Pastoral Statement – ANZAC Day and the Call to Honour All

In recent days, many across our nation have been deeply troubled by reports of incidents of racism at ANZAC Day services - gatherings that are intended to be sacred spaces of remembrance, unity, and shared gratitude.

As Moderator, I join with the President of the Uniting Church in Australia, and Muth arrak (UAICC), in expressing both lament and resolve. I commend the President’s statement and encourage all within our Church to read it carefully and prayerfully. It speaks with clarity about who we are called to be.

ANZAC Day is not simply a national tradition; it is a solemn act of collective memory. We remember those who served and sacrificed - men and women from many cultures, nations, and backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, whose contributions were long overlooked and whose dignity must never again be denied. To honour their service while allowing words or attitudes of racism to surface is a contradiction we cannot ignore.

Racism has no place in the story we tell on ANZAC Day. It has no place in the Church. It has no place in the heart of the Gospel.

The life and witness of Jesus Christ consistently draw us toward the other, never away. Again and again, Scripture reminds us that every person is created in the image of God, and that in Christ, dividing walls are broken down - not reinforced.

At its best, ANZAC Day calls forth a spirit of shared humanity - a recognition that sacrifice, courage, and loss bind us together across difference. When that spirit is diminished by exclusion or hostility, something sacred is diminished among us.

So this moment calls for more than disappointment. It calls for repentance, for honest reflection, and for renewed commitment.

As the Uniting Church, we are invited to be people who:

• speak truth with courage,
• stand alongside those who are harmed,
• and embody a deeper hospitality shaped by the reconciling love of Christ.

May we be a community that not only remembers well, but lives well - honouring the dignity of every person, and bearing witness to a hope that is stronger than fear, prejudice, or division.

In this season, may we listen more deeply, act more justly, and walk more humbly together.

Grace & peace,

Rev Bruce Moore
Moderator, Uniting Church in Australia
Queensland Synod

READ Assembly President Rev Charissa Suli's statement