A Sydney Anglican caught in the maelstrom of yesterday's violence at Cronulla says he has never seen clearer evidence of a city's need for Christ.
"It was a shameful day," says Paul Waterhouse, a cameraman and associate producer with Channel Nine's A Current Affair.
"It was not how Christ wants us to live. He talks about loving our neighbour and not turning on them " it was just racist."
Mr Waterhouse's reactions to the racially motivated attacks that peppered the weekend typify the revulsion many Sydneysiders are feeling today.
"What I saw made me ashamed to be Australian," he says.
The attacks are a far cry from the Christian ethic of all one in Christ.
"The mob was bashing anyone who resembled anyone of Lebanese or Middle Eastern appearance. They were just turning on anyone who they didn't like the look of."
The rector of St Andrews, Cronulla, says moving around on Sunday, his community felt "alien' to him .
"There is a culture of being out and about but what happened yesterday was not in keeping with Cronulla," the Rev Richard Humphries says.
"The feeling is that the people who caused the trouble were not from here. There was a red-necked element that just didn’t seem to feel like the suburb."
The congregation at St Andrews had anticipated tempers might flare after a week of what Mr Humphries believes has been inflammatory media coverage.
"We were praying for peace, that God would take away from the hearts of men the desires that lead to violence," he says.
"At our morning service we were hopeful that nothing would happen; by our evening service it was clear that was not the case."
Mr Humphries says helicopters over the Kingsway, road closures and a strong police presence translated to a sleepless night.
Ironically, St Andrews had invited "Jews for Jesus' to be part of a special service exposing the sins of racism that can infect a culture.
Mr Humphries admits the Shire is no stranger to "we don't want them here" attitudes, even without the weekend's violence.
"I think we have to in some ways repent of our culture - that we could have raised people to think that way, that we have a media that could glorify it," he says.
However he points out this is a message that will need to be heard in the furthest reaches of the city since many of the people involved in recent incidents were only in Cronulla for the weekend.
"We will be focussing on the purpose of Jesus - that he came to bring unity and peace, not division. Community is not based on racial similarities but on the fact that Jesus is Lord."
Pictures provided courtesy of Warren Hudson - click here for more images…
