Lenten Listening

Introduction by Natalie Sims – During Lent, our prayers of confession each week are said in response to God’s word of grace and hope. This is a time of listening with respect, to the voices of those in our community who are needy and oppressed, and a time of asking God’s grace to help us shape the world anew.

This week (7th April) we will focus on listening to refugees, particularly those who are in detention.  Natalie then introduced Andrea Alvis a member of the Love Makes a Way North Group.

Love Makes a Way is a movement of Christians seeking an end to Australia’s cruel refugee policies through prayer and non-violent love in action.  Several members of our congregation and other local congregations are members of Love Makes a Way North.  The group meets monthly to discern how to respond to refugee policy issues.  Today we reflect on the plight of people seeking asylum, particularly those detained indefinitely on Manus and Nauru.  And we begin by listening to ‘Five Years’, a song written by Phil Hudson, who’s a member of Love Makes a Way North and the song and video performed by Phil and other members of Brunswick Baptist Church and the clip highlights artwork by asylum seeker adults and children.  Watch here.

Later during Notices time Andrea highlighted opportunities to engage with actions to support asylum seekers: