PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

GOOD GOVERNANCE & HONEST DEALING

In a few moments we’ll be praying, as we always do, for honest dealing and the good governance of our city.

Some newcomers find this request a mite strange, polluting worship with the toxins of politics and commerce, though there are solid precedents for mixing the secular with the spiritual.

In her dramatised history of St Andrew’s, Frances Porter told of the 147 passengers of the Bengal Merchant who arrived in late February 1840, almost four months after leaving Glasgow.

Other vessels that year from London and Portsmouth were to drop anchor in Port Nicholson, bringing one thousand new settlers. But the Bengal Merchant wasn’t just another barque from a northern port with a cargo of land hungry economic refugees.

These pioneers were members of the Church of Scotland and they came with their own minister to establish the first Scottish colony in New Zealand.

In those days faith was not separate from enterprise. These tenacious folk fleeing a feudal society and a jobless future didn’t just bring their tools, stock and hopes. They also transported a vision of a fresh egalitarian society where those who worked hard and remained steadfast in their faith would garner rewards to be shared with the less fortunate

And that faith was tested indeed. Floods, earthquakes, fires and fighting. At times the settlers must have thought God had cursed them for abandoning their homeland.

The Scots could have kept to themselves, like many minority groups, stayed apart from the dominant English, found their niche and closed the door.

But these were muscular Christians, determined to be involved in public life.

Along with the churches they built the structure of government and society, creating a democracy where human rights have substance and the rule of law has meaning.

They persevered; they overcame the hardships and consequently we are all the richer. The foundations they laid included values that have made this nation the least corrupt in the world, a position we share with Singapore and Denmark.

Activist Kate Sheppard, largely responsible for New Zealand being the first country in the world to give women the vote, and whose determination we celebrate this month, was motivated by her Christianity and her Scottish heritage.

We pray to remember that we worship here in quiet, comfort and safety because those aboard the Bengal Merchant believed in the common good and were not to be deterred. They created what John Key has labelled our ‘socialist streak’.

We also pray to remember that the benefits we enjoy and the freedoms we exercise are not universal. Unlike our neighbours in Fiji we can worship where and how and when we choose.

We were welcomed to St Andrew’s by fellow parishioners, not security guards as in Indonesia. When we pass the peace we don’t expect our neighbours to be spies, as in Iran.

When we enjoy our coffee in a few minutes time, the things we’ll say about our government will not result in arbitrary arrest, as in Syria.

Later, when we walk onto The Terrace we’ll watch out for cars – but not snipers as in Libya.

This morning we give thanks for those who came before us. We pray not to betray the ideals of the first Scots in the Bengal Merchant by being indifferent to the evils and injustices of the world. We will participate in public life to ensure that honest dealing and good governance prevails.

(Read at St Andrew's on the Terrace on Sunday 25 September).

##