Grand Final Beginning

Dear Inner Circle

Our vision of “Love Over Hate” is beyond us. It’s speaking to the world we want to live in, the one where love wins over hate every single day. Every week we celebrate the triumph of this truth, but this week especially. At Easter we remember that there is no hole so dark and deep that you cannot find love at the bottom of it. That might sound strange, but it is the kind of love that goes to the ends of the earth for others.

It is to be found in the longing eyes of a mother who comes by Wayside Chapel every week, just to catch a silent glimpse of her adult son as he struggles with his addiction. It is to be found in her tears as she begins to understand the struggles her powerful child is facing. There’s love in those tears she weeps as she knows her heart will wake tomorrow and stretch a thousand miles as she will do all she can and simultaneously knows that the effort may very well go unnoticed. It’s small, it’s beautiful and it’s always born in the darkest of moments.

It’s the world where life wins over death, and one where death does not get the last word. Love brings people back to life; it is a truth we see every day. To see the smile on the face of someone and to hear them laugh, after floods of tears of despair, is a gift that is a sheer pleasure to receive. When life feels like it’s falling apart, when relationships breakdown and when dreams are shattered, this is not the end. They feel like the end, and many want them to be the end. When people come through our doors, they are met with the great refusal to believe that version of history, and we hold out the hand of love, in the hope it will be reached for. We can never demand it, but we can offer it every day in hope.

This Friday we will walk the Stations of Kings Cross, starting at 11am in Lawrence Hargrave Reserve (above the KX Car Park on Ward Ave). I invite you to join us, though it is a harrowing walk, and may not be everyone’s cup of tea. We walk to remember all those who we have lost, and all those who continue to suffer. We gather on the spot where young Thomas Kelly drew his last breath in 2012, we stand in solidarity with those who sleep on our streets, and outside the Sydney Jewish Museum, lest we forget. Physically, it is a somatic reminder that the long walk to freedom isn’t complete until it is complete for all. It’s a passion walk, which means it’s love that shines through the suffering.

Sunday will see us celebrate our Easter Feast. “Hey Rev, you around this Sunday?” someone asked, “Yeah, it’s Easter, of course I will be”. “Oh yeah,” he smiled, “It’s kind of like Grand Final week for you, isn’t it?”

More like another grand beginning!

Thank you for being part of our Inner Circle,

Jon

Rev. Jon Owen
CEO & Pastor
Wayside Chapel