Sorry Day staff prayer

Outline of Ritual

We Gather:

• Welcome
• Placing of the Sign of the Cross with didgeridoo music
• Lighting of the 3 Candles
• Opening Prayer

We Listen:

• Audio Visual of Sorry Proposal
• Scripture Reading
• Sharing

We Respond:

• Reconciliation Prayer (which doubles as the Closing Prayer)

We Go Forth:

• Blessing
• Dismissal
• Sign of Peace

The Environment

Ideally, set out chairs around a prayer focus – creating a space where people can be present to one another. Three candles are placed near the Bible which rests open at the Scripture Reading for today. More detail below ...

You will need:

• a Leader of prayer; a Reader (who will read from the Bible); person(s) to place the stars and persons to light the candles at the appropriate times in the ritual
• 3 candles (each tied with a ribbon: Black for the People; Red for the Land; Yellow for the Sun) + matches
• a Bible (open at the Reading) on a small table draped in the 3 colours of the Australian Aboriginal people: Black, Red and Yellow) Place the candle tied with black ribbon on the red cloth, the candle with red ribbon on the yellow cloth and the candle with yellow ribbon on the black cloth – for artistic contrast. If using just a white cloth, an image of the Aboriginal Flag may be placed on the table, near the bible.
• 5 individual stars of the Southern Cross which will be placed on the prayer table as the ritual making of the Sign of the Cross today
• A CD of didgeridoo music and a player – and a person to organise the music at the appropriate time
• A laptop with Internet connection to follow the Link as suggested below – and (if necessary) a data projector (in the case of a large group needing to see and hear the Power Point)
• Handouts for each staff member
• Full text of the ritual for the Leader

Detail of Ritual

We Gather

Welcome & Introduction

Leader: This week, we remember the Indigenous Peoples of Australia. We pause to pay respect to those who walked this land before us ... pause ...

Sign of the Cross

Leader: Today, let us make the Sign of the Cross in a new way – watching as we place 5 stars in the form of the Southern Cross which has shone for over 40,000 years on our Aboriginal brothers and sisters.

The person(s) placing the stars do so in an unhurried fashion ... accompanied by didgeridoo music which is faded out when the ritual action is completed. If there is no music, the action may be done in silence.

Lighting of the 3 Candles

Leader: We light our 3 candles, identified with the colours of the Aboriginal Flag. Our first candle reminds us of the People ... and of the night sky over the desert ...

A person lights the candle tied with the black ribbon.

Our second candle symbolises the Land ... and the blood that was shed in the many massacres and clashes with the white settlers ...

A person lights the candle tied with the red ribbon.

Our third candle signifies the Sun ... and the ochre that was used as body-paint in the sacred ceremonies of the Aboriginal Peoples ...

A person lights the candle tied with the yellow ribbon.

Opening Prayer

Leader: Let us pray for our Aboriginal brothers and sisters, asking God to bless our Indigenous races with new hope ...

All: Father of all, You gave our Aboriginal People the Dreaming

You have spoken to them through their beliefs,

You then made your love clear to them in the person of Jesus.

We thank you for your care of these people.

You own them. You are their hope.

Make them strong as they face the problems of change.

We ask you to help us, the people of Australia,

To listen to them and respect their culture.

Make the knowledge of you grow strong in all people

So that you can be at home in all of us,

And so that we can make a home for everyone in our land.

Amen.

Adapted from the Prayer prepared by the Aboriginal People for Pope John Paul II's visit to Alice Springs 1996.

We Listen

Gathered around a PC (or with the aid of a data projector), follow this link to listen to Kevin Rudd’s motion to Parliament regarding the Apology of Australians to the Indigenous Peoples - complete with an inspiring Power Point presentation.

http://www.smh.com.au/multimedia/2008/national/australia-says-sorry/main.html

Scripture Reading

Reader: A reading from the prophet Isaiah (Is 62: 4)

No more will you be known as ‘Forsaken’ or your country be known as ‘Desolation’; instead, you will be called ‘My Delight in Her’ and your country ‘The Wedded’; for Yahweh will take delight in you and your country will have its wedding.

SHORT PAUSE ...

Sharing

Leader: How does this ancient Word of God speak to our recent experience of the Apology? People may like to share for a few minutes ...

We Respond

Leader: Let us pray a special Prayer for Reconciliation

All: Holy Father, God of Love,

You are the creator of this land and of all good things.

We acknowledge the pain and shame of our history

and the suffering of our peoples – especially the grief of those who were taken

as children from their homes and families,

taken from all they knew and loved.

We ask your forgiveness.

We thank you for the survival of Indigenous cultures.

Our hope is in you because you gave your son Jesus to reconcile the world to you.

We pray for your strength and grace to forgive, accept and love one another

as you love, forgive and accept us.

Give us the courage to acknowledge the realities of our history

so that we may build a better future for our nation.

Teach us to respect all cultures.

Teach us to care for our land and waters.

Help us to share justly the resources of this land.

Help us to bring about spiritual and social change

to improve the quality of life for all groups in our communities,

especially the disadvantaged.

Help young people to find true dignity and self esteem in the ways of your Spirit.

May your power and love be the foundations on which we build our families,

our communities and our nation.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Adapted from a Prayer prepared by Wontulp Bi-Buya Indigenous Theology Working Group 13th March, 1997, Brisbane QLD

We Go Forth

Blessing

Leader: May the God of the Dreaming bless all Australians in the name of the Father, + and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

All: AMEN!

Dismissal

Leader: Go, with deeper wisdom and renewed understanding, to build a community where equality and respect will flourish among all races.

All: Thanks be to God!

Sign of Peace

Leader: We could all take to heart the message of John Paul II to the Aboriginal People on his visit to Alice Springs, when he said:

“If you stay closely united, you are like a tree, standing in the middle of a bushfire sweeping through the timber. The leaves are scorched and the tough bark is scarred and burnt; but inside the tree the sap is still flowing, and under the ground the roots are still strong. Like that tree, you have endured the flames, and you still have the power to be reborn”. (JPII)

Let us encourage one another to be as strong as that tree by offering one another a Sign of Reconciliation and Peace ...