At Newington we are very proud of, and we celebrate often, our multicultural life. We also recognise that even though we have been here for a long time there were others here before us. Many of us at Newington belong to families who have come to Australia within the last generation. Although only a few of us would say that the reason our family moved to Australia was to flee an oppressive situation in our homeland we still do know the feeling of coming to a new land with hope in our hearts that this will be a great future for our family.

Refugee Week is upon us (Sunday 16 June to Saturday 22 June this year) and it is a good time to reflect not just on how fortunate we are to live in Australia, but also to spare a thought, and hopefully a prayer, that there are families in other parts of the world who desperately feel the need to flee their own land and seek a better future for their children.

We are hearing heartbreaking stories of desperate and vulnerable people becoming increasingly distressed and isolated while in Australia’s asylum seeker processing systems. We are also seeing children kept in detention, despite the irrefutable knowledge that doing this may cause these children life-long harm. Admittedly this is not an easy issue to resolve, and very much a “political hot potato”, but this surely does not mean we should turn a blind-eye to the plight of those genuine refuges who have made their way to Australia.

Many of us will be challenged to respond to this crisis. In this election year we have seen a degree of fear-inducing rhetoric which demonizes asylum seekers. We need to be suspicious of such agendas as we move closer to the election season.

From our sacred scriptures we hear these words, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (Hebrews 13:2 and 3)

We remember that to love God we also love our neighbour. And this reminds us of the ancient call from Deuteronomy 10 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.

These are salutary words as we remember refugees and genuine asylum seekers during the next week. May we be given the grace and discernment to sift the many voices that are telling us what to believe and how to act. May we have generous hearts, and open minds, as we to seek out our own response this issue within our own community here in Sydney.

Mr David N. Williams
College Chaplin