Acknowledge, Pray, Lament, Hope

On January 25th, St Matthew’s will be holding an ecumenical “Service of Acknowledgement, Prayer, Lament and Hope”.

This January, in partnership with Common Grace, Australian Churches are invited to hold ecumenical services of acknowledgement, lament and prayer as we approach January 26th – a day of mourning for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters.

The concept for these services was developed by Aunty Jean Phillips, one of our great Aboriginal Christian Leaders.

 These services are a way that non-Aboriginal people can come to learn and acknowledge the true history of our nation, to lament the present day disadvantages and injustices facing our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters and to pray to our great Creator Spirit, Lord God, Papa Jesus, for “a nation built on truth, justice, love and hope”.

This is also a way to acknowledge, regardless of the politics of “Australia Day”, the importance for non-Aboriginal Australians to acknowledge that Aboriginal peoples are hurting, grieving and mourning on this day, and as Christians we must love our neighbour as ourselves.

For more information on these services, see the Common Grace website.

We invite you, and any of your church members, to join with us at St Matthew’s.

Date: Thursday 25th January 2018

Time: 7.30pm

Place: St Matthew’s, 153 Eaglehawk Rd, Long Gully