National Sorry Day has been held annually on May 26 in Australia since 1998 as a day of remembrance and commemoration honouring the Stolen Generations – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children forcibly removed from their families. It acknowledges the trauma caused by past government policies and promotes healing and reconciliation. The day allows Australians to acknowledge the strength of Stolen Generations survivors and reflect on the ongoing impacts of forced removal.
In 1997, the Bringing Them Home Report was tabled in Parliament, which investigated the forced separations. It was the final report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. It documented the forced removal of Indigenous children, the resulting trauma to the Stolen Generations, and provided 54 recommendations for healing, reconciliation, and reparation. A 2025 report by The Healing Foundation revealed that only 6% (or 5 out of 83 tracked recommendations) of the 1997 Bringing Them Home report have been fully implemented after 28 years. The majority of recommendations, aimed at healing for Stolen Generations survivors, remain unfulfilled, with 54% not implemented at all.
A documentary on the Bringing Them Home Report can be viewed here.
One year later after the tabling of the Report, Sorry Day was introduced into the Australian political and community calendar on May 26, 1998.
“Sorry Day” called for a national apology, which was formally delivered by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to the Stolen Generations on behalf of the Federal Government on February 13, 2008..
In 2026, the closest Sunday to Sorry Day is the Day of Pentecost (May 24th, 2026). This provides a rich opportunity to entwine the story of Pentecost (Acts 2) with Sorry Day, a day that calls us not only to remember, but to listen… to lament… and to walk more truthfully together.
The following resources may be helpful for those who wish to draw together the Day of Pentecost and Sorry Day themes. In John 20, the risen Christ breathes peace and Spirit into a fearful, closed room. In Acts 2, that same Spirit moves outward, creating understanding across difference.
Opening Invitation / Acknowledgement
Today we gather on the lands of First Peoples,
lands that have been loved, sung over, and cared for
since time beyond memory.
We gather with gratitude – and we gather with honesty.
We look towards National Sorry Day,
a day that calls us not only to remember,
but to listen…to lament…
and to walk more truthfully together.
We remember the children of the Stolen Generations—
taken from family, from culture, from Country.
We remember the strength of those who survived,
and we acknowledge the wounds that remain.
Today is not only about the past.
It is about the kind of people we are becoming.
Welcome
Today may stir different things within us –
grief, sorrow, discomfort, even uncertainty.
Whatever you are carrying, you are welcome here.
And we trust that God meets us – not in perfection –
but in honesty, and in our willingness to keep walking together.
Passing of the peace
In our fear and silence, Christ comes among us and says, “Peace be with you.”
Peace be with us, and peace be with this land.
He breathes his Spirit upon us.
Breathe in us, Spirit of life.
Where voices have been silenced
Let truth be spoken.
Where stories have been ignored
Teach us to listen.
Where cultures have been wounded
Bring healing and honour.
At Pentecost, each heard in their own language.
May we hear and honour the voices of First Peoples.
What kind of people will we be?
A people of peace,
a people who listen,
a people who walk together in truth.
The peace of Christ be always with you.
And also with you.
A sign of peace is shared.
Prayer of Lament and Hope (Prayer of Confession)
God of truth and mercy,
you hear the cries that history tried to silence.
We bring before you the pain of the Stolen Generations—
children taken, families fractured,
language and culture disrupted,
love interrupted by policy and power.
(Silence for personal reflection and naming)
We confess the ways this story is not only past,
but present—
in systems not yet healed,
in justice not yet complete.
Give us courage to listen deeply,
to learn truthfully,
and to act justly.
May we walk gently on this land,
honouring those who have cared for it since the beginning.
May we build relationships marked by respect,
humility, and shared hope.
God of healing,
where there is brokenness, bring restoration.
Where there is silence, raise up truth.
Where there is distance, draw us into community.
And where there is sorrow,
plant seeds of hope. Amen.
Congregational Response / Affirmation
On this day of remembrance, what do we choose?
We choose truth over denial,
listening over silence,
justice over comfort.
How will we walk together?
With humility and respect,
seeking healing,
and honouring the voices of First Peoples.
What is our hope?
That truth will lead to healing,
and healing to renewed community.
Framing the readings (John 20 and Acts 2)
You might briefly prepare people to hear the connection:
Today we hear two stories of the Spirit.
In John 20, the disciples are behind locked doors – fearful, uncertain.
And the risen Christ comes among them, saying, “Peace be with you,”
and breathes his Spirit into them.
In Acts 2, that same Spirit moves outward –
and people from many nations hear in their own languages.
At Pentecost, people from many places gather,
and each one hears in their own language.
Not erased. Not replaced. But honoured.
Today, as we head towards National Sorry Day,
we listen to these stories alongside the truth of this land,
where voices have been silenced,
and where healing calls us into deeper listening.
So we listen, not only with our ears, but with our hearts.
Linking Pentecost & Sorry Day (a suggestion for a reflection/sermon thread)
At Pentecost, in Acts 2, people from many nations gather. And something extraordinary happens. They do not all speak the same language – but each one hears in their own.
Pentecost is not about sameness. It is about being heard, honoured, and understood in one’s own voice.
And that is where it meets Sorry Day.
Because the story of the Stolen Generations is also a story about language silenced,
culture suppressed, identity denied.
Children who were not allowed to speak their own language.
Families whose stories were interrupted.
Communities whose voices were ignored.
Pentecost is not just about speaking.
It is about being heard. And that matters on this land.
Because part of our history has been a failure to listen – to First Peoples,
to truth, to stories that challenge us.
The Spirit does not create sameness. The Spirit does not demand uniformity.
The Spirit creates understanding.
The Spirit does not silence or erase difference.
The Spirit honours it.
And so to be a Pentecost people in Australia
is to become a people who listen – deeply, humbly, truthfully.
So on this day, the question becomes:
What would it mean for us to be a Pentecost people in this land?
A people who listen across difference
A people who honour First Peoples’ voices, stories, and wisdom
A people who allow truth to be spoken – and truly heard
Because the miracle of Pentecost is not just speaking.
It is listening that leads to transformation.
A Simple Symbolic Action
a) Stones or Seeds Ritual
Provide small stones (for lament) or seeds (for hope), or both.
Invite people to hold a stone as they name grief, sorrow, or truth,
then place it in a shared bowl or at the foot of the cross/table.
You may provide an option to take a seed as a commitment to ongoing reconciliation.
Words to introduce the ritual
We cannot change the past,
but we can choose how we carry it,
and how we walk into the future.
As you come, you may carry a stone –
a sign of lament, of truth, of what must be named.
And you may take a seed –
a sign of hope, of commitment,
of the work still to be done in us and among us.
b) Bowl of Tears
Invite people to come forward, dip their fingers into the bowl of water,
and wipe the ‘tears’ down their face, followed by a time of quiet reflection.
A Brief Litany of Listening
For the voices long unheard:
Teach us to listen.
For stories that unsettle us:
Give us courage to hear.
For truth that calls us to change:
Lead us into action.
For relationships still to be rebuilt:
Guide us in humility and respect.
Options for Sending /Blessing
Go now as people of the risen Christ.
Not locked in fear, but opened by peace.
Not closed to difference,
but listening for the voices of this land.
And may the Spirit who breathes life
make of us a community
where truth is heard,
and healing can begin.
And may the God we know as Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer
go with you. Amen.
As we leave today,
may our remembrance become relationship,
and our sorrow become commitment.
Perhaps this week, you might take one step –
to listen, to learn, to support,
or to stand alongside First Peoples in tangible ways.
Small steps, taken faithfully,
become pathways toward justice.
Friends, go into this week
not turning away from truth,
but walking gently within it.
May you listen more deeply,
love more courageously,
and act more justly.
And may the God of all peoples –
Creator, Christ, and Spirit –
guide us toward healing,
together. Amen.
(Communion liturgy below)
Music/video
Archie Roach, ‘Took the Children Away‘
The Piano – Season 2 – one Aboriginal man, the last one to speak his language (5 mins)
Peter Salmon, a 92-year-old Thiinma Elder and stockman, performed original songs in his traditional language. He’s the last living speaker of the First Nations language Thiinma. He collaborated with musician Rosie Sitorus, a linguist who was working at the time with the Bundiyarra Irra Wangga Language Centre in Geraldton, helping to find and preserve Indigenous languages. The pair performed their song Warri Yungu Warri Paba – “The song means, if there’s no rain, there’s no water. And if there’s no water in the pools of the river, there’s no grass, there’s no kangaroos, there’s no birds. There’s no life, and the country dies.” At the finale of The Piano, Peter’s grandson Mitch came out and vowed on stage to keep his knowledge alive for the next generation.
Communion
The same Spirit who breathes peace
and opens understanding
now gathers us at this table.
Here, we are not strangers, but guests of grace.
Here, truth and mercy meet.
Here, we are formed again as a people
who will listen, honour, and walk together.
As we share this meal,
may we be nourished for the work of reconciliation.
Not only in words,
but in lives shaped by truth, courage, and compassion.
May this table be a place where truth is not feared,
where grace is abundant,
and where new relationships are born.
All are welcome here,
where Jesus is host and we are the welcome guests.
God be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Holy and life-giving God,
Creator of all peoples and all lands,
You spoke this world into being—
diverse and beautiful,
woven with many cultures, languages, and stories.
From the beginning,
you entrusted this land to its First Peoples,
who have cared for it, sung over it,
and lived in deep relationship with it.
And yet, O God,
we confess that your vision of harmony was broken—
through colonisation,
through policies that caused deep harm,
through the taking of children,
and the silencing of culture and voice.
Still, you did not turn away.
In Jesus Christ,
you came among us, not in power that dominates,
but in love that listens, restores, and heals.
He walked with those on the margins,
heard the voices others ignored,
and proclaimed a kingdom of justice and peace.
Through his life, death, and resurrection,
you opened a way, not only to be reconciled with you,
but with one another.
And on the day of Pentecost,
your Spirit was poured out on all people.
Not to make us the same,
but to draw us together in understanding.
Voices once divided were heard anew.
Barriers of language and fear began to fall.
Your Spirit moved among your people
as breath, as fire, as possibility,
calling a new community into being.
So with all who have gone before us,
with the prophets who spoke truth,
with the disciples who bore witness,
with the First Peoples of this land,
and with all who long for justice and healing,
we join our voices in praise:
Holy, holy, holy Lord… (Sanctus)
Gracious God,
Pour out your Spirit upon us,
and upon these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us
the body and blood of Christ.
And pour out your Spirit upon us, your people,
that we may become the body of Christ in this place:
A people who listen deeply, who walk humbly, who seek justice,
and who honour the voices of First Peoples.
Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all honour and glory are yours, now and forever.
Amen.
