At Christmas, hospitality can link us to a greater truth: nobody is disposable

On Christmas day in 1971 Reverend Bill Crews sat down with a plate of sandwiches in a church hall in Sydney’s Kings Cross and waited.

Through his networks at the Wayside Chapel, he’d sent out the word that he’d be there for anyone who needed a place to come to eat and to talk. Two people showed up, ate lunch with him, and every Christmas Day since then he has done the same thing.

These days Bill’s lunch in the inner west — the biggest in Sydney — hosts around 2000 people. For Christmas in 2020, with the threat of coronavirus looming, thousands of lunches will be takeaway only.

The typical profile of the person who comes along to Christmas lunch is remarkably varied, from those with a disability to people who have nowhere else to go…