APRIL 2012
Print Post Approved PP536155/00031 VOL 46 NO 3
NATIONAL MAGAZINE OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA
We need a SAVIOUR. The Lutheran April 2012
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EDITOR/ADVERTISING
phone 08 8339 5178 email linda.macqueen@lca.org.au
SUBSCRIPTIONS
phone 08 8360 7270 email lutheran.subs@lca.org.au
Great gift!
www.thelutheran.com.au We Love The Lutheran!
Lutheran Education Australia's Louise Mason presents copies of The Lutheran to Pastor Simon Sever of the Lutheran church in Bodonci, north-east Slovenia.
As the magazine of the Lutheran Church of Australia (incorporating the Lutheran Church of New Zealand), 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. The Lutheran is a member of the Australasian Religious Press Association and as such subscribes to its journalistic and editorial codes of conduct.
Photo: courtesy Louise Mason
Send us a photograph featuring a recent copy of The Lutheran and you might see it here on page 2 We Love The Lutheran!
CONTACTS
Editor Linda Macqueen PO Box 664, Stirling SA 5152, Australia phone (+61) 08 8339 5178 email linda.macqueen@lca.org.au Beyond10K Project Officer Janise Fournier phone 08 8387 0328 email janise.fournier@lca.org.au
People like you are salt in your world [ Matt 5:13 ]
National Magazine Committee Wayne Gehling (chair), Greg Hassold, Sarah HoffZweck, Pastor Richard Schwedes, Heidi Smith Design and layout Comissa Fischer Printer Openbook Howden
ADVERTISEMENTS and MANUSCRIPTS Should be directed to the editor. Manuscripts are published at the discretion of the editor. Those that are published may be cut or edited. Advertisements are accepted for publication on a date-received basis. Acceptance of advertisements does not imply endorsement by The Lutheran or the Lutheran Church of Australia of advertiser, product or service. Copy deadline: 1st of preceding month Rates: general notices and small advertisements, $18.00 per cm; for display, contract and inserted advertisements, contact the editor.
SUBSCRIPTIONS and CHANGES of ADDRESS
Ross Billiau
Beryl Taylor
Stephen Newcombe
Bethany, Raceview Qld
St Paul's, Cummins SA
Concordia, Duncraig WA
Medical scientist
Retired
Builder
Gardening, old cars, RAAF Reserve and reading
Gardening, reading and craft
Playing music, camping and chocolate
Fav text: John 3:16
Fav text: 1 Peter 5:7
Fav text: 1 Timothy 6:6
LCA Subscriptions PO Box 731, North Adelaide SA 5006 phone 08 8360 7270 email lutheran.subs@lca.org.au www.thelutheran.com.au 11 issues per year— Australia $39 New Zealand $41 Asia/Pacific $50 Rest of the World $59 Issued every month except in January Vol 46 No3 P74
Some years ago I visited the Killing Fields in Cambodia.
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You know what the worst of it was? Not the five-storey monument filled with skulls. Not the place where Pol Pot's thugs killed babies and toddlers by grasping their ankles and hurling their heads against the trunk of a fig tree.
05 Learning to fish 11 The voice in the crowd 24 A place with space 26 Faith and footy
No, the worst of it was walking over bits of flannelette. All over the Killing Fields, bits of human bone and flannelette protrude from the pathways. It was the flannelette, more than the bones, that shook me up. Even though the bones were only 35 years old, or thereabouts, I could pretend they were thousands of years old. Ancient. Relics. Belonging to an era with which I had no personal connection. But flannelette is spine-chillingly recent; my brain couldn't deny that. The people who were murdered here wore flannelette shirts. I wear flannelette shirts.
FEATURES
28 Matchmakers
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COLUMNS 04 From the President 10 Rarely Asked Questions 13 Reel Life
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14 Little Church
This barbaric brutality happened to people like me ...
15 Inside Story
Pol Pot took control of Cambodia in 1975. But I didn't know anything about that while I was attending confirmation lessons that year. A conscientious student, I could recite Luther's Explanation to the Second Article off by heart. I still can: I believe that Jesus Christ ... has freed me from sin, death and the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death ...
19 Directory
My adolescent heart had no trouble believing that Jesus, by his death and resurrection, had defeated sin, death and the power of the devil. What I didn't know back then was what sin, death and the power of devil might look like on a national scale—and why the world needed a Saviour. But I know now. I also know now what sin, death and the power of the devil look like and feel like on a very personal scale— and why I need a Saviour too. Left to their own devices, sin, death and the power of the devil will destroy every one of us—if not at the hands of a Pot-Pol-styled megalomanic, then by more subtle but just as deadly means: power, envy, lust, self-centredness, greed ... We need a Saviour, every one of us.
Vol 46 No3 P75
20 Stepping Stones 22 Notices 23 Bookmarks
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30 Heart and Home 32 World in Brief 34 Coffee Break
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The evening of the 'new commandment'—the holy communion between Jesus and his disciples to which also we are invited, and after which, in many of our congregations, there follows the silent stripping of the altar—gives us a sense of spiritual sobriety. Come Good Friday, and the words from the cross burn into our spirit, as we hear the one who saves cry, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' That takes us to a place we cannot fathom. In such spiritual depression, we ask that we will not have to go there.
Rev Dr Mike Semmler President Lutheran Church of Australia
Keep up to date with news, prayer points and call information by visiting www.lca.org.au/president or by subscribing to the president's electronic newsletter. To receive the newsletter, send an email to itofficer@lca. org.au giving the email address you would like included. All LCA pastors and layworkers are automatically included in this list.
We need to hear and to be assured again and again (as we will on Easter Sunday and in worship during the weeks that follow), that while Christ was not powerless to save himself, he gave up everything so that we could be redeemed. His rising depended on satisfying the debt we accumulate in our natural rejection of God. Through faith in our Saviour, we are God's very own children and will never have to die the death of separation Jesus did. Easter Sunday is a taste of heaven on earth for us. But there will be little celebration unless the path of Good Friday is followed. We will not appreciate forgiveness unless we face the reality of the utter condemnation of our sinfulness. Our sinfulness—so complete in us—is too much to understand. But God does understand, and his Son, now the risen Lord Jesus Christ, chose to take our place. Easter astonishment of course is always tempered by our dimness in comprehending the cost our Saviour paid and the glory he earned. We think in terms of gold and silver, honour, power and status. Christ acts in love, in total life-giving love.
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The Lutheran April 2012
We were lost and did not know it. Now we are found and have the opportunity to realise it and live it more each day. Heaven's gates are open wide on Easter Sunday. There is no way on earth to describe that. It will be totally apparent only when we ourselves enter eternity and experience the powerlessness of the grave, which has no trace in heaven. So, for now, as we sense the despair of the cross and the unexpected new life which shatters the tomb, we live as those redeemed by the Saviour. That provides us with a new beginning and a new life to celebrate, even in our day-to-day matters. We were lost and did not know it. Now we are found and have the opportunity to realise it and live it more each day. Certainly there will be times of tears and tragedy. Yes, we will despair at experiences which try to tell us all is lost and for nothing. Take the body, sip the cup and hear the words, 'Given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins'. In this we embrace this life, however temporal or miserable or exciting and fulfilling we might find it, to participate in the life of the risen Christ. Vol 46 No3 P76
photo Glenice Hartwich
learning to fish by Linda Macqueen
Just like those first followers of Jesus, Cambodia's brand-new Lutherans know how to cast a net—and not only for fish. We arrive at the fish pond in that soft golden glow of late afternoon that photographers wish they could bottle. Behind us, on one of Phum Krus's dusty, palm-lined roads, our sandal scuffs blur with the hoof prints of homeward-bound buffaloes but make neat deliberate arcs around the piles of dung. In front of us, the vista opens up to dry rice fields, divided into neat squares by hundreds of shin-high levy banks, all the way to the mountains. Shaggy palms and skinny grey buffaloes rescue the scene from monotony. At this time of day it's a softly peaceful, if not spectacularly beautiful, sight. Vol 46 No3 P77
Peaceful now, but it wasn't always like this. You wonder what these rice fields have seen ‌ how much blood flowed here, how many dreams were crushed, how many people were dragged away dead, right here in these sun-bathed fields. On the far side of the pond, 20-yearold Pich Chantrea is asking two villagers to bring some nets. He has something he wants to show us. Chantrea is tall, tanned and muscular, but he's not a farmer. He bears the telltale mark of a student: soft hands. A generation ago that quality would have marked him for death. Pol Pot's barbaric plot was to create a nation of communist peasants, and to eliminate the rest.
People who wore glasses or had soft hands were suspected of being educated, and were executed Between 1975 and 1979 Pol Pot's monsters murdered or starved to death around 2 million Cambodians, about one-third of the population. The children, as young as three or four, were separated from their parents and herded into communes, where they were forced into slave labour and brainwashed to love the regime and to hate their parents. In four years Cambodia lost a generation of nation-builders. Now Chantrea and young adults like him are working hard to lift their country as it wobbles tentatively to its feet. It's not hard to imagine The Lutheran April 2012
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'In Cambodia, if you don't have money, you don't have access to doctors', he says. 'I want to serve the poorest of the poor, those who don't have money for medical services. 'Then I want to work overseas, in the poorest countries, perhaps in Africa, perhaps for the UN. I want to get experience in very poor countries so that I can bring what I learn back to Cambodia. 'And then I want to get into politics. As a doctor, I can help patients only one by one. As a politician I can have much wider influence. 'I want to serve my country in the name of Jesus Christ. I want to help Cambodia to become a Christian country.'
He's made a promising start. He has already led his mother to Christ, and two of his sisters. One of eight children, Chantrea grew up here in Phum Krus, which is typical of Cambodia's provincial villages. The people live in much the same way as they have for thousands of years, dependent on the annual rice harvest for their life and at the mercy of unfaithful gods should they become ill or the rice-planting rain be tardy. In the provinces, even those who have received a little bit of education have few opportunities to use it; there are no businesses or industries to speak of. When your rice field can no longer support you or your family, you have to find factory work in Phnom Penh or in another country. Young women are especially vulnerable to abuse when they leave the relative safety of the village.
There's no such thing as social welfare in Cambodia, so it's advisable not to lose your job, become ill, suffer an injury or get old. Yesterday we visited some of Phum Krus's most vulnerable people: the elderly, frail, blind and ill. Staff of the Lutheran World Mission, based here in the village, take a meal to these people daily. For some, it's the only decent nutrition they get. Naively, I asked one of the Lutheran staff, 'What would happen to these people if you weren't here, caring for them, and bringing them food?' 'They would die', he said. Chantrea wants to stop his people dying before their time. And he's starting in his own home village. While delivering bowls of soup and rice door-to-door meets some people's immediate needs, he knows that's a short-term and unsustainable
photo Glenice Hartwich
him in 20 years as a leader of Cambodia. In fact, that's one of his goals: to become a political leader. But first he has to finish his medical degree and earn his stethoscope.
God has given me this opportunity to do this project.
I get to help people and to share the gospel at the same time. The outer life is important but the inner life is even more important, because it goes on forever.
Read how Chantrea became a Christian 6
The Lutheran April 2012
http://www.lca.org.au/there-was-no-life-in-my-life.html
Vol 46 No3 P78
approach. Instead, he wants to teach the people how to fish. Probably Chantrea has never heard that Chinese proverb, 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime'. But that is precisely the principle he's applying here. The idea came to him when he was in high school. 'In high school I learnt about agricultural practices in other countries', he explained. 'Farmers elsewhere use their brains and not just their muscles. I thought, How can Cambodians use their brains for farming and stay home with their families? And how can they help their own family economies too?'
Using the Lutheran World Mission's Life Centre as a base, he has initiated an agricultural training program for the community. Together with staff from the Life Centre and some fellow students from the Lutheran hostel in Phnom Penh, he is working with village leaders to increase food supply and improve nutrition in the community. They are teaching around 50 families how to breed fish, raise pigs and chickens, and to plant and nurture vegetable crops. 'There are a lot of farmers in Cambodia and many cannot get enough food out of the rice fields to feed their families', Chantrea says. 'So they go to other countries to work, mainly Thailand and the Philippines. They are away from their families. They get sick, they die ...
‘We want to help them to grow enough food, all year round, so they don’t have to leave home, and they can be healthy.’ On 26 February about 25 villagers came to the Life Centre to receive agricultural start-up packs, which were presented at the close of the worship service of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. They were presented with seeds for vegetable gardens (and some worms, which Chantrea has lovingly farmed over several months) and nets for catching fish in the new village ponds. 'We wanted the people to come to church to receive their gifts', Chantrea explained, 'so that they can see that these gifts don't come from us but from God'. The gifts were presented to the villagers by Glenice Hartwich on behalf of the LCA's Board for Mission.
photo Glenice Hartwich
Chantrea is working hard at his medical studies, which, in Cambodia, are conducted in French. But if simultaneously studying medicine,
English and French isn't enough of a challenge, he also spends every second weekend back home in Phum Krus.
Cambodia is one of the poorest nations in the world • On the UNDP Human Development Index 2011, it ranks 139th out of 177 countries (Australia ranks 2nd). • On the Human Poverty Index, it ranks 73 out of 102 developing countries. • Life expectancy: 63.1 years (compared with 81.6 in Australia) • Adult literacy: 70% (and of the 30% who cannot read or write, 80% are women) • 62% of Cambodians live on US$2 per day or less. • Infant mortality (under 1 year): 43 deaths per 1000 live births (compared with 4 per 1000 births in Australia). Vaccine-preventable diseases, diahorrea and respiratory infections are among the leading causes of childhood death. Maternal mortality is also high. • Access to safe drinking water: 29% (Australia: 100%) • Access to sanitation (eg a latrine): 16% (Australia: 100%) Vol 46 No3 P79
The Lutheran April 2012
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A number of LCA congregations and individual members had raised funds to support this project (see 'The Australian connection', p9).
to help people and to share the gospel at the same time. The outer life is important but the inner life is even more important, because it goes on forever.'
The village headman, who's not a Christian (yet), thanked the Lutheran World Mission and its Australian friends. 'We have noticed that since 2010 [when the Life Centre opened at Phum Krus] we have a lot to thank you for. We are happy to participate with you all.
'We pray for people when we have agricultural project meetings in their homes, or when we visit them for any reason. We pray that God will bless them. And they say to us now, “God bless you too”.'
'I believe that religion teaches us to do the will of God … Listening to the word of God helps us to learn life's values. We are like these seeds here; we are planted in our community.' There's no doubt about that. The Lutherans at the Life Centre are planting seeds here, which are taking root and bearing fruit. People in the village cannot fail to see God's love at work in the community: the agricultural program, the English and computer training, the food-delivery service that provides for those most vulnerable, the praying for people that comes as naturally as conversing with them, and the joyful Sunday morning worship.
His favourite Bible verse is John 3:16. It's the verse that got him interested in Christianity in the first place, four years ago. 'God sent his only Son. God came to earth. Wow! Buddhism doesn't give us anything like that. People need to be able to see God, not just hear about him. 'And today, too, through us, what we are doing here, people can see and feel the love of God.' When the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church opened its doors in Phum Krus in February 2010, the only members were its handful of staff. Two years later there are 79 adult baptised members. These new Christians are excited about the
The fish are camera-shy. The net has so far dragged up nothing but a few slimy weeds. Chantrea suggests that they throw it on the other side of the pond. This time the net comes up wriggling. A dozen silver fish land unceremoniously on the grass, thrashing and glinting. They're not big enough yet to serve for dinner, but they will be soon. They are put back in the water. There are about 3000 of them in this pond, happily growing and breeding. There will be food for both body and soul in this village for a long time to come, now that Chantrea and the little band of Lutherans here have taught the people how to fish. The mission outreach into Cambodia is an activity of the Lutheran Church of Singapore, a partner church of the LCA. Congregations, schools and members are invited to participate in this exciting mission work through the LCA's Board for Mission. More information: 08 8267 7300; bfm@lca.org.au
photo Glenice Hartwich
'God has given me this opportunity to do this project', Chantrea says. 'I get
He smiles broadly: 'You can see that they are working out who is the giver of all these blessings'.
good news of Jesus. They tell their friends and invite them to church. They remind you of those very first converts, who were also fishers: 'Come and see Jesus'.
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Vol 46 No3 P80
the Australian connection A number of LCA congregations and individual members are supporting the Lutheran World Mission in Cambodia. Warren Schirmer, the Board for Mission's program coordinator for Cambodia (a voluntary position), reports: medical course fees [refer 'Learning to fish', p5]. Megan and Matt Geddes from that group are going up there for three months from April to teach English and IT at the village.
• The Riverland congregations have raised $6400 through the dried apricot project initiated by Lou Moss (http://www.lca.org.au/missionfundraiserbears-fruit.html). • Good Shepherd Para Vista, SA, got behind the youth camp last year [held at the Life Centre as a community outreach], raised funds and sent a team up there.
• Individual members are getting on board too. While I don't want to single out any one in particular, here is an example of what one person can do. Helen Sadler (St John's Unley) had her 60th birthday party in March. She requested her guests to not give gifts, but to donate to this ministry in Cambodia. That simple request raised $800. That's how easy it is to support Board for Mission ministries.
• Individuals and friendship groups at St John's Unley, SA, have also been fund-raising. A young adults group has raised $1000 for Chantrea's
More information: Warren Schirmer, 08 8276 6705, 0448011104, wschirmer@internode.on.net or Glenice Hartwich bfm@lca.org.au
photos Glenice Hartwich
• St John's Dernancourt, SA, have officially adopted this as a project and are huge supporters. They have held special fund-raising events and have raised over $7000 so far.
‘You can see that they are working out who is the giver of all these blessings', Chantrea said. (Above): LCA Board for Mission Project Officer Glenice Hartwich presents gifts of fishing nets and vegetable seeds to villagers after a regular worship service of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. Funds for this project were raised by LCA congregations and individuals. Vol 46 No3 P81
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In Isaiah 22:22 God promised that he would authorise a special steward in the household of David, Eliakim, to 'hold the keys' to the royal house, so that, on God's behalf, he could open the door to those who had been granted access and close it to those who had not. Just as God promised the keys of David's household to Eliakim, so Jesus promised the keys of his Father's royal household to Peter in Matthew 16:19: 'I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven'.
Rarely Asked Questions — not because you don't think about them, but because you don't know whom you can ask. While responses to questions will be supplied by LCA leaders and theologians, they should be treated as personal opinions and not as official statements on behalf of the church. Send your RAQs to the editor (details p2). Names and addresses must be supplied but will not be published.
Rev Stephen Pietsch 10
The Lutheran April 2012
What is the 'office of the keys', and how does it work? These 'keys' that God has given to the church, through Peter and the apostles, are the means by which people's sins are forgiven when they come in repentance and faith, trusting in Jesus, or not forgiven if they refuse to repent and believe. This means or 'office' was given to the church so that people could hear and know for sure that God forgives them, be released from their guilt and shame, and find the freedom of God's unconditional love. But it was also given so that people who reject God and his law can hear a clear word of warning and correction that calls them to turn back to God and seek his forgiveness. It is often assumed that the office of the keys involves only the speaking (or withholding) of the 'absolution' —formal words that give God's forgiveness to people who have confessed their sins, either publicly
in worship, or perhaps in private confession. While it is probably the clearest example of 'the keys' in action, this declaration is only one form of its operation. Some other examples are: • when God's word is preached, declaring both God's law and the gospel of forgiveness • when a child is baptised and admitted to God's royal household, receiving the gifts of God's forgiveness and eternal life • when an evil spirit is bound in Christ's name, and a person is loosed from its power • when, as sometimes may sadly be necessary for a person's own good, the pastor and congregation ask them not to attend the Lord's supper until they are able to come in repentance and faith • when a Christian reconciles with a brother or sister, asking for and receiving his/her forgiveness in Jesus' name (Matthew 18:21) • when a person who has strayed from Christ and the church returns in faith and repentance and is welcomed back into God's household (Luke 15). The 'keys' are not owned by any human being or group, but by Jesus Christ. He entrusted this 'office' to the whole church, where it is used in various public and private situations, often (though not exclusively) through the work of the church's pastors or leaders. It is a precious gift that enables us to bring God's word right to people's lives in a direct and powerful way, so that the doors of heaven may be unlocked to them by Jesus himself, who wants to welcome all people to his kingdom. Response by Rev Stephen Pietsch, lecturer in Pastoral Theology (specialising in counselling) at Australian Lutheran College Vol 46 No3 P82
photo Cath Pfeiffer-Smith
by Cath Pfeiffer-Smith
One bite isn’t enough, is
In the midst of the clang and clatter of a thousand voices,
Rachel hears God's call. whole Here’s how togentle get the 'Knowing God has peeled back all my layers of cynicism and lack of hope and has given me a new energy.'
Subscribe to The Lutheran.
For twelve months Rachel Burden has been a full-time 11 issues per year; teacher at St Michael's Lutheran Primary School at each issue 36-40 Hahndorf in the Adelaide pages Hills. I walk into her classroom andAustralia there is no$40 denying that God lives in her. There's New Zealand $42her. something joyous about
Asia/Pacific $51 Not only that, but God has given her an amazing songRest ofguitar-playing the World talent $60 as well. writing and
'I didn't really pick up the guitar until a few years ago, and it's been the way I have been able to express the journey I'veor been through.' contact LCA Subscriptions:
How do I talk to you, God? Where do I find the words? Can you hear me when I whisper? Show me that you've heard.
apple.
The children come to the front of the classroom and sing me one of Rachel's songs with gusto and big smiles: Praise the Lord, he hears when I call to him. Praise the Lord, he answers my prayers. Praise the Lord, he has come to my aid. Praise the Lord, he kept the promise he made. Praise the Lord, in every way.
Subscribe online at www.thelutheran.com.au
lutheran.subs@lca.org.au Many of the entries she wrote in her journal at the beginning Phone (inwith Australia) 08 8360 7270 of her journey God—before she'd even read the Bible— Phone Australia) +618 8360 7270 wouldn't be (outside out of place in the Psalms. Vol 46 No3 P83
So, how did Rachel get to this point? As a teacher herself and wanting the best education for her children, Rachel (and her husband) decided to move them from the public school to St Michael's. Their decision was The Lutheran April 2012
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