Every year on a nominated Monday in October, the Blue Knot Foundation calls on organisations and individuals to “unite in support of adult survivors of childhood trauma”. This year Blue Knot Day events will take place during the week from Monday October 16 to Sunday October 22.
Experiencing abuse or other trauma in childhood leaves people feeling alone and isolated. Often they have been harmed by the very people who are charged with their care. While the majority of abuse and trauma occurs in the home and family, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has identified abuse as having occurred within 4,000 of our mainstream institutions. This is not an individual issue but endemic to organisations and communities.
Hence on Blue Knot Day groups of individuals and organisations around the country unite in ways which are meaningful to them, secular and religious alike.
Pitt Street Uniting Church will be holding a now annual service in honour of Blue Knot Day 2017, drawing from the multi-faith communities of the Greater Sydney region. In an ecumenical worship setting, survivors are acknowledged and celebrated through prayer, personal testimony and song. With the rich contribution of members of the Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Baha’i and Christian traditions, a space is created for lament and healing. As we face the ongoing grief of trauma in our diverse communities, we also rejoice in our shared resources for recovery and recognition.
In previous years the community has offered up this gathering prayer:
We are gathered here,
followers of various faiths and none,
and as those who mourn the terrible betrayals
of the past and present.
We know that some of those betrayals
were by people with the name of their G-d on their lips.
Our hearts are heavy with anger, grief and pain
for those who have suffered.
Our lives are joined with theirs
and our love woven together
as we face the future days.
Be with us, the One who is at the centre of our faith,
close to the abused and oppressed.
