Liturgies

As Jesus invited his disciples to die to themselves like the grain of wheat in order for new life to emerge, so the majority of Australians are invited into this death.

The story of the Lord’s Supper illustrates how Jesus empowered the disciples to take over the ministry. He inspired them to challenge structural and institutional control and take responsibility for creating a better world. We can learn much from this about listening and giving voice and self determination to our own indigenous people.

On this 5th Sunday of Lent, we continue with the program, Voice in the Wilderness: Listening to the Statement from the Heart. The theme this week is Helping Is Not Always Helpful. Homilist: Margaret Clifford

First Nations people invite us to truth telling about our history as a nation. However hard it is to face. In the words of James Baldwin, 'Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.' Homilist: Terry Fitzpatrick

At the centre of Jesus' teachings is the message to love our neighbour as ourselves, to see them as equal to ourselves. Our liturgy today invites us to see that despite viewing ourselves as a Christian country, we ignored Jesus' teaching and treated the First Peoples of Australia as unequal and inferior to ourselves. Therefore we were able to exploit them and steal their land. Homily by Terry Fitzpatrick

This year during Lent we will be taking up the invitation of the first peoples of this country to reflect on what an Indigenous Voice to Parliament will mean as we prepare to vote on its possible existence in a referendum some time in the near future. We will be assisted by an Anglican 8 week program called ' Voices of the Wilderness'.