Good News to the Poor
Epiphany 3; Luke 4:14-21
On January 26, 1788,
an English fleet landed
here, and formally possessed
what was not theirs to possess.
They did not even acknowledge
that they had invaded
the lands of the Gadigal nation,
one of many nations
who lived as custodians
of country for 60,000 years.
Now let us respect Survival Day,
and if we celebrate Australia Day,
let us also repent and lament
invasion, genocide, assimilation,
the Stolen Generation,
deaths in custody,
the White Australia Policy,
and continuing racism,
misogyny, homophobia,
cultural, ethnic, environmental
blindness and exploitation.
Now in the allegedly United
States of America,
a leader has arisen,
seducing with money
and exploiting prejudice.
He rants and postures
like a modern Mussolini,
turning the Land of the Free
into a bunker of fascism.
Now in the lectionary cycle,
Jesus reads from Isaiah’s
Songs of the Suffering Servant:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim
release to captives and recovery
of sight to the blind, to let
the oppressed go free, to proclaim
the year of the Lord’s favour.”
Then Jesus said, “Today
this Scripture has been fulfilled
in your hearing.”
Would it were fulfilled again,
there and here, in this year!
Barb, poet priest 
This is incredibly powerful, and, of course, here we learn only the broadest aspects of Australian history and need to work hard to keep abreast with current affairs. I hope that I can share it on my blog.
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Thanks for your response and I’m happy for you to have shared the poem. Having watched Bishop Mariann’s wonderful sermon and appeal for mercy I felt a bit uneasy about the contempt I expressed about the relevant leader!
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O, both are needed, my friend. My daily prayer for him is a “Damascus” prayer that something throw him off his horse and change him into claiming his true identity as a child of God among the many children of God.
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I’m afraid in the heat of the moment in writing the poem I made two errors which I have only just discovered: the indigenous nation where the First Fleet landed is spelt Gadigal or (Cadigal) not Cadigan, and “formerly” should have been the other one “formally”! Sorry not to have checked more carefully. Barb Messner
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I will fix those in my copy.
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I’m in awe. So true, so powerful, and so pointed. Thank you.
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Whoops that sent early … it shows how little I know of the details of Australian history. Again, thank you so much.
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