A practical theology of #stayathome

From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, I was the associate minister at St John’s Anglican Church, East Sydney, which covered Kings Cross and Darlinghurst and comprised a large percentage of inner Sydney’s street-involved population (for example, homeless people, street workers, dealers, those living with mental illness). Eight years as a youth worker, followed by three years living in Los Angeles, had offered only occasional glimpses of the plight of the homeless. Now I was on a steep learning curve. “Radio John” was a well-known and much loved character in the life at church and became one of my first—and most important—teachers from the street. During
my first three months in the parish, I presided over the 7pm congregation, an energetic and eclectic mixture of people. Quite a few people had PhDs, while an equal number were functionally illiterate. About half a dozen were journalists from radio, news, and TV, with an equal number more likely to feature in the news than to report on it. There was a growing number of people moving to the inner-city to live in its apartments and enjoy easy access to pubs, public transport, and employment. A contrasting group had drifted to the Cross because they had lost jobs, houses, or relationships and stayed for the easy access to social services and boarding houses.