THE LUTHERAN May 2015

NATIONAL MAGAZINE OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

Print Post Approved PP100003514 VOL 49 NO4

MAY 2015

Yet you, Lord are our Father.

We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

(Isaiah 64:8) The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life (Job 33:4) Vol 49 No4 P105

EDITOR/ADVERTISING phone 0427 827 441 email rosie.schefe@lca.org.au

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Lutheran Women of Australia president Tanna Mackenzie shares her copy of The Lutheran with friends during the National Womens Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea. Tanna attended the conference in Boana (near Lae, in the Highlands) and, together with 1000 delegates, heard firsthand how the support of women in Australia and New Zealand is put to work and valued by our partner church in PNG.

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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.

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CONTACTS Editor Rosie Schefe 197 Archer St, North Adelaide SA 5006 phone 0427 827 441 email rosie.schefe@lca.org.au

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Oscar and Irene Joppich Phillip Hill St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Nundah, Qld Limousine driver Enjoys military history and family research Fav text: Psalm 23

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Vol 49 No4 P106

It is something that happens often. I am concentrating on the screen in front of me, honing the words, refining phrases, listening for the rhythm of punctuation.

I sit back to re-read, and the back of my neck sizzles with recognition. My immediate reaction is, ‘Where on Earth did that come from?’

FEATURES 05 New instrumental version 08 A tale of two canals 09 Being church together

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22 Blank canvas

Not anywhere on Earth, actually. It is in moments like these I sense that the Holy Spirit is taking my hand, guiding my thoughts, using the gifts that he gave in the first place to enhance my stumbling efforts. Taking some ordinary old scrap alloy and refining it into gold.

24 Have a heart

Let me explain. Most of these instances are fleeting. Many are not recognisable again from the moment I hit the ‘send’ button and email my work for proofreading. You probably won’t notice them at all. So I can’t claim prophetic gifts for myself. I know my limits. I know that both the job I do and the skills I practise while doing it are gifts from God for use in his kingdom—but that still hasn’t made me the best writer on the block, so it isn’t a pride thing either. If anything, it is more humbling than ever to realise that the Holy Spirit has come to my rescue … again.

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Many creative people know this kind of experience, as I’m sure you’ll find when you read about Kym Dillon and Paul Schubert in these pages. One extra brushstroke brings a picture to life.

An ‘accident’ of colour or chemistry or textural combination elevates mere skill into pure genius. The camera shutter opens in perfect time or an unlikely chord changes the music completely.

Christian artists know this well and know where it comes from.

The Holy Spirit is a creator too (Genesis 1:2).

COLUMNS 04 Heartland

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16 Directory 17 Letters 18 Stepping Stones

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20 Notices

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21 Reel Life 26 Bring Jesus 28 World in Brief 30 Coffee Break

But the Spirit doesn’t limit himself to inspiring great art or mediocre prose. I’ve been reading through the Gospel of John in preparation for this month’s magazine, and Jesus promises nothing about art or music or poetry. Instead, John tells what the Holy Spirit creates in all of us who believe in Jesus: knowledge, understanding, faith, and the ability to testify to the truth about God. Not from within ourselves but from him. (Read John 14–16, nice and slowly.) Not just a few of us, but all who believe.

The Holy Spirit is constantly active in our daily lives. Not just on Pentecost Sunday. Not just when we experience one of those little glimmers of truth from outside of ourselves and our mere thoughts. Our faith would quickly die without the breath of the Spirit blowing flame into its embers. And where would that leave our world? Cold, lifeless and unbelievably dark.

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In the 1970s we would sometimes go fishing in a plywood dinghy near the delightfully named town of Eden in New South Wales. One day our anchor, which was a piece of galvanised pipe with curved steel spikes at one end, became firmly snagged on the reef below.

The tide was rising. The rope tightened, pulling the bow down into the water. We needed to cut the rope, but we had no knife! All we could do was scrape the rope with the fish scaler. Just when the boat was about to sink, the weakened rope finally snapped under the tension. What a relief, as we had no life jackets or flotation devices with us.

When boating, you need the right equipment, which we foolishly lacked. You also need the right anchor. A little bit of penny pinching had left us with an inferior homemade anchor, which nearly ended in tragedy. It looked

like it could do the job fine, until something went wrong.

were times when things might have looked pretty hopeless.

How often do we go about our daily life, and our faith, not only without the right equipment, but also without the right anchor?

For someone held steady by the anchor of hope, Abraham still got around a fair bit. God promised him the land, but that didn’t mean he could stay still. The anchor of hope prevented him from snagging on hidden reefs like property, land, or the way things have to be. He was free to move. God’s promise guided him and kept him safe wherever he was. Occasionally he forgot, and took things into his own hands, like in Egypt when he lied to Pharaoh (Genesis 12:10–20). That was a mistake, but Abraham still held on to the promise. It’s God’s faithfulness, not ours, that makes the difference.

Our hope, like Abraham’s hope, is not immobile or static. Jesus is a living person. He travels with us, leading us, showing us as we go what to hang on to, and what to let go of.

Hebrews 6:19 says that the welldesigned, purpose-made, sure and certain anchor we need is hope. Hope attaches us firmly to God’s promise. It knows what to hold on to, and what to let go of. It doesn’t snag on things that would drag us down. It is always sure, and always certain.

The biblical model of hope is Abraham (see Genesis 12). He trusted God, knowing that he is faithful and keeps his promise.

Hope directed Abraham’s whole life, even though along the way there

Our hope and anchor is Jesus Christ. He is God’s promise to us.

Jesus is here for us in the word and the sacraments. These are what make the church his body. Our hope, like Abraham’s hope, is not immobile or static. Jesus is a living person. He travels with us, leading us, showing us as we go what to hang on to, and what to let go of. As we pass through times of risk and safety, his promise always carries us forward, to the end.

So I pray you don’t choose a cheap hope, one that will drag you under on the rising tide of life. Instead, choose Jesus Christ. High or low tide, he’ll look out for you and keep you safe.

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They say music is a universal language.

A young Lutheran composer is using it to help audiences discover God the creator.

New Instrumental Version

by Sheree Schmaal

Humans speak more than 6500 different languages. Yet God’s word—as recorded in the Bible— has been fully translated into only 531 of these. Another 2352 have at least one book of the Bible translated—but that’s still fewer than 40 per cent of languages.

They say music is a universal language.

So wouldn’t it make sense to have a musical translation of the Bible?

It could be called the New Instrumental Version—an album of 66 tracks that translate God’s word into melodies and harmonies, and reveal the glory of his creation, power and saving grace not through words or lyrics but through instruments, notes, rhythms and keys …

But is it really possible for the Holy Spirit to speak through music?

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Composer Kym Dillon believes it is. The 25-year-old member and musician at St Paul’s Lutheran Church Grovedale, Victoria, sees music as ‘a sort of language that can communicate aspects of God that are very difficult to convey through mere words alone’.

His compositions—including two largescale orchestral pieces commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO)—are not overtly Christian or ‘sacred’. Yet he says it’s impossible to separate his creations from his faith in God as his creator.

‘I am fascinated with the human creative process, and our abilities to be creative artists, considering we ourselves are the result of God’s artistic creation, and are also made in his image’, Kym says. ‘I often reflect on my

own creative process as a composer through this lens of our God as, among other things, an artist.’

These reflections are explored in Kym’s 2012 and 2014 works for the MSO, LOGOS and Liber Creatorum.

The Victorian College of the Arts graduate says he has found Liber Creatorum (Latin for ‘book of creation’ or ‘book of the creatures’) a great place to start when sharing the gospel with non-believers.

The eight-minute orchestral piece centres around Kym’s interest in natural theology. He believes that if you look at the universe in all its complexity and beauty, and trace these things back in time to their origins and simplest parts, you will find clues about its creation by a divine force, and what the nature of that divine force may be.

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‘If the Holy Spirit were speaking through this piece, then I hope the Spirit would be inviting people to look closely at our universe and reality from a different perspective … to look behind their experience and take its author seriously’, Kym says.

‘The piece evokes the imagery of someone looking at the cosmos and reading it like a book, seeking to uncover truth about the identity, nature and intentions of its author.

‘At the very beginning of the piece you have a saturation of ideas; it’s very busy and you can’t quite figure out what’s going on. But as it progresses, the ideas are solidified and simplified, and you sort of go step by step back in time in the creative process, as things get more organised. At the very end of the piece you have the idea in its simplest form.’

Kym says these central themes of ‘creator and creation’ will feature again in his newest work, commissioned by the world’s largest chamber music presenter, Musica Viva. The composition for string quartet will premiere in Melbourne in September.

‘Although my piece for Musica Viva doesn’t have overtly theological references, it also reflects on my work as a creator and how that links to God’s creation, and what it is of his artistry that we find in ourselves’, Kym says.

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‘I think I’m going to find this theme infinitely fascinating for the rest of my life. It seems to be something that links together my passion for music with my strong interest in natural theology and in God as creator, and so I find it a musical language that deeply resonates with me. And it’s good fun.’

Pastor Thomas Pietsch says Kym does a lot to contribute to ministry at St Paul’s. He plays every Sunday, and composes liturgical settings, as well as other pieces, for the festivals of the church calendar.

‘Musicians play a huge role in the piety of a parish’, Pastor Tom says. ‘Kym plays with warmth and feeling, without being ostentatious, and this sets the mood for how we worship, pray and sing; a mood of engagement with the word and the Lord, without being showy. ’ Pastor Tom says Kym is becoming regarded as one of Australia’s top young composers.

‘Kym’s orchestral music, for example Liber Creatorum, has a complexity that’s engaging and thought-provoking, especially in light of his own comments on the piece’, Pastor Tom says. ‘Its beauty is not in sweeping melodies, but in a contemporary artistry that has won significant plaudits.’

Kym says he doesn’t set out to write explicitly evangelistic music because that could compromise the artistry of

his work. But he admits it is impossible for him to separate his creations from the spirit of his creator.

‘I find, working as a composer, it’s integral to be authentic in terms of writing music that actually resonates with what defines you’, Kym says.

‘Over the years, trying to find a musical language that really fits with what resonates with me has been an important pursuit. Obviously, it’s connected very directly with my faith, as that is what drives me and is most important to me.’

Kym says being commissioned to write music by secular organisations gives him a great opportunity to witness to his faith. He sees evangelism as a happy by-product of his work, rather than the primary purpose, which he says is ‘to simply write good music’.

‘Ideally, I think evangelism should be like that, in that the gospel is wrapped up in how you live your life, what you naturally speak about, your character, and showing what the Holy Spirit is doing in you, rather than being a forced activity’, he says.

But while music might be a universal language, Kym says he doesn’t see it as the only way the Holy Spirit can speak to others. Instead, he likens composing to any other work, such as plumbing or architecture.

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Photo: Courtesy K Dillon

Evangelism should be like that, in that the gospel is wrapped up in how you live your life, what you naturally speak about, your character, and showing what the Holy Spirit is doing in you, rather than being a forced activity.

Photo: Courtesy K Dillon

[Music] speaks in a language that can get under the surface, and respects the traditions and backgrounds of the medium, and of its listeners … yet uncompromisingly speaks of the glory of God. Kym Dillon has composed two large-scale orchestral pieces for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra: ‘If you dedicate your work to God, seeking to keep it and your life under his will, then God will make use of it and speak through it.’

‘Music in this way is like anything else —an incredible gift from God, though a particularly mysterious one. If you dedicate your work to God, seeking to keep it and your life under his will, then God will make use of it and speak through it.’

Part of Kym’s mission is to write music that appeals to non-Christians and those who have never really thought about God before. He hopes his music speaks to people in a way they can understand, and invites them in to experience a bigger way of thinking. To do this, he tries to write sacred themes within a secular context.

‘My composition work so far hasn’t had a distinct focus on the gospel’, he

VACANCY TRUSTEE DIRECTOR

says. ‘And it’s very different from music played in church …

‘But with the orchestral pieces I am commissioned to write, I like having it at the edges, so that it doesn’t alienate people who aren’t religious and who might not usually think about these things. Rather than having them think, ‘Oh, this is Christian music, I’ll turn my mind off’, I want all people to feel a sense of invitation to discover a conception of the world where God is at the centre.

I think that it’s an incredibly beautiful, deep and very profound worldview, and above all a truthful one.’

He says Paul’s speech in Athens in Acts 17:16–34 has been very inspiring, in terms of how to connect with people.

‘I think music can play a similar role.

It speaks in a language that can get under the surface and respects the traditions and backgrounds of the medium and of its listeners … yet uncompromisingly speaks of the glory of God.’ Sheree Schmaal lives and works in Canberra. She is a member at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Belconnen.

Lutheran Super is the only super fund dedicated solely for the benefit of the employees of the Lutheran Church of Australia.

sub-committee meetings as required, as well as ensuring that the fund is complying with its legal and statutory obligations.

A vacancy has arisen for a Director on the Trustee Board of the fund. Expressions of interest are sought from Lutherans who have an interest in contributing their skills and experience to the Lutheran Super Board, particularly those who would like to ‘give back’ to the Lutheran Church of Australia community.

Qualifications or experience in law and/or marketing would be advantageous to the role; however, these are not prerequisites, and all interested people are encouraged to apply.

The role requires the Director to attend board meetings on a quarterly basis and to participate in Vol 49 No4 P111

‘Paul speaks to this group of philosophers using language that relates to their world, and makes a speech that functions as an invitation to find out more, even though he is uncompromising in presenting the controversial aspects, such as resurrection from the dead’, Kym says.

Expressions of interest close at 5.00 pm on Friday, 29 May 2015.

For further information about the role or to express your interest, please contact Darren Royals on 08 8267 7338 or email darren.royals@lca.org.au The Lutheran May 2015

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A tale of two canals

by Fred Veerhuis

One of the outcomes of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, built in the 50s and 60s of last century (my childhood!) was the release of the power of water for irrigation.

No sooner were dams built in the mountains than canals were constructed off rivers downstream, so that water-hungry produce could be grown.

The saltbush, bluebush and semi-desert grasses disappeared, and a vast garden was fashioned in the wilderness. The whole project—dams and rivers, canals and crops—became for me a way of understanding life in Christ Jesus.

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, ‘Whoever is thirsty should come to me, and whoever believes in me should drink. As the scripture says, “Streams of life-giving water will pour out from his side.” Jesus said this about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were going to receive (John 7:37–39 GNB).

This is a profound ‘Holy Spirit’ text. We preachers rejoice in our Lord’s assurance that, as each of us brings our thirsty self to our Lord, he works his miracle in us, so that we, in turn, are a channel of living water for other thirsty souls.

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Then again, this is perhaps the most mysterious and puzzling ‘Holy Spirit’ text in Scripture. I hear that call to come to Jesus to quench my thirst, and I long for that refreshment; I crave it. But do you know, during my entire conscious life in Jesus the Christ, I have rarely felt personally refreshed. You may find that hard to believe, but I assure you it is true for me—and for many. I’ll try to explain that with an illustration.

Out there in irrigation land are two types of canals for moving water. One is fashioned from the earth. Water movement may be sluggish, but earthen canals are full of life. Trees grow along the sides, fish swim there, ducks nest in the reeds. These earthy canals are made vibrant from the life flowing through them.

The other type of canal is made of concrete, wonderfully efficient because not one drop of precious water is lost.

For its entire length, carrying life-giving water to someplace else, the canal runs through dry and barren land.

I feel like that concrete canal. The inner Fred seems like a wilderness.

Flourishing? Hardly. Daily reading and personal prayer? An endless struggle.

Longing for more? Always.

the same inner wilderness and pain, the same incompleteness, the same longing, the same struggle to connect and pray.

I have come to accept this ‘unfulfilledness’ as frustratingly normal.

But not without hope. God’s word is true and trustworthy. Our heavenly Father is for and with us. Our Lord Jesus is in us, and continues to sustain us, regardless of our feelings and regardless of our life experience. Still, I dare to say, ‘Lord, I long for more’.

And I can’t wait to see him.

My dear friends, we are now God’s children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is (1 John 3:2 GNB).

Fred Veerhuis has been a pastor of the LCA since 1979, serving in Eudunda (SA), Woden Valley (ACT), Central Sydney (NSW) and Campbelltown (NSW). He is the author of two books and writes a blog called CrossPurposes. He retires from parish ministry later this year.

The ‘unfulfilment’ is painful. I know I am not alone. Others acknowledge Vol 49 No4 P112

© Gusztav | Dreamstime.com - Inside Church Photo

When the gospel flows, lives are changed.

Being church together Sin …. it’s a dirty word, but someone has to use it.

‘In the church we get to work with sin all the time’, Pastor Paul Kerber says. ‘That’s what a pastor’s role is: to discern and appropriately apply God’s word so that people can name sin for what it is. But that is not the end of the story. As pastors, we use the word of law to identify sin so that we can bring the gospel of God’s forgiveness to all who so desperately need it. A church of the gospel proclaims the gospel—and the gospel changes lives!’

Whether we admit it or not, Paul says, over time many of us have adopted a worldly approach to sin—within marriage and family relationships, between neighbours and even within congregations. This approach is Vol 49 No4 P113

primarily law-based; identifying sin in legal terms, and dealing with it using only punishment or sanctions.

But this is not biblically based; what is missing is the work of the cross. A clear pronouncement of forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name is the gospel flowing freely, Paul says. And when the gospel flows, lives are changed.

On 26 April, Paul was installed into the position of Assistant to the Bishop— Reconciliation Ministry, commissioned to build on the groundbreaking work of Pastor Bruce Zagel and to ‘indigenise’ it into the culture of the Lutheran churches in Australia and New Zealand. His challenge is to transform reconciliation ministry from a primarily teaching and training focus into something much deeper, where the

by Rosie Schefe

gospel can be seen to be permeating and active right through the church— ‘a part of its DNA’, in the words of LCA Bishop John Henderson.

‘This is about equipping us all to live as God’s children, set free by the gospel to live out our faith in the world’, Paul says. ‘It is also about learning how to speak forgiveness so that our language does what it needs to do—to build relationships in Christ.

‘As God’s children we are all called to be there for others who are caught in sin, to work with them in order to speak the gospel, so that the Holy Spirit brings healing and hope. That’s what biblical reconciliation is: it is the gospel. It is the good news that, through Christ’s death, we were reconciled to God. It is through our risen Lord Jesus that we have The Lutheran May 2015

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Photo: Michelle Pipkorn

Practising reconciliation from the inside out: the Kerber family (from left) James, Daniel, Samuel, Paul, Karen, Anna, Rachel, Naomi and her husband, Tim. received reconciliation with our loving heavenly Father (Romans 5:8–11).

‘Reconciliation ministry (and a reconciliation culture) is about equipping us to live as God’s children, so that people see we are different to the “worldly” culture’, Paul says. It is about recognising the effects on other people of our sinful actions, our breaking of God’s will. It is about acknowledging those law-breaking actions and the hurt they cause and it is also (critically) about the pronouncement of forgiveness: ‘You are forgiven, for the sake of Christ’.

‘I have experienced this directly, in confessing my own sin to parishioners whom I have hurt’, Paul says. ‘When I ask for and receive forgiveness in the name of Christ, it has a huge effect in my life.

Relationships are rebuilt firmly on Jesus.

I didn’t realise the extent of the freedom I had until I was working directly with the teaching of biblical reconciliation. Then it became obvious, and I could see the Holy Spirit leading in my daily life.’

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Paul was ordained for the public ministry of the LCA in 2003 and called to the Jeparit parish, in the northern Wimmera region of Victoria, in 2004.

Drought already had a tight grip on the small communities of the region, and they were battling to remain viable. He found a congregation which, despite the difficulties it was facing, was still passionate about being church together.

uniquely placed to encounter the richness of reconciliation ministry in action.

‘Of the 300 or so people living in Jeparit and the surrounding district at the time, about a third of them were regular worshippers and they wanted to be involved in mission’, he remembers.

‘There were limited opportunities locally, so they chose to actively support the St Paul’s congregation in Shepparton.’

Jeparit is now a part of the Dimboola parish, together with St Peters Dimboola and St Pauls Katyil.

But not without problems. The Tarrington Lutheran School had undergone some tough times in the years before Paul’s arrival. Tarrington’s closest neighbouring Lutheran parish is Hamilton; the churches of St Michael’s and Good Shepherd Hamilton are only ten kilometres apart. That provided Paul with a unique opportunity to witness what occurred when Pastor Bruce Zagel arrived from the United States to support the Hamilton parish as it began to put a Reconciliation Ministry pastorate into practice. It was the first time anything like this had been attempted.

Paul began the next phase of his ministry in Victoria’s Western District, with St Michael’s Tarrington and Trinity Warrayure, at Easter in 2010. Here he was

‘Tarrington has a strong culture of biblical Lutheran teaching’, Paul says.

‘Members are used to living and working together. They also have a love for their church, and this is carried out into their community in mission. On the whole I would describe it as a proactive rather than reactive congregation.’

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Photo: Rosie Schefe

As God’s children we are all called to be there for others who are caught in sin, to work with them in order to speak the gospel, so that the Holy Spirit brings healing and hope.

‘When I ask for and receive forgiveness in the name of Christ, it has a huge effect in my life.

Relationships are rebuilt firmly on Jesus’: Pastor Paul Kerber, the LCA’s new Assistant to the Bishop —Reconciliation Ministry.

Paul and the people of Tarrington not only had an over-the-fence view of what was happening in Hamilton, they became involved too. It began in the school, where reconciliation was put in place with the principal and staff and taught and practised among students.

Parents noticed this. Paul remembers one parent remarking, ‘It’s not like any school I’ve been to’. Another said, ‘I’ve never seen a school where so many students are being baptised’. Reconciliation was lived out in the playground in the same way it was taught and modelled in classrooms: ‘I confess that I’ve sinned.

I’m sorry I’ve hurt you. Please forgive me.’

‘I forgive you, in the name of Jesus.’

Powerful words, spoken in an atmosphere of freedom that produces trust.

But it was after almost one-third of the St Michael’s members took part in a Blessed are the Peacemakers and Coaching through Conflict teaching that Paul saw the gospel in action among parishioners.

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‘I was not there on the day of Pentecost, but that Sunday [immediately following the seminar], I got a glimpse of what it must have been like’, Paul remembers.

‘How can I lead God’s people as a pastor in daily confession and forgiveness if I am not doing so with my wife, my children?

‘Already after church, people were gathering and beginning to address broken or cooled relationships. One parishioner told me, “I heard the gospel!” It was that reassurance of being forgiven in Christ, then the gospel could flow’, he says.

‘It is important to acknowledge that there is a problem (sin) here, and that Christ is the answer to it. He empowers me to serve, love and forgive—and also to confess. My heavenly Father has forgiven me and therefore I am also free to forgive and confess with others.

‘One elder described the teaching as a first-aid kit with which he could minister to people who are hurt and broken. He told me that the experience had taken him back to the Scriptures like never before. An older lady told me that her life had changed. “I’d never realised that I was so free to confess my sin to others”, she said. You could literally see the freedom she was living in.’

Paul says that the challenge of living in reconciliation is to do so in all relationships: in relating to his wife Karen, to his children and then to the people he works with.

‘What benefit is there if I, or anyone else, teach confession and forgiveness but do not confess my own sin and ask forgiveness of those I hurt? How can people learn the lifestyle of love and forgiveness if I as a pastor am not living it myself?’

Paul is based at the LCA National Office, where he works with Secretary of the Church Rev Neville Otto and reports to LCA Bishop John Henderson and the College of Bishops.

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