Tamihana Te Rauparaha		 May 18
Missionary to Te Wai Pounamu
Tamihana Te Rauparaha was the son of the great Ngati Toa chief, Te Rauparaha. He was born in northern Taranaki in the early 1820s while the Ngati Toa tribe were moving south from their original home in the Waikato area to set up their new base at Otaki and on Kapiti Island. His original name was Katu.
By the 1830s the Maori tribes of the Cook Strait area were aware of the changes that the gospel and the missionaries were bringing to the tribes further north, especially in their inter-tribal relationships and the arts of reading and writing. In 1836 Te Rauparaha himself wrote to Henry Williams asking for a missionary, but nothing could be done at that time. About the same time, Ripahau, a slave freed by the death of his master in the north, returned to his people at Otaki. He had learned to read and write at the mission school in Paihia. He taught some of the people at Otaki to read and write, using as his text-books a Prayer Book and the remaining parts of the copy of St Luke’s Gospel which had originally belonged to Ngakuku (see 14 May), and which had been taken from Ngakuku’s daughter Tarore (see 19 October) by her murderers.
Katu Te Rauparaha and another young chief, Matene Te Whiwhi o Te Rangi, already disillusioned about warfare and determined to end the fighting, decided in 1839 to go to the Bay of Islands to ask for a missionary. Given the continuing grievances between Ngati Toa and Nga Puhi, this was no easy task. Despite opposition they went. Henry Williams was so impressed with their zeal that he offered to go himself, but his fellow missionaries decided he was most needed among the Nga Puhi. Octavius Hadfield had recently arrived in New Zealand and, chronic asthmatic though he was, he volunteered to go with them, since, as he said, “I know I shall not live long, and I may as well die there as here.” Henry Williams accompanied them to the south, and thus, thanks to the two young chiefs from Otaki, began Hadfield’s long and very successful missionary enterprise at Otaki and Waikanae.
Katu was baptised by Hadfield on 21 March 1841, and it was then that he took the name Tamihana (Thompson). He and Matene Te Whiwhi became trusted teachers for Hadfield. When Hadfield himself was unable to travel to the South Island, they were entrusted with the missionary task. They set out in December 1842 and visited relations and the former enemies of Tamihana’s father. For the last part of the journey, which took him as far as Ruapuke and Stewart Island, Tamihana was by himself. The Kai Tahu people wanted to know whether Te Rauparaha intended to come and attack them again. Tamihana’s reply was: “He indeed will not come; for I have indeed come hither to you to bring an end to warfare, and to bind firmly peace by virtue of the words of the Gospel of the Lord.” 
Tamihana broke off his work and hurried home on hearing news of the Wairau affray in June 1843, and a little later that year married Ruta (Ruth) Te Kapu at Otaki, with Hadfield conducting the service. The following year Tamihana acted as guide to Bishop Selwyn on his journey to the South Island, taking him to the places he himself had visited the previous year. Therefore, Tamihana Te Rauparaha played an important part in ending warfare in the South Island and bringing the gospel to those parts.
In 1846 Tamihana and Matene were at St John’s College in Auckland. Following the arrest of Te Rauparaha by Governor George Grey, Ngati Raukawa planned to join Te Rangihaeata in an attack on Wellington, but Te Rauparaha sent his son and Matene south with the message: “Repay only with goodness on my account. Do not incur ill will with the Europeans on my account, for only by Good will is the salvation of Man, Woman and Child.” Tamihana and Matene took this message to Otaki, and no reprisals were made.
Tamihana became a successful and well-to-do sheep farmer in the Otaki district and adopted European clothing and lifestyle. In 1851 he visited England and returned a strong advocate for a Maori king as a means to unity, law and security among the tribes. When the first Maori king was installed in 1858, Tamihana saw the kingship as a bastion against further sales of Maori land. Later, when some Kingites adopted a policy of resistance to the government, Tamihana broke with the movement and opposed its influence at Otaki and in the Wairarapa. He and Matene Te Whiwhi advocated the recognition of the Wellington area as a peace zone when war broke out further north. In this they were largely successful, though they did not prevent those who wished going to join the fighting.
Tamihana longed for Maori and pakeha to live together in peace, and he related well to the ways of both peoples. He and his wife were noted for their warm hospitality. Tamihana died on 22 or 23 October 1876, and is said to have been buried in an unmarked grave beside that of his wife Ruta at Otaki.
For Liturgical Use
Tamihana Te Rauparaha, the son of the great Ngati Toa chief, Te Rauparaha, and Matene Te Whiwhi, another young chief of Ngati Toa were influenced by reading the Gospel of Luke, and went to the Bay of Islands to request a missionary for the area at Otaki. This led to the appointment of Octavius Hadfield. The mission became highly successful. Tamihana is also widely remembered for his courage and imagination in travelling to many of the places ravaged by his father in the South Island, preaching reconciliation and the gospel of peace. 
Sentence
Kahore hoki oku whakama ki te rongopai: ko te kaha hoki ia o te Atua hei whakaora mo nga tangata katoa e whakapono ana; mo te Hurai ki mua, mo te Kariki ano hoki.	Roma 1:16 
Be not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith.		Romans 1:16 (adapted)
Collects
E te Atua kaha rawa tino tohu 
ka whakawhetai matou ki a koe 
mo tau pononga mo Tamihana Te Rauparaha, 
I mahi nui nei mo te rangatiratanga o te Atua. 
Meinga kia whai tonu matou 
ki enei mahi i waenganui i nga iwi katoa, 
kia mohio ai ratou i te aroha o tau tama, 
to matou Kaiwhakaora a Ihu Karaiti. Amine.

God of compassion and power, 
you sent your servant Tamihana Te Rauparaha 
to labour for your kingdom
amongst the Maori of Te Wai Pounamu; 
grant that we also 
may make known to all people
the redeeming love of your Son, 
our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ,
Saviour for each and every one,
you sent Tamihana as an apostle
to right the fighting and cruelty around him,
and to bring good news to his father’s victims;
be with all those, we pray, 
who have to move from one culture to another.
Psalms:	3	119: 9-16	
Readings
Isaiah 52:7-10		Bringers of good news
Romans 10:12-18		All over the world
Luke 24:44-48		Witnesses to the gospel
Post Communion Sentence
Ka mea a Ihu, “A hei kaiwhakaatu koutou moku tae noa ki te pito whakamutunga o te ao.” 
				Nga Mahi 1:8
Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses even to the ends of the earth.”	Acts 1:8 (adapted)