Happy Australia Day!

Tuesday was Australia Day, being the anniversary of the first European settlement on the continent in 1788.  This was when the First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay from England.  So began the colony of New South Wales, a home for convicts, under British Crown rule.  As you can imagine, this was a rather controversial start for any nation which has its repercussions until today.  

The story did not start there for the land was already populated by the indigenous peoples, the Aborigines.  Sadly, while they were already there, they were not recognized as fellow human beings whose home was the continent that was to become known as Australia.  So the problems caused by this uninvited take over of their land still remain.  

Dispossession of land is serious enough.  What is even worse is the resulting dispossession of one's soul which has been the long term impact of white settlement in Australia.  We all need a home that we can call our own; we all need to belong.  

Belonging is at the heart of being church.  In this age of the pandemic with its comings and goings of lockdowns, we continue to belong to Church no matter what, while being challenged to find ever new ways to belong and to own the depth of our belonging.   

"I came from the dream-time, from the dusty red-soil plains. I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame. I stood upon the rocky shores. I watched the tall ships come. For forty thousand years, I've been the first Australian 

I'm the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode. The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road. I'm a child of the Depression. I saw the good times come. I'm a bushie, I'm a battler, I am Australian 

We are one, but we are many. And from all the lands on earth we come. We'll share a dream and sing with one voice I am, you are, we are Australian" 

So goes the song that captures the Australian spirit, a spirit of diversity seeking to be one.  A spirit that endears the many to belong together as one.  Is that not what we are about as church?  The pandemic is challenging us to truly capture and implant that spirit now in our midst as church.