Louisa Hope, a survivor of Sydney’s Lindt Cafe siege in late 2014, told an Easter Sunday service that while fearful during the 17 hour siege, she was “blessed” with the comfort of knowing the “peace which passes all understanding”.
“All of us were feeling fear, how we were going to survive, if we were going to survive,” Ms Hope, who spent three months recovering from injuries she received during the siege, told those at Wesley Mission’s Easter Sunrise Service.
CELEBRATING CHRIST AT EASTER: Wesley Mission’s Rev Keith Garne with Lindt Cafe siege survivor Louisa Hope at Wesley Mission’s sunrise service at the Sydney Opera House.
“One can stop at fear and live in that place, but at the same time for me, I was blessed with that comfort that ‘peace which passes all understanding’ that we have as Christian people.”
Ms Hope said that as Christians, “we have the truth of Jesus and we have that hope in our hearts and we have that responsibility, duty, to share that abroad”.
As whether she bore any hate to the perpetrator of the siege – Man Haron Monis, who was killed in the incident, Ms Hope said there was “absolutely no value” in choosing to hate, adding that “when one has Jesus in your heart there is no space for that”. “So there is no choice for me in lots of ways other than to go to God and yield and surrender my feelings to Him.”
Ms Hope said that her experience during the siege had “definitely helped me to be more purposeful about how I live my life now and (be) more deliberate about how I share my faith”.
Hundreds of people attended the service at the Sydney Opera House in what was the largest gathering there at Easter in recent years. The event was also broadcast live on Channel Nine and on the internet.
Wesley Mission Superintendent Rev Keith Garner described Easter as “the most significant day in the Christian calendar and arguably the most significant event in the history of the world”.
“Easter shows us the value of your life and mine and more broadly that every life matters,” he said. “Because of the Easter story we can all find new life and purpose and the opportunity to relate to a God of love and acceptance.”
