A great little moment in last Thursday's smh diary,

CHURCH SAVED

Call it divine intervention, if you like, but something mysterious has saved the last remaining church in Sydenham. For nearly a century, the Methodists worshipped on the Railway Road site, first in the open air, then in a small church before erecting the current building in 1901. Later it became the first Coptic church established outside Egypt, but at Marrickville Council's meeting this week it nearly met its maker. The council's technical services committee had recommended demolition, largely because it has been unused for more than a decade and needs some major work to bring it back to its former glory. It also suffers by its location, under one of the lowest points of the flight path to the airport. But some passionate argument from the Marrickville Heritage Society seemed to sway councillors, who voted down the recommendation and will instead try to extract some money from federal or state governments for the necessary maintenance.

All very interesting, I'm sure. But then comes the punchline…

Or, as Lorraine Beach, the society's vice-president, told The Diary: ''I think there's a healthy dose of Christian conscience in there somewhere; who knows what karma may accumulate for demolishing a church.''

Classic. Thanks Dod for pointing that one out to me