The song your ancestors taught you

Jesus was with the people in Adelaide, gathered on the grass beside the Torrens, as he often was.

This day, there were squabbles (not unlike every other day, to be honest), between groups that differed from each other.

There were those who followed Torah, and within that broad group, some following Torah strictly, and some more freely

There were those who practiced Sikh and Baha’i faith, humanism, Buddhism, and Islam (and subgroups of each of those groups)

There were those who followed Jesus’ teaching, from the many varying traditions that had grown and split from each other in the generations since Jesus walked on earth in the lands surrounding Jerusalem.

Today, there were squabbles over songs. We play our sacred songs and you do not sing with us; you do not listen; you tell us to be silent; you say your songs are more true, more worthy than our songs.

And there were squabbles over rituals: we were grieving, and you said our mourning is too loud – you said our mourning is too quiet – you said our mourning is too public – you said our mourning is too private; you did not sit beside us in our grief.

Jesus began to speak, and the squabbling slowly subsided.

My Mother sends many prophets to call you home into the Holy Heart.

Do you not understand that when Holy One made you in Our image, it was not one kind of human; it was not each individual human? You are in our image together, each one a spark, a hint, a speck of the colour in an ever-changing kaleidoscope. We see the whole picture with all the colours, all the flavours, all the textures – I mix my metaphors, but that is because no one will suffice alone. You cannot see the whole picture – and that is right, for you are not the Divine. We are.

Jesus paused to take a breath, and the silence in the crowd by now was complete.

My Father sends many prophets to call you back to the Holy Way.

And you dismiss them. You reject them. You call out glutton! Drunkard! Heretic! When the messengers of the Sacred do not meet your expectations.

But could you stop and listen, please? Listen to the prophets, listen to the prophets that visit each of your groups, and pay attention for the common threads, the thread of the Sacred Song you each sing, singing your particular part?

Jesus sighed. Feeling, how many prophets We have sent, sent even Ourself, and still … sigh.

Your Creator sends prophets to give you each a part to sing – and sing in harmony with each other. Do not worry if you don’t hear the harmony, if it even sounds discordant to you at times. The Song is not for you to hear – it is for you to sing. The Song is for Holy One to hear, and We hear the harmonies, and we rejoice!

Do not think yourselves as wise as Holy One, but trust our Wisdom. Have We not been with you through the generations? Have you not met Us in the Song as you sing it? Can you not see the glimmer of holiness in each others’ songs and rituals, and trust that We are with all who sing a Song of peace, of love?

Wisdom is with me, in me, and She will be shown true through what grows from the seeds We plant, which is to say, through you, Our children.

So, please, honour your prophets, your elders, your spiritual ancestors, with the Song they call you to sing. Honour your Mother-Father-Creator with the Song They give you to sing.

You are making this life much harder than We dream for you, you know.

Come, trust us, and learn from Wisdom:

I will help lighten your load,

I will give you rest.

I am gentle, I am here for you:

find with me deep rest for what troubles you, with trust, as your ancestors have shown you.

Sing the Song your ancestors taught you, as it led them to Wisdom’s Way. And listen to each other, with trust, rejoicing in the different parts We have given you each to sing. Trust Us to hear the harmony. Trust, and rest from these burdens, Our children.

As Jesus appeared to have finished addressing them for the moment, gradually a hum of conversation grew again, though for now, without the squabbles …

We hear this story as we celebrate NAIDOC for another year. We are reminded by our First Nations neighbours the importance of our elders, of honouring our elders.

And I am pondering the way not only First Peoples honour their Elders, but how the First Peoples in our country might themselves, collectively, be our Elders, gifts among us with ancient wisdom to teach us how to live well in these lands now called Australia – and how might we, together, the peoples of this land Down Under, honour our Elders, and the songs sung on these lands throughout time?

The image above comes from the beautiful artwork of the 2023 NAIDOC Week poster by artist Bobbi Lockyer, a proud Ngarluma, Kariyarra, Nyulnyul and Yawuru artist, born and based on Kariyarra Country in Port Hedland.

Bobbi says, “Where there is knowledge there are our Elders. Our Elders paved the pathways for us, taught us our knowledge, our history, they passed down their art, stories and wisdom. Our Elders are the foundation of our communities and role models for our children.”