Tag Archives: reconciliation

Lenten Voices: On Her Majesty’s Service….

20 Friday Feb 2015

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Kingsman_The_Secret_Service_posterKingsman: The Secret Service – is a rip-roaring enjoyable spy spoof lightly touching on some tangible everyday challenges – climate change, bullying, coming of age, redemption.

The genre, of course, draws on unflinching, totally dedicated, sacrificial service, epitomised by agents given to Her Majesty’s Service (or His Majesty, when the Kingsman private spy agency was born). The Apostle Paul appeals in the same way to the recalcitrant Corinthians, calling on them to emulate his ambassadorship and the “James Bond” lengths to which he is prepared to go that they and others will be reconciled to God and one another.  They and all who follow the Way of Christ, he summons to be his protégés.   See 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10. 

The Lenten journey is focused on reconciliation – and it takes ambassador-like dedication to ensure application and accomplishment.

The messiness of faith and sibling rivalry

11 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by in Africa, reconciliation, Spirituality

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Sarai Is Taken to Pharaoh's Palace - by James Tissot. (Wikipedia)

Sarai Is Taken to Pharaoh’s Palace – by James Tissot. (Wikipedia)

Lenten reflections take us a little further into Abram’s epic but troubled journey. Genesis 12:4b-20 –  the patriarch eventually finds himself in Egypt and, for cargo and self-preservation, makes his presumably comely wife (Sarai) available to the Pharaoh. Hardly a salubrious beginning for the father of the world’s three major monotheistic faiths!

Stories of faith are inevitably messy affairs. We wonder how its going to end up for Abram (yet to be named Abraham), the great epitome of faith, when he gives in so readily to fear and expediency – especially when anxiety and the desirability of the quick fix are at the source of many of today’s woes, personally and politically.

Today’s Huffington Post nevertheless repeats a story that has been on this blog before – and it points to a legacy of the kind of faith Abraham eventually inspires amongst his “children,” particularly when sibling rivalry has surpassed its most dangerous point. Read it at  A pastor and an imam once tried to kill each other — now they work to heal Nigeria | Public Radio International.

Healing a fractured humanity

06 Thursday Mar 2014

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dreams realisedThe Apostle Paul had a big job on his hands while acting as a consultant to the factionalised Christian community of Corinth.

He appeals to theology, rhetoric and personal investment as he attempts to bring healing to human divisions based on status, party allegiance and ambition. It all sounds rather too familiar.

Our reflection today leads us to 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10, a window into Paul’s approach to bringing about reconciliation. Did it work? History on this particular phase of the story of the church in Corinth is silent. The fact that Paul’s rather disjointed Corinthian correspondence is included in the canon of Christian scripture, however, indicates that by about the 4th Century CE, his words were deemed universally worthy of classification as sacred writ.

In today’s passage, Paul appeals to the restored relationship with God through the acts of Jesus Christ as the unifying beacon to draw fractured parties together. Of course, this is another text that is employed to support the “original sin” doctrine, (only by the grace of God in Christ are we saved from the wretched state that fragments us, and boy, aren’t some of our sins here in Corinth original!). The text can just as easily, however, be interpreted through the exemplary atonement or “free will” lens. (Salvation – aka healing of division – is found by looking to the example of Christ in drawing people together – behave as Christ behaved, love as Christ loved, be enlivened by his Spirit that dwells within and amongst you, and the appeal of factionalism will melt away).

Succumbing to passive acceptance of human hubris will not heal the divisions in our community. Only alert awareness of the role to which the awakened are called in exemplifying the manner of the perfect love enacteded and revealed through Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, infiltrating the community as salt and light, will do the job.

Why keep saying sorry?

26 Saturday May 2012

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Sorry Day commemorations in Wellington Square, Perth, were significant but low key this morning. The usual annual crowd of 3000, comprising school children and business folk, is not as accessible on a chilly Saturday morning. Even so, about 100 folk gathered at the Sorry Pole listened to speeches from Sorry Day leaders, Noongar Elder Ben Taylor, and WA Govermor Malcom McCusker. Traditional dance and a cleansing smoking ceremony accompanied the planting of the “sea of hands” by all present. Coffee and hot dogs completed the occasion.

A letter in today’s paper asks, “Why keep saying sorry? Isn’t once enough?” It is important for our nation’s healing to keep remembering the Prime Minister’s apology to our indigenous people’s for the harmful policies that all but destroyed them as a culture and a people. Many still live with the legacy of the disintegration of family and identity, revealed in over-representation in prisons, poor health and reduced educational opportunities. To say sorry is not to keep on begging forgiveness, but to express the desire to work together in building adequate redress. Saying sorry moves beyond self indulgence in regret and remorse to the frank acknowledgement that things are not good and we want to act to make them better.

“Sorry” is what grammaticians might describe as a “past continuous” concept – the action begins at a point in history and continues on. It does not rest until redress is complete, and there are 50 plus recommendations from the Sir Ronald Wilson “Bringing Them Home” report to parliament that are yet to be implemented.

Stories from the Canning Stock Route

26 Saturday Nov 2011

Posted by in reconciliation, Wembley Downs

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Roadside sign at the southern end of the Canni...

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So runs the sub-title of a stunning Aboriginal Art exhibition that is now on tour from the National Museum of Australia. Of course, the Canning Stock Route has had its dominant “whitefella” story told many times. We claim it as the toughest, remotest and (at 1850km) longest historic stock route in the world. Around the 1900s, cattlemen in the East Kimberley ranges sought an effective and competitive means of getting their stock to market. A direct route through the desert to Wiluna was deemed to be both possible and desirable. Conveniently spaced water sources were all that were needed, and the desert Aborigines knew where these were. Cruel methods of manipulation and coercion of Aborigines from the various language groups enabled wells to be sunk alongside the soaks and watercourses along the otherwise arid way. The full story (from “whitefella” perspective) can be explored here.

The interactive art exhibition, Ngurra Kuju Walyja: One Country One People,  allows us to hear the story as told by descendants of the Desert people, a diverse range of language groups that retain the custodianship of the pre stock route boundaries, stories, songs and culture that have helped them retain their identity and replicate it in art form. The stories are fascinating as the now disused stock route serves another purpose in binding these communities together while they continue to find  and assert anew their place in 21st century Australia.

The exhibition is not a “black arm-band” approach to history (to coin a phrase introduced by a former prime minister), but a frank and open exercise in ensuring all voices are heard and that all perspectives are seen, thus affording a total picture rather than enabling us to continue to accept a partial telling as the whole. Apart from tragedy and loss, the stories include humour and appreciation stemming from encounters with the kartiya (n0n-Aborigines).

Such exhibitions go a long way to promoting mutual respect. If you get the chance, go and see!

First & Last Peoples

07 Thursday Jul 2011

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What is an Aboriginal view concerning asylum seekers? Ironically, while mainstream Australia quakes at the prospect of the “great invasion” by leaky boats, our first peoples (who have an outstanding and legitimate claim to having been invaded by “boat people”) are more accommodating. Here is a brilliant speech by Lowitja O’Donoghue: Return to Afghanistan: resettlement or refoulment?.  Temporary Protection Visas are history now, but they are replaced by an even more draconian detention regime and the “Malaysian” solution which reignites the threat of dangerous refoulment (returning refugees to the place of origin).
Is it only those who have experienced oppression that can show compassion for the oppressed? I believe not – but in this NAIDOC week we can reflect on what makes us human together – and it often takes those whom we soporifically marginalise to wake us up.

Indigenous Australians taking the next step – Eureka Street

06 Wednesday Jul 2011

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Indigenous Australians taking the next step – Eureka Street.

Continuing reflections on NAIDOC week, this article describes a personal odyssey that reminds me very much of the ‘listening journey’ myself and some others undertook in the same region three years ago. Resilience and optimism against the background of the challenges of cultural deprivation and restoration had a strong impact on us. The NAIDOC poster for this year is powerful. We have several festooning the church hall right now.

Reflections on indigenous medicine…

05 Tuesday Jul 2011

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Failure to appreciate the importance of indigenous belief and practice lies behind the limited success of various Western health interventions in the Third World.

– Cluny and La’avasa Macpherson (Samoa)

So reads this morning’s offering from Native Wisdom for White Minds. As NAIDOC week unfolds I reflect on the various indigenous remedies I have used to keep minor ailments at bay. Recently I have ministered to folk who are augmenting mainstream medicine for serious life-threatening illness with bush remedies that have stood the test of thousands of years – to good effect.

The reconciliation process presumes an openness to sharing wisdom. The heavy handedness of the Northern Territory intervention over recent years has failed to appreciate this. At least now there is an acknowledgement of the need to “consult” with eldership groups in remote communities. Whether this will allow enough space to listen to the Aboriginal wisdom of holistic approaches to indigenous health challenges remains to be seen.

Yarning over dot painting…

04 Monday Jul 2011

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… is a pathway to reconciliation, according to Don, a Noongar artist working in the NAIDOC tent in the centre of Subiaco this week. This was in response to my sharing the information that my church was working with Reconciliation Australia on a Reconciliation Action Plan. I was fascinated with the intricately patterned painting he was working on. “The dots are like people” he said as he daubed a new row of white dots against a tawny red background. It occurred to me what a peaceful, meditative process this seemed. Also central and recognisable were the birds-eye view of adults and children sitting in a circle, telling stories and passing on lore.

Louise, a Wongai woman, was working on a vividly coloured painting. The central pillar of red and yellow flame were bound on one side by an azure blue and the other by a deep brown. Dots were being daubed along the separation of colours. “Its a corroboree I experienced when I was five years old,” she said. I remarked on the vivid colours. She told how a blind fellow participated in some classes she shared as a student. When asked how he could tell colours, he said he could tell by the vibrations. This made sense to me as someone who is partially colour blind and have to rely on a sixth sense when matching the clothes I wear.

This took place in the first lunch hour gathering in Subi this week. Each lunch hour for the remainder of the week will see sharing of Noongar language, gumnut painting, bush tucker and tapping sticks. More important, however, will be the opportunities for passersby just to pause and have a yarn over a spot of billy tea and damper.

The Parable of the Abattoir Wall

29 Sunday May 2011

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This story told by an Aboriginal pastor illustrates well the connection between trusting relationships and truth as described in John 14:15-21, today’s gospel reading.

The Parable of the Abattoir Wall

For many years, the custom in one of the abattoirs had been to paint a coat of whitewash over the bloodstains on its walls.  This was found to be a quicker approach to presenting a clean hygienic image than the laborious task of scrubbing down walls.  However, the time came when the blood-caked stains from years of white-washing began to turn yellow and a foul smelling slime began to seep from underneath the whitewashed interior. The abattoir had no option but to scrape down the years of accumulated blood-stained whitewash and go back to the original wall surface. There came a point in time, in history, when the scraping back exposure of the cover-ups was necessary before the abattoir could do its work.  We believe Australia is now “scraping off the whitewash” and finding its soul.

Pastor Bill Hollingsworth, ‘Message Stick’, Journal of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Christian Congress of the Uniting Church in Australia, June 1997.

A resource for the Week of Prayer for Reconciliation from NATSIEC