Dear Inner Circle

Through all the tears and the laughter; through the exhaustion and the inspiration; through the failures and the successes; you’ve been with us. I can hardly believe another year is done. In a few days, another Wayside Christmas street party will take place and an extraordinary outpouring of goodwill will be revealed in plain view, to lift and inspire all who have eyes to see. Naturally, there will be some who don’t see. Some will complain that their prawns are not as big as the prawns on their neighbour’s plate. Love is always invisible to those who are driven to profit. Yet for many who are just tired or hardened by life, the awesome at the heart of this day will have the power to capture and to bring joy. Those most in danger of missing it are those who think they are manufacturing it. To our precious staff and volunteers, I say, “don’t forget to look”. To you, our inner circle, I can hardly overstate how important you are to our life. You have made time to read of our work every week this year. Some of you have written to share your own heart and your own life stories. Many of you have sent in shampoos, undies and socks. Many hundreds of you have sent messages of love that meant the world to us. Many of you have supported our “Donate a Plate” and Christmas appeal or arrived at our front door asking how you can help.

Here’s to you, our precious inner circle. Thank you for being there for us.

On behalf of all of Wayside, I wish you a happy Christmas and a 2018 that is full of life. All the food has been delivered and our volunteers are in place for our Christmas Day celebrations, but if you have no plans I welcome you to join us as a guest on the day. If there is any danger of being lonely this Christmas, come and join us and let the sheer joy of this day capture you and surprise you. We will close Hughes Street and once again the road will be filled with celebration. We will help love prevail, as we do each Christmas....[read more]

Dear Inner Circle,

So much heartache and confusion comes because we listen with our ears instead of our eyes. Predatory people have a way of using language, not to communicate but to paralyse. When I was a chaplain at Parramatta prison, I was struck by how often I heard the phrase, “Now see what you made me do!” I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve met kids and adults who were carrying crippling burdens of guilt for dreadful acts that they never committed. Predatory behaviour usually comes with its own propaganda and if you hear it often enough, it can restrict the ability to see. Last night a young fellow told me how his life had collapsed into a dark hole from which there seemed to be no escape. Several times he mentioned that he’d come from good circumstances and that his recent behaviour was unintelligible even to himself. I was interested to hear of the “good circumstances” from which he came and to my surprise the young man began describing a life of unspeakable abuse. It became clearer that his abuse always came with the kind of lectures that said, “Nobody cares for you except me” or “everyone is out to destroy you and all you have is me”.

An abuser can disguise themselves in many ways but one of the most effective ways is as a “crusader”. If you know history you’ll know that term was used to cover murder and robbery on a grand scale, all in the name of God. If I had my way I’d wire up every home, every church and every workplace so that a siren sounded whenever “crusader speech” began. There would be some homes, churches and workplaces where my siren would render people into blessed deafness. I’m sure many abusers believe their own propaganda. There was a time when the church controlled people by threatening fear of hell and while most today don’t buy it, they’re happy for politicians to remind them of the dangers - from which only they can offer protection. My sirens would drown out most political speeches....[read more]

Dear Inner Circle,

I was sitting in our front garden yesterday when a woman ran towards me and shouted, “I need money!” I guess she hoped that I’d react to her sense of panic and find some cash in super-quick time. “What do you need?” I asked. “A thousand dollars” she replied. “Woah!”, I said, “You’re miles out of my ballpark to help.” “But you drive a Mercedes Benz!” she said. I was a bit surprised. “It’s silver and it’s convertible.” I confessed that I would love a Mercedes if I could afford one, but she was sadly mistaken, “A mate had one that I rode in it once but that was my only ride in a Mercedes ever. When he sold it, I needed a course of anti-depressants and some serious counselling.” The lady looked at me like she never believed a word. “But, you own this whole building” she said. She looked in awe at the front of the Wayside building. Lots of street dwellers have the view that the building in front of us is my personal possession. “I hate to ruin a good story but I don’t own any building of any kind, anywhere.” “Well, what about one hundred dollars then?” she asked. “How about two dollars?” I offered. The deal was done.

I’m writing this note a day early because by the time you are reading this, I’ll be in Brisbane to appear on “Conversations” with Richard Fidler on ABC Radio National. I’m taking three of my granddaughters with me so that they can visit their big sister who has fallen in love with a soldier in the Australian Defence Force and now lives in Brisbane. I lay awake at night thinking up new ways of making these girls say, “Wow”. What a trip this will be as my girls encourage me to break all the rules, only for them to promptly “dob” on me when we get back to Mum. If there’s more fun to be had than being a grandfather, I can’t begin to imagine what it might be.

Keep reading here.