tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53964721232290975012024-03-17T17:16:05.109+11:00Uncommon PrayersThoughts and Prayers from Garry Worete DeverellThe Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-50103791259574683382024-03-10T12:24:00.000+11:002024-03-10T12:24:01.264+11:00The snake and the Christ: defamiliarising the biblical text Texts: Numbers 21.4-9; John 3.14-21I begin by acknowledging that we worship this morning on the unceded country of the Eora federation. I give thanks for the ancestors who formed this country and the elders who have nurtured it for 5000 generations. I look forward to the day when there may be a more just settlement for all Indigenous peoples.Today we encounter the Hebrew story of the The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-87000302382829713782024-01-30T16:43:00.005+11:002024-02-05T21:16:33.926+11:00Christ: a sign to be opposed Texts: Malachi 3.1-7; Luke 2.22-38When Jesus is taken to the temple in Jerusalem to be dedicated to the purposes of God, Luke has an old man named Simeon say the following prophecy over the child:Now my eyes have seen your salvation you have placed in the midst of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel . . . This child is destined for The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-67782725764543861262023-11-12T11:57:00.005+11:002023-12-04T19:39:38.630+11:00New book. Contemplating Country: more Gondwana theologyMy new book, Contemplating Country: more Gondwana theology, has just been published by Wipf & Stock.Contemplating Country picks up where Gondwana Theology (Morning Star 2018) left off. It extends and deepens the ways in which Aboriginal spirituality and Christian theology may talk to each other. Employing the image of conversation around a campfire, Contemplating Country invites the reader toThe Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-68243153287942984462023-09-17T19:30:00.007+10:002023-10-11T20:07:06.234+11:00 A Voice for Country: saying 'Yes' to Indigenous ecological wisdomWhen I was a teenager, I would go for long contemplative walks in the bush that still surrounds the small town in which I was raised. This was, and remains, punnilerpanna country even though most all of the punnilerpanna were killed during the frontier conflicts of the 1820s. So, when I was a teenager, even though I knew little of that specific history, I would talk to the ancestral spiritsThe Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-1787296890667272292023-09-03T11:53:00.008+10:002023-09-03T21:52:41.512+10:00Voice of Country, Voice of the DivineTexts: Isaiah 55.10-13; Mark 9.2-8Last night I made an airport run to pick up Lil. The plane was running late, as usual, so I parked in the official waiting area which is adjacent to a large field of grasslands. No doubt, before too long, the grasslands will be lost to parking or some other kind of built encroachment. But, for the moment, the grass survives. And so do the wallabies that depend onThe Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-73279252539955131912023-08-20T19:58:00.007+10:002023-08-21T09:29:16.839+10:00 How to be Steadfast When Hope is FadingText: Genesis 50.15—Exodus 1.7Today’s homily begins by recounting the bad behaviour of Joseph’s brothers. Back in chapter 37 of Genesis, Joseph had attracted the hatred of his older brothers because he was clearly their father’s favourite and because he was inclined to call out their shortcomings before their father. He also shared with them two of his dreams, which implied that one day they willThe Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-36506142460179811642023-05-28T13:31:00.006+10:002023-05-30T14:32:41.884+10:00St John's PentecostTexts: Acts 2.1-22; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12.1-13; John 20.19-23If, in the Christian calendar, the feast day of Pentecost celebrates the first outpouring out of the divine Spirit on the infant church, then the Scripture readings set for today record not one Pentecostal event, but two. The more familiar of these is created by St Luke in the book of Acts, the one associated with dramatic The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-87720165115776607302023-05-24T11:26:00.004+10:002023-05-24T12:12:58.164+10:00'These lands now called Australia'. A most problematic phrase'Australia' is a name given this continent by colonisers who came from another hemisphere (the 'north'). Thus, 'Australis': 'of the south'. The perspective built into the name is not our perspective. It is the perspective of people who come from elsewhere: the 'north'. The naming of this continent as 'Australia' is therefore part of the colonial project of subjugation and erasure.From an The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-8171788605125059332023-04-04T09:09:00.001+10:002023-04-04T09:09:45.630+10:00The slave of the Lord Texts: Isaiah 50.4-9a; Psalm 31.9-16; Philippians 2.5-11; Matthew’s passionIn the calendar of the western church today is ‘Palm’ or, alternatively, ‘Passion’ Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. During the season of Lent we've been journeying with Jesus to Jerusalem. Today we arrive in Jerusalem, and there we witness Christ's passion, which is the suffering of Christ for the sakeThe Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-11908492705070805332023-03-03T14:09:00.002+11:002023-03-03T19:43:33.611+11:00'Saved by the Cross of Christ'. But How? Text: Romans 3.22b-31According to the Apostle Paul, you and I are made right in God’s eyes not by our keeping of God’s law or commandments, but by our faith in God’s gracious gift of righteousness which, we are told, comes to us by way of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. In this event, we are told, God reconciles us to himself, for the death of Jesus is not just any death.The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-41885394702787045752023-02-05T13:18:00.001+11:002023-02-06T13:51:09.157+11:00The Law, the Prophets and Justice for First PeoplesTexts: Isaiah 58.1-12; Matthew 5.13-20In the gospel reading we heard from just now, Matthew has Jesus say: Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.Therefore, whoever breaks oneThe Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-87758428029886398142022-12-11T16:45:00.005+11:002022-12-12T10:20:47.550+11:00Hope, Patience and JusticeIsaiah 35.1-10; Magnificat; James 5.7-10The letter of James, which we read just now, says:Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. This morning I want to speak a little about what it might mean to be patient as we wait forThe Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-7567331865039580042022-11-29T07:27:00.004+11:002022-11-29T16:27:45.921+11:00'Wait without Hope': Contemplation and consumer societyIn 'East Coker' (1940), the second of his Four Quartets, TS Eliot wrote this:I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hopeFor hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faithBut the faith the love and the hope are all in the waiting.Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:So the darkness shall be the lightThe Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-37050244246840080882022-10-23T17:49:00.003+11:002023-05-17T13:57:58.240+10:00The Kenosis Model: how the churches can reckon with their colonial legacyLet me begin by acknowledging this country, Gadigal country, its ancestors and elders. Like my cousin Naomi, I am trawloolway. Our country is in the NE of lutruwita/Tasmania. We are privileged to walk on the lands of the Gadigal. Thank you for your gracious welcome.Today I want to remind the churches you have a colonial legacy, and in five senses:You participated in, and still benefit from, the The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-40330300758094150042022-09-15T13:45:00.023+10:002022-09-17T14:38:24.189+10:00On mourning, the Crown, and Anglican colonialitySince the 8th of September, when Queen Elizabeth II of Britain died, our local Australian media have been covering the fact, and its aftermath in church and state, on a 24/7, 7 days per week basis. The coverage has been total, a veritable tsunami of reporting on the minutiae of royal goings-on, along with opinion pieces in their thousands on the Crown, its legacy, its rituals, and its future.&The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-65846911907358912462022-07-06T10:07:00.005+10:002022-07-08T14:08:03.064+10:00A prayer for NAIDOC WeekDivine creator, who is known by many names,this NAIDOC week we give you thanks that we are here, that we have survived.We give thanks for our ancestors, those who formed country, and now guide us in the myriad voices of kangaroo and eagle, mountain and creek.We remember our elders, warriors and The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-72937646672744628142022-05-29T08:41:00.004+10:002022-12-12T10:22:24.682+11:00Losing Ourselves to Gain Ourselves for Justice Texts: Acts 16.16-34; Revelation
22.12-21; John 17.20-26
Five years ago, two hundred
and fifty Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders gathered at Uluru to
sign a ‘Statement from the Heart’ which called upon the Australian
people to join with them in working toward a ‘makaratta’ or treaty between our
peoples, built upon truth-telling and a constitutionally recognised Indigenous
The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-9537992576847456782022-05-02T12:18:00.003+10:002022-05-02T14:19:53.023+10:00When it comes to defending the flourishing of country, and of human life, I am no pacifistThe war in Ukraine is, of course, just one of the conflicts raging in the world right now. For the moment, the conflicts in Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Ethiopia, northern Iraq and many other places, no longer enjoy sustained attention from international media organisations. The extent to which the following comments about the war in Ukraine might pertain, also, to these many other conflicts, I will The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-63948970019208157442022-03-19T16:19:00.018+11:002022-03-20T17:12:23.217+11:00Acknowledgement of Country for dummiesSome of the discussions I've had this week with very smart non-Indigenous people have revealed that uttering an Acknowledgement of Country that communicates both respect and empathy is still just a little too tricky for many.So I've decided to collect together the bits and pieces of guidance I've been handing out over the past few years into a list of dos and don'ts. I hope it is helpful.Before The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-53295672551601275712022-03-18T01:18:00.014+11:002022-03-23T14:57:49.912+11:00Upon attending a lecture entitled 'Race and Scripture in Australia'I've just come home from a stimulating and learned public lecture offered at Pilgrim Theological College by a wonderful young historian, Meredith Lake. Meredith writes and thinks about the possibilities for reading the bible 'against the grain' of its racist deployment in 'Australian' society. She draws upon her historical research to offer precedents for doing so from both colonists and The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-90789808895797483812022-03-13T17:06:00.005+11:002022-12-12T10:23:52.370+11:00Enemies, real and imagined Genesis 15.1-12, 17-21; Psalm 27; Philippians 3.17-4.1; Luke
13.31-35
Enemies. We all have them. And, if we
don’t have any real enemies, we make them up. Or else we paint them in more
dramatic terms than is strictly necessary. Observe, for example, what is
happening in Ukraine at present. One of the key reasons Putin has publicly offered
for invading Ukraine is that Ukraine’s national The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-41711364952033570982022-02-27T16:32:00.002+11:002022-12-12T10:25:46.089+11:00 Trees and Logs: Discipleship in Time of WarTexts: Isaiah 55.10-13; Psalm 92.1-4, 12-15; 1 Corinthians 15.51-58; Luke 6.39-49Today’s texts can be read as something of a manifesto for the following of Christ, written not in the doctrinal formulas that will characterise later centuries, but in resonant images and metaphors taken from the non-human world.Isaiah, for example, writes to the Hebrew survivors of the exile in Babylon, promising The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-54309479762554921382022-02-25T13:42:00.007+11:002022-05-06T19:16:11.248+10:00What Churches Can Do to Address their Colonial LegacyMy Indigenous colleagues and I are often asked what (settler) churches can do to 'support and help' Indigenous people or 'walk alongside them' towards justice.I usually respond with a list of options designed to get settlers thinking about the colonial assumptions in their questions. I bring it all back to land and country, and the fact that churches now possess what does not belong to themThe Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-12230573317636405042022-02-14T22:24:00.008+11:002022-02-17T15:28:21.179+11:00On the PM's latest lecturing of Indigenous Peoplehttps://www.theage.com.au/national/pm-prompts-fury-by-looking-for-forgiveness-14-years-after-rudd-s-apology-20220214-p59weu.htmlToday the PM lectured Indigenous people on how we should respond to Rudd's 14 year old apology to the stolen generations. According to the PM it was hard to say 'sorry' but it is harder to say 'I forgive you'. Still, that is what Indigenous people ought to do, according The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5396472123229097501.post-75547115584129745562021-10-25T14:06:00.001+11:002021-10-25T14:06:36.508+11:00Grace, or the power of possibilityJob 23.1-9, 16-17; Psalm 22.1-15; Hebrews 4.12-16; Mark 10.17-31The Book of Job has been called the most perplexing book in the bible, and with good reason. It is the story of a prosperous man who is righteous before Yahweh even to the point where God boasts about him before a gathering of the heavenly powers. We learn, in chapter 1, that an ‘Accuser’ approaches Yahweh to ask if Job The Gazmeisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11876126138920205385noreply@blogger.com0