Prophetic Indigenous Voices - discussion questions

Following each of the videos produced by the Anglican Indigenous Network, the Anglican Communion Environmental Network, and the Anglican Alliance found HERE, we encourage your groups to use these discussion questions.

Aotearoa/New Zealand/Polynesia

“Mutual custodianship” - what possibilities does this phrase open up for you? When we put the idea of interdependence together with a custodial role, what new light do you receive on the human role in ecological sustainability?

“Mana” is the power of fecundity, the healing power of the universe, a capacity that is related to intention and the act of cultivating. The theological reflection suggested that mana may increase when we take the step of restraint, related to the idea of keeping sabbath. What does restraint and the increase of mana suggest to you?

What possibilities of being a partner or ally come to you from the account of the Polynesian young adults and their disaster preparedness/response work? 

Unspoken in this video offering is the possibility of “loss and damage,” the prospect of the total inundation of Pacific islands and their cultures. What might be the response around the Communion to the disaster of loss on that scale?

The Aotearoa/New Zealand/Polynesia video offering wove beautiful images of mountains, rivers, Moana, and many species, together with a number of hymns. Placing theological reflection within this web of nature and music - how do you respond to this form of offering?

One of the primary focus areas for the new Commissioner of the Environment is promoting theological education around climate change and environmental justice. What about in your own context, is such education available to you? Is this kind of education helping shape your clergy and lay leaders? 

Africa

What caught your attention in the video from Africa? What was the most arresting idea you heard? 

What would “memory work,” the recovery of traditional wisdom including knowledge of native seeds, plants, and agricultural products look like in your context? Are there other kinds of “memory work” that need to be done in your community?

Bishop Elinah in Swaziland spoke at length about the experience of women and girls in a colonized economy and culture. What did you feel and think hearing her account? 

What doors are opened for you in thinking about Christ as our “ecological ancestor?” How does expanding the idea of ubuntu to include all of life, beyond just the human family, strike you?  

Amazon  

What surprised you the most in today’s video from the Amazon? Why?

Bishop Marinez told us at the beginning of the video that the main voices we would be listening to would be those of Indigenous women from the Amazon, non-Christian voices. This is different from the voices at the center of the two previous videos, from Oceania and from Africa; in those videos we heard from Indigenous Christians. How did this life-world location (Indigenous, non-Christian, women) affect the message you heard? What surprised you in these prophetic messages today, from these particular prophets? 

The Indigenous women from the Amazon spoke of the important role women have in what we often call Creation Care. Women also bear a disproportional brunt of climate change effects. What did you think and feel about these messages about women, the Earth and climate change? 

Each week of the Advent eco-racism series has shown us more and more the shared worldview of Indigenous people that all of life is interconnected, interdependent. How is this like or unlike your own worldview? Has your worldview changed with respect to interconnectedness over time? If so, how and why?

The Arctic 

What stood out to you about this video from indigenous people in the Arctic? 

Colleen Swan of Kivalinah said that it is essential to understand the spirituality of her people, as the spirituality, the economy and the laws are all interconnected. If you reflect on your own spirituality how connected or disconnected is it from the economy and the legal structure in which you live? 

Princess Daazrhaii Johnson called on her listeners to have a personal plan to protect the planet. What would be/is your plan? 

Bernadette Demientieff said that her ancestors called on her and her people to protect the land, to not give up, but to “do it the right way.” What do you understand her to mean by the “right way?”

If you have seen all or some of the other three videos in this four-part series, what common threads have you seen between them?