(After I finished this article I read in the day’s news that 5% of the population under 17 are indigenous, but 40% of suicides in that bracket are Indigenous.) I don’t have rose-coloured glasses about Indigenous people, we have an Indigenous niece, have suffered from home invasion and been threatened with bashing by Aboriginal people. So, when around this time of the year I receive invitations to Australia Day prayer meetings with Indigenous people I have some perspective. Some of these invitations lean to the political left, some to the right. These emphases are legitimate, but I sense some basic spiritual issues need urgent attention before our whole nation can be healed. What Australian culture, inside and outside the Church lacks, is a holy fear of God.
Fear-less
If “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One brings insight” (Proverbs chapter 9, verse 10), it would be foolish to imagine that maintaining the status quo will see any great shift in Indigenous wellbeing. Instead of singing our upbeat national anthem, we would be much better off with some national lament over our many sins. When Abraham found himself amongst the Philistines, he testified, “‘There is no fear of God at all in this place.’” (Genesis chapter 20, verse 11). This is Australia’s spiritual state but blinded by affluence we can’t see it. Only Jesus can enlighten us about the true condition of the land.
Jesus and his Father
When Jesus was praying on the way to the cross he addressed God as, “Holy Father” (John chapter 17, verse 11). This is John’s equivalent to Gethsemane, where, “in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear…(Christ) was made perfect” (Hebrews chapter 5, verses 7 and 9). The spiritual insight of Jesus was perfected only as he intensely feared the impending judgement of his Father. Such insight is near extinct today. “Abba Father” is loved by God’s people, “Holy Father” we ignore. Which popular contemporary Christina song inculcates reverential fear? Until we learn to respect God as Holy we are spiritually stuck. Or, to put the same thing another way, there can be no revival.
Recognising the Image
A spiritual deficit in the foundation of modern Australia was the inability to recognise the original inhabitants as being made in the image of a Holy God. Hardly surprising, since the convicts and poor of British society were themselves treated inhumanely. And blinded by the idol of Empire the invaders couldn’t see that their own false worship was just as grievous to God as the nature religion of the Indigenous peoples. The precept of “sowing and reaping” is written into the social fabric of the universe; “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.” (Galatians chapter 6 verse 7). Behaving as if the Master of the land was a “harsh man”(Matthew chapter 25 verse 24), a deep unconscious projection of a hard distant Father-God entered into the spiritual culture of modern Australia. Ignorant of the Holy Father mainstream Australia lost sensitivity to the “Holy Spirit” (Ephesians chapter 4 verse 18). What can be done?
Look to the Lowly
Forget about the halls of parliament and megachurches, when the Lord begins a new thing he always works from the margins. This means following what the Spirit is doing amongst Indigenous Christians. Look for the emergence of a generation of spiritual leaders who have moved past conformity to European cultural forms of Christianity and past reacting against it. This will be a prophetic generation not given to ideologies of the right or left but who can hear God for themselves. This is the group who can work together in unity and EQUALITY (Colossians chapter 3, verse 11) with their non-Indigenous brothers and sisters under the same Holy Father. Few seem ready for this.
A Remnant
In scripture, encountering God’s holy presence meant fearing death (Isa 6: 5; Rev 1:17). But “awesome” in our churches means the same as in popular culture, “exciting”. Malachi prophesies of a day when “those who feared the Lord spoke with one another” (chapter 3, verse 16-18). This gained God’s attention and acted as a model for the nation. When Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians meet together in holy fear united through the blood of the cross (Colossians chapter 1, verse 20) something great will break out in our land for the healing of all. This Australia Day is an opportunity to pray together and ask our Father for a revival of such holy fear.
The Rev. Dr John Yates is an Anglican minister in Perth and has 5 children and 7 grandchildren. He spends time in praying, mentoring and writing.
John Yates’s previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/john-yates.html