THE LUTHERAN December 2017

N A TIO N A L M A G A ZIN E O F THE L U THE R A N C HU RC H O F A U STRA LIA

DECEMBER 2017

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VOL 51 N11

Th we e on 'll e ly ver gif t ne ed

Unto us a SON Isaiah 9:6 IS GIVEN

LUTHERAN

CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

EDITORIAL Editor Lisa McIntosh p 08 8267 7300 m 0409 281 703 e lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au

OUTFIT FIT FOR A REFORMER!

Executive Editor Linda Macqueen p 08 8339 5178 e linda.macqueen@lca.org.au

CONNECT WITH US We Love The Lutheran! @welove_TL lutheranchurchaus

SUBSCRIBE www.thelutheran.com.au 08 8360 7270 lutheran.subs@lca.org.au LCA Subscriptions PO Box 731 North Adelaide SA 5006 11 issues per year

Nine-month-old Christopher Horton proudly wore his baby Martin Luther outfit for the Reformation commemoration service on 29 October at St Johns Lutheran Church, Perth, where his family are members. His mum Emily Hunt took the photo as Christopher later perused the Reformation anniversary coverage in The Lutheran. Rachel Hage, daughter of St Johns Pastor Peter Hage, made Christopher’s outfit.

Send us a photograph featuring a recent copy of The Lutheran and you might see it here on page 2 of a future issue.

People like YOU bring love to life Martin Fenwick

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LUTHERAN

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CHURCH

St Paul's, Cummins SA

OF AUSTRALIA

Retired

The Lutheran informs the members of the LCA about the church’s teaching, life, mission and people, helping them to grow in faith and commitment to Jesus Christ.

The Lutheran also provides a forum for a range of opinions, which do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor or the policies of the Lutheran Church of Australia.

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Fav text: John 3:16

The Lutheran DECEMBER 2017

Enjoys gardening, fine needlework/cross-stitch and patchwork Fav text: Joshua 24:15

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DECEMBER

Special features EDITOR'S

Letter

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‘Gift with purchase’. I recall from my 20s that whenever the sign went up at a local department store’s skincare counter, I would rush in to buy moisturiser, foundation, or whatever else I ‘needed’, often joined by my stepsister Sandra.

If you spent $40 on products, you’d receive a ‘gift’ claimed to be worth $100. You never quite knew what you would get, which was part of the attraction. Mostly it turned out to be a handy toiletries bag of goodies such as lipstick, eyeshadow, mascara and travel-sized skin cleansers.

Of course, the company offering the ‘gift with purchase’ would often price popular items at $39, so you’d have to buy two to qualify.

Gradually the excitement waned.

Many years later, those toiletries bags still clutter my bathroom and some of the lipsticks and eyeshadow – often in pretty gaudy colours, to be honest – are still there, too. Hardly my finest shopping exploits.

And what is a ‘gift with purchase’ anyway? A true gift is free; it is not earned by doing something or buying anything.

In this issue, we share stories about gifts given, freely and generously, by our LCA/NZ community. We check in on Longest Lutheran Lunches that brought strangers and neighbours to our tables across Australia and New Zealand. And we reflect on God’s gift of unity through events commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

The free sort is the kind of gift we think of at Christmas. We give gifts to those we love, without expecting anything in return. We may donate goods for hampers for the needy. We may share our Christmas table with those who have no loved ones to gather with.

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But hang on a minute. People who don’t have the gift of faith do those things, too.

The difference is that we know Jesus, God’s free gift to us all.

But, wait there’s more! And no, it’s not a bonus set of steak knives or a German vegetable slicing device (as useful and deadly sharp as they may be). With the gift of the babe in the manger comes love, forgiveness, salvation, adoption into God’s family, the guidance of his Spirit, life eternal in his presence, and so on. And it’s all free, no purchase necessary.

Jesus is the only gift we’ll ever need. His love, peace and hope are the blessings I wish for you, our readers, subscribers, group collectors and other ambassadors this Christmas. Thank you for your loyalty and we look forward to your continued support in 2018. Please continue to encourage others to join our family – and remember a subscription makes a great gift!

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How we commemorated 500 years

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Sharing love, lunch and Luther

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All sweetness and lights

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A little church’s big gesture

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Fishing and friendship with 'Santa Claus'

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Regulars Heartland

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#youngSAVEDfree

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Go and Grow

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Reel life

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Inside story

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Going GREYT!

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Directory

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Your voice (Letters)

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Notices

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Coffeebreak

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My gratitude also goes to our wonderful team, which brings you The Lutheran each issue. Thank you to Linda Macqueen (executive editor), Elysia Weiss (graphic designer), our regular contributors Rebecka Colldunberg, Helen Beringen and Mark Hadley, proofreaders Lyall Kupke, Kathy Gaff and Pastor David Strelan, and all at Openbook Howden. This year we acknowledge David Sweeney, who is retiring after 45 years with Openbook. For much of that time he has been our printing rep for The Lutheran, and has served us with endless patience and a huge smile. Thank you, David. We’ll miss you.

Happy Christmas,

Lisa

Our cover:

Digital collage from Dreamstime.com, Bigstock.com and iStock.com

JES U S I S G OD'S LOVE. HE G IVES U S NE W HE ARTS TO L AY AS IDE O UR OL D WAYS, TO B EL IE VE AND FOL LOW HIM, TO L IVE WI T H HIM E VERY DAY.

heartland

REV JOHN HENDERSON

Bishop Lutheran Church of Australia

OUR FU T URE IS IN G OD’S HANDS What are your hopes and prayers for the future of our church and the preaching of the gospel?

Whatever they are, I am sure they involve faith in Jesus Christ and our freedom in the gospel. That’s how the Lutheran church began, and that’s what brought it to this part of the world.

to bring about the union of the former churches.

You might have seen our tagline for these two anniversaries: 50.500 Faith.Freedom.Future.

Now, with 2018 coming soon, we will look to the third of those: our future. Who are we going to be in the future? How will future generations remember us? Will it be for holding to the faith with confidence and practising our freedom to serve God and others? Or will we, as some fear, veer off on another course and somehow lose our way, failing to love others as God has loved us?

Faith and freedom have motivated Christians since New Testament times, just as they motivated Abraham and the prophets of the Old Testament.

They have also motivated Lutherans since the Reformation, including the first Lutherans to arrive in Australia and in New Zealand who established I am certain of one congregations and schools. Many generations have put their lives on thing that doesn’t the line for their faith, resisting those change whatever who would restrict their freedom to worship and serve God according to the outlook: our that faith.

I am certain of one thing that doesn’t change whatever the outlook: our future is in God’s hands. Just as God provided for us in the past by giving us Jesus Christ as our Saviour, so God will provide for our faith in the future. That isn’t a promise to give us just what we want. It does not guarantee our physical FUTURE is in wealth, comfort, safety, or even health.

Such courageous faith is not wishful It doesn’t mean that things will stay GOD’S HANDS. thinking, and such freedom is not the same as they were in the past, nor licence to do as we please. Faith does it protect us from change. But it and freedom both come from God’s does mean that God will not abandon us, that God’s will for the world, that everyone should know Jesus promises always hold true, and that our faith and our Christ and believe in him. Faith is God’s gift so that freedom are assured, whatever life in the world we can live in trust and confidence and know the may hold. true freedom God’s children enjoy in serving him.

The biblical gospels show us what that service So as we prepare for 2018, which, God willing, is looks like: acceptance of all, love for the neighbour, just over the horizon, I invite you to share with me welcoming the stranger, serving those in need, this confidence in our future. As St Paul writes in praising God, and believing confidently in the future.

Romans 8:38,39, ’… I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things In 2017, this 500th anniversary of the Reformation, present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, we have learned once again our key doctrines of nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be justification by faith and the free forgiveness of sins. able to separate us from the love of God in Christ In 2016 we marked the 50th birthday of the Lutheran Jesus our Lord.’

Church of Australia and honoured those who worked

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The Lutheran DECEMBER 2017

lwood Mike Fu Photos:

How we commemorated

At St Johns Lutheran Church Perth, in Western Australia, the congregation’s 500th anniversary events included an Ecumenical Commemoration of the Reformation service on 31 October. The evening began with coffee and cake, followed by an evening where Luther’s mottos ‘Word Alone’, ‘Grace Alone’, ‘Faith Alone’ and ‘Christ Alone’ were celebrated. The church also hosted a Martin Luther Exhibition and, like many congregations, a screening of the Luther movie last month.

500 years

SHOW OF UNIT Y FOR REFORMATION ANNIVERSARY From gatherings of many hundreds of people for worship in lofty cathedrals to a home service attended by just a husband and wife, such was the diversity of Reformation commemorations throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Some congregations, parishes and schools took part in large ecumenical services and events with their Catholic brothers and sisters, and Christians of many denominations, in an unprecedented show of unity. Others partnered with other Lutheran churches to stage zone worship and activities.

National commemoration events were held in Adelaide and Wellington, while churches from many rural and regional centres also were involved. Whether the scale was grand or humble, the intention was the same – to recognise the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Lutheran (and Protestant) church. In some cases, there was reflection on, and repentance for, the hurts and division of the past, as well as thanking God for his grace, love and mercy as we as his people look to the future.

As space does not allow us to include coverage of every Reformation anniversary event held around the LCA/NZ, here are just some of the many highlights from this once–in–a–lifetime commemoration.

There was a weekend of commemorative activities in Western Victoria. At a Friday night wine-and-fingerfood evening at Tabor, former LCA President Rev Dr Michael Semmler entertained with a presentation on Martin Luther through the eyes of his wife Kate.

On Saturday Betty and Colin Huf led history tours beginning at South Hamilton Cemetery where German settlement began and the first church was built in the region. A concert on Saturday evening at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Hamilton, featured orchestral works from the Reformation period and Ken’s Stott’s choral cantata The Day is Ended, with a choir of 80–plus voices.

A congregation of more than 540 gathered for a Sunday Celebration Service at St Michael’s Tarrington, with Dr Semmler as guest preacher, and music led by a mass choir, handbells, band, pipe organ and brass accompaniment. Lunch followed the service, as did music by Tarrington Brass Band, history displays and tours of Tarrington Lutheran School.

Photo: Mea gan Turner

At Port Macquarie, in New South Wales, members of St Peters Lutheran Church participated in and helped to organise a combined churches service to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation on 31 October.

Held in St Agnes’ Catholic Church, it brought together the Anglican Parish of Port Macquarie, the Port Macquarie Uniting Church and Ross Chambers from Port Macquarie Charles Sturt University School of Theology. The service was attended by around 350 people and featured guest speakers Uniting Church of Australia’s Rev Professor James Haire, Australian Jesuit priest and historian Father Peter L’Estrange, and Port Macquarie parish pastor Rev Dr Gordon Watson.

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The Lutheran DECEMBER 2017

Photo: Rich ard Apperle y

The Eastern Metro Zone of Victoria’s Reformation 500 service at Luther College, Croydon, brought together people from more than 11 congregations and four school communities. The service, which drew about 750 worshippers on 29 October, featured several choirs, liturgical dancing and the world premiere of a specially commissioned cantata by Geelong area member Kym Dillon. The service, which highlighted the talents of students from the local Good Shepherd Primary School, was followed by morning tea and a hip-hop performance. Several zone pastors led the worship, with Victorian District Bishop Lester Priebbenow preaching.

Inclement weather and lack of power was not enough to deter more than 100 people from attending Cowell Lutheran Church on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula on 29 October. The service commemorated 500 years of Reformation and celebrated 50 years of the LCA, 50 years of Cleve Lutheran Parish and the 50th anniversary to the day of the laying of the foundation stone of Cowell Lutheran Church. Visitors came from around South Australia to join parish members and fellow Christians of Cowell. Parish Pastor Keith McNicol led the service, which was followed by presentations on the history of the Reformation, Lutheranism coming to Australia, the formation of the LCA, Cleve Lutheran Parish and Cowell Lutheran Church. The day also included the cutting of a celebration cake, a meal, fellowship and a memorabilia display.

A congregation of more than 450 people gathered in the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul (Anglican) in the New Zealand capital on 29 October for a Bach Cantata Vespers for Reformation. Radio New Zealand recorded the service for broadcast and podcast. Reformation commemoration worship has been held in five of the seven Catholic cathedrals in New Zealand this year.

Other events have included concerts, lectures and history presentations, fellowship events including Longest Lutheran Lunches, conversation with Roman Catholics and other Christians, as well as the signing of a joint statement (see Inside Story).

At Mackay, in northern Queensland, the congregation’s Reformation weekend began with a confirmation service for six young candidates on 28 October. A Reformation Service on 29 October featured a banner illustrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. An animated film depicting Luther's life was shown for the congregation’s children and a copy of the 95 Theses was displayed on the front door of the church. After the service, the congregation assembled to consecrate a 500th anniversary plaque, as a constant reminder of our faith, freedom and focus on the future, wherever God is leading us. This was followed by a Longest Lutheran Lunch and the screening of photographs of a Reformation service at Wittenberg.

On 29 October, 320 people attended a combined service at St Peter’s Lutheran Church Reid, in suburban Canberra, to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

Lutherans from Belconnen, Reid, Tuggeranong, Woden and the Canberra Finnish Church in the Australian Capital Territory, and Cooma and Queanbeyan, New South Wales, joined in worship and praise to acknowledge this once-in-a-lifetime event. Pastor Noel Due from South Australia was the guest preacher, while the Covenant Players from Sydney presented a drama called The Forsaken, about Martin Luther. After the service, 240 people met for lunch at a Canberra club.

At Lakeside College Pakenham, a satellite suburb of Melbourne to the south-east, a staff member built a large, medieval–style door. During the all–school chapel worship, student leaders and staff had the opportunity to nail either 'a prayer' or 'an intention for change in the world' to the door. Later, at recess time, all students had the opportunity to do this, and this was embraced by junior school students. The door and the things nailed to it are now on display in the foyer of the college.

The Darling Downs in Queensland may have played host to the LCA/NZ’s smallest Reformation service. Broadacre farmers Rodney and Beverley Patch live a long way from any of the church or community Reformation events being held on 31 October. So they held their own. Adopting their morning practice of having a table devotion together, Rodney and Beverley followed the Reformation Day liturgy which they found on the Worship Planning Page on the LCA website. They also read together Bishop’s John Henderson’s sermon that he had prepared for the day. As a congregation of two, it’s likely that Rodney and Beverley can claim the title for holding the smallest Reformation service. But as we know, ‘where two or three are gathered together’, the Lord is there too.

Sharing and

2017

by JULIE SLAGHEKKE

This year the Longest Lutheran Lunch celebration coincided with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Almost 150 congregations from all over Australia and New Zealand, as well as Canada, welcomed family and friends to their Longest Lutheran Lunch (LLLu) events.

While dates, times, styles and themes differed, the intent was constant: inviting people to share in God’s goodness through worship, fellowship and a meal; honouring the culture and heritage of the LCA/NZ and the legacy of Luther; offering an inclusive, intergenerational event; and connecting as many people as possible. Event organisers were creative, committed and contrasting in their approaches.

Members at Hawkes Bay on New Zealand’s North Island have a cooperative agreement with local churches from four denominations. Together with community members, they shared a combined communion service, a potluck lunch, hymn singalong, bible quizzes and a video on helping in the community.

A brunch of eggs, bacon, tomatoes, sausages and mushrooms, fruit and cereal, fed members, friends and neighbours at Warradale (1) in Adelaide’s south-west. After sharing first course during informal Reformation Sunday worship, the fellowship and feasting continued with pancakes and coffee.

In Auckland, New Zealand, Mountainside Lutheran members chose to share God’s blessings with those in need. Rather than hosting a lunch, they packed food into containers with a personal message and tract or bookmark, then took them to Auckland City Mission.

Mighty rain trees in the garden of St Paul’s Lutheran Parish Townsville (4), in Far North Queensland, shaded more than 50 lunchgoers. Joined by members from nearby Ingham and Ayr, Townsville celebrated the church’s birthday with a shared meal and birthday cake.

At Port Lincoln, on South Australia’s West Coast, there was also a Reformation cake on hand. A long table was set for lunch and the young people served the older folk.

Rochedale in Queensland also held a Reformation–themed lunch – with a commemorative service, followed by a feast of German sausages and sides, and activities.

Mount Gambier, in South Australia’s South–East, hosted ‘Lunch at Wittenberg’. There was a German cake competition (judged by John Block, Mack Ferguson and Martin Peucker – 2), organ recitals and the stories behind favourite hymns.

German food was also on the menu at Victor Harbor (3), south of Adelaide, South Australia, where 150 people gathered for lunch, complete with singalongs, dirndls and some other Bavarian–style trimmings.

At North Adelaide, South Australia (5), members and guests were joined for lunch by ‘Martin’, who resides at the church.

At Walla Walla, New South Wales (8), a progressive lunch followed a service led by the local youth. After soup served in the spring sunshine, the meal moved to two venues for mains and two for sweets and socialising.

Staff, students and friends of Redeemer Lutheran School, Nuriootpa, in South Australia (6 and 7), provided a beautiful demonstration of intergenerational mission. Women from their supporting Lutheran congregations made more than 400 cupcakes for students to enjoy. Students also commemorated the Reformation anniversary by forming a big ‘500’ on the school oval (main photo this page).

This is what the Longest Lutheran Lunch is all about – celebrating the unity that comes from who we are in Jesus and sharing that with people in our community, no matter what their age, culture or denomination.

Thank you to all who participated. Many people made an effort to partner with other congregations, schools and groups and to make the event enjoyable and memorable for all who came. We look forward to your continued involvement and to new church and school communities joining us next year.

Julie Slaghekke is Coordinator for the 2017 Longest Lutheran Lunch.

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This is wha t the L ongest Lu theran L unch is all a bou t – CEL EBRAT ING the UNIT Y that comes from w ho w e are in Jesus and SHARING that wi th people in our COMMUNIT Y.

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