NAIDOC Week 2021
Dear friends,
Greetings as we reach into the second week of this lockdown.
One of the opportunities I treasured while working in Campbelltown was the ministry partnership with the Macarthur indigenous Church. The church began in the 1980s and continues today under the leadership of Pastor Michael Duckett and the Sydney Anglican Indigenous Peoples Ministry Committee. They seek to reach out to indigenous people throughout the south-west region of Sydney with the message of the gospel and the opportunity for people to find in Christ ultimate reconciliation.
This time of year is significant for indigenous people in Australia. May 26 is National Sorry Day on which we remember the mistreatment of our indigenous population. May 27 is the 50th anniversary of the successful 1967 referendum, which enabled Aboriginal people to be counted as members of the Australian population and enabled the federal parliament to specifically legislate for Aboriginal people.
The first week in July is NAIDOC week. NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920′s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Today it is a week for all Australians to grow in our understanding of Indigenous history and culture. It is also a great week for Christians to pray for indigenous pastors and Christian leaders.
I have attached a copy of Michael Duckett’s theological response to this year’s NAIDOC theme to your Church News and also a link to the NAIDOC Week Church Service from last Sunday. I encourage you to read and watch both.
You may also know that there are continued conversations about whether and how further recognition of Australia's indigenous peoples might be included in our Constitution, and there have been very significant meetings of representative indigenous leaders from all over Australia over the past few years, seeking to determine ways forward.
With all this in mind, I think it is appropriate this weekend that I share some prayers of thanks for past steps of recognition and reconciliation with indigenous people, that we grieve what is yet to be done for indigenous welfare at practical and political levels, and ask you to pray for further steps along those paths.
Here are a couple of prayers for reconciliation written by indigenous people that I encourage you to use.
Reconciliation Prayer
Holy Father, God of Love,
You are the Creator of this land and of all good things.
We acknowledge the pain and shame of our history
and the suffering of our peoples,
and we ask your forgiveness.
We thank you for the survival of indigenous cultures.
Our hope is in you because you gave your Son Jesus to reconcile the world to you.
We pray for your strength and grace to forgive, accept and love one another,
as you love us and forgive and accept us
in the sacrifice of your Son.
Give us the courage to accept the realities of our history
so that we may build a better future for our nation.
Teach us to respect all cultures.
Teach us to care for our land and waters.
Help us to share justly the resources of this land.
Help us to bring about spiritual and social change
to improve the quality of life for all groups in our communities, especially the disadvantaged.
Help young people to find true dignity and self esteem by your Spirit.
May your power and love be the foundations
on which we build our families, our communities and our nation,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
This prayer was prepared by Wontulp-Bi-Buya Indigenous Theology Working Group, 13 March 1997. (Wontulp-Bi-Buya is the Queensland partner of Nungalinya College, Darwin, and provides indigenous leadership training for church and community.)
A Collect for Reconciliation
(For those unfamiliar with Anglican terms, a Collect is a brief prayer, which gathers together or 'collects' certain concerns appropriate to a particular occasion or issue.)
Lord God,
Bring us together as one.
Reconciled with you and reconciled with each other.
You made us in your likeness; You gave us your son, Jesus Christ.
He has given us forgiveness from sin.
Lord God,
Bring us together as one.
Different culture, but given new life in Jesus Christ;
Together as one, your body, your church, your people.
Lord God,
Bring us together one.
Reconciled, healed, forgiven, sharing you with others, as you have called us to do.
In Jesus Christ, let us be together as one.
Amen.
Written by Bishop Arthur Malcolm (Australia's first indigenous bishop) and his non-indigenous wife, Colleen.
May God be your strength and joy at this time.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his steadfast love endures forever — Psalm 106:1
In Christ,
Nigel Fortescue
