It seems likely that NZ will vote to retain its flag in the referendum
which is on at the moment. I suspect that even if a lot of NZers might be keen
to have a new flag, there is no reason at present to make the shift. It seems
to me this is the sort of thing you do when and if you become a republic. As
there is no reason, many people are miffed at the whole thing and the money
spent. The process was poorly conceived and destined to fail from the
beginning. I say this quite liking the new flag myself, but hey, many people
liked the Wallabies before last year’s RWC, but they were never going to win.
On Sunday at church we were singing ‘We want to see Jesus
lifted high, a banner that flies across this land,’ and we started pondering
what it would be like to have a flag with Jesus on it.
After the service I thought more about it and realised that
in a roundabout way we do have Jesus on the flag, four times. The Union Jack sits
in the left corner. It is made up of three crosses, the cross of St Andrew, the
Cross of Saint Patrick, and the Cross of St George.
Current NZ Flag
Cross of St Patrick Ireland
Cross of St Andrew Scotland
Cross of St George England and Wales
Saint Andrew takes us back into the Scriptures to the brother
of Simon Peter who, according to the Gospels, was a fisherman with his brother,
James, and John (Mark 1). He was one of the first disciples to follow Jesus
from the beginning of his ministry. Andrew in the Gospels is the one who finds
the food for the feeding of the 5000 and tells Jesus that some Greeks in Jerusalem
at Pentecost want to meet with him (John 6; 12). His prominence in John’s
Gospel likely indicates he was known in the Asia Minor region later on—it being
Ephesus where the Gospel likely originated. Andrew is associated with Scotland
because legends say he helped them win some wars—dodgy stuff this may be, but
his origins are less so.
Originally a slave, Saint Patrick was a fifth century
missionary to Ireland where he was known as the ‘Apostle of Ireland,’ became
bishop, and is Ireland’s patron saint. The day remembering him, March 17, is a
day of great festivity in Ireland and among the Irish abroad.
St George (AD 280-303) was a Roman soldier ultimately
ordered to death for refusing to deny his Christian faith. In Catholic
tradition, he is a key military saint. He is the patron saint of a number of
nations.
So the Union Jack is three blended crosses all pointing to
the one who hung on a cross to save a world and show the world the extent of ‘love
your enemies.’ If only we would listen.
In addition, the NZ flag has the Southern Cross on it.
The Southern Cross
While a natural astral phenomenon, the choice of the
Southern Cross to be placed on the flag is not merely because it looks cool—it is
shaped like a cross—for the Christian NZ founders, invoking again the basis of
their faith, Christ crucified and risen.
The early NZ founders were almost all Christians, albeit imperfect
and from a range of denominations and commitments ranging from token (nominal)
to full-on faith. The Southern Cross flew on the first United Tribes Flag commissioned
in 1835 and which still flies in Waitangi. Notably, it sits in the corner of a
flag carrying the cross of St George (above).
The Flag of the United Tribes of NZ
After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the
Union Jack was NZ’s flag. After this a variety of flags were developed, the
current NZ flag was adopted.
So, the current NZ flag is embedded with Jesus Christ with
four crosses, one a natural phenomenon from the southern sky, one linking our
story to Jesus calling the first fishermen, and two linked into the religious
and political history of the UK.
As I have researched and written this brief blog I have
realised that whereas I was intending to vote for the new flag, I will not—not because
of the politics (untimely waste of time and money), nor because of the design
(the new one I like), but because it invokes in me my faith and our story which
is founded indisputably on the blend of the Maori story and our European
(especially British) Christian story—albeit a very marred version of the Christian
narrative.
It reminds us as Kiwis that we have a history based on the
Christian story. We can deny this as much as we like, blaming the worlds wars
on religion, denying the bible as a lot of myth, calling the Christ of faith a
fable built on a Jesus of history who may not even have existed, preferring
faith in a flying spaghetti monster, or whatever—the problem with Christianity
is not the Christ on whom it is founded, it is his followers (me included). His
ideals rock! If only we would live them.
What can’t be denied is that we live in one of the greatest
nations in the world, and one of the prime reasons for this is that it has been
built to a large extent on the Judeo-Christian ethic, which at its core is
compassion, love, mercy, honesty, decency, tolerance, moral goodness, justice, and
egalitarianism and the like. Our systems of government, education, justice,
welfare, and more, were carved out by people seeking to bring practical
Christianity into being.
As a person whose life was seriously on the skids in my late
teens and early twenties, my experiences of Jesus are undeniably real and he
has transformed me from a drunken narcissistic arrogant twat into someone who,
while still tending in all those directions at times, has become a decent
person (I think). I am certain that there is no one who knew me from ages 13-23
who would believe that I would be a NT scholar and a Christian leader. I laugh
myself remembering that lost soul. I also give thanks, because he saved my
life.
So, tempted though I was to vote for the new flag, I am
going to vote for the old one—‘cause I want to see Jesus lifted higher. Not the
Jesus who is used as a pawn in political fights and wars—when he renounced such
things. Not the Jesus who is used to justify bigotry and marginalization—when he
hung out at the margins with the sinners and demonized. Not the Jesus who is
just a nice teacher—when he is the power that transforms individual lives,
communities, nations, and a world. But the Jesus I read of in the New Testament
of the Bible—the embodiment of God, the lover of the lost, the healer of the
sick, the transformer of the world, the compassionate and merciful Christ and
Son of God who changed me and is changing a world.
Comments
1) Great Britain has severed itself from New Zealand and is really part of Europe. We do not have a right to live in Britain and go through a different entrance way from European Union passport holders when entering the UK.
2) Most immigrants no longer come from Britain but from countries like China and India. These have no connection with Britain or in the case of China a negative one with respect to the Opium Wars where Britain used naval force to compel China to take opium.
3) Overseas people associate the kiwi and the fern with NZ and often get confused between the NZ and Australian flags.
I voted to maintain the current flag, not because I'm old and stuck in the mud, but what is offered as an alternative is not up to scratch. even the explanation of the silver fern given by the designer as symbolising our multiculturalness is attempting to infuse an existing symbol with new meaning. AS the fern is a natural occurrence of a fractal in nature, the repetition of a specific design over and over again it does not naturally lend itself to such a forced interpretation.
The idea that we should do away with the union jack because the UK has historically moved away from us and we no longer have rights of citizenship and its part of Europe denies the fact that our governance is based on the Westminster form of government. It shows the historic commitment we have to that form of government and until that changes while I Don't like its colonial ties it seems appropriate to have it on our flag. People emigrating to New Zealand from other countries may find such a system of government actually one of the reasons they want to be part of New Zealand, because of the basic freedoms it protects, the openness of government and the rights of the people it maintains (although I do see these as under threat).
Like you I value the affirmation of our Christian heritage and faith in the inclusion of the southern cross and the crosses and Celtic Christian roots of the crosses on the union jack. While I grew up in a Christian home and the Christian faith has ben part of my life. Like you as I found myself slipping into a deep depression as a teenager I encountered the living Jesus Christ in a way that made my family traditions come alive, be more than what we do on a Sunday, and that has made the difference for me ever since. It wasn't that Jesus was the answer, rather life has been about a question... the quest of following Jesus.