Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Watch or 11:27 

Our prayer of adoration comes from Elizabeth Pike of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry. Let us pray.

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.

[Used with the permission of Elizabeth Pike, 1998 Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, Melbourne]

Watch or 18:59

Let us pray our prayer of confession.

Merciful God, we, the Second Peoples of this land, acknowledge with sorrow the injustice and abuse that has so often marked the treatment of the First Peoples of this land.

We acknowledge with sorrow the way in which their land was taken from them, and their language, culture and spirituality despised and suppressed.

We acknowledge with sorrow that in our own time the injustice and abuse has continued.
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 with sorrow the way in which the Christian church and in particular the Uniting Churches were so often not only complicit in this process but actively involved in it.

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.
Amen

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

God of love,
you are the creator of this land
and of all good things.
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 self-giving love of your Son.

By the grace of God, our sin is forgiven.
Thanks be to God

[Prepared by Wontulp Bi-Buya Indigenous Theology Working Group NATSICC 2003]

offered for worship by Jenne Perlstein, 11/07/2021, NAIDOC Week

Prayers of the people

Watch or 45:11

God of all creation, we pray for your people, the First Peoples of this land, created in your image, who have walked as one with the land and fashioned the world’s oldest continuous human culture. You were present in these lands long before the colonisers came. May we learn to meet you here, including by learning from the First Peoples’ understanding of Country.

Country is all of your wondrous creation. More than a place, it is a sense of identity, belonging, groundedness and home. May we, who have come later, find our place in this Country – accepting both the welcome we have been offered, and the responsibilities that true belonging brings.

[pause]

We pray that the First Peoples’ understanding of Country is recognised as part of our national heritage. That the true history and knowledge of language, culture and traditional practices are taught in schools and used to inform future discussion in work to close the gap between First and later peoples in health, life expectancy, education, housing, incarceration rates and so many other areas.

We pray that First Peoples’ understanding of Country may be sought out and valued in the face of increasing climate crisis and ecological destruction, and that corporations and governments listen when First Peoples say no to using their lands for greed and profit.

[pause]

May the voices of First Peoples be heard as they seek to provide culturally safe healthcare, such as the Yolgnu women of Galiwin’ku in remote Elcho Island, bringing cultural knowledge into the medical understanding of pregnancy and childbirth to decrease high premature birth rates and enable more Galiwin’ku women to give birth on country.

May First Peoples be heard as they revive and revitalise their cultural languages, and engage their children in learning. The language revival program of the Kullilli people near Thargomindah is rebuilding knowledge and identity lost through displacement from Country; while the “two way” education system being developed in Arnhem Land and elsewhere blends culture and language with literacy and numeracy skills.

We pray that governments and other authorities strengthen measures to recognise, protect, and promote all aspects of First Peoples’ culture and heritage for all peoples of this land now called Australia. This includes the returning of land to First Peoples for cultural custodianship and management, a vital part of healing country. Signified close to home last week, with the news that the Wurundjeri and Bunurong peoples have come to a new agreement over the management of Naarm, or Melbourne, and surrounding areas.

We pray that Elders and communities fighting for significant institutional, structural and collaborative reform may see justice, in the form of Recognition, Truth-Telling and Treaty. Help us all to play our part in these, without which, the Healing of Country cannot truly occur.

We pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, your son and our brother,
Amen.

Clare Keogh, offered for worship 11/07/2021, NAIDOC Week