Prayer and Acknowledgement

Reflecting on Reconciliation as Responsibility

All relationships include giving and receiving, inviting and responding, and the fruits of our connections together grow and deepen through our response-ability to each other.

Safina Stewart, proud Wuthathi and Mabuiag Island woman and artist, has created our artwork ‘Come to the Feast’ for National Reconciliation Week 2025, reflecting on Isaiah 25:6-8 and the beautiful and generous invitation we all have in coming together to the shared table of reconciliation. A table that is safe and welcoming, a space to share in conversation, curiosity, laughter and build relationships together.

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 25: 6-8

In this passage we see God’s redemptive, beautiful and hopeful vision for the future and the feast God is preparing for us, where He will remove the veil of mourning and wipe every tear from our eyes.

Throughout the Bible feasts are a pointer of celebration, of coming together in thankfulness and joy to share in the abundance of God’s provision. We also see the importance of feasting, and sharing meals, throughout Jesus’ ministry - his first miracle was in response to a crisis at a feast (John 2:1-11), he feasted with tax collectors (Matthew 9:10-17), provided in abundance in feeding the five thousand (Matthew 14:13-21), and shared a last supper with his disciples (Matthew 26:17-30).

As we sit in the hope of this Messianic feast, with the urgency and reality of the injustices facing First Nations peoples at the forefront of our minds, may we come together in prayer and solidarity this National Reconciliation Week. May we gather at this table of feasting, and share in the foretaste, or entree, of what God’s feast will be like. In Safina’s artwork the table is set for the feast with space for us to bring our own platters to share - a space where the stories of First Nations people are received and all contributions are respected, valued and bring richness and nourishment to the gathering.

This National Reconciliation Week, we invite you to join us in reflecting on coming to this feast together, living this out now, each one of us bringing our offerings, and working together towards the vision of safety, freedom and flourishing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.