This weekend, on Sunday 1 July, the parishes across our Diocese will be celebrating our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage.

Aboriginal Thanksgiving Prayer

God of Holy Dreaming, Great Creator Spirit,

from the dawn of creation you have give your children

the good things of Mother Earth.

You spoke and the gum tree grew.

In the vast desert and the dense forest, and in the cities and at the water's edge

creation sings your praise.

Your presence endures at the rock at the heart of our Land.

When Jesus hung on the tree you heard the cries of all your people

and became one with your wounded ones:

the convicts, the hunted, the dispossessed.

The sunrise of your Son coloured the earth anew,

and bathed it in glorious hope.

In Jesus we have been recnociled to you, 

to each other and to your whole creation.

Lead us on, Great Spirit, as we gather from the four corners of the earth;

enable us to walk together in trust from the hurt and shame of the past

into the full day that has dawned in Jesus Christ.  Amen