Brave church logo9/5/2023 We declared we had a ‘destiny together’ and together in 2014, fasting and praying and acting in solidarity, opposing the NT Intervention and speaking out for justice for First Nations Peoples. In 2009 we celebrated the Assembly decision to place a new Preamble in the Uniting Church in Australia’s Constitution which recognises God the Creator in this ancient land and with her peoples long before any colonisers came. The UCA apologised in 1996 for our part in the tragic histories and present realities for families who had been traumatised by what has been called ‘the stolen generation’. On 26 May every year we remember to our nation's shame, Sorry Day, and we believe in a hope filled future. The Uniting Church has bravely and rightly entered into a binding covenant relationship in 1994 with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC). The 2021 Reconciliation Australia report on the State of Reconciliation is subtitled, ‘From Safe to Brave’. For us, the community of Christ, reconciliation is more than a word, indeed it involves action. The Church’s call is to serve that end: to be fellowship of reconciliation.”Ĭhrist’s love compels us, sisters and brothers to be that ‘fellowship of reconciliation’. God in Christ has given to all people in the Church the Holy Spirit as a pledge and foretaste of that coming reconciliation and renewal which is the end in view for the whole creation. As Christian community the Uniting Church understands ‘reconciliation’ in the terms of paragraph 3 of our Basis of Union: “The Church as a fellowship of the Holy Spirit confesses Jesus as Lord over its life, it also confesses that Jesus is Head over all things, the beginning of a new creation, of a new humanity. This year’s theme is ‘More than a word – Reconciliation takes action’. This was not a land without people, and the sovereignty of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples was never ceded, they were never conquered, the lie now exposed. Reconciliation Week 2021 begins on 27 May, the anniversary of the 1967 referendum and concludes on 3 June, the day in 1992 that Eddie (Koiki) Mabo won and the lie of terra nullius was laid bare in the Australian High Court. The final paragraph of the Statement from the Heart encourages a movement, First and Second Peoples together, the people born of this spectacular and ancient land together with all those who have migrated here, declaring a new way forward, announcing the rightful place of First Nations voices - a new way shaped by truth telling and treaty. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australia n people for a better future.” We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. “ In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. Stuart McMillan, National Consultant Covenanting.
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