Local Anglicans have united in responding to the trauma of horrific shootings at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 14.
Two gunmen opened fire on a “Chanukah by the Sea” festival that was being held on the foreshore of the beach for the first day of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Light. Fifteen innocent people, including two rabbis, were killed and dozens more injured in a targeted act of terrorism unprecedented in a country where gun ownership is strictly licensed.
At Bondi Anglican Church, just a few hundred meters from the beach, worshipers were finishing evening prayer. Sunday evening services are a fixture of church life in Sydney—it could be the weather, or the fact that they draw a neat close to the sacred Aussie weekend.
It was, rector Martin Morgan told The Living Church, a “beautiful, beautiful evening” in early summer. People arrived at the beach to swim or eat out, and parishioners had finished worship by going out to the streets to distribute hampers for Christmas to people in need.
Bondi is a tourist landmark, a beautiful beach that attracts backpackers and surfers who live in their vans, rubbing shoulders with the well-to-do of Sydney’s eastern suburbs. It has a substantial percentage of Australia’s nearly 100,000 Jewish people.
As the church service came to a close, people started running past, many crying, Morgan said. People yelled a warning about gunmen, so parishioners sheltered inside, and started praying.
“We made it into a prayer meeting, not knowing anything, really. People came in telling us what was happening and social media and news started coming in. We heard many sirens and kept on praying,” he said.
Then the practical action started. A parishioner went outside to direct traffic—people were still arriving at the beach. Some people came into the church because they were unable to reach their cars. Parish volunteers drove them home, and days later, the carpark was still a crime scene and off-limits.
“We just prayed and tried to offer words of comfort. Our church building was open until way after midnight. We made cups of tea and coffee, gave them sandwiches and cake left over from supper,” Morgan said.
“Some people had seen terrible, terrible things.”
Over the next few days, the parish has continued to offer support, practical and spiritual.
Morgan was keen to emphasize many partnerships—groups who are welcome to help in their areas of expertise.
Chaplains from Samaritan’s Purse have been helping backpackers or van dwellers, and used the Bondi church as a base. The Anglican chaplain to the Surf Life Saving Sydney has also set up there.
The Bondi parish has respectful relations with the local Jewish community, but visible support has been important. On December 15, barely 24 hours after the attack, Anglican churches made a demonstration. With other eastern suburbs clergy, Morgan went into the streets.
“We put our uniform on and walked through the area and we were overwhelmed with hugs and handshakes from Jewish people—rabbis saying ‘Let’s work together’ and thanking us for our words and emails and texts of support that we had been giving them over the last few days—it was a really beautiful sign of unity,” Morgan said.
“The attempt to bring disunity and discord from this act has actually done the opposite. We have vowed to each other we will continue in that light going forward because of this ‘image of God thing.’
“We are all created in the image of God That’s the beautiful thing about the Christian worldview,” Morgan said.
“All people, regardless of what they believe, or what they stand for or even their behavior, they are image-bearers of God, so every time there is death it is terrible. Every time there is darkness it is terrible, but when it’s amplified like this, obviously it impacts you more.
“Our job is to reach out and care for those who are created in the image of God, which we believe is every single individual. That’s a path that all of us are unequal to, but when the darkness gets worse it becomes even more clear.”
The church at Bondi has remained open for prayer and refuge. People have been coming in to light candles, or pray.
As the dust settles, people are distressed that signs of anti-Semitism in the generally laid-back Australian community were not heeded.
“There is anger, particularly in the Jewish community,” Morgan said.
“But there is also a very strong desire to be kind, and from our perspective, from a Christian perspective, the best way to do that is offer clear and practical support where we can. Be with them, and offer practical things like hampers for people who for whatever reason can’t get to the shops—or provide a place of listening.”
Samaritan’s Purse hosted a seminar to help people deal with trauma. It’s not counseling, Morgan said, but focuses on practical guidelines for what to say and what not to say. Hillsong is holding a music service for younger folk.
A biweekly dancing session for little children and their carers—moms, dads, grandparents—had just gone into recess for the Christmas holidays. But parents were grateful that another “Hop and Bop” session will be held on December 19, to explain to children in ways they can understand that however scary the dark, God gives us light.
On December 15, Bondi Church’s traditional Christmas Service of Nine Lessons and Carols was “huge,” Morgan said. It was modified, to make it less celebratory, beginning with a minute’s silence. Posters were put up with words of comfort: “Even though I walk through the darkness,” “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.”
Two Jewish people lit the second Hanukkah candle, and prayed in Hebrew and English. A Jewish leader pronounced the final blessing.
Morgan said when they sang “Once in Royal David’s City,” the line about Jesus sharing “in all our sadness” brought many tears.
While natural disasters are expected in Australia, the focused, ideologically driven nature of this attack has shocked the nation. It is some comfort that people in Bondi have shown evil will not prevail.
Robyn Douglass grew up in Sydney and Melbourne, completing a journalism cadetship at the Anglican newspaper in Victoria. In South Australia, she has worked for church, local, and national media.
