Jenne Perlstein welcomed us to worship on 28th January. Today’s service gave expression to our commitment to acknowledging sorrow, truth-telling, justice & healing on the Sunday after January 26th, Invasion Day, a Day of Mourning for First Nations peoples. Some resources in this service were taken from Uniting Church Australia, Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) and the Common Grace movement and other First Peoples such as Brooke Prentis.
- Watch the service again on Youtube
- We watched an Acknowledgment of Country offered by Safina Stewart and Bianca Manning from Kurnell on Dharawal Country in Sydney
- Jamie Thom read the book ‘Somebody’s Land‘
- Watch Cath’s reflection followed by a time of response
- Shawn Whelan, on behalf of Church Council shared our new model of supply ministry
- Read the Order of Service
Time of Confession
Watch or 12:24
Now is a time for confession for Second Peoples’, whilst acknowledging the presence of any First Peoples here today.
Today we pray in the words of Brooke Prentis, let’s pray:
God of Holy Dreaming, Great Creator God, Papa Jesus,
Today we pray together on common ground.
Common ground of an ancient land that you created.
Common ground of over 65,000 years of peoples and place.
ALL: Lord, we are longing for acknowledgement.
We acknowledge that your creation was disturbed and disrupted in 1788.
We acknowledge our failure to break the Great Australian Silence.
We acknowledge the true history of the land now called Australia.
ALL: Lord, we are longing for truth.
We grieve the truth of statistics that show we are not equal.
Truth of death, sickness, imprisonment.
Truth of lack of education and lack of employment.
Truth of a gap that isn’t closed.
ALL: Lord, we are longing for justice.
We seek justice for Stolen Land, Stolen Wages, Stolen Children.
We seek justice for yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
ALL: Lord, we are longing for love.
Today we stand together on common ground.
We come together in the love of Christ and the love of our neighbour.
We confess we have not loved one another as you have called us to and promise to do better.
We long to embrace unity with diversity.
We are longing for acknowledgement, truth, justice, love, and hope.
ALL: Lord, give us
comfort for the pain, in our day of mourning,
courage for the fight, in our day of invasion,
strength for the journey, in our day of survival.
Lord, You, are our hope.
Amen
Declaration of Forgiveness
God of Grace, we acknowledge before you all that needs healing in us and in our land.
Hear our prayer, grant us the forgiveness that empowers change.
In the name of Jesus, compassionate healer. Amen.
Brooke Prentis, offered for worship by Jenne Perlstein, 28/01/2024, Day of Mourning
Prayers of the people
Watch or 53:52
God of Holy Dreaming,
Lord Jesus Marrkapmirr,
Great Spirit in this ancient land.
We pray for the land of the world:
Picture of Vincent Lingari and Gough Whitlam
Land which has been, and is, the subject of colonisation,
Land where ownership is contested,
Lands where war rages,
Lands where desecration takes place.
Land has been, and is, at the heart of so much violence and destruction.
We hold these places before you God of Holy Dreaming
as we act for justice and peace.
Pause
We pray for the Churches of the world:
Image of Indigenous Station of the cross 5
Churches that have too often been seduced by power,
Churches with good intent but destructive practices,
Churches that have focussed on telling, not listening.
We pray for the Uniting Church in Australia, its leaders and its members.
We see a new way with the UAICC and Common Grace,
as we strive to be the people of God in this time.
Pause
May we walk with you Lord Jesus Marrkapmirr,
as we learn how to listen to First Nations peoples and be their allies.
We pray for our community:
Image of YES Banner
for BUC, with our buildings on the land of the Wurrundjerri Woiworrung,
not far from the Merri Creek
for the Aboriginal Community Elders Service
and Victorian Aboriginal Health Service just a few kilometres away,
and for the newly appointed members of the First People’s Assembly of Victoria.
We are a community of many hands, with many gifts and needs.
We hold these before you now.
Pause
Move among us Great Spirit in this ancient land.
May we live and work together in your love,
listening for the Wisdom of the Elders and the Land.
Amen.
Kirsty Bennett, offered for worship 28/01/2024, Day of Mourning
Images
- Photograph by Mervyn Bishop, Image held by the National Portrait Gallery.
- Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann Australian Stations of the Cross. 1984.
- BUC Library
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