N A TIO N A L M A G A ZIN E O F THE L U THE RA N C HU RC H O F A U STRA LIA
DECEMBER 2020
‘One thing is needful’
Christmas
VOL 54 NO11
Print Post Approved PP100003514
LU KE 10 :4 2
without the trimmings
LUTHERAN
CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA
EDITORIAL
Reconciliation – front and centre
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
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In the lead-up to Australia’s 2020 NAIDOC week (which celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ gifts, achievements, contributions, histories and stories), Pastor Marcus Wheeler and his wife Betty took time to reflect on The Lutheran’s Lutheran ’s coverage of the LCA’s Reconciliation Action Plan. Along with Betty, Western Arrarnta Pastor Marcus serves the people of Bethlehem congregation Hermannsburg (Ntaria) and the surrounding communities of the Finke River Mission in Central Australia, in a team with Pastor Rodney Malbunka and Pastor Neville Doecke.
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People like YOU bring love to life Amelia Adams St Luke’s Lutheran Church Parkwood, WA Year 5 student
Issued every month except January.
Most treasured Bible text: Matthew 20:1–16 The workers in the vineyard
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‘Jesus looked up at the puzzled faces of his disciples. “In this way the last will be first and the first will be last”.’
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Most treasured Bible text: Psalm 23:1-4
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LUTHERAN
CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA 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.
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Karolina: Mum and student; Przemek: architect ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.’
Pearl Deemal St John’s Lutheran Church Hope Vale, Qld Retired Most treasured Bible text: John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ 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.
December Special features EDITOR'S
let ter
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Usually at this time of year, I would be busy helping members of my church family get ready to host an annual Advent community event for 120-plus people. Along with an invitation to worship with us at Christmas, these have often been advertised as fellowship, entertainment and a multi-course meal ‘with all the trimmings’. December calendars for many are full of social, work, school, sporting, family and church commitments. Pastors, lay workers and worship teams around our LCA/NZ would usually be looking forward to seeing their church buildings full to overflowing for Christmas services. Worship enhanced with beautiful Christmas trees, stars and decorations, carols, dramas or live nativities, big bands or specially convened choirs; home-baked goodies to give out; community events; donations of hampers and gifts for those in need, it’s all on the list for many congregations – in other years. And there’s nothing wrong with that but, of course, this Christmas will be different for many. Some of our treasured traditions will not be possible. And just as long-suffering Victorians are daring to dream of a more ‘normal’ Christmas than they expected even a month ago, South Australians are getting their heads around a raft of returning restrictions designed to outmanoeuvre another COVID-19 outbreak even as I write. The pandemic has left many people grieving, ill, financially ruined, anxious and depressed. But lives pared back by necessity have also forced us to re-order our priorities and to reassess our relationships with God and each other. There’s a saying I like that has seldom been more apt: When life brings you to your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray. So when all the superficial shininess of Christmas is stripped away, we’re left with the ‘one thing needful’ – the Christ child, God with us, born to save a self-serving world. Rather than taking on all the stresses Martha endures in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to sit at his feet, like Mary, looking only into his compassionate eyes, hearing only his reassuring words, safe in his love. This edition we look at Christmas without the trimmings – sometimes known as trappings for good reason – and share stories of congregations planning for new ways of worshipping and connecting with their communities. There are ideas and resources to help celebrate the birth of Christ differently, whether at church or home, and we reflect on the blessings of a simpler life at this time of year.
Christmas without all the trimmings
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Celebrating Christmas 2020-style
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The gifts of a simple life
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Regulars Heartland
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10
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Dwelling in God’s word
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Go and Grow
13
Church@Home
19
Reel Life
22
The inside story
23
Directory
25
Sudoku
25
Your voice
26
Going GREYT!
28
Prayer calendar
30
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As this is the last edition for 2020, I would like to thank you, our readers, subscribers, group collectors and other ambassadors, for your loyalty and we look forward to your continued support. Please keep encouraging others to join us – a subscription makes a great Christmas gift! My gratitude also goes to our wonderful team, which brings you The Lutheran. Lutheran. Thank you to Linda Macqueen (executive editor), Elysia McEwen (graphic designer), our regular contributors Helen Beringen, Rebecka Colldunberg and Mark Hadley, proofreaders Lyall Kupke, Kathy Gaff and Pastor David Strelan, and Trevor Bailey and all at Openbook Howden. Have a safe, joyful and blessed Christmas,
Lisa
Our cover: © Amy Dahlenburg www.amydeephotography.com
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
WHATE VER OUR SIN MAY BE, GOD’S LOVE IS UNCE ASING ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting’ (Psalm 139:23,24 NRSV). ‘Pastor, you’ve only got popcorn sins!’ That’s what a wealthy businessman and church member told me as he spoke of the personal cost of keeping his company afloat. In order to operate he needed to obtain sensitive environmental permits, which had drawn him into immorality and highlevel corruption in the industry sector and the state regulatory authority. The situation and what it was doing to him was causing my friend grief. Before
WE CAN ON LY REPENT AN D TH ROW OU RSELVES O NTO TH E M ERCY OF GOD W H O LOVES US U NCEASI NG LY, W HATEVER OU R SI N MAY BE. 4
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becoming a Christian he had played the game along with the worst of them. Now, as a follower of Jesus, he wanted a different life. He was facing some major choices about that. But how serious does sin have to be to be sin? In our daily rounds of family, work and society, we generally grade wrongdoing from lesser to more serious. That’s where my friend’s comment came from. Deeds that don’t break the law are sort of okay, even if we don’t approve of them. Lust, greed, avarice, slander, sexual immorality – up to the point of illegality our society doesn’t overly regulate such things. Before God, however, we know that’s not enough. Living within the law of the land does not make us righteous before God. Recently, I was walking in the streets around my office. North Adelaide is a leafy and expensive suburb of period mansions and prestige apartments, well beyond the price range of your average pastor. As I passed a For Sale sign, I had the involuntary thought, ‘I will never be able to afford a place like that, no matter how diligently and hard I work’. Was that thought a sin? In the street that day I was surrounded by God’s beauty in creation. Trees were blossoming, birds were singing, the
skies were blue and the grass green, and I felt safe and in good health. Jesus was my Saviour. Why, then, did I lust after something I did not have and did not need? Only because of sin, which always tries to make me dissatisfied with God’s good gifts. It’s insidious, subtle and evasive. Sometimes it’s obvious, but other times it sneaks up as a fleeting but persistent impulse. I may choose not to act on it, but at that moment an invisible barrier is thrown up between me and God. God knows what we are like, on the inside and on the outside. If we’re honest with ourselves, we know it too. God shows us in his word who we truly are. He holds up a mirror to us. And when we finally see the truth of who we are, it cuts through to the heart. We can only repent and throw ourselves onto the mercy of God, who loves us unceasingly, whatever our sin may be. It is now Advent. Once again, we are getting ready for our Saviour. The colour is purple for repentance and the arrival of the Prince of Peace. During Advent our true preparation will not be the decorations and purchasing of gifts, but the cleansing of our hearts through repentance and faith. Popcorn sins or not, we must turn to Jesus, our only hope: born as a baby, one of us, to deal with the insidious problem of sin once and for all.
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