As with any wilderness it has arrived unannounced and will continue to be a point of challenge, wounding and recovery for some time to come. Wildernesses are places and spaces that seam harsh and unending. The word itself warns us of what we must contend with – beginning the uncontainable ‘wild’. It is a place we would never choose and never enter willingly.
In a strange way, this is also the hope for this magazine – that whilst in a period of wilderness which feels like a supernova explosion to so many, something beautiful is being birthed. In asking our community to reflect on their own encounters with this and other wilderness experiences, we hope it is a reminder that there is always a work at work – that love is always being woven through any and every death. For this is the way of Spirit, the flow of the cosmos – eternally birthing new life and creating anew.
So may the pieces of the diverse stories, perspec- tives and offerings found herein when woven to- gether in this new Wilderness publication, model the beauty always being birthed amongst broken- ness. I commend it to you and the incredible, soulful reflections of wisdom and creativity that it contains. Every piece is stardust! (click image to download)
Welcome to the 2nd edition of the Tecoma Uniting Church Wilderness magazine, titled Resilience.
I have had a hard time tying to define resilience, it is a very personal word, and is an intense descriptor – “How resilient are you?” “My, that person is strong, they are resilient.” It is a word used attached to a fighter, someone of strength, of will, of passion or dare I say defiance?
But is that all? What is resilience, really?
Resilience is a notion of behaviour that a person or a group experiences, and fluidly moves through to reach a common goal. Compromises arise as knowledge of uncharted territory come to light even the entire “goal” can change. Resilience is the acceptance of failure and a wealth of love to move pass this.
Resilience is not one muscle bound person fighting for a cause. Resilience is a collection of experiences, it is the knowledge of surviving. It is looking at the steps you have in front of you not the entire mountain. Resilience is something that dwells in our stomachs, hearts and minds, it is the knowledge of achievement set in a quiet foundation of persistence and love. (click image to download)
Again & Again:
Again and again I forget … I get stuck … I get distracted and lost. And what is true of me, is true of us. As a species we continue to forget how to be one, how to honour and respect each other in our diversity and we forget or ignore the pleas of the earth at the expense of our own convenience, comfort and consumption.
And yet … it also reveals another truth. For whilst true; pain, forgetting, stuckness abound – we also encounter moments of revelation, awareness, hope and peace.
These truths and patterns are beautifully brought out by the poets, artists and reflective folk of our tribe who have once again offered themselves and their artwork in these pages.
I trust that in spending time with the contents herein, that you find yourself reminded of Spirit’s dance; within your soul, within your unfolding journey, and within the earth itself. So friends, may you discover the dance of Spirit, eternally at play, luring you relentlessly through every darkened day and towards every lost or misplaced trumpet.