Ordinary 17 Year A
Sunday 26 July 2026 | Geremy Hema
Matariki ki te rangi,
Matariki ki te moana
Matariki ki te whenua
Matariki ki ngā mate
Matariki ki te ngākau o te hunga ora
Matariki he mea homai nā te Atua.
Matariki e whakahuiahui i a tātou.
E te whānau a te Karaiti, greetings in the spirit of Matariki, God’s great gift to us.
The reading from Genesis offers themes of new beginnings and the rhythms of the Earth.
Genesis 8:22 promises that seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, and winter and summer will not cease.
Nor will the winter rising of the stars be a marker for the agricultural and seasonal calendar.
Being grateful for food is a sensation we will experience a little later after this morning, when we share the wonderful hot soup prepared.
Corinthians reminds us of the necessity of the work of sowing in order to obtain the value of the harvest. And to celebrate the bounty of that harvest joyfully with those around us.
Matthew repeats the theme of harvest and the work required to achieve it.
Caring for the community and those around, particularly during the harsh, colder winter months.
Jesus urges his disciples to look at the field and pray for workers for the future. Just as we pray for the world ahead of us, and those who will attend to it, and preserve it.
The Psalm celebrates God’s glory and kindness to us through the beauty of the created world.
The stilling of the seas. The quieting of the roaring waves and the chaos of the nations.
The raising up of mountains, particularly relevant to us as people in Tāmaki Makaurau, and our dormant, and not-so-dormant volcanic cones.
Our Psalms implore us to never lose that sense of awe for the earth.
And the Psalms and their praise-giving cadence offer us a bounty of enlightening connection points between our faith understandings and relevance to Matariki.
Psalm 8 emphasises the majesty of the creator when looking at the moon and the stars.
Psalm 19 highlights how the heavens declare the glory of God.
Psalm 147 features the beautiful verse about God counting the stars and calling them by name.
Psalm 104 celebrates the changing seasons, the harvest, and all of creation.
When we first started to celebrate Matariki formally in Aotearoa/ New Zealand, I remember the late Paul Reeves saying that he thought we as a Church could find relevance in Matariki. And the cadence and creation-focused richness of Psalms will assist us. How insightfully true he was!
Matariki implores us not to worship creation itself, but God, the creator of all things. It is a time to remember those who have become as countless as the stars in heaven. A time to celebrate our obligations to the natural world around us, and obligations to one another.
So now let us just share a few thoughts about this Matariki.
Matariki is a cluster of stars that rises on the eastern horizon in the early morning winter sky in Aotearoa.
It is a sign of the winter solstice and is now marked as a holiday for all in Aotearoa. Thankfully!
Matariki means tiny eyes, or the eyes of God in some traditions.
Matariki is the mother of the other stars in this cluster.
The stars that helped our ancestors navigate their way across the Pacific Ocean to Aotearoa, and from other parts of the globe.
They also indicated seasonal cycles of fruiting trees, planting and harvest times, and the migration of fish.
The stars have had a lot to do with survival narratives of the many peoples who call Aotearoa home.
The dawn rising of Matariki in winter indicated the completion of harvest and storage and directed people to look forward to the conditions for the new planting season.
It is also a time to memorialise those loved ones who have passed away. They who have become as countless as the stars in heaven.
And to contemplate learnings from the past year and to look forward to the future.
As followers of Jesus, we may ponder how we might participate in this celebration, in a meaningful way without compromising our own sense of faith.
Scripture says much about the stars, the seasons, and how we are to engage with the stars, and in so doing, glorify God.
Last month at our Diocesan Training Programme retreat at Vaughn Park, Frank, one of our fellow students, assisted us in locating Mahutonga, the Southern Cross, and planets visible on that particularly clear night.
We look to the heavens with awe and wonder. Stars given by God to give light. To separate light from darkness and seasonal indicators.
So, as we close my I offer these two little īnoi/prayers.
The first is adapted from John Mann’s Moments of Love: An eight-day retreat with the Song of Songs. It can be found on Page 78 of that book if you’d like to seek it out.
Kia īnoi tātou, let us pray.
Oh Lord, the source of living water, from the well of Sychar to the font of baptism, from the flowing channels of the mountain’s streams, to the flood waters that bring life to the desert. Refresh our souls with your presence, and wash us within, today and always. And bless us as we part company with one another, but never with you. Amen
And below is the Matariki prayer I opened today’s Kauhau/reflection with. One we can use and find resonance with as followers of Jesus, and as Matariki observing Anglicans.
Matariki ki te rangi,
Matariki ki te moana
Matariki ki te whenua
Matariki ki ngā mate
Matariki ki te ngākau o te hunga ora
Matariki he mea homai nā te Atua
Matua, Tama, Wairua Tapu
Whano, whano, tiaho mai te Rīpeka
Haumi ē, hui ē, tāiki ē! Āmine.
Matariki in the heavens
Matariki on the seas
Matariki on the land
Matariki in those we remember
Matariki in the hearts of humankind
God’s celestial gift to the world, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
God, proceed in the light of the Cross.
Join together, gather together, and unite, Amen.