Walking together on journey from the heart
That it was made “from the heart” has particular resonance for Christians like me. In the Bible, Jesus speaks often of the power and significance of the heart. In warning against greed and challenging our priorities, Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”, or in another place, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”.
The Indigenous people of this country have spoken truth and grace “from the heart” in the Uluru statement. They speak of their ancient ties with this land. The idea is familiar, though not always understood, but the statement highlights the connection between dispossession from the land and its primary and enduring impact – powerlessness.
It is a powerlessness over their own families, haunted by the devastation of the policies and practices of the Stolen Generations in which my church is implicated. It is a powerlessness that sees Indigenous youth languish in detention centres in what is rightly described as “obscene numbers”.
Crucially, it is lack of power or a voice in the mechanisms of our representative democracy. As the statement says, “We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.”
My own church has had an inglorious history in this regard. The Anglican Church made an official apology to the Stolen Generations in 1998 but we recognise that there is much more that can and should be done. In Sydney, we will return to these issues in our church “parliament” later this year.
We are continuing to listen and learn from Indigenous brothers and sisters who invite us to journey together, to accept the invitation to friendship and partnership. This requires what the statement calls for alongside voice, truth and agreement making. We treasure the leadership of Indigenous brothers and sisters in church and ministry roles among First Nations people and more widely, blessing the whole church.
Reconciliation is a central theme of the Bible, and a key way of describing God’s work through Jesus to bring peace between us and God, and between peoples. For Australian Christians, reconciliation with First Nations people is a long project that remains in its early stages. It must involve recognition of wrongs done and a commitment to retrieving as much justice as can be achieved. Just as important, it involves engaging with humility, not from a position of power but in a spirit of compassion, repentance and hope. For Christians, this cannot be separated from Jesus, as it is in him that we have known the freedom and transformation that comes from repentance and forgiveness.
I welcome the commitment of the new government to implementing the Uluru statement. As one of his first actions as Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese committed to constitutional recognition of First Nations people, including a voice to parliament. I look forward to that process unfolding in coming months.
As I read the statement, I am reminded of the words of one of my Indigenous colleagues, the Reverend Michael Duckett. Showing remarkable and typical generosity of spirit, he gently reminded fellow Christians of the reality of life for First Nations people: “I encourage you to rejoice in God’s goodness but also to remember those of this land who walked this country for generations upon generations. Many are still struggling to find a place in this nation with the loss of land, of culture and of our children who were taken away. There’s a heartache still in this land.” Only by giving voice to that heartache, can we move forward.
Kanishka Raffel is the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney.