Uniting Church in Australia - In truth and solidarity, join us in marking the Day of Mourning 2024 ❤️💛🖤

Day of Mourning 2024 A day for truth-telling, justice and healing #UCADayofMourning For almost 30 years the Uniting Church has been in Covenant with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC). Made in honesty about our history and in hope for the future, the Covenant commits us to work for a more just church and nation. Bound by faith and a dream for God’s justice and healing, we walk together as First and Second Peoples, sharing in solidarity, joy and sorrow on the path to reconciliation. As part of this enduring commitment, you’re invited to mark a Day of Mourning this Sunday 21 January. The Uniting Church has marked a Day of Mourning on the Sunday before 26 January since 2019. In marking this day, we celebrate the survival and resilience of First Nations people and honour their ancient culture and spirituality. We seek to witness to the truth of our history as a nation. A Day of Mourning worship resource is available from the Assembly. In the introduction, UAICC National Chair Rev Mark Kickett and Uniting Church President Rev Sharon Hollis say, “As Christians, we hear the promise of Jesus that the truth will set us free. This day invites us to listen to the truth of the effects of colonisation and racism on First Peoples and to hope that in confronting this truth we will discover ways to create communities of justice and healing.” A range of other resources are available to help you take part, including a list of Uniting Church Day of Mourning services which are just a sample of what's planned around the country. Several of these are sharing directly with local First Nations communities. Let us know if you'd like your event added. We’d love to hear how you marked the Day of Mourning. Email the Assembly or tag your social posts with #UCADayofMourning. Go to the resources As the Uniting Church we mark 26 January with respect and in honour of the survival and resilience of the world's oldest living culture. President Rev Sharon Hollis and UAICC National Chair Rev Mark Kickett have shared a joint Survival Day message reflecting the Uniting Church's covenant commitments to speak truth about history and seek justice in the present. We encourage you to watch, share and start conversations in your community. Your community might like to explore the Assembly's Living the Covenant Locally resource, which seeks to empower a grassroots movement of people across the Uniting Church to bring our Covenant commitments alive in their local context. Through a range of resources for learning and advocacy, people can grow understanding, friendships with First Peoples and action to see our commitments take root in the soil of our communities. The UCA and UAICC's covenanting journey began in the early 1980s when a vision arose among Aboriginal and Islander Christians to come together and form a National Congress. Read more about the milestones of this journey as we've sought to walk together over the past three decades. Image: 7th UCA President Jill Tabart and Chair of the UAICC Pastor Bill Hollingsworth sign the Covenanting Statement on 10 July 1994 Take our post-Referendum survey Following the 2023 Referendum on a Voice to Parliament, the Assembly is looking to understand how Uniting Church members and communities approached the referendum in light of our own commitments and identity and what our next steps might be in this area. Take our short five question survey below. Have your voice heard

Join us in prayer for All those marking a Day of Mourning. May we hear God's call to action that joins us, First and Second Peoples, in a shared future of truth-telling, justice and healing. Stay tuned for the first full 2024 National Update on 31 January. Make sure you're subscribed here! Share Tweet Forward