Week 1: Going Deeper into the Wilderness
From the Walking Together as First and Second Peoples Circle
The Colonial wilderness; waranta muylatina (strength within)
READING
Luke 4: 1-13 (NRSV)
4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”
5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered him, “It is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’”
9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you,’
11 and
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
REFLECTION
waranta muylatina (strength within)
Colonisation, invasion, removal. Sacrifice by our First Peoples, depths of bewilderment. Captured, stolen, taken, removed, stolen lands, colonial hands.
Cast into a colonial wilderness. The wilderness abounds, surrounded by forces beyond the dreaming.
Yet what sits here is First Peoples waranta muylatina (strength within). Embedded in the takila (heart) of the pungkatina (bush), a strength, a resilience sits within, keeping culture alive. Guided by the Creator Spirit, who is forever present in the wilderness, forever present in the colonial temptation and degradation.
From our Elders, from our story lines, our song lines, our ceremony, our lore, our faith and our spirituality, sits our strength within.
What is the wilderness that Jesus encounters in this passage?
What is the calling? Where is it hidden? What is forbidden? Where is it hidden in our everyday lives?
The call
The fall
The rise
Yet a resilience of familiarity dances and weaves. A depth of connection to country, to culture, to ancestral homelands and kin.
What can we learn from the parallels of a tirrina (basket) of “strength within”?
It calls us, it guides us, it protects and respects us. Sovereignty was never ceded, yet, we have survived, navigated the wilderness, for the greater good of our people.
To share
To care
To listen
To learn
And as we navigate the ongoing colonial wilderness as First Peoples…
What does this mean for Second Peoples? How might we as a Church learn from this? How can we pay respects to the sacrifices as did Jesus? How do we learn from this?
How do we as First Peoples give voice to the imposed wilderness of 200 plus years? What’s our calling in walking together to connect these narratives?
How do we not only walk with Jesus, and the waranta muylatina, but as First and Second Peoples? How do we be the voices digging deeper into the layers, choices and speak into the injustice of the colonial wilderness?
What does it mean for us in mission and ministry? In education and learning? In change? In formation? In leadership?
Cast into a colonial wilderness BUT with the waranta muylatina of culture and country guiding, we do not give in, but cling strong to the abundance of strength within us as First Peoples.
Sovereignty never ceded.
Alison Overeem
QUESTIONS
• As you read reflection on the colonial wilderness and the waranta muylatina (strength within) of First Peoples, how did you respond?
• Is there a space or place that you would describe as your wilderness? Does your story connect or have similarities with the one in the study?
• What does it look like not to be in the “wilderness”?
• What might it look like for First Peoples in Australia to not be in the “wilderness”? What are the changes we need to make? What might help drive that change
A PRAYER
be-wildered Jesus - a covenant prayer
be-wildered Jesus, baptised and blessed
lured by the Spirit into the wilds
and left to puzzle your way out,
be with us in our bewilderment
be with us as we walk together
First and Second Peoples
through the dark places of pain
and shame, and grief, and hunger
in the wilderness of colonisation
joined by you
our common ancestor in the Spirit
be with us as we sit together
First and Second Peoples
in the yarning and the listening places
connecting narratives
holding heart words
in the presence of deep respect
joined by you
our common ancestor in the Spirit
be with us as we stand together
First and Second Peoples
facing the forces of power
shouting justice from the streets
because we cannot stay silent
in the kinship of unyielding love
joined by you
our common ancestor in the Spirit
you are the strength within
constant companion
beneath untold centuries of stars
along song lines, story lines
in ceremony, in lore, in spirit
be-wildered Jesus, baptised and blessed
lured by the Spirit into the wilds
be with us in our bewilderment
do not leave us now
to puzzle our way out
on our own
Rev Jennie Gordon
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