Light in the darkness: where is Australia heading?

Back in the late 1980s, as the 200th anniversary of British colonisation was approaching, a book was released. It was called Advance Australia Where? — a play on the national anthem. The author, Reverend John Smith, a radical prophetic figure, asked some searching, reflective questions of Australia. Questions that went to the meaning and purpose of life, our life together. Where is the soul of Australia? Where are we heading?

John Smith was the founder and leader of a motorcycle club called God Squad. It was a club of Christians who sought to follow in the radical way of Jesus. They went into the dark places of life and tried to live out the light and love of God. They went into the world of bikie gangs, criminality, violence, despair, brokenness, and drugs — working with people who would listen, who needed help, lifting them out of the mire they found themselves in to bring hope and life.

They went into places of impoverishment — economic, physical, emotional, spiritual — where people were seeking something out of their darkness, some light to light their way. They went into schools and worked with young people who were at risk and struggling and desperate. Kids who were victims of domestic violence and bad influences, trying to lead them into a better way.

A prophetic look at Australia

In his book, John Smith offered a prophetic look at Australia. He'd grown up through the post-war period, through the 1960s and 70s and the hippie movement. He saw it all. He saw the post-war prosperity and the rise of wealth, but also what he called greed — this idea that we need more and more and more, that the more we accumulate the happier we'll be. But at the same time he saw the desperate despair of so many lives, a pandemic of depression across Australia. He wondered why, in the wealthiest time we've ever had, there was so much desperation.

About twenty years later, social researcher Hugh Mackay wrote a book with a similar title — Advance Australia Where? — asking many of the same questions. Still asking the spiritual questions. Naming the same social realities of greed, of the separation between those who have and those who don't, of the alienation of Indigenous people.

And now, another twenty years on, in 2026 — where is Australia heading?

The darkness around us

We look around and the cost of living crisis is growing. Many people are struggling to pay bills, struggling to put food on the table. Housing affordability is at an all-time crisis. There are racial tensions fed by world events that lay themselves upon Australian society — anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim sentiments, anti-immigration movements. Social unrest creating friction and tension and conflict and violence.

There is much violence in Australian society. Some of it is rhetorical violence, some under the guise of political discussion in parliament, some under the banner of freedom of speech — the idea that everyone has the right to say what they think, no matter how much harm it does, no matter how untrue it might be.

There is the violence we're becoming more aware of in the home. Domestic violence. The horrific evil of the massacre at Bondi Beach a few weeks ago, killing fifteen innocent people. That horror is amplified ten or twelve times over when you look at the deaths through domestic violence — the number of women killed in their homes. And that doesn't even account for the violence that doesn't result in death. There's violence on the streets.

John Smith spoke about the soul of our nation being lost. That we've lost our spirit, that people have lost their sense of God. And John Smith had gone through this himself. He'd asked deep questions. He went through a period of deep doubt — probably doubting whether God existed at all, a kind of atheism. And he realised, listening to a few people, that it wasn't really about whether God was real or not. It was about himself. Ethical and moral questions. The meaning of his own life. Where am I headed? What am I doing?

Back to the gospels

He asked deep questions not just of Australian society but of the church. And he began to read the gospels of Jesus again, and the Hebrew prophets. He noticed the radical nature of what Jesus did and said — how Jesus went into the darkness of human life, where people were broken open by impoverishment and despair, by grief and guilt, by sickness and disability and exclusion. He saw how the greedy powers of the world were oppressing the poor and the outcasts, marginalising people. And Jesus went to those people. He lifted them up. He embraced them into a bigger community of God's love and grace. He offered them life and hope.

That's what John Smith and God Squad sought to do — to go into the deepest, darkest places with the light of Christ.

The Gospel of Matthew opens with Jesus coming as light into the darkness of the world. He proclaims: repent, God's reign is at hand. Then he goes to lowly fishermen and calls them to follow. "Follow me and I will show you another way." That was what John Smith discovered in his own life. Follow me and I'll show you another way. It will take courage. It will take commitment. It will take faith.

The Lord is my light

Psalm 27 says: "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? If an army surrounds me, if my enemies surround me, I won't be afraid."

As I read that and look at the world in which we live, I think about how much of what goes on is grounded in fear. How many of us could honestly say, "If an army surrounds me, I wouldn't be afraid. If my enemies plotted against me, I wouldn't be afraid"?

And yet that's what this psalmist was saying. I think that's what John Smith and others like him recognised. That's what Jesus was on about. The fear we feel — fear of what others might do to us, fear of death, fear of losing something, fear of not having enough, fear of being left behind, fear of not being good enough. All of these things contribute to the high levels of anxiety and despair and depression we see around us and feel within ourselves. Fear controls much of our lives. Fear of what might be.

Many of us don't live in the present moment. We're living into the future, wondering and despairing and fearing what might come. Or we're living in the past, trying to recall what was and hang on to it. Jesus invites us into this present moment. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Of whom shall I be afraid?

Celebration and mourning

As we come to this weekend, there will be both celebration and mourning. Celebrations of Australia Day, of nationalism and patriotism, people wrapping themselves in flags. And let's be honest — there are many good things to celebrate. There is much beauty in this land. We've just travelled through southern New South Wales and into Victoria, the Snowy Mountains and the Grampians and the Yarra Valley and parts of Melbourne. Intense, wondrous beauty. There are many stories of good people doing good things. The man who saved the day at Bondi Beach, who came in and grabbed the gunman — an act of bravery and courage. A Muslim man who saw evil people shooting innocent Jewish people and saved them. Many acts of bravery and courage and love. Much to celebrate.

But there is also mourning. A culture that's been left behind, lost. Cultural genocide in parts of Australia. Aboriginal cultures and languages lost or pushed aside. Indigenous people not recognised for the wisdom and what they bring. There is indeed mourning.

And there are the social, ecological, environmental problems we confront. Climate change. We need to do more to save this precious earth, to help it be renewed and restored, to look after it.

Into the dark places

But we also need to reach out to one another. To live with love. To embrace those who are different. To reach across the divides that are built up in our land. To reach out in friendship and reconciliation. To listen to one another, to listen to each other's stories.

For us to go into those dark places — places that are scary and fearful and uncertain — and be people of light and hope. People who reflect the grace and love of God. People who can say, "The Lord is my salvation, my light, my hope — to go into the darkness with the light of Christ."

That's our calling. That's what we're invited into this year.

May God be with us. Amen.