Prayers at Matariki

We share the prayers of the people

In kauri and icon, in bread and wine
in worship and shared meals
with kumara and puha, or fish and chips, or haggis and scotch
we celebrate who we come from, who we are, and who we are yet to be—

Aroha mai, aroha atu
Loving kindness received; loving kindness to others

Wairua Tapu, whispering in a small voice or shouting in water’s fall and siren’s wail
Creative Spirit that dances across the water, Soaring Spirit of mountain, Wild Spirit of wilderness speaking from burning bush, from tussock and hebe, from desert road and city street – we give thanks for our hikoi of faith, for our dreams of righteousness and acts of justice.

We give thanks for this place and all places of sharing and celebration where we can feel at home and be refreshed, and for all they mean to us, our place to stand and take a stand, our turangawaewae.

We give thanks for weekday visitors and concert-goers, performers and spectators, entrepreneurs and bureaucrats, dancers and addicts, and for our selves: makers and breakers of promises, and of bread.

We give thanks that the table of hospitality is open to all, that we may come as manuhiri but go forth together, as tangata whenua.

Aroha mai, aroha atu
Loving kindness received; loving kindness to others. Amine

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