I recently took part in a debate at the Powerhouse Museum where the topic was "Does Sydney have a soul?" and since Sydney is the city we are ministering in, I thought it would be good to share that with you, and reflect upon what that means for our gospel proclamation in this city.

It was very interesting to hear what the other speakers had to say. The city architects argued about whether the soul was the CBD, or scattered amongst smaller communities; the musician argued our soul lay in pub bands and local music; the atheist proclaimed many world cities have souls, but ours does not and the ethicist looked at examples of community spirit.

But what is the soul of Sydney? We live in the most beautiful place on earth. In one day you can move from the beautiful beach at Bondi with the smell of hot chips and sunscreen to the harbour edged by the Opera House and the bridge, to the Eucalypt smells of the Blue Mountains. Is the soul of Sydney its natural beauty?

The very search for the soul of Sydney is silly. How can cities have souls? Only people have souls" .but the way people relate has an effect on the "feel of a place". So how do people relate in Sydney? The all consuming concern about the value of my home, ringbarking trees to improve my view, housing developments with big fences and gates to keep others out, rejoicing when tall poppies fail. Not to mention the recent sub-culture violence. The residents of Sydney are concerned for themselves, with the desire to gain more and enjoy more at the top of the list.

But there are times when this has not been the case, and these events become part of our preferred folk history, like bush fire bravery and sacrifice. There were two further magnificent examples, just hundreds of metres from where my debate was conducted in Harris Street, Ultimo.

During the depression, the rector of St. Barnabas Broadway, R.B.S. Hammond ministered to many. On the now famous signboard he pinned the positions vacant page of the Herald for those too poor to purchase a copy. He provided food for the hungry, and never himself owned a new pair of shoes. He led a Temperance work to help men overcome the destruction of alcoholism, and visited the courts where families ended up through striving to survive. Gathering sponsorship from city companies he established the suburb of Hammondville to relocate desperate families, and provided for each street chickens to share, so a community was formed in the suburb. Through this man the city was affected. And this man was affected by and lived for the Lord Jesus.

The other man was made famous at the turn of the century: Arthur Stace, Mr Eternity, whose copper plate chalk drawn "eternity" was seen for decades on city streets and from the Harbour Bridge on New Years Eve 2000. Arthur Stace was an illiterate alcoholic who heard the gospel of salvation and was converted. Unable to think of what else to do, he learnt how to write eternity in beautiful script and wrote it everywhere, so that people would look beyond what they could see to eternity. His ministry lifted the eyes of many Sydney people from the streets to heaven and their desperate plight, because he was affected by Jesus. But now the word has become a fire works display.

Sydney has no soul, but the gospel has at many times and in many places displaced materialism with mercy.

What does this mean for our ministry as we move through 2006?

"¢ Our city is good at patting itself on the back for all it has, and the delights it offers. We must call people to see themselves as they truly are, and in our ministry help each other to not be seduced by this city. Sydney is a place we are passing though to the heavenly Jerusalem

"¢ Citywide change and conversion will not occur from some central authority, but by individuals and groups living and proclaiming Christ where they are, to those with whom they have contact

"¢ The great heroes and shapers of Sydney are not our media-puffed civic leaders, but those who have been bought by Christ. There are countless stories of the benefits that have come to us through Christian activity. We must remember that and do not let history be rewritten to exclude the effect of God's faithful from the shape of Sydney.