By Naomi Giles
As part of their 12-month journey in crafting art, poetry and prose, the Belly & Bones cohort reunited recently on the lands of the Barunggam people. This group of 12 women from across our churches of Christ network drew aside and put down their work to walk with a local First Nations community for a few days on Big Sky Country near Dalby, Queensland. Eager to explore a different context in refining their voices as creatives and curious about how God might speak to them through Country, they were welcomed by the dhiiyaan community for a time of communion with God, the land and each other. Naomi Giles shares their experience.
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Before we even got to the gate, the embrace had begun. Like the Father waiting for the wayward son to return, the welcoming committee of the dhiiyaan community (One Meat Mob) was out in full force, and through wide smiles and warm hugs, we were ushered in.
This ceremony of welcome at the front gate quietened us, inviting us to notice where we had arrived. It helped us remember that we had left our busy lives behind and were stepping over a threshold into a new place.
Stepping through the gate, she – the land – welcomed us. Bethel unfolded her generosity under the wide sky; her spaciousness enveloped us. It was like she was whispering to us, “Taste and see what the Lord has for you in this place.”
This 40-acre farm, known as Bethel, is home to the culturally diverse dhiiyaan community, which is working to ‘gabanma-li’, which in the Gamilaraay language means ‘to heal, to restore and to make whole’.
Timidly, we accepted the invitation to let the fragrance of the emu bush wash over us in a smoking ceremony, cleansing and preparing us for the days ahead.
Bethel’s ‘big sky country’. Photo by Tanya Tindale.
We had no idea what would be offered to us: the generosity of listening and sharing, the ancient stories of sky, land and animals, the food nurtured from the regenerated ground and tended by vulnerable hands and hearts. There was healing on offer here – a quiet waiting, inviting us to trust and open up to receive.
Their ceremony of dance and the words of the welcome song, “Take and eat, one bread, one meat, we are dhiiyaan”, set the scene for what was to be a sacred space of sharing.
This was not a lecture hall or a structured tutorial where one could sit back and analyse, but a chance to take and savour, to notice and slowly absorb.
The vulnerability of this community’s forming story was not hidden behind polite smiles but was simply and honestly told. In receiving us this way, our hearts were prepared for the deep tilling they were about to undergo.
The dhiiyaan community formed in 2005 in Brisbane but has moved to Dalby in the past decade to focus its energies, where it was invited to oversee the Bethel property.
The Bethel property. Photo by Tanya Tindale.
This 40-acre farm has been passed from ministry to ministry since the 1950s. For many years, it was a children’s home through the Baptist church, and then became a place for various ministries until it was left to lie dormant and in bad repair.
Upon arrival, the dhiiyaan community knew the need for healing and restoration was deep in them and the land. Both had suffered trauma and needed nurturing before they could begin to open the gates and invite others in. Any houses and sheds still on the property were in poor shape, as dwindling resources and vision had stripped the place bare.
They were guided and inspired by the ancient Hebrew text of Isaiah,
“You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, and make the community liveable again.” (Isaiah 58:11-12, The Message)
Community elder Billy Williams (Jangala), his wife Vicki alongside, doesn’t mince words about the cost of this restoration journey. The vulnerability of dhiiyaan has been their undoing at times, yet it is also undoubtedly why this place can embrace all people.
Billy speaking to the Belly & Bones cohort.
The Bethel property has been rebuilt by those who believe in the call to love because they have been loved first. Through loss, they have continued to hold this posture, and now, the overflow of the Father’s healing journey is impacting others.
It’s from this centre of the Christian faith, infused with the ancient wisdom of the Creator, that the dhiiyaan community draws from the well of life and offers a deep quenching drink to those who come thirsty.
Billy’s teaching flows from ancient scriptures and ancient wisdom passed down through song and dance across this land, with a touch of country music and poetry thrown in for good measure.
He cracks a wry smile as he shares that this place is not about “black fella, white fella – it doesn’t matter what your colour, as long as you a true fella.” (Warumpi Band, ‘Blackfella, Whitefella’).
Billy speaking to the group.
We found ourselves in unchartered territory as the first ‘formal’ retreat group invited on Country.
The community had hosted friends, school groups and young people through its True Fella restorative program, but never before a group of women looking for a quiet place to allow God to edit both their souls and the work they had begun.
Walking with each other in the days ahead, we found a rhythm of rest, sharing, noticing, and responding. Nothing was forced or asked of us; the welcome had no strings attached. It was like the Father who had slain the fattened calf and thrown on his party clothes, determined to celebrate a homecoming long overdue.
Vicki sharing with the Belly & Bones cohort.
Vicki shared her journey and passion for regenerating these dusty acres from wasteland to abundance by applying permaculture methods. A walk around the spiral veggie garden and the sprawling bush tucker garden was a testament to the team’s sacrificial efforts to turn around a place left to waste.
From the banquet plates adorned with the flavours of the produce from these two gardens, we were fed in body and soul under the big sky.
The spiral veggie garden the team walked around. Photo by Tanya Tindale.
At night, around the campfire, the stories of the sky were generously shared, inviting us to wonder at a God who spoke just as He said He would to all people who would notice the work of His hands.
Each had space to bare their souls to the Creator, held in a loving space of others walking the same journey. Parts of our story were rewritten in this place as we drank deeply like the pilgrims stumbling across healing pools in a barren place, fed by the tears of those who had walked the path of healing before us.
What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,
it will become a place of refreshing springs. Psalm 84:5,6 (NLT)
From quiet conversations to cosmic encounters, we had an experience we will always remember.
In our final farewell, we sang along heart and soul with those who call this place home. We had tasted the one bread, one meat, and the circle of the dhiiyaan community had widened to allow us to now also call Bethel home.
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Watch a video created by Belly & Bones member, Tanya Tindale, that documents the cohort’s trip to Bethel. Belly & Bones will be publishing a journal of work in early 2025.
Read more stories from churches of Christ in NSW & ACT HERE
