It’s reconciliation week 2022! Be Brave. Make Change.
Last year we decided to be intentional in our I & F work to seek out and listen to the voices of a wide spread of brothers and sisters. This intention seeks to embody the welcome which we all celebrate in Lutheran schools. As part of this commitment, I have been seeking out voices of Australian First Nations people who are writing or speaking in the theological space.
In my searching I found Gondwana Theology written by Trawloolway man Garry Deverell. Here’s one quote I love which reminds us of our incarnational God who loves this world we live in:
Consider the creation stories we find at the very beginning of the Hebrew Scriptures. ‘In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth… the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters’ (Genesis 1:1-2) In Hebrew the word for spirit, ruach, can also be translated as ‘wind’ or ‘breath’. When God creates the world as we know it, with all its ecological diversity and brilliance, it is the spirit or breath of God that presides over all of it. Note however that the work of the Spirit of God is not to create beings of pure spirit or mind… it is to create a material cosmos… What God creates is all that we have come to know… flora and fauna, sun, moon and stars, land and sea, women and men… So for the Jewish mind at least, ‘spirituality’ can never be cordoned off from ordinary , fleshly experience… Spirituality is about the entirety of this world… Gary Worete Deverell
Garry has also put together a beautiful chapter of liturgical offerings. I want to give thanks for the deep, rich and relevant perspectives of Aboriginal brothers and sisters who draw from their depths and bring to our attention perspectives on the Gospel which sometimes lay hidden or unseen. If you have found a a voice which resonates for you such as this book by Garry – please share it!
Stephanie Maher
Director – Identity & Formation
