Since 2019 the Uniting Church has marked a Day of Mourning to reflect on the dispossession of Australia’s First Peoples and the ongoing injustices faced by First Nations people in this land. For those of us who are Second Peoples from many lands, we lament that we were and remain complicit.

The observance of a Day of Mourning on the Sunday before 26 January arises from a request from the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) which was endorsed by the 15th Assembly in 2018. We invite you on or around Sunday 22 January to hold worship services that reflect on the effects of invasion, colonisation and racism on First Peoples.

 In an introduction to the 2023 Worship Resource, UAICC Interim National Chairperson Rev Mark Kickett and UCA President Rev Sharon Hollis invite us to continue on this journey of confession, truth-telling and seeking of justice and healing.

Also as part of the resource, UCA President Rev Sharon Hollis has offered this reflection which you might like to use in your worship or to prompt discussion and sharing. More information is available from Assembly’s website.