Postkiwi

I spent Friday afternoon in a workshop with Norm Habel, developer of Seasons of Creation. The workshop was hosted by Queensland Churches Together - so we had a good selection of people from Uniting, Anglican and Catholic backgrounds.

Norm’s a Lutheran minister from South Australia, with a background in Old Testament at the School of Theology in Adelaide. He reminded us that his name is Norman, not Normal. Must be very freeing not having to be Normal.
The afternoon workshop was designed to introduce us to worship resources linked to themes of ecojustice. Norm’s background in inclusivity of children, reconciliation and indigenous theology flavoured the work but weren’t the main feature.

We heard how Norm and an Adelaide church five years ago developed liturgies for celebrating and healing the Earth, published in the book, Seven Songs of Creation. It was linked with the “Earth Bible” project, an international academic collaboration on ecology and theology. The Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria/Tasmania sponsored a development of resources for a three year cycle of four Sundays. This was paralleled by similar development by ECEN - European Christian Environmental Network.

And now the project is ready to roll out in September each year.

2005
Forest Sunday, Land Sunday, Outback Sunday and River Sunday
2006
Earth Sunday, Humanity Sunday, Sky Sunday and Mountain Sunday
2007
Ocean Sunday, Fauna Sunday, Storm Sunday and Cosmos Sunday

Resources on the Seasons of Creation web site provide material for liturgy and Bible studies. Norm’s also written new words for hymns that tie into the themes and theologies being developed here. A good example is one of the songs he wrote to the tune of “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah” in which he provides an alternative to the ‘heavenism’ found in the traditional words.

Norm Habel in Action

It was good to see Norm in action. He readily engaged with the suggestions from the workshop, jotting down notes for further development of the resources. One of the tensions we explored was the reference to Adam as the man of the earth. Focusing on Adam, and not mentioning Eve, led to a predominance of masculine imagery in the liturgy on the land. So what to do? Compromise the original Biblical material of Genesis 2 (adama as dirt) and use “Adam and Eve”, or just leave out references to Adam?

Norm was fairly open about the process he was working through with his development team. The Uniting Church team members kept reminding Norm that the liturgy needed to be kept simple. There’s always more content to add into a service of worship. Trouble is most people have a limited capacity to engage with new concepts, even if they are exciting and backed up with imagery and experience.

Books by Norm Habel

Norm’s been writing books since the 1970s. He wrote a series of books for children then, many of them in the “Purple Puzzle Tree” books.

Literary Criticism of the Old Testament, Fortress Press, 1971
Norman’s introduction to the method of literary criticism shows how to identify the elements of structure, style, form, language, and composition in the books of the Old Testament.

Norman Habel identifies six discrete ideologies in the Hebrew Bible regarding land: royal, agrarian, theocratic, prophetic, ancestral household, and mmigrant.”

The Land is Mine: Six Biblical Land Ideologies, Fortress Press, 1993
Norman identifies six discrete ideologies in the Hebrew Bible regarding land: royal, agrarian, theocratic, prophetic, ancestral household, and immigrant.

Rainbow Spirit in Creation: A Reading of Genesis 1, Liturgical Press, 2000
Norman Habel and Jasmine Corowa work with “Rainbow Spirit Elders” to share the story of the creation of the land with colorful illustrations that show the Rainbow Snake as part of the seven days of creation. The book offers a new interpretation of the Aboriginal culture and a view of the Creator Spirit as within the earth, not apart from it.