Australia is the second most multi cultural country in the world.
Its life, culture and history is dominated by immigration.
We have one of the most stable civil governments in the world.
We are one of the most prosperous.
Australia is attractive and people long for the civic, religious, financial and social stability Australia maintains.
Father of all the nations.
You call us out of the good of national pride and security
To the great of God's kingdom purpose for the nations.
Help us to understand the times with wisdom and discernment
It's complex
It's very complex
When cultures clash
When expectations differ
When it takes several generations to settle
To truly understand
Help us Lord
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:1-3
Help us to welcome the dispossessed To be vigilant in values of freedom, justice and acceptance To be open to the stranger To be generous To move from charity to mission And trust the Gospel That is for all the nations
A kingdom purpose is stirring Can you hear it? Can you feel it? The nations they are crying And when the people cry Its God's time Because he hears the cry And rises to welcome them home
The act of making a pilgrimage – traveling to a sacred place to encounter the divine – is ancient, probably as old as humanity itself. Perhaps the first Christian pilgrimage was that of the Wise Men, men who were not even believers in the Messiah, but who knew that “something” drew them from their homes and studies. Unsure as to what they sought, they found not a someTHING, but a someONE: Christ the Lord.
Reflect, today, upon how willing you are to embrace sacrifice in your own life. No, your sacrifices are not able to save the world by their own merit, but if you face your crosses in life, be they big or small, and if you intentionally and wholeheartedly unite them to the actions of Jesus that first Holy Week, then you can be certain that you will suffer with our Lord. But you can also be certain that your suffering will be transformed by the power of this Holy Week and lead you to a glorious sharing in His triumph over all sin and suffering.
Who doesn’t love a story? Hope, conflict, wonder, desperation, loneliness, surprise, love, a hero. Story seems to be wired into our DNA. We all tell them, and we find many ways to do them.
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