Recognising the Healing in Sorry Day!

By Pastor Leon Rosenberg

During the gathering a lame magpie wandered into the gathering space … providing a symbolic focus for injured souls present

Sorry Day is held annually on May 26, the day before National Reconciliation Week.

Sorry Day nationally, provides opportunity for members of First Nations peoples and others to gather and yarn about experiences of past colonial history, and of decisions of governments that have impacted on their families and those who came before them.

This year, a small group which included a number of St Paul’s congregational members and several visitors gathered at the Ferryden Park church to commemorate Sorry Day. Stories were shared of the loss of connection to family and kinship, and the dispossession of language and culture. In the yarning; in the sharing and listening, there was opportunity for healing, and a growth of understanding by others of the intergenerational trauma that continues to be carried today by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their families across Australia.

Joining the group was a lame magpie who wandered into the gathering space ….. providing a symbolic focus for the injured souls of those present.

Fellowship was enjoyed, including with the lame magpie, over kangaroo tail soup and sandwiches. While the magpie, took its leave to the corner for small nap after lunch, time was spent yarning, sharing stories, listening to some locally created poems, and in prayer for healing and reconciliation.

Leon Rosenberg is Pastor at St Paul’s Lutheran Church, and the Aboriginal Lutheran Fellowship at Ferryden Park, SA.