From the Wayside Chapel-Rev Graham Long

Dear Inner Circle, I'm at the fountain cafe enjoying the extraordinary light that such a day brings.  The world looks crisper to me in the morning. A well dressed man sitting next  to me is just finishing the pint of beer that he's having for breakfast.  A woman opposite me is reading the paper and chain smoking.  There is a skinny girl wearing next to nothing, using the reflection  that she can see in the telephone booth to make herself beautiful and ready  for the day. The few clothes that she is wearing are all black and against her pale,  sickly looking skin and gaunt figure, it looks a bit sad. I expect she will wander  off shortly looking for customers. If the man next to me has another beer for breakfast,  she might be in luck. One the worst drunks I know asked me to bury his mum. I told him that I'd be  honoured to stand with him in this moment, provided that he could stand.  He arrived at Wayside, very drunk but still able to stand. "Stand" isn't quite  the right word; "dignified wobble" might describe his best effort. On the way  to the graveside he begged me to stop at every pub we passed for a quick drink.  I refused his requests and when we arrived at the graveside, the undertaker was  already waiting for us. Before I could say a prayer, my friend burst into a  drunken rage. He thought the nursing home probably switched bodies and it probably  wasn't the body of his mother in the coffin. The undertaker was more than mildly  annoyed and refused to open the coffin to settle the matter. There is no such thing  as reasoning with a drunk and so eventually the undertaker opened the coffin so  the man could see that it was his mother and not some interloper in the coffin.  From this rough beginning to proceedings, I gave this dear old lady the most  dignified funeral that I could. I understand that she'd lived a remarkable life.  Indeed my drunken friend is fluent in three languages and travelled the world  with a successful career many years ago and in his own way and from his drunken fog,  he loved his mum. Yesterday, I did a funeral for a lady that has been part of Kings Cross for over 30 years.  Her son told me that his Mum had the capacity to be angry, sad and funny in the  same moment. Someone else told me that she thrived on Kings Cross gossip and that  she was the master of disseminating information, confidentially. There is no doubt that  she was a woman who loved people and our Chapel filled yesterday with people  she had loved. It is an unspeakable honour to be invited by people to step into  their lives at a time like this. I see my role as helping people find words that are right  for them in this moment of parting. Tears are right and appropriate. Cheers are  right and appropriate. There are no rules for saying good bye and it seems like families  learn the lesson that "love lets go" in their own way. Yesterday was an open coffin  and I was surprised by how many people kissed the deceased person on the lips.  I make no judgement but it's not what I would do. I must have lacked oxygen at birth because I have never understood anything  about sport and yet all my brothers and my sister seemed to be interested and  able to speak that language. In Adelaide once, one of my brothers dragged  me to a baseball match. I was keen not to go but that never made much difference  to any of my brothers when we embarked on any activity. At one stage the guy  on the field, hitting a ball with a toothpick, slammed a ball right out of the ground.  Everyone around leapt in the air with joy and astonishingly, I leapt into the air with joy.   While in the air I learned that the bloke with the toothpick was on our team and  somehow this home run had covered us all in glory. The achievement of this one  person had somehow made us all look good and he walked off the playing field  to standing ovations. This moment has remained with me at every funeral that I've  done since. That dear lady yesterday had lived a life that packed in a lot of care   and love for people. This week she hit a home run and in the process, covered  a lot of us in glory. There were tears by the bucket load yesterday but there were  also plenty of cheers as this lady walked off the playing field to a standing ovation  at our Chapel. The Wayside Warrior of the Week Award ...(drum roll)... goes to the four young people  who ran a fundraiser last night as part of the challenge to climb Mount Kilimanjaro  for Wayside next year and raise money for our work. What an awesome night as so  many people worked together to generate some money for Wayside. I sat next to  David Wenham who is a genuinely humble man as well as a giant talent. Someone  paid $4,000 to have lunch with me and David. On the way out, someone suggested  that the price might have climbed if I'd offered not to come! Someone also paid  big money to have lunch with me and Claudia Karvan. While money was flowing  impressively, the most amazing thing was to behold how many people were prepared  to make an effort to make this world a better place. Indira Naidoo spoke beautifully  and said amongst other things that, "No one says 'no' to Graham". I was sitting  between my wife and my daughter at the time and not game to utter a word. There is so much to be thankful for, not least that you are part of our inner circle, Graham PS. I'll be speaking at a Sydney Open talk next Tuesday, 11 September on the  role of worship in the life of our city. We'd love to see you there.  It's at the Historic Houses Trust from 6pm. More details here. Rev Graham Long Pastor and CEO The Wayside Chapel Kings Cross http://www.thewaysidechapel.com/