Revd Dr Garry Deverell, Lecturer and Research Fellow at the UD School of Indigenous Studies, wrote a prayer for NAIDOC week 2022.
Divine creator, who is known by many names,
this NAIDOC week we give you thanks that we are here,
this NAIDOC week we give you thanks that we are here,
that we have survived.
We give thanks for our ancestors,
We give thanks for our ancestors,
those who formed country,
and now guide us in the myriad voices of
and now guide us in the myriad voices of
kangaroo and eagle, mountain and creek.
We remember our elders, warriors and prophets –
Manalargena, Truganini and Wooredy,
We remember our elders, warriors and prophets –
Manalargena, Truganini and Wooredy,
Tongerlongeter, Dolly, Fanny and many others* –
those who resisted the invader and, when all seemed lost,
those who resisted the invader and, when all seemed lost,
sought to make treaty with them.
We pray today that you would give us the strength we need
We pray today that you would give us the strength we need
to resist the newest iterations
of colonialism and white supremacy,
that country and all her children may not only survive
that country and all her children may not only survive
but thrive and be glad.
Amen.
* these are imporrtant figures in lutruwita/trouwerner/Tasmania. But you may substitute names from where you live.
Reverend Dr Garry Deverell is a trawloolway man and a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the School of Indigenous Studies in the University of Divinity. From 2019, Garry chaired the working group that conceived the model for the School and brought it into being. Garry is a theologian of liturgy and sacraments, of Christian community, and of Indigenous experience in the colonised world. He is the author of Gondwana Theology (2018) and The Bonds of Freedom (2008) as well as multiple journal articles and book chapters.
University of Divinity
School of Indigenous Studies
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