Victorian Council of Churches

A call to krakani (sit) at the patrula (fire)

waranta (we) see the flicker in every flame from our warriors, past, present and future.

Our ancestors’ stories sit with each flame,
waranta (we) are a UAICC takarilya (family)
tapalti (go) to the patrula (fire) and reignite the Covenant,
in every day, in every way as we work, live & pray.

In unity with all that was and is.
All that says ‘this is the gift to the wider church and beyond.
This is not an invitation, it’s a creator bond.

May this NAIDOC week – with the fires burning, be the action for weaving and unweaving, learning and unlearning.

May we hold the ancient stories of these unceded lands, in all we do. May we be warmed by the wisdom, the struggle, and the survival.  May the action be a raising of First Peoples voices, a covenant, a campfire sharing revival.

Creator call us to these ancient stories,
call us to the covenant and keep the fires burning.
Creator, lead us to every campfire, every story, every thread,
a call where the covenant is First Peoples led.

Keep the fires burning.
Creators call us to see, feel and be,
all that is this country’s, true history.

Truth telling campfires,
truth acceptance campfires,
cultural safety campfires,
justice campfires.
self determination campfires

Keep the fires burning

As the anniversary of the Covenant*. Preamble** and this year’s NAIDOC theme, flicker in the flames of the fire together. May the action of truth telling warm our takila (heart)
A way forward,
A way to be,
A way to set this Nation free.

Keep the campfires burning
Be in and with – First Peoples learning.

waranta (we) will lakapawa (see) you all at the campfires

Written by Alison Overeem (Smith)

* On 10 July 2024, the Uniting Church will mark 30 years since the signing of the Covenant statement between the United Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) and the Uniting Church in Australia (UCA).

** It will be 15 years this year since the revised Preamble to the Constitution of the Uniting Church was agreed to at the 12th UCA Assembly (July, 2009). Paragraph 3 recognises that the Creator Trinity was already in the Creation prior to the arrival of the colonisers. It affirms that the Spirit was sent by the inner Trinitarian Community outwards to the creation revealing the economy of God to the people in law and custom, and traditional ceremony. Although the world came to be through Christ, God’s love and grace was not finally and fully revealed until the living Christ, who had sustained the First Peoples, came to live among the people and his ongoing presence continues to give them particular insights to the way of the Triune God.
The Preamble to the Constitution states that “As the Church believes God guided it into union so it believes that God is calling it to continually seek a renewal of its life as a community of all First Peoples and of Second Peoples from many lands”.

(by Heiko Koenig, German Lutheran Trinity Church)

On June 2nd the German Lutheran Trinity Church in East Melbourne (a VCC Member Church) was able to celebrate a memorial service for the initiator and founder of Cap Anamur, Rupert Neudeck, together with the Vietnamese community. The memorial service was well attended.

In the late 1970s, Rupert Neudeck did not close his eyes to the suffering of the Vietnamese boat people. At first he had no money, no ship and no experience with international shipping. But he was able to get the ball rolling and was ultimately able to rescue over 10,000 Vietnamese refugees from the sea with the ship Cap Anamur.

Many of these refugees came to Australia. Two of the people who were rescued by Cap Anamur attended the church service.

A greeting from the Cap Anamur Society (https://cap-anamur.org/) came from Germany, which was able to be read out during the service.

Marc, whose mother was rescued from Cap Anamur, also spoke.

In his welcoming speech, the President of the Vietnamese Community in Victoria, Duy Quang Nguyen, spoke of the reprisals by the new rulers in Vietnam, the suffering of the refugees and the difficulties of making a new start in Australia.

The word “boat refugee” (boat people) is repeatedly misused by Australian politicians for their own purposes.

After the service, many of the members of the Vietnamese community present took the opportunity to take a photo together with Rupert Neudeck’s picture in the church.

The Vietnamese guests spared no effort in providing for the refreshments after the service. The whole congregation was treated to Vietnamese delicacies.

Everyone made the most of the time for conversation.

And many expressed the hope that the service would be repeated in 2025.

Pacific seasonal farm workers have made a major contribution to the agricultural industry in Australia, including here in Victoria, through the PALM scheme (Pacific Australia Labour Mobility).

Workers from Samoa are experienced in agriculture and horticulture, aged care, meat processing, tourism and hospitality, fisheries and health services, as well as a range of other industries. Samoan men and women are known for being hardworking, strong, and quick to learn.

It is very sad news to hear the news that Pacific seasonal farm workers have been involved in a fiery crash near Mildura, resulting in the death of two Samoan farm workers, with two others in critical condition. The injured were taken to Mildura Base Public Hospital with four trauma teams set up to receive the injured passengers.

The Coroners Court follows cultural protocols and will hold an information session for 30 Samoan pastors. Afterwards, the pastors will be able to recite a prayer and offer Samoan songs for the deceased as would be the cultural tradition.

Heartfelt condolences to the friends and families of the deceased, both here in Australia and in Samoa, who will deeply grieve this loss as a Samoan community. May you find comfort in your Christian faith and the knowledge of God’s loving care.

 

 

 

Glenn worked very hard in ecumenical circles in the lead up to the Referendum in 2023, with webinars, resources, in-person presentations, online videos and art work.

Glenn has been appointed to the position of “Project Lead – Aboriginal Ministry – Province of Victoria” for the Anglican Church from April 1st, 2024 and will take the leadership of a five-year Anglican Province of Victoria First Nations ministry, mission and justice project across all 5 Anglican Dioceses in Victoria.

He writes:

This is a significant development from the church which has been a response to an ask from the Aboriginal Clergy as far back as 2015 and to the failure of the Referendum and a similar proposal at the 2023 Synod. It will develop a Council that will support and speak on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to the church in Victoria.

Glenn has been tasked with the responsibility to establish the new Council with an aim to make the Church a safer space for Indigenous Anglicans. It will be made up of Indigenous Anglicans who will represent and promote the interests of First Nations church members.

Canon Loughrey said the landmark body would ensure there were pathways for Indigenous people in the Church and that mission and ministry were conducted in culturally appropriate ways.

A key element of this development is the Murnong First People’s Gathering Place and the Wominjeka Garden which will act as hub for all activities and action across the State. Glenn will work out of that space.

This is a wonderful recognition of the work St Oswald’s (where Glenn has been in ministry until March 2024) has done since 2015 and provides an opportunity to develop this congregation as key leaders in the process of dialogue and engagement.

As Glenn says, “A very exciting time for all”.

Read a related article in The Melbourne Anglican publication here.

In an article in The Age, Greg Baume writes:

“Michal Halev’s only son, Laor Abramov, a music lover and budding DJ, was killed in a bomb shelter at Re’im Junction on October 7. She says, “When I do occasionally succeed in raising my head from my personal grief and from the infinite chasm that used to be my heart, I find one purpose for which to live, which is to seek out what I can do to help our wounded humanity heal, so there will be no more mothers who are crushed by the killing, by loss, by violence and war. There are no victors in war, nor will there ever be. We have already lost.”

Appearing on the same platform, but speaking via a video link because he is not allowed to travel, is Ahmed Alhellou, a Gazan living in Jericho, who says 60 of his family were either dead or missing in Gaza. Though angry, he too wants only to break the cycle.

“We must stand strong against terrorism, against violence, against the harming of innocents and the bloodshed on both sides,” he says. “We must say no to war, no to destruction, no to extremism and fanaticism, no to terror, yes to coexistence, to us living in this blessed beautiful land in peace and security, in dignity and freedom.”

Esther Takac, a Melbourne-based trauma psychologist, author and filmmaker, has made a film about Israelis and Palestinians who have suffered unendurable losses, but have chosen not to seek vengeance, but to campaign jointly for peace. The film is called the Narrow Bridge, which Compass featured in a recent edition of the show. It features two fathers, Bassam, a Palestinian, and Rami, an Israeli. Each has lost a child in the brutality of the Israel-Gaza conflict, but incredibly transform their grief into a bridge for reconciliation.

Esther Takac says, “The trauma right now in Israel and Gaza is immense. I’ve seen how terrible pain changes you, but sometimes after pain you may find strengths you never had before. We’ve all heard of post-traumatic stress disorder. These people show us an alternative, a road map to post-traumatic growth.”

There is a small but growing group of people prepared to fight for peace.

Has a popular movement ever started any other way?

https://youtu.be/_XSInO-5KG8?si=vKZ1eOzc3N8CU38B

 

 

 

This week there were two significant days – one a day of celebration against a backdrop of horrow and sorrow. The other a day of loss and ongoing sorrow with no respite.

Two days. One after the other. One because of the other. Inextricably linked.

14 May, was Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, the national day the modern state of Israel was proclaimed on 14th May 1948. It celebrates the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people after the horrors of the Holocaust (Shoah) in World War II.
[The UN had declared that the land should be partitioned, and two states established. Israel was established, but not a Palestinian state]. 

15 May, is Dhikra an-Nakba (meaning “Memory of the Catastrophe”), a day of great significance for Palestinians, as it commemorates the Nakba, the Palestinian Catastrophe, with the permanent displacement of a majority of the Palestinian people in what had been the Protectorate of Palestine during 1948.

So much has been said and written about these two dates.

So much more needs to be said, and written.

What does truth look like today in such a contested context that has its seed in history*?

In 2024, these dates, one after the other, are especially poignant, given the tragedy of the attack on October 7th 2023 and the loss of innocent Jewish lives and the taking of hostages (and so many families left to grieve)… and the subsequent devastating destruction of Gaza, the loss of tens of thousands of Palestinian lives – mainly innocent women and children, (and the deaths of aid workers, medical personnel, journalists etc), thousands upon thousands of injured people and the destruction of infrastructure, essential services and basic necessities.

So many tears. So much weeping.
So much heartache, anguish and terror.
So much anger.

“We need to seek once more the peace of these peoples. And we need to find that peace on the basis of justice. Neither terrorist attacks nor military crackdowns will achieve this. They will simply exacerbate a dangerous situation”.

(quoted in an article by Rev Dr John Squires, Minister of the Word in the Uniting Church, on his blog, An Informed Faith)

A prayer for peace in Israel and Gaza
Christ, Prince of Peace,
hear our prayer and lament,
for our suffering sisters and brothers.
Our hearts are heavy as we witness lives torn apart,
as we see the faces of frightened children
and hear the pleas of those without water or food.
We pray for the dead and the grieving,
for the injured and the afraid.
We pray for courage and perseverance,
for those working for healing and to bring aid.
We pray for world leaders,
that they may strive for a just and lasting peace.
God of new beginnings,
in your ways are compassion and hope.
Open our hearts to dialogue and understanding.
Lead us all to answer your call
to become peacemakers
today, and all the days of our life. Amen.
(Source: CAFOD)

*this article maps some of the historical events and decisions. And yes, the historical account is complex and contested.