Wiremu Tamihana 		June 23
Prophet, Kingmaker
Tarapipi Te Waharoa, or Wiremu Tamihana as he was later known, was born at Tamahere near Cambridge in the early years of the nineteenth century. He was the second son of the famous Ngati Haua chief, Te Waharoa. Tarapipi participated in several war expeditions in the Waikato and Taranaki districts, but, when Ngati Whakaue destroyed the mission station at Ohinemutu in 1836, he intervened on behalf of two mission workers and led them to safety.
In 1835 Alfred Brown, assisted by his wife Charlotte, set up a mission station near the Matamata pa, just north of present day Waharoa. Tarapipi was one of their most promising pupils, and he continued to be a diligent student of the Bible all his life. He learned to read and write in Maori and became the most voluminous correspondent among nineteenth century Maori. When Brown was forced to abandon the Matamata mission station, Tarapipi kept in touch with him at Tauranga and organised church services and school classes at Matamata.
After the death of Te Waharoa in 1838, Tarapipi became the chief of his tribe. He followed the advice of Brown and with 200 converts left Matamata pa and set up a Christian pa named Tapiri nearby, where services could be held undisturbed and where the inhabitants could live a Christian life. Here a raupo chapel was built, and on 23 June 1839 Brown baptised Tarapipi, who chose the European name of William Thompson, the Maori form of which is Wiremu Tamihana.
Tamihana continued his peacemaking efforts by constant attempts to persuade his own tribe to give up war. He also arranged a peace with the traditional enemies of the Ngati Haua, culminating in a feast at Matamata in 1846 to celebrate the occasion with the Rotorua tribes. In the same year, Tamihana moved his Christian followers to the Peria Hills. Here a settled, orderly community was established, with each house surrounded by its own plantations of wheat, maize, kumara and potatoes. There was also a school, flour mill, post office, whare runanga, and a church built on top of a hill. A contemporary noted:
Every morning and evening a bell called this orderly, simple, religious people to prayers. I never saw a more charming instance of simple idyllic life, than this remarkable Maori village presented in 1856.
In the 1850s Wiremu Tamihana began to take a greater part in the wider arena of Maori affairs. He became concerned with the problems of how the Maori people were going to cope with the increase in European settlement and the worst features of European culture. He had the vision of Maori and pakeha working side by side and the Maori people presenting a united front, unbroken by tribal conflicts. He wanted to encourage agriculture and education for his people and to prevent the further sale or lease of Maori land. Although Tamihana was not the originator of the King movement, he took a leading part in its development and earned the title, “kingmaker”, in the 18 months leading up to Potatau Te Wherowhero’s election as the first of the Waikato kings. Wiremu Tamihana saw no conflict between the King movement and the English monarchy. On one occasion he said, “The Queen and the King, they are one. Each is on the piece which belongs to each. But love and law surround them, and above is God.”
When the Waitara dispute erupted into war, Tamihana went to Taranaki in an attempt at mediation, but was unsuccessful. Despite Tamihana’s efforts to keep the peace, hostilities broke out in the Waikato in 1863. Throughout the conflict Tamihana tried several times to negotiate a settlement, but was ignored. Tamihana met General Carey at Tamahere in May 1865. The general said, “Tamehana, by your valiant acts you have proved yourself and people a brave race, and by your coming in to-day and making peace you will have won the good will and respect of every man.” Tamihana placed his taiaha before Carey as a symbol of a covenant of peace between the two sides. Pakeha misinterpreted the gesture as a surrender. After the war, Tamihana on several occasions petitioned parliament over the war and the confiscations that followed it. No action was taken, but in 1928 a royal commission concluded: “It is clear that a grave injustice was done to the Natives in question by forcing them into the position of rebels and afterwards confiscating their lands.” The Maori King movement continues to this day in the Waikato, although without the national scope for legislation and guidance that Wiremu envisaged. 
Having lived to see many of his dreams unrealised, but holding unflinchingly to his faith and his vision, Wiremu Tamihana died with Bible in hand on 27 December 1866 at Turanga-o-moana near Matamata. His last words were, “My children, I die, but let my words remain. Obey the laws of God and man.”
Only a few months before his death, he wrote to the General Assembly of New Zealand:
Now, O friends, this is how I have been saved from evil - because of my constant striving to do that which is good, ever since the introduction of Christianity on to the time of the king movement, and up to the present days of darkness. After we had embraced Christianity, when my tribe sought payment [utu] for our dead who had fallen, I did not give my consent. Then I said, “Stop, strive to repay in a Christian manner. Let peaceful living be the payment for my dead.” They consented. I then drew all my enemies to me; they all came, not one continued a stranger to me; but all became related to me in the bonds of Christian fellowship. Then I said, what a good payment this is for those that are dead, this living peacefully!
Before he died Tamihana had agreed to lease land to Josiah Firth, who raised a memorial obelisk in Tamihana’s honour. The parishioners of All Saints’ Church, Matamata, erected a permanent memorial cairn to Tamihana in 1966. In 1984 a stained glass window commemorating him was placed in the church, because it was near the site of his early Christian community. The Wharenui at Waharoa features Tamihana as its tekoteko. He stands there, Bible in hand, above the marae, looking to the distant horizon. Tamihana was a peacemaker who had a vision of a future which placed him ahead not only of his Maori but also his pakeha contemporaries. He is commemorated by the church on the day of his baptism.
For Liturgical Use
Wiremu Tamihana’s original name was Tarapipi Te Waharoa. He was the second son of the Ngati Haua chief, Te Waharoa. He was deeply influenced by missionary teaching. He created a marae near Matamata which became known for its peaceful Christian witness. He earned the title, “kingmaker”, in the creation of the first of the Waikato kings. He tried to mediate during the land wars and negotiated a settlement when they ended. He wrote many letters to colonial authorities advocating a just provision for Maori and pakeha. He died in 1866.
Sentence
Ka hari te tangata e pakia ana e koe, e Ihowa; e whakaakona ana i roto i tau ture.	
				Waiata 94:12
Blessed are those you instruct O Lord; to whom you give teaching out of your law.	
			Psalm 94:12
Collects
E te Atua kaha rawa 
i hoatu e koe ki a Wiremu Tamihana 
he whakakitenga i tau i whakatakoto ai, 
a me te whakapumautanga o tou aroha me tou mana. 
Meinga ano hoki ki a matou, 
kia mau pu ki te tumanako 
kei roto nei i a Ihu Karaiti 
te Huarahi, te Pono, me te Ora. Amine.
Gracious and eternal God,
through your Holy Spirit
you gave to Wiremu Tamihana 
a vision of your peace and unity 
and grace to labour for it without wavering;
grant us the same hope
and courage to live for him
who is our way, our truth, our life,
Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Holy God, holy and just, holy and undeceived,
as we honour Wiremu the king-maker,
who sought for peace
and to lead his people to the gospel;
keep us honourable and fair
in our dealings with each other,
true servants of the Prince of peace.
Psalms	33	112	
Readings
Deuteronomy 17:14-20	Conditions of kingship
Acts 4:32-35		A Christian community
Luke 14:25-33		Counting the cost
Post Communion Sentence
He teka ianei kei tou wehi ki te Atua he okiokinga whakaaro mou, kei te tapatahi o ou huarahi he tumanakohanga mou?	Hopa 4:6
Let your fear of God be your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope.	
				Job 4:6 (adapted)