Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Watch or 11:06

Prayer of Adoration

Our land is alive with the glory of God;
desert sands hum and gum trees dance.
Brown grasses sing
and mountains breathe their stillness.
All created things add their rhythms of delight
and even stones rap out their praise.
Let our voices mingle with those of the earth; may our hearts join the beat of her joy,
for our triune God is with us:
the Source of all being surrounds and upholds us.
Christ Jesus walks beside and before us.
The Spirit moves within and between us.
Blessed be God, our wonder and delight.

Amen

UCA Uniting in Worship

Watch – History of January 26th

Prayer of Confession 

Merciful God, we, the Second Peoples of this land, acknowledge and lament the injustice and abuse inflicted upon the First Peoples of this land, with their land & language taken from them, culture, law and spirituality despised and suppressed. We acknowledge and lament the way in which the Christian church has been complicit & actively involved in this process. We acknowledge and lament that the injustice and abuse has continued, where we have been indifferent when we should have been outraged, apathetic when we should have been active, silent when we should have spoken out. Liberating Jesus, by your Spirit bring healing, hope and transformation to the lives of our First Nations sisters and brothers and their communities, we pray.

Forgive us for our failures, past and present, and give us the grace today to make a fresh start. Amen.

adapted from UCA Day of Mourning 2019

Declaration Of Forgiveness

This is the best of all:
when we are empty, God fills us;
when we are disheartened, God is compassionate;
when we are wounded, God brings healing;
when we take responsibility,
and commit to heal the wrongs we and our ancestors have done,
God forgives.

In Christ, through Christ and because of Christ, we are forgiven. Thanks be to God. Amen

adapted from UCA Uniting in Worship

offered for worship by Jenne Perlstein, 30/01/2022, Day of Mourning

Prayers of the people

Watch or 51:30

Creator God, 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. Open our eyes that we may see the suffering that still continues to this day. Open our ears to hear the cries of the First Peoples of this land. Open our hearts and hands so we may mourn with them and work together for a just future for all – not just for a few.

[pause]

As I pray, please respond when indicated with the words, “open our eyes to see, our ears to listen, and our hearts to understand”.

[pause]

We pray that the First Peoples’ grief at the injustices of white settlement is acknowledged. Since 1788, the First Peoples of this land have been forced to contend with invasion, stolen lands and stolen children, cultural genocide and great disadvantage. They have endured while the colonisers in power turn their faces away. God, you see what many in power refuse to. Open our eyes and the eyes of those in power so we may recognise the call for change.

Response: open our eyes to see, our ears to listen, and our hearts to understand

[pause]

We pray that we may hear the truth of First Peoples’ voices, when they cry out for justice. Justice for dispossession, desecration of sacred sites, and continued removal of children from families. Justice for the five hundred deaths in custody since the Royal Commission’s report in 1991. And accountability, so their families healing journeys can begin. This means addressing the deaths themselves, as well as the reasons that lie behind the high incarceration rates of First Peoples. The high rates of poverty. Intergenerational trauma. The continuing gaps in healthcare, education and employment between First and later peoples. May we heed the call to witnessing this truth, and calling for change. Open our ears, oh God.

Response: open our eyes to see, our ears to listen, and our hearts to understand

[pause]

We pray that we may open our hearts to the needs of the First Peoples around us. The ongoing struggle for Recognition and Treaties. The fight to be heard through truth-telling, Makarrata Commission, and a Voice to Parliament. We pray that Elders and communities fighting for these institutional, structural reforms find the justice they seek. May we walk with them in the journey with love, learning from and supporting them in the struggle.

Response: open our eyes to see, our ears to listen, and our hearts to understand

[pause]

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

Amen.

Clare Keogh, offered for worship 30/01/2022, Day of Mourning