Dear Inner Circle,
It had been a long night. Foolishly, and this is no humble brag, for some reason the night we marched in the Mardi Gras parade was also the morning I decided to participate in the 440 Challenge. If you know you know, if you don’t… well… it is a group of people who meet at 4:40am on Saturday morning to run 10 laps of a hilly 440m car park by the beach. It started as an initiative designed for better mental health and sobriety.
I ran that morning with Byron, a Wayside Long Walk Home Ambassador, Larapinta Trail Companion, dear friend and one of the few people who could get me running up hills before dawn on Mardi Gras morning.
So before we’d even begun the long walk on the parade route pushing Wayside’s float—a gigantic sequin-covered winged love heart—exhaustion had set in. Lucky for us though, the fumes of adrenaline are ignited at such an event with its exuberance and outpouring of love.
It was an explosion of colour and lifted those with weary souls and soles. We celebrated and danced into existence a world where diversity and inclusion only make us a stronger, more compassionate, and ultimately more human society. As we finished, our little Wayside crew embraced and quickly scattered leaving me alone with a few signs that needed returning to Hughes Street. On the metro and then the train, I was quickly surrounded by a few groups of drunken youth who began to subtly and not-so-subtly threaten me. I was far too tired to engage, and trudged my way up the street towards Wayside. As I passed the few remaining “exotic dancing” clubs left on the strip, I was nervously accosted by two young ladies—they must have been younger than Lisa and I’s youngest—clutching free passes in one hand, and mango ice vapes in the other. I thanked them and politely declined, as I continued on I heard the bouncer behind me, “Now ladies, I will be the first to tell you not to judge a book by its cover, but that guy, he’s definitely gay!” I love our community, to feel safe and accepted here, even if mis-typed.
David Wenham, our ambassador I mentioned last week, once told me that one of his favourite movies he ever made was Molokai. I was glad to hear that, because the main character Father Damien has been a personal hero, who’s life challenged mine as he showed what compassion means. He was a priest posted on an island where people with leprosy had been banished. He lived with the people and eventually contracted the disease, and his final address to the people began with “Us Lepers”.
Whilst the burly bouncer last Saturday certainly wasn’t my “Molokai Moment”, the train ride gave me a glimpse into the world as it still is and only redoubles our determination at Wayside to make it all it can be, which, of course, includes generous lashings of glitter.
Thank you for being part of the Inner Circle,
Jon
Rev. Jon Owen
CEO & Pastor
Wayside Chapel
