my colleague, Rowan Williams, The Edge of Words: God and the Habit of Language. In that book is an attempt to explain how to find a language, what we call extraordinary language for something that is ordinary. We have to find a new language for the urgency of God s call today. We cannot bring the language of yesterday and use it for the urgency of God s kingdom and the opportunities of the extension of God s kingdom. There is also Laudato Si, the encyclical On Care for Our Common Home. As I met His Holiness, Pope Francis, last October, I gazed at his eyes and he gazed at me. We had something in common. Our common home needs a new language. The prayer we have shared with you is a prayer that was created at the request of Copenhagen s ecumenical community for use at the 2009 United Nations Copenhagen Summit, when 196 nations met together to address climate change. The prayer was offered there. And the prayer influenced all these nations to agree upon limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The impossible is now possible. And they have spoken a word for us theologians: we can only do it together. I bring that word here tonight. We from Oceania will offer a word as we gather here from different cathedrals and different churches. Oceania poses an ancient question. Let s move the world. Let s move the oceans. Let s move the corals, let s move the insects, let s move the trees, let s move everything. Why can t we connect something so we re in tune together with the United Nations Conference on the health of the oceans? for Climate Change, by Archbishop Winston Halapua, printed in the newsletter of the archbishops of Aeotorea, New Zealand, and Oceania, no date but from context, early Newsletter.

6 12 Anglican Theological Review For so long we say we have gathered inside buildings and church buildings. It s time for us to move to our fellow species because we need their voice. They will tell us the secrets; they will unlock the lockable doors. My friends, in Oceania water justice is in our liturgy. It is about sharing. The only thing Jesus did before he died was to bring together the whole body, all the ocean s bodies, and say, Do this. What is it? Where did it come from? From God. Share. That is water justice. Share your glass of water because it will be like feeding the five thousand. You will collect the leftover and be amazed how on earth we have more than we did when we started. It s time that we go outside the Planet Earth and join with the waters. With technology today, we can make it. And I can reassure you: if technology allows, you may see me on the reefs together with the corals. Together we echo the music of heaven, the orchestra of heaven. We are in the kingdom of God. And there is more water than what we need, if only we learn to be fair and do justice. The glass of water you hold in your hand is as good to you as it is to the others outside, as well as to the trees and every human being. My question is, where is water justice? You gaze at me. I gaze at your hearts. That is the common home and the richness we have. And the liturgy teaches us Christ has died, God has done it for us, Christ is risen, you and I are empowered. Christ will come again when we, together, say, Yes! We have enough. In the name of God, whose gift is the creation and water, we thank you. Amen.