Thoughts From Down Under

Earlier this week, my elder son Martin and his partner Lisa came to visit for a few days.  They have recently returned from 3 months travelling around Australia, from Melbourne up the east coast past Cairns and then across and down from Darwin through Alice Springs, Uluru (Ayers Rock) and back to Melbourne.  We were able to share in their adventure through their many photos and stories of their travels.  I found particularly interesting the stories of the aborigines and their beliefs.  They are an ancient race having lived on that land for over 40,000 years and so their stories of creation and other spiritual beliefs go back way beyond anything we as Christians may have.  We consider their stories to be just that - stories, myths and legends - not necessarily literally true but they cling on to their beliefs that have been handed down orally over thousands of years.  

A model of a coracle type of ark as on the ancient tablet

I also watched this week a programme about 'The Real Noah's Ark' where a professor and associates reconstructed a boat according to information on an ancient clay tablet.  It was a story of a flood with instructions on how to build a boat to save a man, his family and animals.  The instructions also interestingly said that the animals were to go in 'two by two'.  This particular tablet predated our biblical story of Noah by over 1000 years.  The boat to be built was actually round, more like a coracle than the ark we think of.  Archaeologists have discovered that in that region of the Tigris/Euphrates rivers there were many such great floods in ancient times and many would indeed make super-sized coracles to save their families and belongings.  It is thought that the Hebrew exile in Babylon was greatly influenced by such stories and maybe had some effect on stories that they also handed down to their descendants.  

Uluru (Ayers Rock) is a sacred Aboriginal site but so many
lack respect for the religious views and beliefs of others as
this notice and undeterred climbers show.

We look at other spiritual traditions and think of them as fables, myths and not fact while other religions often look at our holy book in the same way.  So it seems to beg the question -  how many of our Bible stories are just that, stories that have been told and handed down over generations in order to teach some spiritual truth.  Knowing how Jesus himself was a great story teller, it seems quite possible that much of holy writings, beliefs and spiritual stories (of many different religions) are just a way of trying to explain some truth that is often difficult to put into words but are not really to be taken literally.  (I can almost sense the fundamentalists putting their heads in their hands, gasping in horror and  declaring that I have surely 'lost my faith'!)  But why do we condescendingly smile at aboriginal stories and yet are offended if others do the same to us?  Who are we to go bulldozing our way in and telling someone whose tradition is over 40,000 years old that he is wrong and we are right?  The arrogance of such an empire spirit never ceases to amaze me.

The first plane that started the Flying Doctor Service

Another interesting story that Martin and Lisa told was of Rev John Flynn.  He had been appointed to minister in the outback.  In 1912 he established the Australian Inland Mission in order to attend to the spiritual, medical and social needs of those living in the outback.  He built hospitals but is mostly remembered for implementing with a friend what has become known as The Flying Doctor Service.  His concern was that people were so isolated and his greatest desire was to help people to connect.with others.  Over the years he managed to get an aeroplane and a pilot but the problem was how people could access this service.  Another associate invented a pedal radio and so in 1929 people could call on the Flying Doctor Service.  Later transistor radios replaced the pedal kind and people were then able to contact their 'neighbours' many miles away and families were once again in touch with each other.  John Flynn was a Presbyterian minister but rather than trying to get people to travel in order to gather in one building to worship together, he saw their need and tried to meet that need right where they were.  He cared for aborigines as well as white settlers whether they accepted his Christian beliefs or not.  That is why he is remembered to this day.  That seems like a Jesus thing to do - not being consumed with the idea of getting people to meet on the Sabbath/Sunday in the synagogue/temple/church building but rather seeing a need and working to meet that need.

Mmm!  Thank you Australia for the lessons you share.  Much to ponder.