Bruce Cockburn once said, ‘I want to kick the darkness till it bleeds daylight!’

The deeper we journey with our neighbours here in Western Sydney, the deeper we are led along pathways full of complexity and mystery that reveal scars that tell of unfathomable pain, frustration and injustice. The paths at times seem so dark and uncertain; words often seem so inadequate.

We find comfort in the disciples’ time with Jesus.

After the initial surge of excitement of being chosen by a renegade Rabbi, they must have been very disappointed.

Instead of being prepared for a world of ministry that equipped them with the surgical tools to diagnose and the precise answers with which to prescribe, they were plunged deep into the world of relationships.

Relationships are messy and unhygienic, and led down paths they’d rather not take.

Yet, relationships are of the utmost importance to our Indigenous brothers and sisters and we follow a God “who is a relationship” (Billy Williams).

So, along the path we go, not to asking God to give us the right programs, but to make us into the right people.

Occasionally through these relationships we see programs emerge through people coming alive in Christ. A kid’s dance group is about to start to give single parents a well deserved rest, and an Indigenous Dance Group is supported to show young kids that there is a path the discovering an authentic Christianity that is authentically Indigenous.

We see light beginning to shine through the darkness as a woman smiles as she says, “maybe there is a God and maybe He’s on my side”.