Presbyter's Ramblings

Presbyter`s Ramblings

This month we had an opportunity to gather with other Methodist parishes at Rehua Marae  in May. The day started at 9.15 and finished at 3 pm. The aim of the day is to be more comfortable in things Māori.

The history of Rehua has a strong connection to the Methodist Church. It was established by the Christchurch Central Mission, now called the Christchurch Methodist Mission, as a hostel for young Māori coming to Christchurch to begin their trades apprenticeships.  My first experience with the Marae was as a young person through a neighbour of ours who lived next door, the Rev. Wati Tahere. One day Rev. Tahere decided I should attend a pōwhiri (formal welcome onto the marae). I sat amongst the tangata whenua (the people of the land, in this case Rehua). Rev. Tahere’s argument for allowing me to stand with the people of Rehua was that I was a Methodist.

We heard some of the story of Rehua and captured what being on a marae meant both from Rehua’s perspective and what we experienced. A number of our people have been on a marae and have likely been on Rehua,  a number of times. So there were  people  familiar with Rehua and some visiting for the first time.

We learnt three waiata (songs). One we knew already. The songs were Te Aroha ( – it’s the blessing that we sometimes sing at the end of the service), E Toru Nga Mea (this is a relatively easy one as one singer sings a line and the people repeat it, and He Honore (if we have worked in the public service, or a school, it is likely we would have sung this one). 

For information on Rehua, they have a website https://rehuamarae.co.nz/marae/hitori/ but probably just as easy to google Rehua Marae. Unfortunately, we don’t have a paper version of the website. At least not at this point.

Andrew