Jude Long’s plenary reflections on the AFC asked us to attend to our relationship to Indigenous Australians.
Dr Jude Long is Principal of Nungalinya College, Darwin, NT
The reminder that the Anglican Church can and has changed in the past, and that it should be transitional and must be adapted to local need and opportunity, is very timely.
We all approach these issues from our own context and my context is very different to most people here so I bring a different perspective.
I have been concerned that the first peoples of this country, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been hardly mentioned in this conference with the exception of Mark's panel comments yesterday until that beautiful story by Kanishka this morning (about William Cooper). I confess that before I went to Nungalinya I probably would not have noticed, but now that omission is painfully obvious.
Looking to the future is great but you bring the past with you. We are all complicit in a terrible corporate sin against the first peoples of this land. Without recognition, repentance, reparation and change, that sin will continue to pollute all we do. You cannot walk freely into the future with the mud of the past stuck to your feet.
As we look to the future in this continent of Australia, can we listen to our first peoples, learn from them, allow the flavour and content of our Anglicanism to be changed by this unique context? Can we take small steps to engage with our Indigenous peoples? Even just a small thing like singing some worship songs in an Indigenous language can open doors to more changes.
Related to this is the distribution of resources. Paul took up a collection for those suffering in Jerusalem and the sharing of resources was a mark of the early church clearly demonstrating the love of Christ. Those of you from down south would find it hard to imagine the challenges faced in a place like the Northern Territory. In the Northern Territory we have lots of Indigenous clergy, but they are not paid. We have a theological college that can't fit the students in who want to learn the bible due to lack of teachers and funds. We have people who long to read the Bible but cannot access it in their own language. We have communities where not only do they not have Internet access, but the only way you can contact them is to ring the public phone in the street. I could go on and on, but I think my point is made.
As we look to an Anglican future can it please be one where we actively seek to address injustice, care for the poor and marginalised, where those hungry for the word of God are fed, and the last become first and first become last. Perhaps if our church looked more like this some of those other contextual issues that make it hard to share the gospel may disappear.