The Lutheran December 2023-January 2024 Sneak Preview

MA 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 Z E A L AN D

Print Post Approved PP100003514 VOL 57 No 6

DEC 2023–JAN 2024

LUTHERAN

CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

ED ITO R I A L 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

C O N N ECT W ITH U S We Love The Lutheran! lutheranaunz lutheranchurchaus

S U B SC R I B E www.thelutheran.com.au 08 8267 7300 lutheran.subs@lca.org.au LCA Subscriptions PO Box 731 North Adelaide SA 5006 6 editions per year (Feb-Mar, Apr-May, Jun-Jul, Aug-Sep, Oct-Nov, Dec-Jan) Print or print & digital Australia $39 | New Zealand $41 Asia/Pacific $49 | Rest of the world $57 Digital only $26

D ES I G N & P R I NT Design & Layout Elysia McEwen Printer Openbook Howden The Lutheran is produced on the traditional lands of the Kaurna and Dharug peoples.

A DV ERTI S I N G / M A N U SC R I P TS

Multi(media)-tasking Print or digital edition? Sarah Wiltshire, Clare Allen and Jo Chamberlain from Lutheran Media tried both during a recent team meeting to find out which is their favourite way of reading The Lutheran. The verdict? Not surprisingly, they use and enjoy different platforms – just like Lutheran Media itself! You can read about the new Lutheran Media calendar for 2024 on page 20 and find out about this month’s Messages of hope topics on page 31.

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 Kathy McNamara Grace Lutheran Church Bridgewater SA Tutor, encourager, Bible study leader and prayer team member Most treasured Bible text: Hebrews 13:5b ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’

Benjamin Lyons

Should be directed to the editor.

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

Arise Lutheran Church Springfield Qld

Copy deadline: 1st of preceding month Rates: general notices and small advertisements, $21 per cm; for display, contract and inserted advertisements, contact the editor.

‘And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’

LUTHERAN

Most treasured Bible text: Micah 6:8

Karen Crouch

CHURCH

St John’s Esperance WA and St Paul’s Kalgoorlie-Boulder WA

OF AUSTRALIA

Software developer/trainer, Lutheran Women WA Secretary, pastor’s wife

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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Chaplain at St Peters Lutheran College Springfield Qld

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Most treasured Bible text: Lamentations 3:22,23 ‘Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’

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.

Special features

7 What is our mission? We all know deep down, don’t we? We are to love God, love our neighbours as ourselves – and, as our cover text says, with the help of the Holy Spirit we are to be God’s witnesses to the ends of the earth.

Being and bringing Jesus to people – sharing the gospel – is core business for us as individual Christians and for us as church.

I know I’ve been guilty at times of neglecting the not-yet-Christians God leads me to. Of not taking the opportunities to be that witness I am called to be. I have not always reflected the light and love of Jesus to those who don’t know the blessings of being in a relationship with him.

I’m not saying that relationships within the church are unimportant.

They are a great gift. Another of our primary roles within our faith families is to build one another up, as we work for God’s kingdom together. Nor am I saying that the organisation and administration of institutional church matters and practice are things we can ignore.

What I suspect we all need though is some perspective and some balance – because everything we have, including our mission, is a blessing from God.

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Can I come to church?

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Meeting our neighbours

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Standing with neighbours 10 across the world

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Is that where we spend most of our time and effort though? Or do we tend to be navel-gazers and nit-pickers, and so consumed with the business and busyness of church life that we forget to just be still and quiet, being rejuvenated in God’s loving arms and listening for his voice and guidance?

And do we invest our energy and emotion so much in the people already in the church – and sometimes more negatively than positively – that we fail to make time for and share hospitality with those outside of it?

What is your personal mission field?

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The global life in Christ

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Never too old to be baptised

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Regulars Because we bear your name: Bishop Paul’s letter

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Time with God

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Dwelling in God’s word

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Go and Grow

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The Inside Story

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Going GREYT!

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Directory

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Your voice

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Coffee Break

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So, as we look toward another Christmas, let’s ask him to help us focus on the Star of Bethlehem, to help us work together with our fellow believers in our great co-mission, and for the opportunity and courage to share the joy and hope we have with everyone around us.

And I pray that you’ll see that same hope and joy reflected by members of our Lutheran family featured in these pages.

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As this is the last edition for 2023, I would like to thank you, our readers, subscribers and group collectors for your support and loyalty – especially after our switch to six editions this year. My gratitude goes, too, to our wonderful team – Linda Macqueen (executive editor), Elysia McEwen (graphic designer), columnists Helen Brinkman and Bishop Paul Smith, proofreaders Lyall Kupke and Kathy Gaff, Olivia Harman and others who have stepped in to help with subscription administration, and Trevor Bailey and all at Openbook Howden.

Have a safe, happy and blessed Christmas,

Our cover: iStock.com.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following pages may contain images of people who have died.

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Because we bear your name

REV PAU L SMITH Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand

Did your parents ever warn you, ‘Don’t run in the dark!’? This is one of those ‘common sense’ things we learn in childhood for our own safety. If you run in the dark, you will fall over and hurt yourself.

After the shepherds had arrived at the manger, they became the first ‘evangelists’ of the good news of the incarnation.

They told everyone about what had happened and of the promise fulfilled in the birth of Mary’s son.

So why did the Bethlehem shepherds run in the dark? The scriptures tell us that after the appearance of the angels, singing ‘Glory to God in highest heaven’, ‘the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go and see this thing which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste’ (Luke 2:15,16). Haste means quickly.

Scripture tells us that those who heard the witness of the shepherds were amazed.

Remember it was very dark as they had no streetlights or mobile phones with a torch in those days. Also, these shepherds were out in the fields and would have had to stumble their way back into town without a road.

These hard-working shepherds had been captured by God, graciously keeping the promise to send a Saviour.

Their passion to ‘go and see’ was inspired by God’s sure word and promise. This was despite the darkness and the hazards ahead of them on the way back into Jerusalem.

There are always obstacles in our journey. We trip and fall.

We struggle with uncertainty. We long for the light in dark places. Even in matters in the church, we are not sure about the way ahead.

But it is God’s sure word and promise that carries us forward.

We are confronted with the good news of the manger and the cross, where God’s heart is revealed as gracious and merciful – slow to anger and abounding in love.

The shepherds ran to see Jesus. Let us go forward together, keeping our eyes fixed on the pioneer and perfecter of our faith: Jesus Christ.

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Two-thousand years later we are called to follow the example of the Bethlehem shepherds, to gather family and friends with us at the Christmas manger so God’s good news would amaze us all and make us all people of hope.

AN D TH EY WENT WITH HASTE ...

(TH E BETH LEH EM SH EPH ERDS’) PASSION TO ‘GO AN D SEE’ WAS I NSPI RED BY GOD’S SU RE WORD AN D PRO M ISE.

The life of a Bethlehem shepherd in New Testament times was not an easy journey. They lived in a country ruled by an overseas power. A shepherd usually suffered poverty and had little opportunity to change their situation. But God surprised them with his good news, and God gathered them to the side of the manger to see Christ, their Lord.

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BISHOP PAUL’S LETTER

This is the time of year to invite family and friends for Christmas festivities – including inviting them to worship with you at church.

With Christmas 2023 drawing closer, you will have seen the shops filling up with Christmas stock, including ornaments and decorations.

I encourage you to be on the lookout for nativity scenes. If you see one in a store or in your local community centre, please consider finding out who the person in charge of that place is. Then, as you are able, please thank them for the display of a nativity scene. In doing this, you are celebrating with that person ‘the reason for the season’.

‘O holy child of Bethlehem, Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin, and enter in: Be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Immanuel!’

From ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ by Phillips Brooks (1835–1893) In Christ,