Dear Inner Circle,
Most of us have childhood memories of Sundays being a little different to other days, be it a slower pace or a baked dinner. A peaceful pause before any chaos the week might bring.
On Sunday mornings here, our devoted kitchen team lay out a beautiful spread so all can share in morning tea and a mostly quiet chat together. Not long after tea, you will hear groups sharing a laugh over Sydney’s best and most affordable roast lunch. Lashings of gravy with a few slices of bread to mop it up make for the ultimate soul food.
The lengths our people go to curate this Sunday feeling at Wayside is repaid hundred-fold in the smiles and gravy-stained napkins as the last of the plates are slurped up.
A delightful new volunteer started serving meals here recently. She works as a waiter in one of our city’s finest dining establishments, and she beautifully treats everyone exactly the same, regardless of whether there’s a white tablecloth below their plate or not. She and the others work in harmony to provide gentle, slow-motion comfort for what can be a long and threatening week ahead for many.
Family life isn’t presumed, one of our guys who sometimes eats here on Sundays has only the vaguest memory of it before life in institutions became his childhood. “My life started out terribly, but don’t worry, Rev, it got worse!” he says.
He has managed to find friendship in our men’s group, learning to trust men again, which for him is the hardest of tasks given his childhood. Often the greatest acts are tiny and over before you know it. A face lighting up at your presence sends the message as to whether you’re welcome far before any words can get in the way. To see the joy as someone shows up is enough to change the course of a life.
“I like it here, all my life I was in the way, or interrupting something, just by being there, but here, I feel like I might even belong.” His face brightened and a smile filled it as he spoke.
Last week a few of us gathered to hear from our community gardener on his work. I often find myself sneaking into the garden, at times when despair threatens to take a hold. A few moments there, in the peace of wild things, amongst the bees buzzing and the birds flying overhead, going about their tasks with no anticipation of future dread, fully engaged in the present, to witness the grace of their world is to receive a gift of respite in a chaotic but ultimately beautiful world. It feels like an endless Sunday dinner up there.
Thank you for being part of the Inner Circle,
Jon
Rev. Jon Owen
CEO & Pastor
Wayside Chapel
