When former leaders, be they prime ministers, sporting stars, business or community leaders document their recollections and publish memoirs, it’s a fraught assignment. Since memories carry significant elements of perception, their thoughts tend to incline more to being subjective rather than objective. Little wonder readers find accepting some author’s recollections of ‘the way things were’ challenging.
Murray Smith
An autobiography titled ‘My Life,’ was written by David Lange who served as the 32nd prime minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. Lacking self-aggrandisement, it’s as down to earth as the man himself. A skilled and formidable debater in parliament with razor sharp wit that was often self-deprecating, Lange assumed no ‘airs of grandeur’ but remained grounded in reality. It showed in many ways, including declining acceptance of a knighthood.
Growing up in South Auckland contributed to his tenacious advocacy for the welfare of Māori and Pasifika communities he knew and cared for so well. Raised in a strong Methodist family, Lange became a Methodist lay preacher. He worked in the 1960’s at the West London Methodist Mission where his passion for ‘Christian socialism’ grew.
He was admitted to the Supreme Court of New Zealand in 1967, and earned a Master of Laws degree with honours, specialising in criminal law and medico-legal issues. David often represented marginalised individuals and groups, including the Polynesian Panther Party during the “dawn raids”.
David Lange 1980. Photo: Creative Commons
In the early 70s, in my late teens, I had brief but memorable encounters with David while he served as a duty solicitor in the Auckland Court where I was acquitted of a minor matter. His sprawling size and somewhat shambolic appearance then, left me with a permanent visual.
After winning a by-election in 1977, for the Labour seat of Māngere he served the interests of the disadvantaged, retaining the seat with substantial majorities until his retirement in 1996.
In June 1984, prime minister Robert Muldoon called a snap election. David Lange’s remarkable campaign won Labour a landslide victory, securing a 17-seat majority in the 95-member House of Representatives. At 41 years of age he became New Zealand’s youngest prime minister of the 20th century. He’d also arguably be the biggest, carrying excess weight that represented a lifelong challenge.
At a function where food platters were being passed among attendees, David was in earshot of someone declining nibbles saying, “No thanks, my body is a temple…”
The prime minister beckoned the waiter, shouting with a big voice, “Bring it over here… mine’s a warehouse!”
The flippancy of that moment carried truth. Though it may seem a bizarre thought to some that we are designed to be a ‘temple’- a dwelling place for God, it’s nonetheless essential truth to be heard and considered in order to ‘live fully and completely.’
Being human, means to be a ‘spiritual’ entity – not just a physical one. Being ‘indwelt’ by God, or the Holy Spirit, is a core concept in Christianity, signifying a spiritual union of God’s Spirit and our human spirit. This indwelling is a gift received upon accepting Jesus as Saviour – the resulting transformation where a believer’s body becomes a temple for the Holy Spirit, is the mark of being a Christian.
