Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” (Luke 6:20-21)
Hi Fighter,
Those words ring true for me today. I’m feeling a bit poor, hungry and miserable at the moment, mainly because it’s my birthday and I’m spending it in isolation, awaiting the results of my COVID test.
I have been feeling rather low energy for the last couple of days, which is not like me, and cancelling my birthday dinner with the family was painful. Even so, true to the beatitudes of Luke 6, I feel blessed, and this for two reasons. Firstly, because I have my daughter, Fran, with me, sharing the isolation, and secondly because I am still feeling nurtured by the memories of last weekend’s rally in Canberra, which was possibly the most spiritually enriching experience I’ve ever had in my life!
If you weren’t there last weekend, you probably read about it. If so, please disregard fake news like the ABC which reported ‘thousands’ of demonstrators whose only accomplishment was to disrupt the Lifeline book fair and to knock over a barricade outside Parliament House. In truth, there were probably around half a million protestors, and we ended our rally holding hands, singing ‘all you need is love’.
As I say, it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, and it was such a privilege to open the rally in prayer. Even so, I have to share my backstory with you for you to understand the impact it all had on me when I went out on stage.
I spent the Friday night at Binacrombi and left at 8 am to head to Canberra, which is normally not much more than a two-hour trip. I’d been told that I was opening the rally at 11.30 am and I’d chosen a hotel that I thought was only a few minutes walk from Parliament House, where we were meeting. I’d made two mistakes.
Firstly, I hadn’t taken account of the extra traffic heading to Canberra that morning. By the time I arrived at my hotel, it was almost 11 am. Secondly, the hotel was not where I had envisaged. Indeed, when I checked on Google Maps, it said that the walk to the rallying point would take me 56 minutes!
I dropped my things in my hotel room and headed straight back to the car. I was about to get in and saw a group wearing United Australia Party hats (as I was) who said to me, “Don’t bother driving. There are an extra half a million cars in Canberra today. You won’t find a parking spot anywhere between our hotel and the rally”.
The team encouraged me to walk with them. I said it could take an hour. They nodded. I told them I was due to open the rally in prayer in half an hour. They stared back at me, blankly. So … I took the only other option available to me. I ran.
I must have looked quite a sight – a sixty year-old man, dressed in a green monastic smock, holding a processional cross in one hand, jogging through the streets of Canberra towards Parliament House. My head was down, concentrating on the road ahead. I could see that I was passing a lot of people but I wasn’t thinking about the size of the crowd as I focused on my destination. I made it to the stage in 25 minutes
I went straight to the stage entrance at the back and was told, “Sorry. You can’t go on. There are too many people up there.” I said, “I’m opening in prayer in 5 minutes”. The security guy wasn’t convinced but, thankfully, someone up on stage soon recognised me and said, “Dave, get on up here!”, at which point I mounted the stage and looked out on a sea of half a million faces …!
“Dave, you’re on”, someone said. “Thanks”, I said. I don’t think I’d now remember what happened after that, except that, thankfully, it was recorded on video.
It was one of the greatest privileges of my life thus far – opening in prayer at the largest rally ever held in the Australian capital. It may have been the largest rally ever held on Australian soil, though I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that I have never experienced anything like it, and not only because of the size of the crowd, but because of their warmth and compassion and spirituality!
Amongst the crew that were on stage, there was a lot of spontaneous hugging going on throughout the rally. There was also a lot of God-talk. Indeed, I was not the only person to lead the rally in prayer that day. On the contrary, prayer seemed to be a constant feature (along with the hugs)!
When I wandered the lawn of Parliament House after the rally, I received more hugs, and saw people everywhere with religious icons. One woman seemed to be carrying a child, but then I realised it was actually a child-size statue of the Blessed Virgin!
It was painful to see the mainline media denigrate this incredible event. If there really were half a million people there, that was 2% of the entire population of the country! Why the politicians aren’t taking us more seriously, I do not know.
I want to share with you what was, for me, the highlight of last Saturday. It was John Stephan singing, “You’re the Voice”. It’s posted below. This was my highlight, not simply because I love John Stephan’s singing, but because of the way the lyrics summed up the spirit of the event – “We’re not gonna sit in silence. We’re not gonna live with fear.” Watch the video and you’ll see one of the Indigenous elders who was at my side, arm in arm with a non-Indigenous woman, dancing and singing those words together. For me, that summed up the day.
Can you see the connection between our rally and Jesus’ words of blessing, as recorded in Luke, chapter 6? Jesus was blessing His disciples – people who were poor, hungry, and despised, not because they’d had bad luck but because they had been faithful. That is exactly the testimony of so many people I spoke to at the rally.
So many there had lost their jobs, their businesses and, in some cases, their homes, as a result of government mandates or because they refused to comply with government directives (or both). They’d stayed true to what they believed, and had had suffered for it. “You will be blessed”, says Jesus, and, last Saturday, we were blessed. 🙂
Our Sunday Eucharist
The icing on the cake of last Saturday’s rally was to share the Sunday Eucharist in person with my friend, George Christensen. It was the first time we had met in person and I was struck by how young George is – not only as compared to me, but in the light of all the amazing things he has accomplished. George plans to retire from politics soon but I hope he’ll continue to be a regular part of our Sunday Eucharist.
This Sunday I expect I’ll be doing the Sunday Eucharist from isolation, but we will be broadcasting as ever via:
- The Father Dave Facebook Page.
- YouTube
Support the work
If you were thinking of getting me a 60th birthday present, please go no further than my Patreon page. Once I’m out of isolation, I’ll be back in business as a spiritual and physical fitness trainer, and I’m keen for more people to work with:
- Middleweight Division ($10/month) where you get access to the member site, along with the videos and other resources.
- Heavyweight Division ($100/month) which includes individual coaching, along with software subscriptions to both Buzzious and Streamout, allowing you both to publish an unlimited number of quality blogs and to livestream
- Super-Heavyweight division ($400/month) includes all of the above plus me training with you one-on-one – at The Fight Lab and at Binacrombi Bush Camp
And before I let you go, I want to thank all those who have been praying with me for my best mate, Walter Glover. Walt was taken to hospital just after I published last week’s newsletter. The hospital think he’s had a mild heart-attack. I thank God that he is still with us. Keep praying for him please.
Your brother in the Good Fight,
www.fatherdave.org
www.fighting-fathers.com
www.holytrinity.org.au
www.binacrombi.com.au
www.israelandpalestine.org
www.prayersforsyria.com
www.dulwichhillgym.com
www.boxersforpeace.com
www.warriorweekends.com
P.S. Forgive the mass of photos today but I hope they convey some of the passion of last week’s event, and don’t miss my favourite photo, which is the last. 😉
About Father Dave Smith
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
