National Reconciliation Week (NRW) started as a Week of Prayer for Reconciliation in 1993 in the United-Nations-sponsored Year of the World’s Indigenous People. In 1996, First Nations leaders and supporters launched National Reconciliation Week to mark key dates in the journey of Reconciliation, including the 1967 Federal Referendum and the High Court Mabo decision.
The Reconciliation Australia website states that this year’s theme is Bridging Now to Next. It invites participants to reflect on the connection between past, present and future, to step forward together, to look ahead and continue the push forward as past lessons guide us.
Supportive artwork was produced by Kalkadoon woman Bree Buttenshaw, native plants which are known for regenerating after fire and thriving through adversity symbolise our collective strength and the possibilities of renewal. This is a time for growth, reflection and commitment to walking together to build a more united and respectful nation.
Members of the Carey Middle School Student Representative Council are running a lunchtime barbecue on Friday 30 May as part of the whole-school Wear it Yellow Day to raise funds and awareness for Children’s Ground, a movement committed to build First Nations people’s self-determination so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities can enjoy social, cultural, political and economic justice and live with opportunity, peace, harmony and wellbeing.
May the following prayer help guide our decision-making during Reconciliation Week:
Let us pray.
God of holy dreaming, Great Creator Spirit,
From the dawn of creation you have given your children
the good things of this land.
You spoke and the gum tree grew
In vast deserts and dense forest,
and in cities at the water’s edge,
creation sings your praise.
Your presence endures
as the rock at the heart of our Land.
When Jesus hung on the tree
you heard the cries of your people
and became one with your wounded ones:
the convicts, the hunted, and the dispossessed.
The sunrise of your Son coloured the earth anew
and bathed it in glorious hope.
In Jesus we have been reconciled to you,
to each other and to your whole creation.
Lead us on, Creator God,
as we gather in this land from the four corners of the earth,
enable us to walk together in trust,
from the hurt and shame of the past
into the full day which has dawned in Jesus Christ.
Amen.
(Based in part on the writings of Rev. Aunty Lenore Parker, a Yaegl Elder.)
Rev. Scott Bramley
Middle School Chaplain
