Art.LOVE.Spirit.Oneness A.L.S.O.
“Invitation holds a silent power. Our outreach workers go to the streets encouraging people to seek us out, their message being that everyone is welcome, and our mission will always challenge us to mean it.
Contrast this with just last week, when around the corner from Wayside’s Bondi centre, a new reality show began filming with a sign that actively discouraged anyone who wasn’t beautiful enough from appearing in the background. Beauty is so shallowly defined and celebrated, isn’t it? Yet beneath the surface of this community is a depth of beauty that cannot be mistaken.
Like the morning of December 15th, when our volunteers all showed up — rostered and unrostered alike — with broken hearts but open hands, ready to serve. Like the team who, for over a decade, have walked gently with someone who always seems to fall into the same holes, and who have never surrendered their care or their hope for her. Like the young woman who, during the heavy rain, shared her shelter with someone new to the streets as they huddled together under one of the local caves at the beach. Would any of these be ‘beautiful enough’ to make it on screen? Perhaps not to the untrained eye. But ask the owner of the chihuahua who limps in most days here, in whose clouded eyes and snaggled tooth, is seen only the look of love and a contented smile.
Perhaps that is the truest thing we know — that beauty does not announce itself. It does not hold a sign or seek a camera. It turns up limping, or soaking wet, or with a broken heart and open hands, and only those with eyes trained by love will ever recognise it for what it is.
Thank you for being part of the Inner Circle,
Jon
Rev. Jon Owen
CEO & Pastor
Wayside Chapel”
John Owen’s regular letters outlining his and the Wayside Chapel’s advocacy, solidarity and 60 years of this work in Sydney are very worth subscribing to. With the occassional donation. Maeve and I visited there in 2023.
http://www.waysidechapel.org.au
“Love” Gauche, collage on paper. Artist: Peter Breen
Peteskibreen's Blog 