Facilitated by Mehrin Almassi from the Indigenous Hospitality House, in this bible study series we will seek to make connections between the story of the nation of Israel told in Lamentations and our own national story. We will look to see whether this book may help us to address our shared histories of displacement and endeavour to distill how we might move forward as a nation in light of the biblical example.

Connection to Creator (Spirit)

What do we think of when we hear the word Spirit? What do we think of when we hear the words Spirit of God?
What do we think about when we hear the term Creator Spirit?
What do we think is meant by each of these phrases? Are they related? Could they be?

Read Lamentations 3

Did the Israelite people have a sense of the Spirit of God – the Creator Spirit?
What was God like for the people of Israel? What was their experience of relating to God?
How do we relate to and/or experience God? Is our experience different to that of the Israelites? If so, can we think why?

Let’s read the Boon Wurrung Story.

What might this story teach us about the way the Boon Wurrung people experience the Creator Spirit?
What may this story teach us about the importance of our own stories in relation to local, national and international issues?
How else might we apply important narratives of the past to current situations needing attention?

Kids Activity

In parallel to grown ups run a kids session: talk about pictures as stories, songlines and place.

Will need:

• messy clothes (if painting)
• paint and brushes and/or lots of sticky dot stickers
• paper
• photos (bring along some or a camera to take some on the day)

What do you like about stories?
Look at this image? What is this a picture of?

(girls, dog, trees…)

This picture tells the story of the time Talitha and Bron went to the park with Gracie.

 What about this image? what’s happening here? who was there? but they aren’t in the picture… how do you know they were there?

(pictures can capture a “moment”, some part of a bigger memory, tobogganing and snow angels, other friends… reminder of something bigger that we can no longer see)

Pictures have two things, a place and a “happening”.

Using your pictures so far, talk about where they are happening and what is happening.

Indigenous stories tell something about a place and also about something happening there.

WHERE: Maybe there is a waterhole (blue), things grow there (green), drier sand/soil as you move away (orange), day rocks (red).

WHAT: An animal comes to the watering hole and then goes (tracks).

Ask children to share a memory, a story, and make a picture – collectively or individually (age depending). Then ask of each: Where is your story taking place? What is happening there?

How would you feel if you couldn’t got there again?  If you couldn’t do that again? (sad)

Today the grown ups are talking about the story of lamentations – a lament is a sound of grief and sorrow.  That’s what people in the story did when they couldn’t go back to the place they remembered or do the things they used to do there.

Learning:

our stories and our pictures can be used to tell each other about places we haven’t been and things we haven’t done, remembering and reminders can comfort us when we feel sad

let’s take a photo now, today of all of us together, making and telling stories so that we have a memory-capture. It’s good to take photos and write stories and make pictures because they help us remember

take your picture now to a grown up – tell them your story – use things inside the picture and outside the picture