The Lutheran June 2020

NATIONAL MAGAZINE OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

JUNE 2020

SOCIAL M E D I A

Today’s tools to tell the world Share the gospel with all creation.

MARK 16:15

CHURCH

VOL 54 N05

Print Post Approved PP100003514

@home Faith-at-home resources

LUTHERAN

CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

EDITORIAL

Editor Lisa McIntosh p 08 8267 7300 m 0409 281 703 e lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au Executive Editor Linda Macqueen p 08 8267 7300 e linda.macqueen@lca.org.au

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Wheely good read Pre-coronavirus restrictions, Pastor Mark Brinkmann of Grace Lutheran Church in Redcliffe, Queensland, caught up on some essential reading at the Wheels of the Century Automotive Show at Redcliffe Showground, beside his classic Ford Fairlane. Desley Dyer, a member at Grace, took the photo.

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Bible text most treasured in these times: Prov 3:5,6

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Bible text most treasured in these times: 2 Cor 4:16,17

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LUTHERAN

CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA 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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University student ‘So we do not lose heart … our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory ... ’

Kathy Thompson Bethlehem Lutheran Church Adelaide SA Humbly serves God in all she does Bible text most treasured in these times: Psalm 121:1,2 ‘I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.’

Let the light of someone you know shine through their photo being featured in The Lutheran and LCA Facebook. With their permission, send us a good quality photo, their name and details (congregation, occupation, what they enjoy doing, most treasured text in these difficult times) and your contact details.

June Special features Going social with gospel truth

EDITOR'S

let ter

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Church@Home

Martin Luther embraced a fledgling printing press industry as a Godgiven means of putting the Bible into the hands and hearts of the commonfolk, as well as a way to share his writings on a mass scale.

Five centuries later we have a similar opportunity through social media – that vast realm of online communications across ever-expanding internet platforms. These are some of today’s tools we’ve been blessed with as we endeavour to share the gospel with the world.

Of course, social media could hardly be more topical. For it has been in these times of COVID-19 restrictions, closures and isolation, that we have seen its possibilities for worship, church governance and generally staying in touch. Many congregations have been using social media platforms to record or stream worship services, and some congregations doing virtual church are seeing more people at worship than they did at physical church.

It was heartwarming to hear, too, that my aunty and uncle learnt to use an internet conferencing system to meet their newborn great-grandson.

In their late 80s and early 90s respectively and living in aged-care accommodation, they’ve also been accessing the LCA’s Daily Devotion online. Many LCA/NZ members have been reading and sharing these devotions, along with other faith-building and care resources and information, through Church@Home (www.lca.org.au/churchhome (www.lca.org.au/churchhome))

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But for those unfamiliar with the likes of Facebook, Twitter or Instagram – and even some people who know them well – it may be a space of confusion, fear and mistrust. And is there anything really ‘social’ about it? Many would argue it actually encourages distance and isolation from others.

In this issue we look at more of the questions, pros, cons, cautions, responsibilities and opportunities that are around social media – and I hope you’ll find our themed feature story and Bible study compelling and informative.

Care and connection

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Heartland

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Dwelling in God’s word

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Going GREYT!

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Reel Life

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The inside story

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Directory

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Your voice

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Prayer calendar

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Sudoku

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Of course, not everyone has access to social media. So, again this month, we are sharing in print a selection of Church@Home resources, including devotions, a sermon, a reflection, prayers, inspiring texts and useful information. I pray that you will be blessed by them.

As I’m writing this, the Australian and New Zealand governments have begun easing restrictions and charting steps to more open and operational societies. I suggest you follow the latest updates as they apply to our churches through the LCA/NZ’s pandemic response webpage at www.lca.org.au/covid-19 or via your district office.

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Much remains up in the air. But God’s people have never relied on what they can see, touch or know with certainty. I pray that during these challenging times you will grow in your faith in God: your Creator, Redeemer and Comforter.

Lisa

PS – You can now buy short-term gift subscriptions of The Lutheran to help isolated members feel connected – Aus: $15 (3 months) or $28 (6 months); NZ: $17 (3 months); $30 (6 months).

Email lutheran.subs@lca.org.au or phone 08 8360 7270

Our cover: iStock.com with artwork by Elysia McEwen The Lutheran J U N E 2 0 2 0

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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

RE V JOHN HENDERSON

Bishop Lutheran Church of Australia

JESUS CARRIED OUR ANXIE TIES TO THE CROS S ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today’ (Matthew 6:34 NRSV).

Anxiety eats away inside us. At first it might not be obvious, unless we know how to spot the symptoms. Untreated, anxiety wears us down and drains us, until eventually we can no longer keep up the appearance of ‘normal’.

Our energy levels drop. Others start to notice and inquire, ‘Are you okay?’

Medical researchers are reporting increased levels of anxiety and its close associate, depression, as the coronavirus shutdown lengthens.

Mental health experts warn of a suicide epidemic that could outstrip deaths from the pandemic by up to 10 times, according to a report in The Australian last month. Almost half could be younger people.

In ‘normal’ times we can usually ignore low levels of background anxiety.

[OU R PRO B LEMS] CAN EN D O N LY W H EN W E STO P TRYI N G TO B E W H AT W E AR EN ’ T AN D CO N FESS TH AT J ESUS IS OU R TRU E SAVI OU R .

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With shutdown and isolation come loss of routine, social interaction and myriad other things that keep our minds occupied. Risks to our health, employment, business, money, or a stressful domestic circumstance, can make us worry about an increasingly uncertain future.

Anxiety levels spike when we feel we have no choice or control over what’s going on. From childhood, we have been taught to take charge of our lives and make good choices. When we can’t do that anymore, we become less sure of ourselves and our place in the world. The levers we usually pull to get ourselves back to equilibrium don’t work so well. Ordinarily, we might take a deep breath, sleep on it, or do something else for a while and, when we come back, things are better. Now, we might not be so sure.

How does faith help? As baptised believers, we know that Jesus is with us. But when we lose control of our lives, as some of us may feel right now, we might also feel we have failed God. But have you noticed how, from a human perspective, Jesus’ own life seemed to spiral out of control? He was a great rabbi with the power to work miracles, but he did nothing to save himself. The leaders successfully plotted to kill him; Judas betrayed him; his followers deserted him;

the population turned away from him; witnesses gave false evidence against him; Herod wiped his hands of him; Pilate sentenced him; and soldiers nailed him to a cross. He lost everything overnight, yet he still had his Father’s love. That was all he needed for what he was here to do: to give his life for the world.

Our problems begin when we want to be our own saviours, trying to fill a role that isn’t ours to fill. They can end only when we stop trying to be what we aren’t and confess that Jesus is our true Saviour. He carried all our failures and anxieties to his cross. Jesus lived and died in our place and, like him, we have the Father’s unending love. God accepted us in baptism and made us his own. One day at a time, washed and renewed in the water of baptism, no matter how we feel we may have failed, through faith we know we can put our hope in Jesus and trust him as our Saviour.

‘My faith looks up to see the Lamb of Calvary, my Saviour, Lord.

O hear me while I pray; take all my guilt away; and let me from this day be wholly yours.

(Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement no. 368, Ray Palmer 1808-87).

GOING SOCIAL

with gospel truth

The printing press was crucial to the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther is quoted as having said: ‘Printing is the ultimate gift of God.’ Social media is often viewed as today’s printing press. Is it a space we, as Christians, can better use for the good of the gospel? We asked online media consultant Rikki Lambert to share his views.

BY RIKKI L AMBERT

You may feel like Dorothy and her dog Toto in The Wizard of Oz, Oz, lifted into a technological whirlwind.

This bewildering social media and internet-connected revolution is reshaping the world and relationships, even how we think and act.

This Information Revolution has gathered a socially transformative pace unseen since the Industrial Revolution, thanks to smartphones, cloud computing, data mining and a global COVID-19 lockdown.

If you’re of an older vintage, you might have dipped your toe into social media or Zoom to see your loved ones during times of isolation.

I am neither an expert nor an evangelist for social media. The Lutheran Church of Australia and Lutheran Education Australia engaged me to share insight into online media due to my qualifications and experience using those tools, particularly in politics.

Social media is no different to your mobile phone, car or chainsaw. It is a tool and, like all created things, can be used for good or evil.

Lutherans have a compelling story to tell from an earlier revolution – the combined power of the printing press and the Reformation. Back then, some considered it profane to use the popular or ‘social’ media of that day – the printing press, wood carvings and pub songs

– to deliver God’s love and word into the hands, eyes and ears of commonfolk. We are all beneficiaries of the first Lutheran era of innovation.

Today’s social media might make you think of, say, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Facebook was launched to help university alumni to stay in touch and Twitter began as a micro-blogging platform for short thoughts on topics of the day. Instagram came along for more visual people. These morphed into social phenomena. Instagram was acquired by Facebook and now the proliferation of smartphones with good video capability sees those platforms – and TikTok – shifting social media into an emerging, video-based media.

Look at it this way. In the late 1960s, the large family ‘wireless’ began to be replaced by a shiny new television set. Radio yielded to TV as the household focal point for news, information and entertainment.

Now the TV has been supplanted by a smaller model – the smartphone!

In today’s race for global broadcast supremacy, there are two giants crushing media veterans such as TV channels 7, 9, 10 and the ABC in Australia, with another fast catching up. In the blue corner, Facebook and its partner, Instagram. In the red corner, Google and its partner, YouTube. Both giants originate from the USA, The Lutheran J U N E 2 0 2 0

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which is why a third is muscling in – video-based TikTok and Zoom, with strong Chinese links.

So the term ‘social media’ is a catch-all for a global broadcasting transition from radio, through TV, to the internet, as the trusted source of information.

The church has followed these trends – remember the 1980s controversy about televangelists? Today’s pandemic quarantine now sees many local pastors and congregations reaching their people – and many others – via online video.

Like radio and television before them, internet-enabled devices may have been created for noble reasons.

Like much of what humanity touches, all have been turned toward every good and evil use under the sun. There are many foul evils in this world, including abuse, degradation, addiction and exploitation. Those are all so much more accessible online to children and the vulnerable. Parents and grandparents would do well to talk with their children and grandchildren about how they use social media, their phones or other technology to interact with friends and strangers.

How should we 21st-century Christians engage with social media and the internet, accessible by this newfangled phone in our purse or pocket? Some avoid it completely, others plunge right in, while the wary trust only selected platforms. I believe everyone should act as their prayerful conscience directs.

The LCA/NZ now shares great content on Facebook and Instagram and has expanded its YouTube output, such as live-streaming worship. Sharing God’s truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ, is more important than ever.

It can be as easy as sharing LCA/NZ content on your own Facebook account, liking a church department Instagram post, forwarding a link on an email, or telling friends about it.

Pilate’s great question of Jesus rings in our ears: ‘What is Truth?’. We know Jesus to be the way, the truth and the life. Where once we trusted the radio, then the TV to be objective and truthful, the internet offers innumerable ‘truths’, theories and interpretations. It is hard to know what to trust.

Some people new to social media share what they believe to be true principally because a friend shared it and/or because it reinforces their own worldview. Too many people quickly share would-be truths instead of checking the information or doing nothing and thinking more about it.

The aforementioned global giants are cracking down on ‘fake news’ on Facebook and YouTube etc. Some Christians fear the gospel will be the ‘lies’ that global giants remove next! Have faith – we know the Truth as a person and true friend, Jesus our saviour. If you want to share something helpful, positive and irrefutably true on social media, share the truth – God’s word and his unfailing love through Christ for everyone.

The younger generation is intuitively technology-literate and less inhibited in sharing videos, opinions, or movements online. Technology is shortening attention spans – most people watch online videos for less than 30 seconds. The older generation has an immense deposit of time, knowledge and wholesome values to share with a younger generation that wants information quickly. Older people have a gold mine of experience, appreciation of human relationships, understanding of verbal (and non-verbal) communication – and forbearance. As Christians, we must reach across generational and digital divides to understand one other.

Just as social media gives us the freedom to find things out fast, share things instantly and have our

S H A R I N G GO D’S truth, TH E GOS PEL O F J ESUS CH R IST, IS M O R E important TH A N E V ER .

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Speaking at the Berri Hotel in South Australia during his 2019 Senate campaign, communications consultant and creative director Rikki Lambert last year provided online media reports for the Lutheran Church of Australia and Lutheran Education Australia.

Social media

IS N O D I FFER ENT TO YO U R M O B I LE PH O N E, CA R O R CH AI NSAW. IT IS A tool A N D, LI K E A LL CR E ATED TH I N GS , CA N B E US ED F O R GOO D O R EVI L .

The LCA/NZ regularly shares content, including daily devotions, on Facebook and Instagram and has expanded its YouTube output, with video messages and live-streamed worship services.

say to an ever-widening audience, it carries with it responsibilities. Our conduct on social media should reflect our values – if you wouldn’t say or do something face-to-face, don’t do it on social media. Seeking to understand one another – even bringing reconciliation – is a quality the world always needs.

Pandemic isolation, children doing school from home, adults working from home and customers ordering online have accelerated the whirlwind Information Revolution. As church we talk about reaching the lost in this short-term lockdown, and longer-term in that paradoxically interconnected, anxious and lonely world.

God help us if technology replaces face-to-face, human conversation, relationships and intimacy in the longer term. So too, churches meeting online is a short-term measure. God’s people meeting in one place will increasingly become Christianity’s countercultural hallmark. We live in a bizarrely interconnected but selfish, socially-distant world.

If today’s Information Revolution is as bewildering as Dorothy’s Oz, then our ‘no-place-like-home’ Kansas is true community in Jesus. Instead of clicking magical red glittery shoes together, acts reflecting Jesus’ kindness and love can bring love and community to those who badly need it. Let’s encourage one another to do a simple, loving act in person or online to shine Jesus’ truth and love in this strange new world.

We also need to look after ourselves. Some people shout, rant, or abuse others online. Social media, like Facebook, now allows you to mute someone for a while. Social media and video content are Dorothy’s Oz – they are not the real world. At best, they are a mirror.

Spend time away from your phone. Go outdoors or communicate with family or friends. Stay grounded in reality, not in the virtual online world.

Before anyone had heard of COVID-19, I recommended that the LCA use more video, encourage Lutherans to reach out online and consider calling digital evangelists.

These evangelists could reach out online to connect lost Australians to a local Lutheran congregation. Little did I know that we would soon be under virtual house arrest, unable (for a season) to physically meet as church. If we can, we should all reach out online in these strange times, remembering our salvation hope – and looking forward to meeting and embracing each other once again.

Facebook reshaped what ‘friend’ means and gave us the terrible term ‘unfriend’. Nothing will shake the truth of Jesus’ permanent friendship with humanity. In John 15, Jesus lives and teaches what true, self-sacrificial friendship looked like.

The right question is not whether to use social media, but: How can I be the type of friend Jesus is and wants us to be? And, can I use technology to be such a friend in these challenging times?

Rikki Lambert runs Lambert Creative, creating board games, fiction stories and consulting on his experiences in the law, politics and communications. He provided reports for the LCA and LEA during 2019 and is contracted part-time with Redeemer Lutheran School, Nuriootpa in South Australia for 2020. He is married with four children. www.lambertcreative.com.au The Lutheran J U N E 2 0 2 0

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DWELLING IN GOD'S WORD

M E L DIA A I C O S

OR A BLES SING? – U G LY

The term ‘social media’ refers to a broad range of applications, platforms and programs that enable users to generate their own content to share information, ideas, personal messages, videos and other content to online communities. A key element of social media is that the users of these platforms mostly determine the content. Some of the common social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, WhatsApp, WeChat, Snapchat, Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

This Bible study intends to provide an insight into how social media can be both ugly and a blessing, and how we as Christians can respond so that our interactions on social media glorify God and help show love to him and others.

To start, here are some questions to consider: How do you currently use social media?

What are some of the blessings you experience with social media?

What are some of the challenges you see with it?

by Pastor Richard Schwedes

Consider what they are saying to you as to: Why can social media be ugly at times?

How do we at times get caught up in some of the ugly moments on social media?

SOCIAL MEDIA – HOW CAN IT BE A BLES SING? Social media has also created many blessings for people, including churches. People have reconnected with each other, been able to meet with people from around the world to explore and discuss issues of interest, and even be easily kept informed about what is happening.

Let’s take some time to reflect on the following texts, to consider how social media can be a blessing: • Matthew 22:37–40

• Ephesians 5:15,16

• John 13:34,35

• Colossians 3:12–17

• 1 Corinthians 10:31–11:1

• Colossians 4:2–6

• Romans 8:26–28

INTO THE WORD: SOCIAL MEDIA – IS IT FROM GOD?

As you read these texts consider:

Some people love social media and can see blessings in using it, while others despise social media, even suggesting that it is not godly.

How are they applicable to you in using social media?

How can we use social media in a God-pleasing way?

What blessings can social media bring, not only to you but also others?

Take some time to reflect on and discuss the following: • Colossians 1:15–17 • 1 Timothy 4:1–4 As you do, reflect on and discuss in what ways is social social media godly and good?

THE WORD BECOMING RE AL What are three things from this study that help you in using social media? How might your congregation or church group use social media to be a blessing to others and reflect God’s love and grace? When using social media, what are some important things to remember?

SOCIAL MEDIA – WHY CAN IT BE UGLY? Some people have had negative experiences with social media. Have you had any negative experiences? Have you heard of any negative experiences?

Let’s take some time to reflect on texts to consider why such negative experiences may happen: • Genesis 50:20

• Colossians 3:5–11

• James 3:7–10

• Galatians 5:19–26

• 1 Corinthians 3:1–4

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Pastor Richard Schwedes is committed to using the internet for God’s ministry and mission to reach a broader range of people. His congregations – St Paul’s Sydney and Redeemer Narraweena – have responded to the COVID-19 restrictions with worship live-streamed and on YouTube, Zoom Bible studies and church council meetings, Facebook devotions and updates, weekly update emails, pastoral care callers and, for those without internet, some mailed out at-home resources.

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