I have recently taken up a position as Supply Minister for South Sydney Uniting Church and am now working in Redfern-Waterloo three days a week for six months.
I come from a background in country congregations which, in many ways, are quite different from what I’m encountering in South Sydney. There are, however, some strong similarities. People are people wherever they are – each with their own unique personality, many facing the same challenges: trying to make ends meet; raising children as sole parents; coping with illness; searching for work; celebrating life through birthdays, weddings, family milestones; or simply surviving in a world that, on many levels, seems to be going mad.
I was speaking with someone the other day who posed the question: “How do we maintain optimism and hope when each day we seem to be bombarded with one bad story after another?” Stories of war in the Middle East, Ukraine, Myanmar and Sudan – to name just a few; stories of women and men subjected to abuse on many levels; and stories of the ongoing degradation of our planet’s ecosystems. The list feels endless. The media feeds us more of the same, as if we somehow take delight in hearing or reading about these horrors.
Over the past few years, I have deliberately switched off television news. I no longer want to see or hear the same regurgitated accounts of court dramas – whether from overseas or here in Australia. I don’t want to see the same footage night after night of bombs falling on innocent people. And I don’t want to be shown just one skewed side of who we are as human beings.
That’s not to say I’m uninformed – I am. But I consciously seek out stories of the good things happening around me and in the world.
Stories like the action group in Jerusalem, where programmes bring Palestinian and Jewish children together to learn about each other, to play together, and to realise that – despite their differences – they have much more in common. Or the programme trialled in a Sydney school, where Year 5 and 6 students from many cultural backgrounds learned about racism and the many insidious forms it takes in our society. In the process – like the children in Jerusalem – they discovered that despite their different skin colours and cultures, there are more similarities than differences. They also learned that they can be agents of change.
Of course, we must acknowledge and be aware of the awfulness that exists in so many places if we are to help bring about change. But let’s not be swamped by it.
When we seek out stories of hope and transformation – when we look for the good that happens every day – I believe we become better people. Whether it’s the friendly smile of someone at OzHarvest, an older person being offered a seat on the train, a dog and its owner enjoying each other’s company, or the delight in a child’s eyes when given a small treat – these moments matter. They remind us that for all our differences, humankind is made up of people – just like us.
