GREETINGS
Our Butterfly Series meeting on 4 March examined the crossover between Indigenous spirituality and Christianity. We were fortunate to have a presentation from Rev Canon Dr Garry Deverell, a trawloolway man from northern lutruwita/Tasmania and Anglican priest.
In his pre-meeting briefing paper, Garry observed that for Indigenous Australians, spirituality is about the most basic building blocks of life: country, kin and the practice of ritual story-telling that weaves past, present and the future living together in a web sometimes referred to as the ‘dreaming’. It was notable that kin is not only their “mob”, but also relates to their belief that country is still filled with the presence of the ancestor-creators who formed it a long time ago. They regard all that is alive as their kin, their family. This indicates that indigenous spirituality operates at the high level of cosmic consciousness.
During his presentation, Garry addressed the complementarity of Indigenous and Christian spirituality. He discussed the significance of sacred texts and landscapes in Aborigine and Christian traditions. He proposed an analogy between Christ and country from the Aboriginal perspective, emphasizing that these two traditions can interact and share wisdom. Garry outlined five key ways to think about this connection: Christ as the cosmos, Christ as a seed, Christ as staple food and drink, Christ as ancestral voice, and Christ as teaching custodian. He also suggested implications for Christian liturgy and ethics on country, including for example, naming Creator ancestors in liturgy and animal neighbours in prayers.
In their recent books, Catholic theologians Elizabeth Johnson and Ilia Delio have pointed out that in the expression “love your neighbour as yourself”, neighbour includes all sentient beings and inanimate objects. This builds upon similar theology in Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical ‘Laudato Si’. It seems the Church is re-defining the scope of Jesus’ teaching and at the same time catching up with ancient Indigenous wisdom!
You can find references to Garry’s books on our web site.
JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT BUTTERFLY SERIES EVENT
What can we learn from those who have gone before us? Many people from all faith traditions have undertaken spiritual journeys. Some have recorded their experiences. Others have lived such interesting lives that devotees have been inspired to write about them.
At this meeting we will consider some common themes from the lives of pilgrims and mystics. Hopefully, this will provide food for reflection in your own spiritual journey.
NEW ON OUR WEBSITE
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Reflections:
Our website is constantly changing with new information. Bookmark our website in your browser and visit us to keep in touch.
Reflections:
Book Reviews:
“Come Have Breakfast” by Elizabeth Johnson
“The Lost Art of Scripture” by Karen Armstrong
Look out for our Kindred Spirits & Podcasts as we find inspiration from others. We include links to their websites and podcasts. We can now list your neighbourhood group so that others can find you or be aware of you. If you would like to join the others listed here, please contact us! We are also aware of new groups forming.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES
Do you realise that our website has a very good search function? Enter keywords into the search box in the menu bar and find articles and information stored in our archives. As we add new material this function will become increasingly useful.
For example, this paper on Reimagining God was popular.
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