Desert: June 2010

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

NGO ROUND TABLE FORUM ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL - MELBOURNE - 13 JULY 2010

Overview

Act for Peace invites you to hear from two prominent Palestinian Christians currently working and advocating for the rights of Palestinian communities in the occupied

territories. Rifat Kassis and Constantine Dabbagh are in Australia to help raise awareness of the plight of the Palestinian people and outline recommendations for peace and justice-based solutions to the confl ict in Palestine and Israel.

Our Guest Speakers

Rifat Kassis is a prominent human rights activist, author and Coordinator and Spokesperson of Kairos Palestine. He has previously held senior positions with the World Council of Churches, the YMCA/YWCA as well as the Ecumenical Accompaniers Program in Palestine and Israel – EAPPI.

Constantine Dabbagh is the Executive Secretary of the Near East Council of Churches Committee for Refugee Work in Gaza, the implementing partner of Act for Peace. He oversees the provision of health care, education and community services to over 80,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

For further information and to RSVP, please contact

Ben Fraser, International Programs Coordinator,

on 03 9650 6811 or email him at: bfraser@ncca.org.au

Please RSVP (essential) by: Monday, 5 July 2010

An old friend turns up on Bush Telegraph: Ian Robinson, spiritual and desert adventurer

Ian Robinson at The Living Desert, Broken Hill

Dear desert people,

Please go the Bush Telegraph site.
Scroll down to Thursday 24 June 2010
select Desert Spirituality and listen
and you can hear my old and dear friend
Ian Robinson
in conversation with Michael Cathcart.
The desert pictures on the slide show
on the sidebar
were taken on a retreat near Broken Hill
led by Ian.
You can also type Robinson into the search facility
in the top left hand corner of this blog,
and you will find an Ian Robinson presence on this blog.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From here:

Desert spirituality

By Keiren McLeonard

Thursday, 24/06/2010

We all know what the desert holds; intimidating horizons, confronting silence, a threat to safety. But one of its extraordinary secrets is spiritual.

And those willing to confront this vast, imposing environment and learn the essence of being Australian have been lining up for a powerful retreat into Australia's interior.

It's an extraordinary journey and Ian Robinson, Western Australian researcher into desert spirituality and biblical traditions of the desert, is one of those leading the way.

He's a minister and evangelist who takes people into the desert to confront not just the environment but themselves. His book is 'This Thirsty Heart: Spirit Journeys in the Deserts of Australia'.

In this report: Ian Robinson, minister involved in research into desert spirituality and biblical traditions of the desert and leader of desert expeditions with Spirit Journeys.

Listen to or download story.

Related reading:

Seeking the Centre: The Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film

Australian Desert Exploration Breguet French Print 1934

Sacred Waterholes in Desert By Linda Smith From Her Australian Art Portfolio - 1000 Piece Puzzle

A World of Relationships: Itineraries, Dreams, and Events in the Australian Western Desert (Anthropological Horizons)

Uluru: Sacred Rock of the Australian Desert (Natural Wonders)

Hunters and Trackers of the Australian Desert

The Secret of the Australian Desert

Daisy Bates: Grand Dame of the Desert (Australian Life)

Daisy Bates in the Desert

Further reading:

Desert spirituality

Monday, June 28, 2010

Indigenous spirituality - from Cherokee to Dreaming

An integral part of Desert Spirituality is respect for First Peoples everywhere and respect for their spiritual beliefs. Those of us who have become settler peoples in the lands of First Nations have much to learn from them: of the land, other species, environment and ecology as well as the matters of the spirit. Where possible the desert spirit wishes to establish friendly and respectful relationships with indigenous people to the benefit of all of us. This below is a small contribution to these insights. Hat Tip to Eagle Man of Rosebud for passing it on.

~~~

Cherokee Legend

Do you know the legend of the Rite of Passage

to adult hood of the Cherokee youth?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night. He must not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone.

Once he survives the night,

as he passes from dasy to night to dawning,

he is a man.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience.

Each onemust come into manhood on his own.

The boy is terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts seem to be all around. Perhaps some human might do him harm. The wind blows the grass and earth, and shakes his stump, but he sits stoically, never removing the blindfold. This is the only way for him to become a man.

Finally, after a horrific night

the sun appears and he removes his blindfold.

It is then that he discovers his father sitting on the stump next to him.

He has been at watch all through night, protecting his son from harm

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God - the Creator Spirit - is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out.