‘God’s Big Story’ speaks to the heart

by Pastor Stephen Radke

In October a group of women gathered in the Alice Springs Lutheran Church for a one-day Bible course.

The course, the first in a series on ‘God’s Big Story’, covered creation and the fall of humanity and its consequences. Importantly, we learnt how the results of human rebellion and mistrust of God have been reversed in Christ.

This course was supported strongly by members of the Alice Springs Lutheran Church who prayed for the success of this course and managed the catering. Finke River Mission (FRM) provided financial support for the food. FRM Support Worker Malcolm lead the singing and managed the audio-visuals. The Bible readings were in Anmatyerr, Pitjantjatjara and English; the songs mostly in Western Arrarnta.

A highlight of the day for me, as the teacher, were the rich cultural exchanges between the western and Aboriginal cultures represented at the course. This was highlighted by a conversation about the biblical concept of ‘heart’ as the centre of our thoughts and desires, and our more specific western use of the word in reference to our emotional centre.

Aboriginal participants said that ‘heart’ is not used in their cultures for these things. They suggested saying that God speaks to our ‘spirit’ or ‘thoughts’ or ‘feelings’ rather than ‘heart’. It was suggested these words are cross-cultural alternatives for the biblical concept of ‘heart’.

The day was an opportunity to teach the way in which ‘God’s Big Story’ in the Old Testament is a narrative that reveals Christ, the new Adam (human) who reverses the curse of our fall as humans. This is the curse that causes us to mistrust God’s goodness and care for humankind. Jesus is the new human who fully trusts God. Being God, he rescues us from our alienation from God and from death. Jesus is our hope, and the hope of all humanity and all creation.

Pastor Stephen Radke is an FRM support worker.