Dear Inner Circle,
Here is a paradox that contains a deep truth: the only way to find your life is to lose it in the service of others. I see it proven every day here and I was lucky enough to stumble upon this realisation at an early age. Wracked with all the existential doubt and angst of a 90s teenager, U2’s 1987 hit “I still haven’t found what I am looking for” was my motto. Every evening my head would hit the pillow and there was a hollow feeling inside that nothing could fill. Campus life at university was vibrant and there were lively debates and talks at lunchtime in the theatres. In between these talks bands like Regurgitator, Custard and The Living End would be playing while myself and my fellow students ate our sandwiches, sweating in our flannelette shirts. We really didn’t know how good we had it, but still, for me, there was something missing. At one lunchtime talk a small speaker stood up, looked at us, and gently spoke, “You, by world and historical standards, are at the pinnacle, so why do you all look so miserable? How about you all take a year off and go and volunteer for a worthy cause? Every one of you here could do that!” I don’t know how many took this advice, but I certainly did as I knew something had to change.
Shortly afterwards I found a wonderful group of people and moved in with some amazing young men who were refugees from Myanmar (Burma). All had lived through massacres and yet all of them still dreamed of returning home to rebuild their beloved country. We protested together, visited refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border to locate family, and witnessed reunions that no words could aptly describe as we did all we could to help bring justice to their cause. For the first time, I felt new life and purpose flooding through my veins.
A little later a few of us rented a house and provided a roof and support for men off the streets, many addicted to the heroin that was flowing in the community at the time. Home detoxes and singalongs went hand in hand as we all found and sang about a new lust for life. Around that time I was lucky enough to have met and snagged my wife Lisa, and together we have never looked back. Then one day, a hero in my world called us up, it was Graham Long, inviting me to join him at Wayside Chapel. It was a dream too good to be true and we knew in our hearts immediately that it was the right move. Most will know that I came to Wayside, not through the usual Uniting Church channels even though there was a thorough selection process that followed for me to eventually land the role that I am in today. What you may not realise is that since then I have, as well as working at Wayside, been working for the past three years at studying and participating in the formation processes of the Uniting Church. The Church has decided that they are ready to ordain me as a minister of the Uniting Church. I’m proud to have the title of “Rev”. There is much to redeem for the clergy and it is my hope to be a part of something new, beautiful and better for our world.
Lisa and I never could have dreamt of anything like this, but through being open to all life has to offer, we have found it in the most unlikely of places – through sharing it with people who have fallen by the wayside.
This Saturday I will be ordained and while it will appear that nothing has changed, it does feel like the beginning of a new phase in this adventure. I am grateful and thankful to you for your support and wish I could invite you to be there in person, but this pandemic still rolls on. So, I invite you to tune into our live stream to watch the ceremony online via our Wayside Live YouTube channel this Saturday at 2.30pm. Join me here.
I couldn’t thank you and especially our beloved Grandpa Rev Graham Long more, for being part of this journey with me.
I look forward to writing many more notes to you, precious Inner Circle,
Jon
Jon Owen
Pastor & CEO
Wayside Chapel
