Acknowledgement of Country

This past week our nation celebrated National Reconciliation Week. A week dedicated to bringing First and Second nation peoples together.

“The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2026 is All In, a call for all Australians to commit wholeheartedly to reconciliation every single day.” All In makes clear that reconciliation is not a spectator sport and that all of us must step away from the sidelines and take action to make change. The theme also reminds us that reconciliation and advancing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights isn’t a passive activity, and it is not solely the responsibility of First Nations people, who have carried the weight of championing, explaining and acting for far too long.

Reconciliation will not happen by itself, and it will not happen without all of us.”

(National Reconciliation Week Website.)

Jesus’ mission was all about reconciliation. Reconciliation with God and our neighbours. Acknowledgement of Country is a step towards reconciliation and that is why we have it in our service week by week. This acknowledgment keeps to the forefront of our minds that with original dispossession, came poverty, alcoholism, imprisonment, and violence. That dispossession led to a stolen generation. So, acknowledgement is the least we can do, and acknowledges that we are committed to reconciliation and being All In.