Every year on Christmas Day, a charity in the Potts Point area of Sydney throws a grand street party open to all but particularly to those who have nowhere to go on Christmas.
Jon Owen, pastor and CEO of Wayside Chapel, said this street party has been around since the Chapel was opened in 1964 by Reverend Ted Noffs.
“No matter what’s happening for people in their lives, there’ll be a table prepared for them and a seat made available where they’ll be a guest of honour,” Pastor Owen told Hope 103.2.
Source: Supplied / Wayside Chapel Christmas Day Lunch and Street Party
“There is just no more difficult day in a year than Christmas day when it is spent alone.”
From as early as November each year, people begin contacting him to ask if the street party is still on.
“Basically, what they’re asking is, ‘is there a place where I’m welcome this Christmas Day?’
“Many people who are on the streets are acutely aware that there are family members of theirs who are making plans that may or may not include them, that they may or may not be welcome at.”
Loneliest day of the year
Pastor Owen believes that Christmas is the loneliest day of the year.
“No matter what’s happening for people in their lives, there’ll be a table prepared for them and a seat made available where they’ll be a guest of honour,” – Jon Owen, CEO of Wayside Chapel
“When we celebrate days like Christmas, it’s a time to gather with your tribe, and those of us in the Christian tradition, we spend some time remembering who’s at the centre of our collective life,” he said.
“But for many others, it’s a time where we are reminded of who we are and whose we are as we gather around that Christmas meal.”
Many take for granted that they are a son, partner, sibling or an uncle or aunty, Pastor Owen said.
“For many people, that existential despair when they’re alone is ‘I’m a nobody to anybody in this world’.
“And so that’s where the power of a Christmas celebration where you’re an honoured guest at the table says that you are a part of who we all are.”
Others will experience loneliness because a significant other or loved one will no longer be with them, he said.
“For them, that thought of an empty chair at their Christmas table or in their lounge rooms is just too much to bear.”
Over the years, Pastor Owen has seen many people come to the street party with broken hearts.
“We had a young gentleman who was just inconsolable, he didn’t have a shirt on and he was just crying.
“He was one of the toughest, fiercest looking blokes you’d ever want to meet, but all he was doing was weeping, saying ‘Mum, mum, where are you mum? Do you love me, mum?’
“There is just no more difficult day in a year than Christmas day when it is spent alone.”
“For many people, that existential despair when they’re alone is ‘I’m a nobody to anybody in this world’,” – Jon Owen, CEO of Wayside Chapel
“I see you”
Wayside Chapel is approached by many people every year to volunteer at the street party but spaces fill up quickly, often within two hours.
Instead of turning these additional volunteers away, Pastor Owen asks them to come to the street party as a guest.
“We say ‘well if you missed the volunteer roster, just come and sit at a table and look someone in the eye, break a Christmas cracker’,” he said.
“Just look someone in the eye and make sure that you have the greatest day possible; we don’t have to be great counsellors.
“We’re not running an ICU, like the letters ICU stand for intensive care unit; we are running an ‘I see you’ kind of operation where you say ‘I see you and I celebrate with you and I express that you are loved here at this table’.”
“Thoughtfulness and kindness… doesn’t cost us anything, but it can actually have an impact well beyond anything that we could imagine,” – Jon Owen, CEO of Wayside Chapel
What churches can do
Pastor Owen said churches looking to welcome people to Christmas don’t need to make it a huge ministry opportunity but can just invite people into their lives.
“To those of us who seek to follow Jesus, I would say holiness isn’t being set apart from people it’s being set amongst them,” he said.
He encourages people to think about those in their communities or neighbourhoods who would appreciate being seated at their table for Christmas.
“Make them a part of the celebration… and not the object of everyone’s attention where they’re being stared at; make them an honoured guest at your table.”
It’s important to take a moment away from the frantic rush of Christmas, he said.
“Thoughtfulness and kindness, it only takes a moment of just imbuing an interaction with a lot of thoughtfulness and care.
“It doesn’t cost us anything, but it can actually have an impact well beyond anything that we could imagine.”
