Where
does one find God: within or without? Where does one
find a gathering of the “people of God”? I found such
a gathering (my idea of what “church” is) at St
Vincent's
Church in Redfern, Sydney. Catholic, it is, in terms
of its representation: people of varying social class
and background, some Aboriginal, Anglo-Celtic and other
ethnic background, one or two who have some form of
mental illness, and very young children occasionally
running around, oblivious of the liturgy.
From
what one hears from the “Prayers of the Faithful”, there
is an expressed concern for the sick, the dying, the
infirm and victims of social injustice. The longing
for peace and hunger for a more inclusive and embracing
community is strong. I have found myself drawn to this
community. My children in their mid and late twenties
do not go to church anymore. My husband goes to another
church. So why do I go to St
Vincent's
Church? Faith, it seems. Its source might be grace for
I have not lost it. Faith in what? Faith in Christ,
his love and his way. I feel that many of us have lost
our way. Many of us are feeling displaced, seemingly
losing the sense of the sacred in this dizzying pace
of change we experience today. St
Vincent's
community helps ground me as I see people who are hurting
and those who find time in making this world a better
place, who are only too aware of our inequity, and who
wish to heal and be “whole” and give without counting
the cost Christ has shown us the way.
St
Vincent's
church is not a cathedral. It is rather run-down. Perhaps
the community wants it to remain so to show that they
identify with the poor and the marginalised. The building
may reflect the load that they carry, their grief over
the suffering of so many people around the world, including
the refugees who have come to our shores. Our own Aboriginal
people outside the gate of the church remind us, when
they ask for spare change, that all is far from well.
What prayerful life can one have with the painful awareness
of so many people in dire need, even if we are told
that Christ's “kingdom” is not of this world?
Churches,
temples or synagogues are not meant to be a place of
refuge from a troubled world. They are buildings meant
to be a space for reflection, meditation, communing,
finding the sacred in the mundane. Finding that space
is not easy, not even at St
Vincent's
Church. Too many words, hard to find the emptiness that
fills.
I
go to church not to go through the motion as a Christian
nor to follow tradition or the all too familiar
mass ritual, but to be renewed, to restore the self
in communion with all. I see God not in a building nor
in an institution but in the beauty of creation around
us - the sea, the moon, the stars, the sun, the plants
and animals around us and in people who have received
the blessing of reaching enormous possibilities. The
light of hope in people's eyes, the belief that we can
overcome our ailment and inequity, ascend from the ashes
of the earth, love and care. Yes, all these draw me
to the community of St
Vincent's,
to a people in exile looking for their real home. I
hope that each one of us, like our Rabbi, will be a
shepherd to the flock who are lost, and to each other.
by Deborah Ruiz Wall
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