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
Prayers of the people
Watch or 52:59
Today I invite you to join me in using certain movements:
If you feel comfortable, when I say ‘heart’, please thump your hand against your heart
When I say ‘feet’, please stamp your foot on the floor
It goes like this
‘Heart’ – thump
‘Feet’ – stamp
In the words of Ambelin Kwaymullina, a Palyku woman and author from Western Australia:
“You are on indigenous lands
swimming in indigenous waters
looking up at indigenous skies
There is no part of this place
that were not
are not
someone’s kin.”
If you feel comfortable to, I invite you to please close your eyes now
Let us pray
This is a body prayer
Let your minds float away into the deep ocean
Feet
Rooted in the ground
The strong long roots of the tall mountain ashLegs strong and defiant
Forests standing tall
We bear the scars
From bushfires
From clearing
From caring for country
Our scars make us whole
Our belly like the possum
Or the kangaroo, nurturing its baby
The deep red centre of our being
The heart
Pouring forth
Like a river
Swelling into a flood
Full and rising still
And finally receding
Transforming everything in its path
Our arms
The branches of the tree ferns
Thick and crowded
Holding the moisture in the green green places
Our spines
Sinewy and long like the lizard
Warm in the sun
Moving slowly, swiftly, flicking a tail into sand tracks
Our mouths
Like the call of a thousand birds
A chorus in the early morning
Greeting the daily rise of the sun
Our heart leads the way
And our feet walk the path
And our feet walk the path
And our feet walk the path
Heart
Feet x4
“You are on indigenous lands
swimming in indigenous waters
looking up at indigenous skies
There is no part of this place
that were not
are not
someone’s kin.”
Amen
Simone Alesich, offered for worship 10/7/22 NAIDOC Week
Leave A Comment