How was your Australia Day?
How did you spend your Australia Day?
Yesterday I was the official pastor at the Australia Day celebrations for the City of Burnie.
At this event a number of people became citizens of Australia
And one of the things that surprised me, was despite it being a secular event
The citizenship allegiance to Australia began with the following line;
From this time forward, under God,
God has had and continues to have a major influence in Australia
God’s light has shone and continues to shine in many different ways throughout this nation.
And today we are going to look at how God has had an influence on Australia.
Unlike a lot of other countries,
Christianity or religion was not part of the official written master plan for those organising white settlement in Australia.
It was not a high priority.
Admittedly there were chaplains and priests from the very beginning,
however unlike many countries Australia has never had a state church nor was the main reason people came to establish a new colony the influenced by religious conviction.
Despite this Christianity and God are significant in the lives of many Australians and the history of Australia.
Over 70% of the population say they are Christians.
Over 85% of the population say they believe in a higher being.
How did this happen?
Well rather than God working by forcing people to acknowledge him through laws,
God has used and continues to use many individuals and groups to allow His light to shine
and to impact the lives of others throughout Australia.
This is even evident from the very first settlers to arrive in Australia.
On the first fleet amongst the convicts, officials and sailors, two pastors;
Richard Johnson and Samuel Marsden were sent to Australia.
Now Samuel Marsden gained the nickname the flogging pastor, because he had the difficult job of preaching the Gospel of Sunday, then on Monday he was required to act as a judge.
His true allegiance came to bear later in life when the opportunity arose he left Australia and moved to New Zealand so he could focus on mission work, the work of sharing the Gospel.
Johnson was the senior chaplain.
He was actually encouraged by two people many Christians know well to join that First Fleet to Australia.
Isaac Watts and John Newton.
These two people were part of a group that first persuaded a reluctant British government at the time that it would be a good idea to have a chaplain as part of the first fleet and secondly persuaded Richard Johnson to be that chaplain.
Now despite the difficulties they knew they would face
and that many of the people on board the first fleet were criminals and if they weren’t criminals they had shady backgrounds and questionable motives
Pastors Johnson and Marsden trusted that God was above all trouble,
all difficulties and
all tragedy.
In fact they held a strong conviction that the very people God wanted to help were these people
and the natives not only of Australia but also the South Pacific.
They held the view that God would shine His light throughout the new colony and beyond.
This trust and faith in God drove them beyond their own abilities and helped them overcome the many limitations.
Some of these limitations could have hindered God’s light being seen.
Officially Pastors Johnson and Marsden were to take 1 bible each.
However somehow they managed to sneak on board 4200 Christian books, including bibles, new testaments, sermons and other literature.
I can just about imagine the scene, Johnson and Marsden carrying suitcases and trunks on board the ship saying, oh its just a few clothes.
You could see how important this mission was to them.
They went above and beyond what was expected.
What about you are you prepared to go above and beyond what is expected to share God’s good news with your family and friends?
Now the journey to Australia on the small ships was difficult.
People died, people got ill, and remember when they got here they started from scratch.
There were no toilets, no fridges, no playgrounds.
In fact there were no buildings.
Everything they had to build from scratch or bring with them.
Life was difficult.
These Englishmen and Irishmen arrived in Australia in the middle of summer.
Now remember for them anything above 18 degrees Celsius was considered hot.
And it was probably around the 30s.
For many of them it was a lot hotter than they had ever experienced.
Some of them probably thought this was hell.
But they couldn’t sit around
They were required to franticly unload ships
and to get the new settlement started.
Some of them must have wondered what had they got themselves into, especially those who were not convicts.
And some of the convicts were probably now convinced more than ever that stealing a loaf of bread was not really worth it.
During the journey Pastor Richard Johnson and His wife Mary experienced their own personal tragedy.
They lost their first child before he was even born.
Despite all the difficulties quite a number of people on the First Fleet remained focussed in trusting God.
Just over a week after their arrival Johnson and Marsden organised the first church service under a tree.
The whole community stopped and focussed on God.
You would probably think the focus of such a service would be about asking God to help them with their difficult task.
But it wasn’t, instead the focus of the service was to
thank and praise God despite all the difficulties and troubles they had experienced.
The sermon was titled,
“How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me?” based on Psalm 116.
Isn’t that amazing?
Remember this is from a pastor had lost a child,
was a long way from family and friends and yet his focus was on thanking God for all the goodness he and the new settlers had received.
And then Richard Johnson immediately went about building a church with his own finances and mostly his own labour.
This is something each of us are encouraged to do. To look at how we can thank and praise God for all His goodness.
Now you can see these two pastors weren’t going to just do the minimum.
And they did not allow the troubles of the past to over shadow their relationship with God and the future He offered themselves and the new community.
Nor were the difficulties going to stop them shining God’s light amongst all people.
They were prepared to go beyond the basics.
They wanted to ensure that others had the best chance of seeing God’s light, about hearing God’s grace, receiving God’s forgiveness.
And that to, is your call.
Jesus calls each one of us to be his light wherever we are,
whether there are difficulties or good times.
The first white settlers of Australia would have experienced difficulties, problems and at times darkness
But God was present
And not just dimly but very clearly.
Through Pastors Johnson and Marsden, plus many others both officials and convicts
God’s light was shining.
People were seeing the good things God had provided.
and they were looking forward to the many good things God would provide.
The difficulties and negative past was out shone by the goodness of God.
This is a fact of God.
God is always breaking through darkness.
God is always outshining the difficulties we and others
encounter
God’s hope and good news out shines the worries in our lives.
In our reading from Isaiah chapter 9 earlier we heard,
There will be no more gloom for those in distress.
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
God’s presence does not mean that we will not experience troubles or dark times.
These are part of life, simply because sin exists.
And we will only avoid sin and its consequences once we take our place in heaven.
God’s presence reminds us that there is a future.
God’s presence means that there is hope, there is something better to come.
It reminds us that difficulties and troubles are not the only thing that exists.
God’s presence means we are not alone,
that there is something more than what we can achieve or have achieved.
God’s presence means that our life does not depend nor even need many of the things that cause us worry.
In other words even though difficulties will occur,
or we will worry about some things or situations God will overcome them.
What are the things that worry you?
Money?
Family?
Health?
Job?
Safety?
Now in each of these areas difficulties will exist for most people.
Just recently I spent time with someone who has cancer.
Interestingly this person who is a Christian still has a very positive outlook on life.
One of the first things he said is that cancer truly results in you praying more to God
Secondly he said he is now mixing with people that he would never have met if he didn’t have the cancer.
And this has meant he has the opportunity to share with others through his attitude and approach the faith he has in God.
Remember God is with us, everytime we encounter difficulties
And God will help us through these difficulties
And often we can reflect God’s light despite the problems we encounter.
You see focussing on God gives us another perspective.
A better perspective, the true perspective of what life is about.
It is a perspective that is guaranteed to deliver hope and a future.
Listen to something important that God says to us from Romans 8, verses 37 to 39
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
No matter what happens in life God’s love is always superior.
That is important to remember.
It is important to take a little break from time to time and reflect on what good things you can see that God has been up to, and to share them with others!
And not just in your own life, but also in the lives of other people.
It’s best to do this regularly not just as reaction to when difficulties become obvious.
This is shining God’s light in the world.
It is something that we should do daily!
To assist you in doing this ,
you may want to start by using the simple ACTS prayer formula that many people use.
The A and the T are especially helpful in this situation.
A stands for Adoration…where we reflect on who God is and How good he is, praising God for who He is.
If we were to read a little further in chapter 9 from Isaiah we would encounter terms like Wonderful Counsellor, Prince of Peace, Everlasting father.
Almighty God, creator of everything also come to mind.
Whilst T stands for thanksgiving, reflecting on the many things we can thank God for and thanking God for everything good in our lives, the things that have happened and the opportunities that exist.
For those who are interested the C stands for Confession, repenting of our sins and S for Supplication, asking God for our supplies or needs and the supplies and needs of others.
Now when you pray this way each day,
there is at least part of the day where God’s light is beaming into your life.
Where you are noticing the beams of God’s light around you.
But not only that when we pray this way
God is equipping us with what we can share with others.
So as we remember Australia Day, and celebrate what it means to be Australian,
Remember that God is behind it all, everything good we receive comes from God.
And that God is constantly shining amongst us, outshining any difficulties we maybe experiencing or encounter.
But more importantly God wants every Australian to receive His love,
And this is something each one of us can be part of sharing. AMEN
