By the Wayside
(Updated EVERY week)

November 20, 2008

The Wayside Chapel in Sydney's infamous Kings Cross is a unique and special place. Serving the needs of 2000 young, elderly, frightened and displaced people each week, it remains a place of unconditional love, acceptance and support for the lost, lonely, homeless, abused and dispossessed.

Established over 40 years ago by the Reverend Ted Noffs, the Wayside quickly became known for its emphasis on self help recovery, and encouragement for all to speak and act on social issues. It is a sacred place for people of all faiths and of none, where the human journey of the whole family of humanity is celebrated and all creation loved and respected.

Graham Long is now the Pastor at the Wayside, and with his vast and valuable experience as a social worker, a prison chaplain, a child protection advocate and a welfare agency founder (and his intolerance for misguided religious extremists), there is simply no better or more qualified person for this job. It is an honour for us to include Graham's weekly Inner Circle Newsletter on the Points of Power website.

The Wayside is always looking for volunteers for their Crisis Centre, Cafe, Op Shop and their Street Outreach Team. If you reside in Sydney and have a few hours a week to spare and would like to help with this great work, they would love to hear from you.

Dear Inner Circle,

Wayside is something of a cliff edge from which some fall into their fate while others leap toward their destiny. Nothing is more inspiring than watching someone move toward life in contradiction to many of their life lessons. Literally sitting in the gutter this morning, I was talking to a man who is starting to see beautiful things in his life and is even looking backwards at a painful history and seeing many lovely things that he didn't see at the time. He said this morning "you know, the further you move away from drugs, the more you get your feelings back". He said that this was basically a good but not always an easy process. He was embarrassed to tell me that he had recently shed some tears at TV ads. Not all the feelings that were coming back are comfortable but he recognizes this discomfort as the birth pangs of a new life. How good is that?
 
I am David Hick's pastor. David's control order is coming up for review in just a few weeks. The mere mention of his name strikes fear and hatred in the hearts of many but that is because he has been relentlessly demonized in our press. Because I know him to be a decent human being, it has shown me how easy it is to manipulate the public by fear which is what our media and some politicians have been doing for some time. My dear brothers and sisters in the inner circle, we have done a great wrong to a man who never got a trial, who  never had access to what ever evidence was being used against him, who suffered torture and imprisonment without charge for 6 years and now there is an industry that has grown up in this country with a vested interest in believing that David is a danger. David is no danger to anyone. He would like to get married but does not want to have security agents with him on his honeymoon. He would like to be able to visit friends; he would like to stay up late or even overnight somewhere; he would like to be able to talk on a telephone without the threat of instant additional gaol time. He is not a bitter person but just an ordinary bloke who wants to put the past behind him and get on with life. I hope all those Australians who believe in a fair go will give this man a break. I hope there are some journalists somewhere who are game enough to concede that David got a bad deal and that we all sat silent while the foundational and most important conditions for our system of justice were ignored and offended against. I desperately want to believe that a country that grew to greatness from a British prison, will be fair enough and great enough to stop hounding this man and let him get on with life.
 
It was a great honour to have lunch with our Patron, the marvelous Governor of NSW yesterday. Have I ever told you about the time the Governor  phoned me to say she had some clothes she wanted to donate to Wayside? When did a Governor ever do such a thing? The official car stopped outside of Wayside and delivered the clothes and within an hour I saw a bag lady walking up the street in the Governor's clothes.  I can't help but think I might have been the only one to ever witness such a wonderful event. I had the privilege at yesterday's lunch of meeting the PM's wife Therese Rein who is a person with a real heart for homeless people. This was a lucky week because I was also at a function where the Federal Minister for Housing gave me a lift back to Kings Cross on her way home. It wasn't the lift but the time with the Minister that was the real gift that night. Tanya Plibersek is one of the most able and inspiring politicians that I've ever met. She is worthy of our respect and affection.
 
Tonight, as part of our Wayside Speaks series, we are holding a free event on the future of public housing. A panel of speakers will discuss whether our current approach to public housing is working - and possible alternative options. There will also be an opportunity for input and discussion. The event starts at 6.30pm in our chapel and you are all welcome.
 
Kings Cross is colourful place and a good community. I love the hundreds of lovely characters there are all around. There is a lady who always greets me by saying, "Its a secret...button your lips".  Every time I pledge my silence and we've grown to be kinda close based on this mutual holding of a secret about which I know nothing. I have no idea what her name is, perhaps that's a secret.
 
Thanks for being part of our inner circle,
 
Graham

Rev Graham Long
Pastor
The Wayside Chapel
Kings Cross
www.thewaysidechapel.com

Free barbecue for the homeless.
Thank God for the Wayside.