“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem“ (Luke 9:51, NRSV).
This past week we entered the season of Lent. Ash from the burned Palm Sunday leaves were used on Ash Wednesday to make the sign of the cross on the foreheads of worshippers. Lent is a ‘turning point’ season in the Church year.
The words of Luke describe such a turning point for Jesus; ‘When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem’. Jesus no longer is focussed on Galilee and its familiarity. Jerusalem is the destination. There are great risks ahead including the cross. Jesus sets ‘his face’ and travels on with great courage and with the destiny clear.
This season of Lent, celebrated on different dates in some churches, is both personal and communal. Individually, we are invited into a journey of confession, introspection and self-honesty. We are assured that God’s forgiving love and grace is with us and that through the journey of Lent our faith will be stronger and we will celebrate the freedom of forgiveness.
What about a ‘communal’ Lent? Can we imagine ourselves as part of the Australian Community inviting all of us into an experience of honesty flowing from our collective repentance and self-honesty.
In some ways the first step was taken on 13 February 2008 when the then Prime Minister apologised to Australia’s First Peoples. Two years later the Coalition of Peaks, together with all Australian governments and the Australian Local Government Association, signed the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (National Agreement) on 27 July 2020. This agreement has within it 18 intended outcomes and an implementation plan. This week the Prime Minister acknowledged progress was slow and he reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to Closing the Gap.
As we move through Lent part of our reflection can be, indeed must be, on the situation and vulnerability of Australia’s first peoples. The apology was a start, the Closing the Gap targets are important, and our national identity and ‘heart’ will not be complete without a Lenten style journey of action and reflection with a determination to be part of bringing lasting change.
Rev John Gilmore
NCCA President