I have been praying this prayer for the last week – it’s taken from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. While I am not an Anglican, I often go back to the Book of Common Prayer for s structured readings and some beautifully crafted prayers. Not only does the Prayer Book offer rich structure to personal spiritual practices, it is also wonderful literature. You can read about the complex history of how the Book of Common Prayer developed here.

So: back to the prayer. The first part of the prayer asks that we be kept “from all things that may hurt us” – this is a welcome admission that, well, things can and do hurt us, and that we depend on the almighty and merciful God to protect us. The thing to notice is how purposeful this prayer is. It’s not so we can live happy and peaceful lives, or we’ll stay healthy, or that we’ll prosper. The focus of this prayer is that we are ready both in body and soul to

Think about that: we are praying to do the things he would do!

We are praying for radically changed behaviour. That my life would be a reflection of Jesus’ life. That my attitudes, my words, my actions will be like his. 46 words of total transformation! That is a revolutionary prayer!

Where will I start?

How I treat those close to me?

How money (how much I don’t have, how much I really want) dominates my life?

How I often ignore those in poverty?

What I say about others behind their back?

How the church seems more preoccupied with itself and enjoying its own light than shining that light into the darkness that surrounds it?

Wouldn’t my life look very different if I consciously sought cheerfully to do the things Jesus would do?

Wouldn’t it start to catalyse all sorts of growth in my faith and how my walk with Jesus comes to expression in my life?

Christians today often ask how the church can recover from the scandals of recent decades. True: the church collectively bears much institutional and communal guilt. Agreed: the idea of communal guilt is a little fraught, and there are differences of opinion as to whether, for example, ‘my church’ should freely guilty for something the leader of another church has done.

Be that as it may, there is little doubt ‘the church’ is suffering from a crisis of credibility, largely of its own making.

The simple point I want to make is this: if those who follow Jesus looked more like Jesus in their behaviour, if they resembled Jesus more in their compassion and pursuit of justice, if their public pronouncements more resembled the verbal messages Jesus gave in his ministry, we would probably see a rise in the church’s credibility. I say this because most of the disquiet people express against the church is because of what some church people have done, how they live and behave. Very few people actually struggle with Jesus himself.

If those who follow Jesus behaved more like Jesus the church and the world around it
would be a different place

Here’s my question: how does my life and behaviour need to change so I am cheerfully accomplishing what Jesus would have done?

Are you asking the same question?

Are we both prepared to act on it?

September 2023 and it looks like the worst of the pandemic is behind us. What’s not behind us is the flow on effects. Sunday worship is back, but in most places numbers are reduced, and in some cases, significantly so. Pastors and leaders are working with depleted teams. In many places there’s desire to do something new to engage the local community, but there’s often uncertainty about how to make that happen. Sustainability and resilience may be buzzwords of the day, but in many churches they are either in short supply or an impossible dream.

These aren’t the only complications facing many Australian churches today. Consider:

The church’s lost standing. In Australia, the Royal Commission into Institutional Abuse exposed the shocking incidence of abuse and its horrific impact on innocent and vulnerable people. While not all churches have been party to such abhorrent criminal acts, and while not all churches have unjustly protected perpetrators, the number and gravity of cases has seriously eroded the standing of the church in the general community. Where churches or church leaders have committed such acts the demands of justice must be satisfied. Further, if the church as a whole has suffered reputational damage that is in some corporate sense understandable. It is not only those who are found guilty who need to repent, there is wisdom for Australian churches to express sorrow for what has transpired, and to commit to building and rebuilding churches as places of safety and wholeness. I doubt God would ask any less of us.

Militant secularism. While not necessarily a result of the above, strident opposition to the presence of the church seems to be increasing. While these militant voices sometimes seem random and episodic, it is also true that more deliberate and organised opposition to the church seems to growing.

The lure of self. No surprises here – selfism has been with us since the Garden. But given the harm done to the church’s reputation, the sense of growing opposition toward the Christian faith, and post pandemic fatigue, it’s hardly surprising that a proportion of Christians find they have better things to do than go to church on Sunday. An additional complication is that where churches make the needs of people their primarily focus, one outcome is that people start to believe the church is there for them. Sure, God intends his church to be a place where people are blessed with new community and inspiring ministry, but this is always a by product and should not be the primary focus. When our needs become the focus, we’ve already lost the focus God wants us to have. And what is the primary focus God wants us to have? It is himself, his mission through Jesus his son, and the astonishing reality that through Jesus he is putting broken people and their broken world back together.

Is it possible to turn a flagging church around? God can do this, of course. Nothing is impossible for him. But he’ll typically use us to do it. No doubt, there are numerous strategies to having us aiming more at what C.S. Lewis calls ‘heaven’, or what Paul might call ‘the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God’ (Col 3:1-2). We are talking about embodying and bringing to expression a church and culture which reflects – as best we can this side of heaven – the character of Jesus and his kingdom. When Christ and his kingdom are our core focus, everything else will assume its correct emphasis. This is what Jesus promised us in Matt 6:33.

Here’s my point: embodying heaven, seeking the things above, having Christ and his kingdom as the church’s core focus is more than having biblical teaching, inspiring worship, a wonderful culture of discipleship, healthy Gospel outreach, etc. Biblical justice needs to inform and influence every aspect of Church ministry and mission.

How do we make that happen? We follow Lewis’ advice and seek ‘heaven’ in every context. There’s no tension between biblical justice and ‘seeking heaven’ or ‘the things above’ because seeking justice is simply doing all we’re called to do to repair and restore what is broken around us.

How will biblical justice impact every area of mission and ministry? We’ll need to seriously question what we are trying to do at every level.

In all church ministries we must ask How does God want this ministry to be a better reflection of his true intention for the church and for people?

In every relationship we ask How does God want me to change my behaviour and attitudes so this relationship is a better expression of what God would want to see?

In every community focused mission effort we need to ask How would God want this aspect of our community to change so people would see he’s a loving God who brings a new beginning and new hope through Jesus?

I know some will question this, and wonder whether ‘justice’ ministries might take us away from the core of the Gospel. I’ll address that in coming posts, but just let me say now that where the church embodies the kind of justice God envisages in his word, it will not take us away from Jesus, it will take us deeper into Him because through Jesus God will reconcile to himself all things (Col 1:19).

The Church that has justice at the heart of everything it does will more and more reflect the fullness of the Gospel and God’s true intention for his people. It will show not only that God has saved people through the atoning work of Christ, but that he changes people’s behaviour, and through them, over time, he begins to change the world around them for the better.

God has always intended his people to have this role in his world. Outlining that Scriptural narrative is what I’ll be focusing on in coming weeks.

One of the challenges we face is that we’ve lost sight of what “justice” is, both in its general use, and also how it is used in the Bible.

This is why talk of “seeking justice” sounds a bit foreign to many Christians in the western world. I mean, what’s the first thing you think about when you hear the word “justice”?

Commonly, it’s a protest on a city street, with people chanting What do we want? JUSTICE!!

Or it may be something from the court reporter. The criminal is sentenced. The wayward corporate will pay the price. The abuser gets his due.

Christians may think of how the Day will come when all wrongs will be made right and justice will finally be done through Jesus Christ.

No wonder we’re confused! Is this about punishment and retribution? Are we supposed to take God’s work of justice into our own hands? None of these sound like particularly Christian things to do!

So, why should Christians be seeking justice today? Why don’t we hear much about that in typical evangelical/protestant churches?

Before we go on, I should say that some churches are pretty switched on about biblical justice, and what it means for Christians today. After working in a justice focused NGO for the last five years, however, I have to say there are so many churches that really have zero focus on seeking justice. Why is that?

Part of the answer is we’ve lost sight of how the Bible speaks about justice. The Bible’s use of the word “justice” is more nuanced than how we use it today. And obviously, if we’re thinking about seeking justice, we really need to be guided by Scripture rather than limit Scripture’s meaning with our own assumptions.

To get our heads around this, have a look at Psalm 72. Notice, first, that “justice” and “righteousness” are often used together here. This is a really common thing in the Old Testament: 79 times, with 10 of these in the Psalms and 15 in Isaiah).

Second, look at how “justice” in Psalm 72 can lead to really positive outcomes:

• “May he defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; may he crush the oppressor.” (Psalm 72:4, NIV)
• “For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.” (Psalm 72:12–14, NIV)

It’s too much to go into right now, but one thing is crystal clear in the Old Testament: God really cares when those who are poor and vulnerable are subjected to violence and oppression. Some writers have noted how close to the heart of God are “the quartet of the vulnerable” – the poor, the fatherless, the widow and the foreigner¹. I’ll outline the justice narrative of Scripture in a few posts down the track – but let’s just note how God called his people to ensure vulnerable people were protected. There are oodles of examples of this call in Scripture. For starters though, check out Ex 22:21-22; Deut 5:15-16). You were oppressed in Egypt … so honour me be ensuring you never oppress others!

So “seeking justice” for God’s people in the Old Testament was not just something they thought about when injustice required it – it was a way of life for God’s people. It was so central to what it meant to be the People of God that when they lived unjustly, or neglected the vulnerable, or when they allowed injustice to exist in their communities, it rendered all their worship as offensive to God (see Isaiah 1:1-15; 58:1-7; Amos 5:1-15).

When we see the broad sweep of justice teaching in Scripture, it’s clear that not only are wrongdoers to be restrained and held to account, their victims are to be rescued from their oppressive predicament, placed in situations where they will thrive, and protected from ever being oppressed again.

See, the Bible’s teaching shows us that justice is more than punitive: it is gloriously restorative. Justice involves repair and restitution. When God’s people seek justice, want the oppressor held to account, but they also want to see the most vulnerable protected and thriving in new freedom. This full orbed understanding of justice is not well understood by Christians today.

So, why don’t we hear a lot about “seeking justice”? Many Christian teachers and pastors have lost sight of the Bible’s teaching. We don’t understand how “seeking justice” connects with the New Testament or Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection. I don’t think any of this is intentional – it’s just how things have developed.

What we really need to do is gain a clear understanding of what Scripture really says about justice, and how that clearly connects with Jesus’ death and resurrection. Once we do that, we’ll be in a position to see how God calls Christians and churches today to embed the pursuit of justice as a core component of ministry, mission, and Christian life itself.

Notes

1. see Tim Keller, Generous Justice, Chapter One “What is Doing Justice?”, London:2010, and Nicholas Wolterstorff, Justice: Rights and Wrongs, Princeton:2008

The last four months have been a time of reflection, rest, and refocusing. I’ve had to consider whether my pursuit of justice was something specific to my work with IJM, or something deeper and more foundational to my Christian faith.

I don’t know that the conclusion was ever in doubt, but my desire has grown even stronger to see the church take the lead in helping Australia become a more just society. My work with IJM really gave me an opportunity to hone and sharpen my understanding of biblical justice, and the great blessing churches can discover when they embody biblical justice in their ministry and mission.

Seeking justice can take many forms: acts of compassion and equity in the local community, partnering with organisations like International Justice Mission in their vision to protect millions from everyday violence, helping victims of domestic violence, providing shelter for the homeless, advocating for more just laws, assisting organisations like Tearfund and their amazing development projects, sponsoring a child through Compassion Australia – the list is endless.

One of the most basic questions many Christians ask is whether seeking justice really deserves the same attention as other ‘more spiritual things’. The assumption here, is that there’s an order or importance: spiritual things (like worship, bible reading, prayer, sharing the Gospel) are seen as more important than advocating to end everyday violence against the most vulnerable, or rescuing slaves in a South Asian rice mill, or worrying about worker’s conditions in the factory that produced your clothing. I mean, are those things really ‘spiritual’ things? And if not, should we really be putting so much effort into them?

Here’s the thing: the whole division between ‘natural’ and ‘spiritual’ is not grounded in the Bible – it really comes from ancient Greek philosophy. Of course, that hasn’t stopped western cultures like ours from being heavily influenced by that view which was so prominent in ancient Greek thought. The belief that ‘spiritual things’ are more important than ‘physical things’ comes to expression every time someone asserts that prayer is more important than mowing the lawn, or the soul is more important than the body, or the sacred is more important than the secular.

In the Bible, the tension is always between the ‘things of God’ and that which is opposed to him. It’s a contrast between that which acknowledges and reflects God’s rule and Kingdom, and that which does not.

True: prayer is important, as is the soul, and sacred things can provide incredible blessing. But this is not because ‘spiritual’ things are better than ‘natural’ things. That’s not the Bible’s contrast. In the Bible, the tension is always between the ‘things of God’ and that which is opposed to him (see Eph 6:12). It’s a contrast between that which acknowledges and reflects God’s rule and Kingdom, and that which does not. When we get this right, it’s a lot easier to understand why we should ‘set our mind on things above’ rather than ‘earthly things’ (see Col 3:1-2). The things above are the values and character of the Kingdom of God. The earthly things are everything that does not acknowledge Christ’s Lordship and rule … it’s a huge topic, and one we’ll keep coming back to. But just to bring this home: our struggle is not against physical/natural things, but against all things opposed to God’s Kingdom and rule. That’s why

• when Jesus opened his ministry, he asserted his anointing to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour (Luke 4:18-19). It’s no surprise to see his ministry embodying the Kingdom of God as he preaches the Good News and enacts the New Good of his Father’s rule.
• when Jesus teaches about prayer, he tells us to pray “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. As we breathe that prayer we’re asking, amongst other things, for the Kingdom of God to be reflected fully in our thoughts, attitudes and behaviour. This Lord’s Prayer petition is really a prayer that we should all seek and embody the kind of justice that reflects the Kingdom of God
• when Jesus was raised from the dead, he didn’t appear in mere spirit form. Jesus’ resurrection was a bodily resurrection. In doing so he demonstrates that physical things and creation itself are as important as anything else. So, the teaching of the ‘the resurrection the body’ is a cardinal article of Christian faith

All this is important, because as we ‘seek justice’ we will often be addressing the life circumstances, suffering, and inequities which impact people in the here and now. Jesus’ teaching and his actions throughout his earthly ministry are compelling evidence that Christians today must also ‘seek justice’. As they work to ‘set things right’ for those who are oppressed and vulnerable, they become a powerful demonstration of God’s Kingdom through Jesus.

How do we move ahead in our thinking about Australia Day, especially as the discussion seems quite divided and sometimes polarised?

Cricket Australia’s recent decision to refrain from using the term “Australia Day” was criticised by the Prime Minister, expressing his view that cricket was cricket and politics was politics, and the two should not be mixed. As if we suspend all political judgement when we enter the cricket ground, or jump onto the streaming service, or listen on the radio. Yeah, nah.

I thought the PM’s comments betrayed any real sensitivity to First Nations people, and many others like myself who are burdened by the tensions around Australia Day. So, not a great move, PM.

Australians want more. They want a deeper discussion of the things we seem to be avoiding in our national discourse.

Australians want a fair go for First Nations peoples – so issues of Black Deaths in Custody, Stolen Generations, poor health and education outcomes for First Nations peoples really matter to a majority of people.

Australians want to understand their history – warts and all. People do want to acknowledge and recognise what happened in the past – whether flowing from good motive or ill.

Despite everything that has happened and is happening, we really do want to be a nation of “a fair go”, we really do want all people to be given “a fair go”, and we will not be happy if some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in our nation are left behind.

So, while we do need to look back to name and to acknowledge all that has happened, a better response to all the questions about Australia Day (including my own) is to look forward together.

a better response to all the questions about Australia Day is to look forward – together

We can do this by starting to listen to First Nations people about what we need to do to build a common future. We can listen to one another and wrestle with what we all need to do to repair our history of brokenness. We can weep together about injustice past and present, and with much hope build shared aspirations for the future.

And as a nation, we need to

• Stop telling ‘the other party’ what they need to do
• Stop imposing solutions that have not been mutually developed
• Make political decisions, not because they’ll work well for the polls, but because they are the best way to serve people (for the ‘how’, see Dot Point 2, above)
• Teach our children – with all the integrity and humility we can muster – the true history of colonial dispossession of First Nations peoples
• Retain Australia Day – but also consider making Sorry Day a nationally approved Public Holiday
• Develop a National Cabinet for Reconciliation. I’m not convinced this title is the best we can do, but I’m sticking with the “reconciliation” terminology because it’s so widely used. Either way, political and First Nations leaders need to develop policies that help us wrestle with the really big issues and lead us forward together. Federal and State Governments will need to work out their own responses, but this is doable. The only thing stopping us is a lack of political will. And where there is a will, there’s a way.

I love Australia, and I celebrate everything this nation has given me. I, along with my forbears, my children, my grandchildren have been nurtured and nourished beautifully by this nation. But I don’t think the same opportunities have been given to First Nations peoples. And that has to change.

So, look forward with me. Yearn for what can be. Think of what it needs to look like, and let’s start. Let’s have God change our heart.

There’s a powerful vision in Isaiah 58 where the prophet speaks of a context of devastation and horrifying injustice. The Lord calls his people to stop mere actions of faith (like worship), if worship and fasting is all that’s going on. When worship is joined with stopping injustice and putting things right, then the light of God’s people will shine like the day and their healing and restoration will appear. Things will start to be put right and to reflect God’s character of true goodness and grace. Right-ness will ‘have their back’. Instead of a wasteland, there will be a garden. Ancient ruins, broken down in the prophet’s eye, will be rebuilt. God’s people will be known as “Rebuilders” and “Restorers”.

That’s what we’re longing for, right? For trust, hope, love, grace, mercy and justice to be rekindled and rebuilt.

For my mind, that’s a pretty good thing to start longing for on Australia Day.

To do that, my family will be logging on to the #ChangeTheHeart webcast tonight. As we do, we’ll be praying that our good God will work in us all to rebuild, repair and restore what has been broken.

Our typical Australia Day pastime has included things like riding along the Wynnum (Qld) foreshore, or more recently in WA heading off to Coogee Beach. Plenty of people kicking back, having a BBQ or a picnic, enjoying the holiday. Whether or not there was any sense of thanksgiving for Australia, or any thought given to the landing of the First Fleet in Botany Bay in 1788 is another question.

Over recent years, questions have been raised about whether Australia Day is really a day for all Australians. Specifically, the First Nations peoples have resisted the celebration because it is actually the anniversary of the day their own lands were invaded and their own sovereignty ignored.

So the question is: what should we do?

• Just continue celebrating Jan 26 as always and ignore the voice of the First Nations?
• Forget about Australia Day completely, and ignore the incredible development Australia has seen over the last 232 years?
• Find a date all Australians can celebrate – a date relevant to post-1788 Australians, as well as first peoples who have been here all along?

And to state the obvious: changing a word or two in the current national anthem is not going to help much. It is especially problematic that First Nations people were not even consulted about the value of the change. Once again, it seems like “our latest great idea” is simply announced as a fait accompli for First Nations people to be happy with.

The matter of Australia Day really goes to a wider question of what we’re to do with our own history. This question in particular has settled on me in recent years.

It just dawned on me one day. I was sitting on the rear deck of our (then) home in Success, WA, and I thought “I wonder which First Nations people used to call this area home?” Thankfully, the local Council acknowledged the Noongar people as traditional custodians of the land. But it was hard to find stories of what actually happened to those First Nations people.

It has been a similar story since moving to the NSW Central Coast. We know the Darkinjung people are the traditional custodians, and there are many still in the area. But what happened to the First Nations families when white settlers arrived? Was the interaction peaceful, or violent? I guess the Darkinjung Land Council have some stories, but that’s work I still need to do.

And you – if you’re reading this from Australia – what’s the story of the original custodians where you live? If they are there in diminished number, why is that? What happened? What is the history of settlement is in your area and what impact did it have on the First Nations custodians?

The more I have read historically verifiable accounts, the more troubled I have become about the circumstances of – for want of a better term – European occupation of the land we now call Australia.

Some would question the use of “occupied”, asserting the original nations of indigenous peoples were invaded, rather than occupied. Whatever term you use, it is clear that First Nations peoples were often subject to atrocious acts of violence and dispossession so dark that reading the accounts still today is a brutal and harrowing experience.

Many non-indigenous Australians probably believe the initial contact when the First Fleet arrived in 1788 was somewhat peaceable. Yet the raising of the Union Jack that claimed all lands for Great Britain’s King George was simultaneously a wilful rejection of the sovereignty of approximately 500 separate nations which already dwelt on those lands. These First Nations, both then and now, represent the oldest living culture on earth, having been in this land for some 65,000 years. Even so, their sovereignty has never been acknowledged. Australia’s constitution does not even recognise the existence of the First Nations. It is like they were never there.

No doubt, some would like it to stay that way, because the moment the First Nations are acknowledged, we must also acknowledge other realities, like:

• The systematic dispossession of those First Nations. While the colonists saw themselves as “possessing” the land they began to occupy, first peoples believed the land possessed them in a profoundly spiritual way. So, this dispossession was like cutting away part of their soul. Like permanently separating a child from her mother. This pain is still carried by First Nations people today. This reality helps us understand their grief on Australia Day.
• Complicating the matter further, colonists generally assumed that all First Nations were the same, and so it wouldn’t matter where they lived. For example, peoples from mainland Tasmania were rounded up during the 1830 Black Line policy and placed on Flinders Island. People from the Kimberly were captured and ejected from their lands and transported to Derby (see Banjo Woorunmurra and Howard Pedersen’s Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance). This dispossession and relocation was a common tactic employed by colonialists.
• Hundreds of recorded massacres – some 350-400 accounts of six or more people killed in one action. These actions typically were one-sided actions where First Nations victims lacked any real self-defence. True: a dozen or so of these accounts represent attacks by first peoples upon Europeans, but these represent a mere 0.25% of the total number of recorded attacks. The reality is that almost all attacks were atrocious massacres of near defenceless First Nations peoples in their own traditional lands.
  • As I write this, there are press reports of another previously undocumented massacre in Campbell Town, Tas. A soldier writes how he witnessed ‘a bonfire of bodies’ and was sworn to secrecy so the guilty would escape justice.

There are other widely held views about pre 1788 First Nations which must now be exposed as false:

• The myth that First Nations had no settled ‘villages’, culture or industry. See Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu for an engaging excursion into the highly developed – though obviously non-western – pre-1788 first peoples’ culture and agriculture.
• The myth that First Nations people did not develop the land: see Bill Gammage The Biggest Estate on Earth for an impressive body of evidence recorded by European settlers and explorers as to the extent of First Nations’ land management. Gammage’s work revolutionises commonly held understandings of First Nations’ culture, and also exposes the gross ignorance of colonists who readily exploited forests and resources with no thought to management and sustainability.

There are and were policies and practises which continue to have a horrific effect on First Nations:

• The Stolen Generations – where thousands of First Nations children were permanently separated from their parents. Even today, First Nations children are still removed from their parents in numbers far exceeding non-First Nations counterparts. Consequently, First Nations people continue to carry intergenerational trauma as a direct result of policies like these.
• The Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody. The Commission’s report represents a significant work which uncovered grossly inadequate practices and entrenched racial prejudice. Since the Commission handed down its findings in 1991, a further 434 First Nations people have died in custody. Since 2008, half of the number of First Nations people who died custody had not even been convicted of a crime.

Then there are unacceptable realities which endure to this day. Inadequate policy that betrays ongoing injustices and prejudice:

• First Nations peoples are per capita the most incarcerated people on the planet.
• Health outcomes among First Nations people evidence huge disparities with non-indigenous Australians, especially in remote communities.

These are just some of the thoughts in the lead up to yet another Australia Day. They help me understand the many voices who see Australia Day as a day of mourning. They help me understand the sense of grief and mourning many First Nations people have toward celebrating Australia Day in its current form on January 26.

Of course, nothing we do can turn the clock back. But it’s also true that we cannot have any role in future of healing if we continue to deny the past.

As a follower of Jesus I cannot reconcile the occupation of this land, the dispossession of its first people, the atrocities perpetrated against them, the separation of children from their families, the woefully broken justice systems which have led to who knows how many deaths in custody, or the ongoing terrible health outcomes for First Nations with the life God calls us to in the Bible.

In the Scriptures, God specifically calls us to use our power, our wealth, our ingenuity and our opportunities to help others thrive. This is a core aspect of what it means to be human. It particularly settles upon us as a sacred responsibility toward those who have been victims of violent and unjust actions.

So, as Christians, and at the very least Australians, we must find a way to acknowledge what has actually happened in our own history.

The longer we leave this, the less able we will be to build a true national identity or find a future of true conciliation. I don’t believe there’s a future of blessing until by God’s grace, we come to terms with our past.

To start you off, why not spend your Australia Day, and a few days around it, finding out the First Nations stories of your locality. Typically, local First Nations cultural groups are more than happy to have discussions like this.

Consider:

• What are your thoughts about Australia Day?
• How do you intend to observe Australia Day?
• What will our nation need to take into account in order to move forward into a truly shared future?

What a crazy year it has been – so much disruption. Fires, floods, then COVID isolation, working from home, reduced contact with others…

If anything, there have been important opportunities to consider our days and consider what really matters. Well, that’s how it has been for me.

In the course of it all, I’ve decided to blog more, and push into some deeper realities. Some of the posts I’m preparing relate to

• Australia Day – how are we to celebrate Australia Day? What about the question of invasion or occupation? How do we address matters of injustice toward indigenous peoples? How do we move ahead as a nation? Can we even do that?
• Biblical Justice – working for IJM has enabled me to see that while the bible contains a huge amount of Old and New Testament passages which address justice for the weak and the vulnerable, these passages remain in the blind spot of most western churches – well, certainly the reformed and evangelical sector to which I belong. I find this to be an inexplicable reality. So, my hope is that writing about it will bring some engagement from readers.

I’m sure as we go the discussion will develop. I’d love for this to be a forum of open questions, and I will try to engage with comments as best I can.

Through it all I trust that God will draw us closer to an understanding of who he has made us to be in Jesus, and a clearer understanding of all he calls us to do in his world.