LUTHERAN
EDITORIAL
Editor Lisa McIntosh
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e lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au
Executive Editor Linda Macqueen
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LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA
The Lutheran informs the members of the LCANZ 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 and New Zealand.
like YOU bring love to life
Dorothy Brinkmann
Zion Lutheran Church Walla Walla NSW
Secondary school teacher (on sabbatical), ALWS volunteer, church layreader
Most treasured Bible text: Psalm 139:9,10
‘If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.’
Des Kalisch
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Hampstead SA
Retired HR consultant, LCANZ Council for Local Mission member
Most treasured Bible text: Isaiah 55:11
‘So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.’
Emma Brew-Bevan
Pilgrim Lutheran Church Magill SA
Tutor and research assistant in Criminology at Flinders University, chairperson at Pilgrim Lutheran Church Magill
Most treasured Bible text: Proverbs 31:25
‘For she is clothed with strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future.’
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 and most treasured text) and your contact details.
As we approach the 21st Regular Convention of General Synod of our church, some people are anxious. Some are anxious about the possibility of change. Some are anxious that things won’t change. Others are anxious about not knowing what will happen next. And, as we look outside ourselves, at the world – at the wars, the suffering, the poverty, the abuse of many kinds, the destruction of homes and communities, whether by bombs or environmental disasters, the degradation of the earth, and so on – more anxiety.
We can despair, disengage from it all and wait to die (or for the world to end). Or we can turn our eyes to the cross. We can – as we read in 1 Peter 5:7 – cast all our anxiety on him because he cares for us! And we know what comes next if we head to St Paul’s letter to the Philippians (4:6): ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’
So, give God your worries, and pray. When we pray, we can thank him and ask for what we need – perhaps that’s freedom from stress, and for a calm mind and an untroubled heart. And we can pray for hope –which, if we stop and think about it, we already have, through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
In our prayers, we can also ask God to show us what we can do – how we can help with things that are within our realm of influence and according to our gifts and abilities. All of us can pray for others, for peace, for healing, for reconciliation.
We can also be a neighbour in practical ways to the people in our lives and our communities according to our time and talents. Someone we know might need a listening ear. They might need a kind word or some encouragement, or to be invited or included. They might need someone to offer a cuppa or share a meal with them.
Those small acts might just offer the chance for the Holy Spirit to create mission opportunities in future. In time, we might also be able to share with the people we sit alongside ‘the reason for the hope we have’ (1 Peter 3:15,16). Many of you are already doing this and much more. We thank God that members of our Lutheran family are engaging in local mission opportunities, connecting with and serving their neighbours and wider communities.
What is happening by the power of the Spirit is encouraging, it’s inspiring and it can remind us how much we have to be thankful for and how relatively little most of us have to be anxious about.
So, while we’re including in these pages things you’ll need to know about our upcoming General Synod and other happenings across the LCANZ, we’ve dedicated more space to share some of the many wonderful things going on in local mission in our faith communities. I hope you are blessed by reading them, as I was.
And remember … Feeling anxious? Cast, pray, be a neighbour. God’s got this!
Reaching out with open arms
How do you share the gospel?
‘God was already up to something’
Building community –one serve at a time
Little church with a big heart for neighbours
‘It’s the Father’s ministry’
Age no barrier to friendships
Way Forward Framework released Regulars Because we bear your name: Bishop Paul’s letter
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following pages may contain images of people who have died. Our cover: iStock.com
Because we bear your name
Like most little children, my daughter Felicity loved stories. She progressed through the standard children’s bedtime books, through to the Narnia Chronicles by C S Lewis, then even to ancient Viking sagas. Today, she is a passionate editor for an Australian publishing company, working with authors to get their stories shared and cherished.
Felicity also learned how story carries community and gives people a common focus. It is no coincidence that she is known among her family and friends as a ‘people-gatherer’. She is good at getting people together to share their stories in new friendship groups.
As Christians, we, too, are people of ‘story’. There is a well-loved hymn that features the line, ‘tell me the old, old story, of Jesus and his love’. To use the word ‘story’ does not diminish the truth of the gospel. The word ‘story’ highlights the telling and sharing of this message passed down to us from the early Christians. In his letter to the Corinthians, St Paul writes about passing on the story. ‘For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures’ (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).
BISHOP PAUL’S LETTER
REV
Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him’. This is my message for you.”’
When we get together for the Convention of General Synod in October this year, we are being ‘community people’ of the story we are sent to tell. This is our common identity as people of the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand. We gather to find purposeful ways to pass on the good news of God’s grace that we have received. The convention summarises this call with the theme, ‘The Gift of God: It’s grace that unites us’.
WE GATHER TO FIND PURPOSEFUL WAYS TO PASS ON THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD’S GRACE THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED.
Our ‘story’, as a Lutheran church in Australia and New Zealand, is the telling of people travelling to the ends of the earth to share the good news of ‘Jesus and his love’, especially with the indigenous peoples of our countries on either side of the Tasman Sea. The pioneer Lutheran Christians in this part of the world were mission workers who came to share the hope of the gospel with Australia’s First Nations peoples.
In the Easter story written in Matthew’s gospel, we are reminded of being sent for the ‘telling’ of the old, old story that changes our hearts: ‘ … the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.
Martin Luther once wrote an ancient Latin prayer into a German hymn, for faithful people to sing and pray, seeking the Lord to fight for us. His words are found in number 866 in our Lutheran Hymnal and Supplement. But the prayer is not simply asking the Lord to fight for us, to destroy others. Instead, the prayer calls on the Lord of mercy, to fight for peace. This is the peace that keeps our hearts and minds in all that Christ Jesus has done for us.
As we get ready for our LCANZ 2024 Convention of General Synod where we gather for the telling the old, old story to one another, let us pray this ancient Latin prayer to the Lord of the cross and the empty tomb:
‘Grant peace, we pray, in mercy, Lord, peace in our time, O send us! For there is none on earth but you, none other to defend us.
You only, O Lord, fight for us. Amen.’
Martin Luther, Lutheran Hymnal and Supplement 866
In Christ,
PAUL SMITH Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand
