Sunday Prayers 10/7

Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Watch or 15:26

God we praise  you for a land that had been created and sustained by You  the Triune God  we know in Jesus Christ.
Through this land God  you have nurtured and sustained the First Peoples of this country, who continue to understand themselves to be the traditional owners and custodians… of these lands and waters, since time immemorial.

Adapted From the Revised  UCA Preamble

Creator of all things,
Both seen and unseen.
Speak to us in your great wisdom.
Make us strong as we seek
Your help and guidance.
Teach us to love all people
Regardless of race or colour or belief.

May we listen with great care
To the heartbeat of this land
And to its people
Who cared for it so well
And for so long.

May the peace these people and their land
Have always enjoyed
Continue to be strengthened and preserved
By all who wish to come and be part of
This country and its ‘Ancient Dreaming’.

Amen.

Elizabeth Pike, 1998 Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, Melbourne]

Stand, O stand firm;
Stand, O stand firm;
Stand, O stand firm
And see what the Lord can do.

Cantor:  (other verses ad lib)

SONG:  Stand firm, traditional from the Cameroons, from Many & Great, Wild Goose Publications.

Let us pray our prayer of confession.
Merciful God, we, the Second Peoples of this land, acknowledge
we have been indifferent when we should have been outraged,
we have been apathetic when we should have been active,
we have been silent when we should have spoken out.
We acknowledge we have sometimes only seen the  problems and not sought out  the resilience strength and empowerment of First Nations peoples that NAIDOC celebrates . Forgive us for our skewed vision . May we see and celebrate  cultural pride and identity , strong kinship, leadership,   language continued & recovered , connection to land cared for, with ancient science and sky knowledge, ceremony danced, yarns listened to, Elders wisdom and strong spirituality ,frontier warriors, music created, innovative community responses to social concerns  that work.

Amen.

[Adapted from Uniting Church in Australia, Working Group on Worship,
Liturgical resources for use in relation to the revised Preamble to the Constitution.]

Gracious God, forgive us for our failures, past and present.
By your Spirit transform our minds and hearts
so that we may boldly speak your truth and courageously do your will.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord we are forgiven
Amen

offered for worship by Jenne Perlstein, 10/07/2022, NAIDOC Week