No one who has witnessed shared in the events of recent days, whether directly, through television or participation in the National Day of Mourning, can ever forget the sight of grown men crying together, the tearful embrace of relatives reunited or the seemingly inconsolable grief of those who have lost loved ones. In these times of national trauma the heart of our nation is ripped open, the rare gift of seeing what lies deepest in the national consciousness is laid bare for all to see. Because of this, the events of the last few weeks contain within themselves a hidden treasure, the very real possibility, if the opportunity is seen and seized, for the people of God to participate in the transformation of the destiny of Australia. The impact of the Bali bombings contains seeds that promise to bring the long awaited and prayed for revival which so many believers have been praying for in our land. This window of opportunity is however fragile and if the church does not respond with wisdom and care our last state will be worse than our first.

Every nation possesses a self- identity fashioned around certain stories about itself, where it has come from and where it is going. These stories, which become more and more idealised with time, so that they become national “myths” powerfully shape the decisions which are made as to the direction of the national destiny. In a fallen world where the human conscience is dominated by the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:22), it is impossible for nations, any more than individuals, to function without these myths as to their origins and place in the world. As the Roman statesman Seneca said, “A sailor without a destination cannot distinguish a good wind from an ill wind.” God, who has arranged the times and borders of peoples so that they may seek him (Acts 17: 26- 27), and to whom the true glory of all the nations will eventually flow (Revelation 21:24- 26), understands the needs of each nation for its unique place and contribution in the world as it moves towards his universal kingdom.

Australia has been dominated by the “national myths” of other people and has laboured to find a self- identity true to its God – given place in the world. Until just over one hundred years ago we were the colony of a European power, subject to the English understanding that they possessed a special call to civilise the world. This old myth, “Rule Britannia”, is no longer sustainable. In its place has arisen another myth, that of the United States of America. Grounded in the story of the Pilgrim Fathers and the American Revolution, this nation has risen to the place of the supreme world power guided by an indelible belief that it has a “manifest destiny” to bring liberty to all within its sphere of influence. Today, this is the world.

The great danger for any nation is that, because of its own poor self- understanding, it will submit itself unquestionably and without spiritual discernment, to the myth of another people more confident than itself. There is nothing new to this, and one expects that it flow through history until the return of Christ. For example, whatever benefits that came from the Pax Romana, the long period of peace and prosperity that Rome brought to the ancient world, it was nevertheless the peace of an empire controlled from one centre and one vision. It never equally advantaged all the peoples under its sway. The same would necessarily be true for any future Pax Americana. No single nation, whatever its form, could ever set the mould where individual nations could find their God – given destiny. Whatever the virtues, or otherwise, of the war on terrorism and Iraq, the decisions as to the future directions of Australia must be made from the only centre that can tell us who we truly are as Australians called to image God in this world; this one true centre is Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can tell us who we are and where we should be going.

This is particularly important for Australia, perhaps more so than for any other nation on the earth. The circumstances of the founding of Australia as a modern nation are, to my knowledge, more terrible than that of any other people. Quite simply, we were the dumping ground of the unwanted. In 1788 no one really wanted to be here. Given that the formative experiences or childhood of a nation are deeply imprinted upon its culture, this beginning in rejection is an act of cruelty from which we have never recovered. No matter how well we do things we never seem to be able to make it in the world. For example, even while the President of the Olympic Federation was telling us that Sydney 2000 was “the greatest Olympic Games ever”, we were the first nation whose currency dropped in value during an Olympics.

Sure, we boast, rightfully, of the best climate in the world and the safety and peace of our shores, and possess remarkable sporting prowess for a nation of our size, taking special delight in defeating our old masters the English, but somehow this is not convincing enough. In my opinion, the preoccupation with these attributes reveals that we are a people stuck in the adolescent stage of our self – understanding. A mature Australia, an Australia truly under God, awaits us. Along the way we have developed some great characteristics: mateship, whose core is partnership in times of struggle; a deep appreciation of equality, our national icons – the bushman, the digger, the sports stars all strive, play toil or die under conditions where every person must prove their worth without a head start.

Yet at a deeper level there remains an emptiness of heart. The famous A Metaphysical Song by poet Adam Lindsay Gordon exposes a core belief we do not often confront. “Life is mostly froth and bubble. But two things stand like stone. Company in another’s trouble, Courage in your own.” Pain, however it is covered up, by the dry Aussie sense of humour that seeks to shrink everything to size, by wild pleasure seeking or by blind optimism “No Worries”, still determines the identity of our people. This is not a material pain, at its deepest it is the pain of not knowing the compassionate heart of the Father.

We cannot under the sad aspects of our history- the fatherlessness of our national origins, the enormous illegitimacy rates of the early years, the absent fathers in the bush, the wandering drover, the soldier at the front, the thousand roaming the countryside seeking employment through the Great Depression, the workaholic and so on. But we can enter into a healing and a new future. Where can we find the healing of the lack of “inner meaning” that plagues us? Our deep heart longing for security can only be found in the providence of God and in Jesus Christ. If we discern these matters clearly it is not impossible that this nation can become a disciple of Jesus even as he commanded (Matthew 28:19).

I want to humbly suggest that one of the keys to our God – given destiny lies right under our noses. This is the Aborigine. These people, who God sovereignly placed in our land, have never really “fitted” into the Aussie myth. They may be a feature on the landscape, but they are never in the midst of the story. I see this as the devil’s deception in the following way. One thing strikes me when I meet tribal Aboriginal people (especially Christians) whose roots are still in the land, the softness of their spirit. It is this softness of spirit that is a key to the progress of the kingdom of God in our country (Matthew 5:3- 5).