This year I, Talitha, along with Naomi Wolfe (troloolway and German , academic, historian, theologian, kinship carer to Ollie, and coffee addict) were very lucky to be offered an opportunity to travel to America for the Festival of Radical Discipleship, a collaboration between Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries (BCM) and Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center with support from Gembrook Retreat. The intention of this trip was to gather (in the traditions of the civil rights, Catholic Worker, Anabaptists and Quakers) for part celebration, liturgy, resistance, dance party, bible study, networking, grief work and inspiration to continue to work for peace, restorative justice and hope. This years themes were 1. Dismantling White Supremacy and Settler Colonialism, 2. Economies Challenging Capitalism, and 3. Watershed Discipleship & Creation Justice.
As we watched updating travel warnings, news articles about the experiences of those pulled aside for questioning/detainment/return at the US border and listened to friends, family and ancestors we discerned that we should not in fact go so far.
Instead, with a focus to lean into these themes and intentions, we travelled instead to Aotearoa. And here are a few strands...
We travelled together to where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. The Treaty is under attack right now by a more right-wing government than I have ever known to be in power in my lifetime. It is unravelling decades of progress and justice in ways that belie our very cultural identity as a nation... We returned to Naarm (Melbourne) in time to join the Yoorook Justice Commissions Walk For Truth (akin to the work of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission), and rally as it formally presented its findings to Parliament. I am discouraged to be forced to recognise that the backdrop of the current political scene in Aotearoa makes clear: no matter your progress, the fight for recognition and voice is enduring.
We learned about Matariki, the maramataka, role models in personal risk-taking in extravagantly theatrical ways for peace. We attended/delivered papers on decolonising theology and activism, read and wrote poetry, visited faith communities, and pored over theological libraries and second hand bookshops.
There is a plant kawakawa used in Maori medicine rongomai and you take the most holey leaves to make it. The leaves are eaten by the caterpillar of a moth and the properties activated by the leaf to heal itself are the same that make it best to heal us. I am entranced by the thought that by the old wounds that recognise the threat, we are given a tool - not for the fight - but the recovery. Does that not offer you a new way of thinking about what resiliency is?
There will be lots of work, writing and fuel for the journey from this trip that nourishes and informs our practice and content in the weeks, months and years to come... watch this space. The practice of our commitment to this work I've mentioned before, we call it taonga takaro which loosely means 'sacred play'. This isn't the work we get paid for at our jobs. This is the listening to the voice inside you that says: this is for the world. Whether that's a song, poem, story, or article you write, or art you create, a vocational or entrepreneurial calling... the listening and the making, and the growing and going matter.
Come play with us -
Talitha
Curator, The Recollective