Messages of Hope

Stir-fry Theology

David Unaiapon1 said, “We, as Aboriginal people, need you and you, as non-Aboriginal people, need us.” You, as non-Aboriginal people who have come to Australia, have played a large part in making this society what it is, so you can’t just leave us Aboriginal people and expect us to fend for ourselves. You can’t leave us now because it’s like us taking you out in the bush and leaving you there. Most of you wouldn’t survive in the wilderness on your own. For many Aboriginal people, white society is like a wilderness. We need to be shown the way through what is, for many of us, very much uncharted waters; an unknown territory. However, it is inappropriate for you to insist that we become like you in order to succeed in society. This is what has happened so often in the past and Aboriginal people have been disempowered by this approach. Our society can encompass people who are quite different, and so can the Church. We can work together to fulfil God’s purpose for us all if we think of the Church in terms of what I call ‘Stir-fry Theology’. Stir-fry Theology A stir-fry consists of a variety of different but unique ingredients that are cooked together. However, each ingredient needs to be cooked so that it retains its own unique texture and flavour. This means it may need to be treated differently from other ingredients. Together, all the ingredients make up the stir-fry A stir-fry is not a melting pot or soup when everything ends up tasting the same. People are like the ingredients in a stir-fry. We need to be who we are in this great big wok, retaining our own identity. We are all different, and it is OK to be different. The sauce binds the stir-fry into a dish with unique textures and flavours. The secret is to know the kind of sauce to use with the types of ingredients chosen and how much sauce to add. When you add the sauce, the different ingredients take up the flavour of the sauce in different ways. All are flavoured by the sauce but they still retain their own unique flavours. For Christians, the love of God, expressed through the Trinity, is the sauce that binds us together. Despite our differences we are each an important ingredient in the stir-fry of the Church community, bound together by love. It is the love of God that brings out the best in each of us and enhances our unique flavours. I am trying to develop a relationship type of covenant. I am trying to challenge people to be friends with Aboriginal people. So what does friendship mean? When we are friends with someone we love and respect each other even if we are quite different and we don’t understand each other. We are still friends even though we don’t agree with what each other says or believes. We need to journey into friendship – accepting people for who they are. Jesus commanded us to be friends, to love one another as God loves us. We need to imitate Christ in this respect. However, this is something we often struggle with. We find it difficult to step out of our comfort zone to become friends with people who are different. So where do we start? We need to get inside ourselves and change our attitudes to people who are different, whether they are Aboriginal or refugees even if there are no such people in your local area. Your relationship with God as expressed through the Trinity is the key to building loving relationships with those who are different. The love we are able share comes from God’s love for us and we have Christ’s example to follow, but we need the Spirit to guide us on our way. Loving one another means forgiving..., trusting..., sacrificing...; it means opening our hearts to others; it means transforming your attitudes toward others. This can happen even if you never have the privilege of meeting an Aboriginal person. Not having Aboriginal people living near you is no excuse for not building loving relationships with Aboriginal people. You can inform yourself of the truth rather than media spin, and what you read in the papers is mostly that, spin. It’s what inside your heart that counts. Often, as Christians, we choose who we want to love and be part of our lives. The challenge is to love everybody unconditionally. On this Reconciliation Sunday we think of how we might express our love for our Aboriginal brothers and sisters in Christ, especially members of the Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress. Grace and peace, Ken Sumner Rev Ken Sumner is the National Chairperson of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, State Resource Minister for the Congress in South Australia and Covenanting Coordinator for the Presbytery and Synod of South Australia. He is a Ngarrindjeri man from the lower Murray and Coorong in SA. 1David Unaipon is the man on the Australian $50 note. http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120339b.htm

30 May 2010 by Ken

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