Australian Reconciliation

On Wednesday we focus on Australian reconciliation. We seek to move towards reconciliation, learning to live and work in partnership and harmony, with indigenous and non-indigenous brothers and sisters.

Les Murray discusses the Common Dish in The Quality of Sprawl in an essay called Some Religious Stuff I Know.

He argues that Australia is characterised by a deeply proletarian feature that is sometimes "encountered in the older societies . . . but [is] perhaps more powerful and noticeable here. "This feature is "the ritual of the Common Dish." (p.44)
[The Common Dish is] that vessel of common human sufferings, joys, disappointments, tragedies and bare sufficiencies from which most people have to eat in this world, and from which some choose to eat in order to keep faith with them. (p.44)
In this sense the Common Dish is close to the heart of Members and Friends of the Wellspring Community. Christ chose to eat from this Common Dish.
This dish is the opposite of the medieval Grail which was a vessel attained only by a spiritual elite. To refuse the common ration, or to fail to recognize and respect it, earns one the contempt and rejection of battlers and all who live under the laws of necessity. It is a harsher vessel than the Christian chalice, and not identical with it, except perhaps for the saints, but I believe it lies close to the heart of Australian consciousness, and can never be safely ignored.

The Wellspring Community seeks to stand with the battlers in Australian society and in other places. We seek to be true to the Gospel and to follow in the Way of Christ. We seek to do this in ways that may be contrary to the ways of majority Australia.

One component of our focus on reconciliation is our support of Campfire in the Heart. Campfire in the Heart is a place of hospitality and retreat in Alice Springs.

It offers travellers and pilgrims a place to come, either individually or in groups, to reflect on their time in the Centre. Campfire in the Heart is a place of hospitality and retreat in Alice Springs. It offers a Christ-centred community, a gathering point for indigenous and non-indigenous people, a place to pray and to chew the cud. It gives support to people who seek to address the enormous issues that are so 'in our face' in the centre of this great land.

Reflection

"Reconciliation is more than responding to the needs of the disadvantaged in our society. This is what government should do as a matter of course. Reconciliation is not just about the disadvantaged. It is about liberating all Australians from the prejudice and misinterpretation and misconceptions we have about our intertwined history. And it is about a spiritual reunion amongst ourselves over the common values that we might hold as dear in a modern democracy - and when the rights of the indigenous people have been appropriately resolved with their consent and with the agreement of the nation."

Patrick Dodson - "Reconciliation: confronting the truth." The Age. Melbourne Writer's Festival. Keynote Address. 25th August, 2000.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

Martin Luther King.

Readings

Matthew 5:21-26, 43-48 | 1 Corinthians 13

Prayer Activity

"Today when you encounter someone from another race or religion or 'some stranger in the midst', let some words, or a wave, some courtesy or kindness to them be a living prayer that will bless them and you."

"Pray Now. Daily devotions for the year 2004." p. 23.

Isolated Members and Friends
Wellspring seeks to support and encourage members and friends who are isolated. For more information send a message by clicking here

Facebook
The Wellspring Community has a Facebook group. For more information about Facebook click here. If you want to look at the Wellspring group then first you need to sign up. When you've signed up use the search function and you should find the Wellspring group. You'll need to ask for permission to join the group. That will come to the Wellspring office for approval.

Wellspring Book Publication
"Campfires and Wellsprings", a great read to supplement the urban pilgrimage.