How to be an Agent of Reconciliation

Thanks, Jasmine, that was powerful, and thanks Andy for your prayer.

So Jasmine said some of what I was going to talk about this morning, which is us needing to be able to have difficult conversations and still love one another and maintain the unity of the body.

Ephesians 4, 25-32 says, among other things speak the truth, each one to his neighbour, because we are members of one another.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another just as God also forgave you in Christ.

Walk in love as Christ also loved us.

Well, of course, this referendum is very significant because if it's successful and honestly it's not looking like it will be at this stage, but if it was successful, it would change the constitution and the relationship of the First Nations people in Australia to our government structures, because at the moment, aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' peoples aren't recognised at all in the constitution.

They're not mentioned.

The most oblique mention they have is through the race powers section of the constitution, which is a bit anachronistic nowadays, although the voice would not grant any real power.

They don't have power to make legislation, to set up bodies, to do a whole lot.

Actually, it would give formal recognition and a permanent voice to them in the political process and there's been nearly a dozen different Aboriginal Peake bodies set up in the last 50 years, which is astounding.

So these things keep getting set up and torn down by governments and reconfigured.

Now I want to say up front I doubt there is a person in this room today I certainly hope there's not who doesn't want to see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders recognised in the constitution in some way and for their lives to be made better and prospering as part of our society.

I think we all agree with that.

I think most Australians would want to see that.

The disagreement is whether the voice is a good way to achieve this.

Now, for most First Nations people and a significant number of their supporters, the answer is yes and this is what First Nations people have asked for.

Don't forget, when British settlement occurred in Australia, their land, their culture and sometimes their lives were taken away.

And what we see in that video do you might think, well, how is this going to help with that situation in the video?

We've got to remember, in the background of all of this, that this disadvantage that they experience, that they face, goes back to those roots.

We might look and say, well, people, just they need to get up.

They need to get over it.

They need to get the help they need, they need to move on.

They need to just not commit crime.

They need to, they need to, they need to.

The reality is that this pain and this experience of our First Nations people goes back to their experience of white settlement in Australia.

And is the voice going to fix all that?

Well, no, and that was actually one of the big reasons I was inclined to vote no.

Not that I didn't want to see Aboriginal people being empowered in quite the opposite but I thought how is this going to achieve anything?

And actually, for many people, this is why they're voting no.

It's not going to achieve anything.

Some Aboriginal people are saying, well, it's not going to achieve anything.

One of the things that convinced me was at the meeting that was held here a couple of weeks back was they said look, we're actually looking at generational change.

This is going to contribute to generational change.

It's not going to fix everything.

The voice is, frankly, not going to have that much power, but looking into the long term and that sort of answered that question I had about it.

So, of course, for many Aboriginal people who are voting no, they're voting no to the voice because it's not enough.

They want a voice but they want more.

I think there's a fear that well, if we say yes to this and this is all we're going to get, and this isn't enough.

Of course there are some who thought we want the status quo and so on.

They're happy with the way things are.

But for many it's not.

They see the voice in a step in the process of recognition, reconciliation and healing the divisions of our nation.

For many of us as Christians, we see it as a small act of repentance and restorative justice for our nation.

Of course others, black and white, think it's not a good solution.

So, as I've mentioned, some indigenous people are happy with the status quo or they don't think it goes far enough.

Some people think it will cause more division than it heals.

I think Jasmine put it very well when she said we're already divided.

We may not all see it, we may not live with it in our faces, but for the people who experience that, they're experiencing socioeconomic division and more.

Some say our current systematically gives indigenous people a voice and the voice to parliament would be unfair to the majority population.

I'm not going to comment anymore on that.

I just want to put out.

People have reasons and they're not all bad reasons, and you probably resonate with one side than the other All of us will, I think, and you may think the other side is just plain wrong.

But in our disagreements, please remember two things.

If you're a no voter, planning or voting no, just remember that yes does not make someone a left wing intersectional astute and voting no does not make.

For those of you who are voting yes, voting no does not make someone a racist.

People have reasons and you may not think they're good reasons, but they're not necessarily morally bad reasons.

So I want to say that, because we need to hold together bigger than this and I know that we will as a nation, whatever your neighbor's opinion, you can still love them.

So whatever happens on Saturday, the reality is political solutions can only go so far in bringing healing and reconciliation.

Politics does have a part to play.

We can't avoid politics and we shouldn't avoid politics in trying to get things done.

That's how things are done at the national level.

But whether you're first nations, whether you're first fleet or first generation migrant Australians, when the salve of the gospel is applied to the human heart, there's real power for deep healing, peace and reconciliation.

Ephesians, chapter two, verse 14, says Jesus is our peace, who has made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.

Now, paul, there is talking between Jew and Gentile in that context, but the point I want to make is the gospel brings reconciliation, not just between people and God, but between people and people, beginning with Jew and Gentile and then extending to the rest of us.

And in the remaining time I want to talk about how we can be part of that process of reconciliation, whether that's reconciling divisions in society or in your relationships with friends and family.

So Matthew 5.9,.

Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers.

And in Romans 12.18, paul said if possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone, which of course implies it's not always going to be possible.

But don't be the reason it's not.

So how can we be peacemakers in our family and communities?

Look, this is going to be fairly rapid fire.

Have I got control of that, or could you pull up my slide?

Great, there we go, okay.

So first of all, philippians 4.6 says don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and repetition, repeat your petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and I hope this is obvious.

But the first step in seeking reconciliation and peace is to seek God in prayer when we're stressed or anxious or upset I don't know about you, I hate conflict, I'm really allergic to it, and it sets off a whole bunch of hormones and you stop thinking clearly.

So prayer gives us someone we can pour out our heart to If we're hurt, if we're frustrated, if we're confused.

Just talking to God can help bring clarity.

It can help calm us down and, at the very least, enter into a discussion in a better frame of mind.

Now, if you're in a conflict situation, it's not actually always a good place to start by praying with someone at the start of that, just because it can be.

I'm speaking from experience, but certainly us be prayerful as we enter in.

So prayer I just because we sometimes forget.

And the next one is humility.

Come in humility and in good faith into the thing.

So Philippians 2, 3 to 4, do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, consider others as more important than yourselves.

And there are opinions too.

Maybe, at least when we're in this stage of a thing, everyone should look not only to their own interests but rather to the interests of others.

When we're coming to try and bridge the gap in a relationship, we need to come in humility and in good faith.

And in public debate we often see whether it's this issue or other issues we often see one or both sides actually assuming the worst in the other rather than engaging in genuine dialogue and their only interest is in winning and they'll set up what we call a straw man.

So you know what a straw man is.

Argument is when you take all the worst arguments that someone has or reasons for believing.

You ignore all the good ones.

You take the worst ones and maybe you construct a few others that sort of come from that and make it look really bad and then you attack that rather than attacking or engaging with.

There's a better way of putting it if we're actually trying to bring reconciliation rather than engaging with the argument.

The opposite of straw manning is called steel manning and if you want to know you're good and you've got a good case, you take all their best arguments and then you engage with those and if you can take that on, you're on to something.

And so often when we're coming in, if we don't come with humility and good faith, we come assuming that the other side has no legitimate claim, no legitimate argument.

They're just being unreasonable and we're here to just steamroll over them.

Now you may feel justified in your position and you may even win the argument, but you haven't brought peace, you haven't brought reconciliation, and that's what we're trying to do.

So look, this doesn't mean you have to agree, it doesn't mean you have to move over to their side, but it means you come humbly and in good faith, with the best of intentions, and that means coming to listen.

James 1 19-20 says everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness.

And Proverbs 18-13 says the one who gives an answer before he listens.

This is strong words, this is foolishness and a disgrace for him.

That's been me at times.

So coming in good faith and humility means listening with empathy, putting yourself into their shoes, asking questions to try and dig to understand.

What do you mean by that?

Or get into beyond the surface so that you can understand that point of view.

Thank you for listening.

Not just find an opening to attack or reinforce your assumptions when you're feeling defensive.

I've been in this place, man, when you get defensive and you don't want to do that because that then just puts you in a vulnerable place.

So you've got to leave your guard up and it's like Now again I want to emphasize just because someone has feelings because this is a little bitthe culture sort of says, if someone has feelings in their opinion, you've got to listen to it.

It's almost like you've got to agree.

No, just because someone has feelings or an opinion doesn't mean you have to agree with them.

It doesn't mean you have to act on that.

They're just feelings and an opinion and that's okay and they're allowed to have them and you're allowed to have yours and you're allowed to come out of that conversation saying you know, I'm not convinced, I'm sorry, but I still love you.

But what understanding their feelings will do is will help you navigate the relationship with love and, if possible, gentleness, and so in that way, hopefully, we can achieve God's righteousness.

Hebrews 12.15 says make sure that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many.

Don't make sure that a root of bitterness springs up in you.

Make sure it doesn't spring up among us.

Matthew 5, this is Jesus.

If you're offering your gift on the altar and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you.

Not that you have something against them.

They have something against you.

They were being really petty, I didn't do anything.

They have something against you.

The relationship is broken.

Leave your gift there in front of the altar.

First, go and be reconciled with your brother or sister.

Be what, reconciled with your brother or sister and then come and offer your gift.

So here's the point I want to make with this.

This isn't about who's at fault in this.

This is about sometimes being a peacemaker.

If our goal is peace and restoration and reconciliation, sometimes we have to take ownership of a problem.

We have to take ownership of a problem that's not ours or that's not our fault.

I don't mean we take someone else's guilt or blame, but we take ownership of trying to move forward and bring healing and restoration and resolution.

Why do we do that?

Isn't this exactly what God did?

Isn't this what Jesus did on the cross?

This fault was it that we're in the mess of sin and death and alienation from God?

It's ours.

Who took responsibility for fixing that God?

Jesus did, because that's what love does, and he paid a heavy price to do that.

Now listen, as a white person.

Often us non-indigenous people might be being wrongly accused for the injustices of previous generations, and perhaps some people do accuse us for that, but we're like.

Well, we didn't cause it.

My ancestors weren't even here when I wasn't on the first fleet.

My ancestors didn't come until the end of the 19th century.

Why am I getting blamed for this?

Why do I have to pick up the pieces?

And whoever is or isn't, or was or wasn't to blame, it doesn't change the fact that harm was done and you know what?

You and I are living in this society where it was done and people live with that harm and society is fractured because of it.

Indigenous people have lost community and culture and they still live with that hurt.

Not my fault, I didn't do it, my ancestors didn't do it.

But am I going to ignore the problem or am I going to take responsibility and say you know what?

I feel something for that.

I don't feel blame, I don't feel guilt, but I feel compassion.

I'm human.

It was actually as a younger man, me putting my.

I thought what would I be as a young man?

What would I feel like if I was a young indigenous man in this country?

I thought I'd just feel right.

That completely shifted my perspective and I was thinking that, as a Christian, so our generation has a chance to fix or help fix.

Well, I don't think we're going to fix things in a generation, and so, rather than getting defensive, for instance this is where I want to end.

Look, I am applying this to reconciliation between black and white, but take it wherever you are facing conflict or seeing conflict and you have a chance.

Rather than getting defensive because you're being falsely or you feel like you're being falsely blamed and maybe you are being falsely blamed.

Rather than being defensive, can we take a more redemptive view of what's going on?

Can we maybe take up our cross across of suffering and of shame and sometimes of death, take ownership to help bring peace and healing and justice?

Now, again, we don't have to buy into the narrative of guilt and shame, accusation and defensive.

And there is a narrative of guilt and shame out there.

I'm not denying that.

I'm just saying that for us as Christians, we don't have to buy into that.

We can create a different narrative.

We can come in the opposite spirit.

This is what we're good at as Christians when there is hatred, we bring love, and so we can come in that spirit of love and hope and restoration and healing, and see the gospel, the power of the gospel, at work and lives and culture.

So, whether you feel like it's your fault or your problem or not, let's take ownership.

And what can we do?

Okay, here's where it can get hard, luke 19.

Zaccheus stood there and said so you know the story of Zaccheus.

A tax collector gets saved.

Life's turned around, boom like this If I have extorted anything from anyone, I'll pay back four times as much.

I'm like he must have had some pretty good investments to be able to.

I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't have known, but you know that was his heart.

I have wronged people.

I've got to fix this.

I've got to really fix it.

Numbers 5, verses 6 to 7,.

Numbers 5:6–7

When a man or woman commits any sin against another, that person acts unfaithfully, not towards the person they wronged but towards the Lord, and is guilty.

The person is to confess the sin he has committed.

He is to pay full compensation and a fifth of its value and give to the individual he has wronged.

In compensating the individual wronged, god is also compensated.

Look, sometimes we may and now I've not all the time but we may be in a situation when we're not just having a disagreement with some of it.

Actually, we have wronged someone.

We may need to find a way to make restitution for that wrong.

Sorry doesn't always cut it.

Yeah, sorry isn't justice.

Sorry doesn't undo what was done.

Sorry doesn't fix the problem, the socioeconomic, cultural problems Aboriginal people are facing.

And look, it becomes really tricky with something historic like land rights, doesn't it?

Now governments are trying to muddle through this.

How do we fix that?

We've got now 200 years of a different system.

We've got millions of people living in this country.

We can't just give it back, even if we wanted to.

But whether it's land rights or mending a relationship, making peace is going to cost something.

There has to be something practical in it.

Talk is cheap, but bringing justice and repairing wrongs cost something, cost the Son of God, his life.

So what are we willing to pay to bring healing, to bring justice, peace and reconciliation?

Finally, the big one Mark 11, 25,.

And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive Him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your wrongdoing.

At some point we've just got to let it go and give it to God and let the other person off the hook.

Now, if you're the victim in a situation where you have been wrong.

The fact is, this world is imperfect.

There is no guarantee that you're going to find justice in this life.

There's no guarantee you're going to be heard by the other party, there's no guarantee that you will be compensated, there's no guarantee you're going to receive an apology, and even if the other party does engage in good faith and wants all of that, it may just not be possible because someone died.

Justice can't be done on a dead person.

The money they owe you is gone.

It's just not there.

The situation has changed, as we have in Australia.

So what do we do?

And if we're not able to forgive, we wrap ourselves up in chains and it feels righteous, but it kills us.

It kills us, and so this is where we have to run to the gospel On the cross.

Jesus took our sin, and here's the thing he took the sin of the person who sinned against you.

Now, whether they step into that forgiveness is another matter, but Jesus has dealt with it, and that means you can have it dealt with in Jesus.

And here's the thing If there is no justice in this life, we have the promise of justice in the next, and look that justice may be reconciliation, that may be getting the, whatever the apology.

I don't everything's going to be different, or it may not, but there will be justice.

Now it's hard, but you can forgive.

Look, the other thing is, forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean there's no pain left.

I've been thinking a little bit as we've been talking about this, and perhaps as white people, we get tired of oh sorry, every year it comes up again.

Do we have to go through this again?

But you know what I realized the Bible does?

It goes through it again and again and again.

What do Jews do every year at Passover?

They talk about the slavery that they experienced as a people and the redemption that God brought, because you can't have the story of redemption if you don't have the story of slavery in there.

You have to tell the bad bits.

You have to remember the bad bits so you can remember the really good bits and remember why they're so good.

Why do we tell the story of the cross every year?

Because the good bits are all the better.

Why do we talk about our sin, even though some of you, like me, have been Christians for decades?

Because Jesus saved us and it's a wonderful story and we can't tell that story if we don't tell the bad bits.

And so we need to let people lament and tell this, and particularly if we haven't got the healing yet.

And it's not that they're rubbing their faces into it or complaining, it's that it's part of the story and it will remain part of the story, and pray to God that it becomes part of the story of redemption.

But listen, forgive.

It's hard, but you can forgive by the power of the Spirit.

You must forgive if the cycle of trauma is to be broken and we're to be agents of peace and healing.

There can be no healing without forgiveness.

Okay, so whether you are standing in line at a polling booth next week or standing in for someone who has a grievance, I'm not telling you how to vote this morning.

You know how I think you should, but you need to make that decision before God.

But let love be your guide, let the gospel be our template and let's make it our goal, as far as it's up to us, to find a path to healing and reconciliation and peace in our relationships and in our nation.

Let's pray, father, we thank you for the gospel the gospel of reconciliation between us and you that you paid the price to make happen and the reconciliation we have with one another.

And Father, I want to just thank you for all the divisions that are in our society between black and white.

I thank you for the brotherhood and sisterhood, the family that is in our church and in your church, that you have brought us one and you have reconciled us and are reconciling us, and our hearts bleed and weep with those who weep, so their pain becomes our pain because we are family.

But we thank you that together we have a better hope in Jesus.

In Jesus' name, amen.