2025 01 26 AUSTRALIA DAY SERVICES –
It is great that we have this opportunity to take time to
reflect on our nation, and especially to pray for our nation, as we come to
Australia Day. This is the land in which
we are living, and our readings today, tell us a thing or two about the
attitude we should have toward the land in which we are living. The prophet, Jeremiah, was encouraging the
Israelites who were in exile, but more than that, he was delivering the word of
God. A message for the people. And a
message for us!
We get a hint, when it talks about the false prophets
telling them what they want to hear, that at the time, many would have argued
that this “Word”, was not what they wanted.
For those longing to be back in their own land, they were told that it
would be 70 years before that would happen.
So, how old would you be by the time you could go home? If you were 7 years old, you would be 77
years old. The younger ones would not
even remember their former home. Their
home in exile would be the only home they know, and many who were older would
have been dead by the time of the fulfillment of the prophecy.
The word of the Lord was meant to be a redirect – to think
on the future. It was an exhortation to
seek the prosperity of the land in which they were living, and to pray for it
and to make their good life there.
However, while they were being blessed and prospering, rather than
forgetting where they were from, God promised them a unique place of their own.
A place that was truly their home, and God would take them back. In the meantime, they would remember and
declare that sentiment in the Psalm that we read; “We wait in hope for the
Lord; he is our help and our shield.”
The Israelites longed for the time when God would bring
them back to their real home. God wanted
them to live their lives fully integrated in this land, but he also wanted them
to remember that they were unique – His chosen people. To do this they needed to remember who they
were and where they came from…. Much like in a line from the Lion King. The young Simba had left his family and
friends in disgrace…. He remained in exile.
Sometime later he received this message, “Remember who you are”. Simba was no ordinary Lion. He was the son of the king…. The heir to the
throne. The Israelite people were also
in exile, in disgrace. They had turned
their backs on God and had not followed His ways. God had warned that if this happened, they
would be sent into exile. But now they
were told that God had not forgotten them.
He would bring them back – eventually.
The message from God is always, “Remember who you are… and whose you are”. This hope in God, kept them distinct as a
people, and it kept them united and strong as a nation, though fully integrated
in their new home. Their hope kept them faithful,
and it defined their identity.
This weekend we have a national holiday for Australia
Day… On the same day is also Indian Republic Day, which I discovered is also a
national holiday in India commemorating the adoption of the Constitution of
India, and the country's transition to a republic which came into effect on 26
January 1950. Since the beginning of Australia Day being celebrated,
there has been some controversy. Some
will call it invasion day, as the day when the British flag was raised on
January 26, 1788, at Sydney Cove, Australia by Captain Arthur Phillip.
Australia Day, as a celebration, took place on July
30, 1915 as a fundraiser for World War I. Then in 1935, The Australian Natives
Association pushed for the celebration of Australia Day in every Australian
state. This men’s group desired to
promote Australian heritage and idealism.
It was from their own perspective, of course, which was as native-born
Australian citizens of European descent, but at that time, this group of people
had no real identity…. No connection with the land of their ancestors, and
unlike the Israelites in our first reading, no promise of a home of their own. What would you have proposed as a way to give
these people unity, identity, a hope and a future?
Whether we were born here, of first nations, became or born
an Australian citizen, we are called to pray for the nation and work for the prosperity
of the land. As Christians, wherever we
are, we are to live fully as citizens of that land, and we are called to be
praying for that nation’s advancement.
Regardless of any Ancestral nationality, all of us are actually
a people in exile living in this land, regardless of whether it is Australian
or anywhere else in the world, because we are the people of God, and our true
home is in heaven. The country song, Temporary
Home by Carrie Underwood, says this, “this is our temporary home. Windows and rooms that we’re passing
through. This is just a stop to where we
are going. This is our temporary home.” We are like those young Israelites living in
exile, and born in exile, never knowing their true home. This place feels so much like where we
belong. We, like those Israelite people,
need the word of God… the prophecy… to declare to each other who we are, and
what is, our true identity. We need to
know that our Christian story is not just something for Sunday, but it is the
truth that is truer than our temporary reality. And we need to remind each other; “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our
help and our shield.”
Rex and I were in a taxi that seemed to be deliberately
taking us the long way to a train station.
When finally dropped off, it was not the train station we requested but
was at a train station that wasn’t working.
An elderly man was there also looking for a train. A young man who worked there, explained the
process to us all and walked us to the corner, showing us where to catch a
bus. At this point the elderly man said,
he was going back to see his wife, but told us that he felt compelled, that he
needed to tell us, that Jesus is coming soon.
I must confess, I generally expect each year to roll much
like the last one did, without much to write home about. We proclaim the mystery of faith at every
service that Christ will come again but tend to think it will be in the distant
future. However, this experience has
challenged me to ponder whether our relaxed attitude, thinking we have plenty
of time before Jesus comes, is really living like the bridesmaids who didn’t
bring oil for their lamps… (in our case
thinking that we have plenty of time to go back to the market many times and
buy more oil.).
The early Christian Church didn’t fully live in their
lands, praying for the nations and seeking it’s prosperity, because they
believed that Christ was coming imminently – VERY soon. We seem to have fallen into the opposite
problem…. We think it is a long way off.
The Christian Church in many places is diminishing. The lamp is growing dim. But we are here now… filling our lamps with
oil. What can we do? My grand daughter has become a fan of Frozen
and knows all the songs from both the first and second movie and so I got to
watch with her. There is an important
line in the second movie. Anna thinks
that her sister is dead, and she doesn’t know what to do. She feels grief and confusion
and realizes that she doesn’t know very much and doesn’t know how to make
things right. What can she do in this
time of confusion and grief? she remembers
someone advising her to simply “do the next right thing”.
We don’t have the answers to ease the pain of those
hurting over the ways of our nation. We
don’t have the answers to solve the problems facing our church. But we can do the next right thing, pray and
seek the prosperity of our nation. Proclaim
the Good News, that there is hope in Jesus. Our reading from the letter to the
Thessalonians tells us to always rejoice.
We may feel more like lamenting, but even in this we are to give thanks
in ALL -all circumstances and to pray continually. We are to always strive to do what is good
for each other and for everyone else.
And all THIS is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.
We must not to quench the Spirit. In 1606 Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, a
Catholic Portuguese seaman and explorer, was on a journey to discover the
‘mythical’ Great South Land and to claim it for Phillip III of Spain. He actually landed on Vanuatu, but thought it
was Australia. He claimed that, and all
land from there south, as the great South Land of the Holy Spirit. Certainly, after my recent visit to the
Island in south Vanuatu, it is evident that the Holy Spirit is alive, active
and moving. The whole time that tourists
were on Mystery Island, the native band was singing Christian songs. Then when
we attended the tour on the nearby Island of Aneityum, we all received a blessing
from the elder before we left.
We have free will.
We are here in this land Australia.
If it is to be the land of the Holy Spirit, that requires us to intentionally
use our free will to cooperate with God and pray for the Holy Spirit to move on
us and in our land. We are all called to
be God’s prophets of hope, declaring to our nation the Good News of Jesus, and praying
(prophetically claiming) this land we live in as the Great South Land of the
Holy Spirit. And our nation will then
prosper and be blest, because blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
(Psalm 33).
God knows our future and the future of our land. He tells us that he has plans for us; plans
to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future. We live in faith, that Christ is coming, but
until then we live fully integrated and pray for our nation’s prosperity and
future. Lord, send us your Spirit. “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our
help and our shield.”
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