by Michelle Vass.

At Corroboree Rock conservation reserve about 40 kilometres from Alice Springs, there is a sign titled “The Sacred Nature and Power of the Site”. It says, “This prominent rock outcrop is part of the Eastern Arrernte Perentie Dreaming. Please regard it as similar to a church and treat it with the respect you would any place of religion.”

The rock, a dark grey column of dolomite, oxidised red in parts, was formed more than 800 million years ago. It is a sacred men’s site and of great importance to the local Arrernte people. It rises sharply out of the landscape and is quite spectacular in form. Knowing it is a sacred site and imagining the gatherings here in times gone by, naturally beings a deep respect as you walk the track encircling the rock. Surrounding hills form a dramatic backdrop in every direction.

The experience of being present to the site and the wording on the sign about ‘a church’ reminded me of Edwina Gately’s poetry about cathedrals. Edwina is a British writer, theologian and modern- day mystic. She wrote two poems at different stages of her life about the cathedrals where she prayed and encountered the Holy. The first, in her younger years spoke of the “huge, grey stone cathedral where God was to be found hiding in a box surrounded by flowers, candles and velvet curtains- a place of silence and darkness.” “It was here in this great grey Cathedral that you surprised and captured me,” becomes in later years as she responds to the beauty of God in nature, “It was here in this great green cathedral that you surprised and captured me… My spirit stirs with wonder as God slips-Almighty presence- into this domain of solitude and deeply deeply enters every crevice and corner. Gently, imperceptibly holds my soul suspended in God’s mighty silence.”*

Here, in central Australia, at places like Corroboree Rock, perhaps it is more appropriate to name the meeting place with God, as the Red Rock Cathedral. In fact, you don’t even need signs to emind you that here is something sacred. The jagged shapes, the play of light on rock angles, deep shadows in crevices, the wonder of trees and shrubs seemingly growing out of the rock, all bring you out of the everyday world into a heart space of deep and peaceful silence. Even walking slows and you can’t help but be brought to a standstill in wonder and awe at such rugged beauty.

May the God of all creation,
shock you this day,
with the beauty of a rock or leaf or little creature,
and bring you to a standstill in gratitude and awe.

*In God’s Womb- A Spiritual Memoir, Edwina Gately, Orbis Books, USA, 2009.

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Michelle Vass will be leading a silent retreat at Campfire in the Heart from 5-8 September. For more information click here.