The Lutheran August 2021 Sneak Preview

M A G A Z I N E O F T H E LUT H E R A N C H URC H O F A US T R A LI A & N E W ZE A L AN D

AUG UST 2021

VOL 55 NO7

Print Post Approved PP100003514

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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

CONNECT WITH US We Love The Lutheran! lutheranaunz 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 (Feb–Dec) Print or print & digital Australia $45 | New Zealand $47 Asia/Pacific $56 | Rest of the world $65 Digital only $30

DESIGN & PRINT Design & Layout Elysia McEwen Printer Openbook Howden The Lutheran is produced on the traditional lands of the Kaurna and Dharug peoples.

ADVERTISING/MANUSCRIPTS Should be directed to the editor.

Manuscripts are published at the discretion of the editor. Those that are published may be edited.

Copy deadline: 1st of preceding month Rates: general notices and small advertisements, $20.00 per cm; for display, contract and inserted advertisements, contact the editor.

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.

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Home comforts

Not even COVID-19 lockdowns can prevent The Lutheran readers from receiving their regular dose of LCANZ information and inspiration, as NSW-ACT District Bishop Robert Bartholomaeus can attest. As well as working from home like his district office colleagues and many others in Sydney and other parts of Australia, Bishop Robert recently also took the chance to catch up on some older editions of our churchwide magazine. The photo was taken by his wife Jenny. Our prayers are with you and others in lockdown, Bishop Robert!

Send us a photograph featuring a recent copy of The Lutheran and it may appear on page 2 of a future issue and on our website at www.thelutheran.com.au

People like YOU bring love to life Marjorie Manser St Pauls Lutheran Church Townsville Qld Retired Most treasured Bible text: John 14:6 ‘Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth and the life.

No-one comes to the Father except through me”.’

Gracia Musafiri St Pauls Lutheran Church Shepparton Vic St Paul's African House Partnerships and Programs Assistant Manager Most treasured Bible text: Jeremiah 29:11 ‘“For I know the plans that I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity”.’

Maxine Putland Rockingham Mandurah Lutheran Church WA Education Assistant Most treasured Bible text: Psalm 25:4,5 ‘Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.’

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.

August Special features EDITOR'S

let ter

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I must have been about 11 or 12. I remember my disappointment at being told my mum’s family would not all be getting together for Christmas Day that year because some of my older cousins would be spending the day with their in-laws.

It was a change I didn’t like. After church and lunch, we’d always spent Christmas Day playing cricket on a deserted road or nearby oval, telling stories and jokes, and generally mucking around. I thought Christmas would never be as good again.

I was wrong. Over the years, new Christmas traditions were formed with other family members and friends. It is still a most treasured time of gathering with loved ones. Many of us have had similar experiences of dreading a change, only to find out it was a blessing. Even so, changes can be unsettling and they can make us feel sad or fearful.

As this month’s cover reminds us, ‘for everything there is a season’ (Ecclesiastes 3:1a). A season only. No more. While we may wish things would stay the same, change is inevitable – including in the church as an institution.

We may wish we could hold on to ‘the good old days’ in terms of worship attendance, the number of younger people in our congregations, or the standing of the church in society. It is natural that we face these sorts of changes with apprehension.

They remind us that we’re not in control of what comes next.

We often put our trust in ourselves, things and other people, rather than in God, and those things and people have let us down. Our God, though, never lets us down, never leaves us, even amid the most difficult changes. God and his love are our only unchanging realities on this side of heaven.

In fact, God is the architect of change for our good, making us new each day through forgiveness. He tells us throughout Scripture that he is ‘doing a new thing’ or ‘making all things new’ and that we can ‘forget the former things’ (Isaiah 43, Isaiah 65, Ephesians 4, Hebrews 8, Revelation 21). Submitting to his will, we can face change knowing he is with us through it all and working all things out for our good (Romans 8:28).

These pages feature stories from our Lutheran family about facing change as a church. I pray that they will bless as well as challenge us to see God-given opportunities that arise when things change and we must step out in faith.

The building is crumbling

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Partnerships key to facing change without fear

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Change in the local church

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10

Regulars Heartland

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13

4

Dwelling in God’s word

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Go and Grow

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Church@Home

19

The inside story

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Directory

25

Sudoku

25

Your voice

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Going GREYT!

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Prayer calendar

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20

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Also this month, you’ll find a bonus copy of Border Crossings, Crossings, thanks to LCA International Mission (either inserted with your print edition or through https://lcamission.org.au/ under the Resources tab if you’re a digital subscriber). As always, it’s full of wonderful stories about life-changing gospel partnerships.

God bless your reading,

Lisa Our cover: Design by Elysia McEwen, images from iStock.

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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

THE CHURCH’S MIS SION IS TO SHARE G OD’S LOVE ‘Likewise, although the Christian church is, properly speaking, nothing else than the assembly of all believers and saints, yet because in this life many false Christians, hypocrites, and even public sinners remain among the righteous, the sacraments – even though administered by unrighteous priests – are efficacious all the same’ (Augsburg Confession Confessio n Article 8).

When speaking to the recent online General Pastors Conference, I described the church as the ‘beachhead’ of heaven on earth. If we pay close attention, we will hear the distant surf crashing on its beaches and see the glow of the rising sun on the far horizon heralding the new era of justice, peace and love. ‘Beachhead’ is a military term meaning ‘the area of lodgement which is the first objective of a military force landing on an enemy shore’ (Macquarie Dictionary).

Dictionary).

I usually avoid military terms when talking about the church. This may partly be due to the influence of my

TH E CH U RCH IS H ERE TO … BRI NG (TH E WORLD) SALVATIO N TH ROUG H OU R H U M BLE SAVIOU R J ESUS .

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father, a military man who would never wear his uniform to church. I remember how astonished friends from our congregation were to see him on the parade ground, looking so different to the man they knew.

Since the early fourth century, the institutional church has too frequently been associated with conquest, empire and colonialism. The Roman emperor Constantine was the first of many rulers to implicate Christianity in his political schemes. In medieval times Christian Crusaders claimed to march in the cause of God. In the Great War of 1914–18, each warring country claimed that God was with them.

Historically, the institutional church itself has sought political and military power, sometimes even fielding its own armies.

The Bible also uses military language occasionally, such as St Paul's description of a Roman soldier in Ephesians 6. Some passages describe God as a victorious ruler marching into a conquered city, an image which, on Palm Sunday, Jesus turned on its head.

Because of my aversion to military terms, I struggle with some popular Christian songs such as ‘Onward Christian soldiers’. ‘Lift high the cross’, a perennial favourite at church gatherings, also uses the language of conquest, as do many songs, traditional and contemporary. Such language can too easily turn into triumphal thoughts about worldly power and conquest.

The church is not here to rule the world but to bring it salvation through our humble Saviour Jesus. Its mission is to share the safety and surety of God’s love. Jesus has conquered sin and evil, even though, for the time being, they still wreak havoc, destroying lives and God’s good creation. In the church, which in the proper sense is the assembly of saints, Jesus brings us to a safe place of forgiveness, restoration, acceptance, love, compassion and peace. That’s the sense in which I believe it is a beachhead of heaven on earth.

At the same time, we know that the external church is not – and never will be – a perfect society. It is made up of genuine believers and hypocrites.

Jesus himself said that he did not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Matthew 9:12). Even true believers are sinners as well as saints. God has brought us sinner-saints into the holy Christian church, not only so that we can be safe, but also so that we can be his beachhead in the battle against every force that is opposed to God. The image of a beachhead can be helpful. Through the church, God is reclaiming territory that had been under the control of the enemy. In the church, through word and sacrament, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus rescues his people from sin, death, and evil.

Here God prepares us to receive Jesus when he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. That’s awesome.

Praise be to God!

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