Pastor Uncle Ray Minniecon spoke at St John’s Church Glebe, the meeting place for Scared Tree Ministries. Once again, the focus is on Psalm 116:12
It is such an honour to be able to deliver a sermon to use this morning on Aboriginal Sunday. I will acknowledge Uncle William Cooper at the end of my message, just to say that he is the indigenous elder who stood up to Hitler, stood up to the prime minister of Australia, wrote to the king of England and challenged the Australian church to pray for first peoples in this country. We are here today because of Uncle Bill and so I will honour him today in this sermon. What shall I render unto the Lord for all of his benefits towards me?
Australia must be one of the very few nations in the world [where] they can trace its history to a sermon based on a biblical text and have that text enshrined in a monument as a means of keeping the past events alive in the public’s memory that’s down there on Hunter Street, I think Tank Street just up from Circular Quay. Richard Johnson chose this text from Sam 116 12 out of an average of some 31,102 verses in the Bible that he could have chosen from for his sermon on this day, on the 26th of January, 1788.
The text asks a very pertinent question, ‘What shall I render and to the Lord for all of his benefits towards me?’
I must say there’s about a million sermons in this text that we could bring to each other this day. Many, many conversations. Sadly, there’s only one Aboriginal Sunday every year.
So, at first glance, the text is asking for a response. What shall I render unto the Lord for his benefits towards me? It’s like he’s asking for a commercial transaction, some type of give and take. If I do something for you, what do I get in return? What is the return on my investment?
So, through the Psalms, Richard Johnson is asking the question to the first fleeters, he’s saying, ‘God has bought you here safely. What are you going to give in return for his benevolence? How do you respond to this greatness and his blessing God has done for you?’
Now today’s Aussie response will be something like, ‘thanks brother, no worries mate, good on your brother. She’ll be right cobber.’
But yet, this text is also grounded in an age-old human question, and that question is, what is justice?
What would be a just response to this question? At its heart asks the question, what can I or we return to the Lord for all of his goodness towards us. It’s an exchange. What is a just return for his investment in you, or in this case, according to Richard Johnson, to the ways in which God brought them to the shores and all of our human understandings of what is justice? The question in this verse, and if you look at the background paper that Dr. John Harris developed for us this day, did we get some handouts of that? No. Okay. Well, Dr. John Harris, when I proposed this to him that we go out to all the churches. He designed a background paper for it. I’ll just read a few of those passages from what he produced.
Dr. John said, while we can spiritualize this Psalm and speak of the dangers of sin of God delivering us from evil, we can have no doubt that on that day Johnson was referring specifically to this safe arrival on these shores.
The first fleet consisted of 11 ships. Over 1,400 people. They had taken 252 days to sail 24,000 kilometres across the world to an unknown source and unknown place. 48 people had died during the voyage. So we can have no doubt that Richard Johnson was grateful that he had a ride safely on these distance shores. We can have no doubt that he was glad to be alive feeling that God had protected him from danger and death. Equally, we can have no doubt that Johnson wanted to use this moment in our history to turn people’s hearts and minds to God. So his large congregation on that day, the first church gathering on the shores included 700 convicts, 250 Marines to guard them. 320 sailors, 74 women and children, 20 of whom had been born on the voyage out here. And so rightly Johnson said, put felt that they should be grateful for godfrey’s benefits to them. Bring them here safely and so what shall I render and do the Lord for these benefits towards me? This question asks, well what are the 700 convicts sent here as punishment? What were their feelings when they heard this particular sermon or this particular verse being preached at? Could they feel grateful to God sentenced as they were to remain in this strange and forbidding place for seven or 14 years or for the term of their natural life?
Were they grateful to God that they were here? Was the hand of God discernible in their harsh sentencing for the most trivial crimes? Was it something in the mind of God that they be dumped in this groomed distant land? Should they thank God for it? In what way was God benefiting them? Was this evidence of God’s goodness? I guess they might’ve been saying, please, Richard, get over the sermon. Please want to get back to doing what we had doing. But there’s another scene here on the shores in 1788, beyond the unspoken perimeter of the church service was another group of people whose lives would be irrevocably affected by the arrival of the first fleet hidden by tree and rock. Many of the gal people would’ve watched the ceremony uncomprehending not even understanding the language, unaware yet how much the unannounced and renegotiated arrival of these people would change their lives forever. How much marked so drastic a change in the lives of all of the confluence indigenous peoples, two centuries and more way ahead of them centuries of colonisation, subjugation, oppression and justice. In what way was the arrival of these people a blessing, a sign of God’s goodness to them now?
Johnson’s sermon was well intentioned. He wanted to use the moment to focus people’s minds on God, something which all preachers including these should try and do. And so Uncle John goes on to say, God has brought us yet another Australia Day, yet another 26th of January. It is both First Fleet Day and Invasion Day. Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians still have before them the chance to make this nation a place where the goodness of God has displayed. Yet it seems a big ask, but with God nothing is impossible.
If you want a copy of Uncle John Harris’s or Dr. John Harris’s background information, which I’ve just read from let us know.
And so the question remains for Aboriginal people. What do we bring to the table of justice as presented in this particular story? What shall we render to the Lord for all of his benefits towards us?
Because we know we’ve got no treaty, no voice, no payment for the land, no sign of any agreement or treaty with the first peoples no prior and informed consent. We’re now stuck with these criminals, prisoners for the terms of our natural lives too. We have no means of protection. We don’t understand their idea of what justice is. No mediation, no advocate, no negotiations, no recognition of our basic human rights. All of these issues are displayed in this one day in this sermon. One moment at this nation’s beginnings. Consider this a year later, consider this historical quote from the Judge Advocate Judge David Collins and his thoughts on the treatment of aboriginal people. He said a year later in 1789, had they never been ill-treated by our people, instead of hostility, it is possible or probable that friendship would’ve subsisted 1789. Here we are in 2024. So this text and the monument in Richard Johnson Square is now like a sentinel to us, a witness, a prophetic statement, an ancient quote that sits the fountain head of this land we call Australia and asks that age old question, what do we mean by justice in Australia?
…
So what do we bring to the table as Aboriginal people? Lemme say a few things. There’s many, many things. Like I say, there’s a million sermons in this. It could be preach on Aboriginal Sunday. The first thing we bring is the sacredness of land
In the Aboriginal worldview, the land is not merely a geographical space or a place to punish people. It’s a sacred entity that has been given to us by the creator. Our spiritual connection to the land is profound as it provides sustenance shelter and food. Just as the psalmist wondered how to render thanks to the Lord, First Nations peoples have pondered how to reciprocate and share the gifts of the land. For us, land rights is always sacred. We bring a gratitude for the land first. People’s perspectives encourages us to be thankful for the land, its resources and the spiritual sustenance it provides. We are stewards of the land and this gratitude leads us to care for and protect it. Especially in this day and age. We’re such a huge big crisis that we call the climate change crisis. We provide environmental stewardship. I’ve often said to people that in our aboriginal education system before a child or achieves the age of 10 or 12, they already have a PhD in environmental science and biodiversity and know how to look after the country because we teach them how to do that.
So in aboriginal cultures there is a deep rooted sense of responsibility to protect the land and its ecosystems. And this perspective aligns with the biblical mandate to be good stewards of God’s creation and as Jesus himself said, and which we’ve reduced western in western Christianity, that first in John Gospel chapter three verse 16, for God so loved the world, the total universe, sadly we have reduced it down to the individual, but we must reject that and get back into what God is saying in his scriptures.
We bring to you the gift of our cultures. You’ve got a bit of a sample of that today. Our cultures are rich and diverse, embodying unique traditions in the languages and spiritual practises. These cultures are intrinsically linked to the land and reflect the creator’s wisdom in providing diversity. We bring to you about cultural heritage. Just as Thesal sought to render things for God’s benefits aboriginal people, we cherish our cultural heritage and pass it down through generations to generations. We recognise the value of our languages, traditions, and storytelling as a way of honouring the gifts that our creator has given us. We also honour the bridge between faith and tradition. Even as aboriginal Christians, we are trying to find a bridge between our faith in God and our spiritual connection to the land and culture. And Psalm 116 verse 12 reminds us of our duty to honour of both our Christian faith and our indigenous heritage.
So focusing on these profound connections between man, culture and spirituality is what we bring to the what shall we render up to the Lord. That’s what we’ll bring in conclusion as we reflect on Psalm 116. From an indigenous perspective, let us remember the sacredness of the land and the richness of our cultures. In gratitude to this creator, we continue to care for the land or try to anyways. We continue to embrace our cultural heritage and find harmony between our faith in Christ and our indigenous traditions.
I will finish with two stories. One, the William Cooper story and I have a friend in the back here, Abe, a wonderful Jewish brother who honours this man every year. One story of William Cooper on the morning of December the sixth, 1938, a year before war broke out with Nazi Germany. Stories had filtered through into the years of our aboriginal leaders in this country, aboriginal communities about a place, about a thing called cite or the night of broken glass in Germany, 24 horrifying hours that saw hippers brown shirts rampaged through the streets of Germany, looting, burning and smashing Jewish stores and synagogues. In just a few hours, nearly 100 Jews had been killed In approximately 30,000 incarcerated in concentration camps
Down in Melbourne, a group of aboriginal people led by this 78-year-old man, William Cooper marched to the German embassy in Collins Street. They were scheduled for an 11:30 AM meeting with Dr. Dresler, the Consul General to the Third Reich. They didn’t get access but the marches had decided on their message. These few resolved a protest, the cruel persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazi government of Germany and asking them that this persecution be brought to an end. Remarkably, these protestors were Jewish, they were aboriginal people and they were led by a 78-year-old man named William Cooper
Yad Vashem, the world’s leading research centre on the Holocaust says this particular protest was the only one of its kind and they followed him as one of their international heroes. I’ve been there and I’ve seen that the honour of that this man has been given Australia. … This is my Mandela, this old man William Cooper. He’s received the highest honour from the Jewish people. They keep the memory of this powerful deeded alive every year and it was William Cooper who wrote to the church in Australia with this simple request which he achieved through his partnership with John Needham of St. Andrew’s Cathedral down here in George Street.
He was the one who came up with the idea of Aborigines Sunday and was celebrated and knit Sunday nearest to Australia. And he said these words, he wrote these words, he says, ‘we request that sermons be preached on this day dealing with the aboriginal people and the need of the gospel and response to it.’
One day a young man full of passion and idealism came to Jesus and asked him this question, teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?
And this is Jesus’s answer to that great question, what is justice? Jesus replied, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it. Love your neighbour as you love yourself. All the law and the prophets Hang on these two command, these two commandments.
May I also add that also what hangs in there is Plato’s understanding of justice as well as Aristotles, as well as Adam Smith, as well as all the people who’ve got definitions about justice. It rests on that great commandment. What shall I render under the Lord for all of his benefits towards us this Aboriginal Sunday? Can we dream together that we will render justice and both every day, everywhere to everyone? Amen.
The livestream of the St John’s Glebe Scared Tree service on Aboriginal Sunday is available here: it is worth experiencing it.