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 Z E AL A N D
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DECEMBER 2021
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What makes a family?
LUTHERAN
CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA
A breath of fresh air!
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
As COVID gathering restrictions began to ease in Victoria after a lengthy lockdown, Kathy and Mal Wegener and close friends Volker and Jenny Lange took the chance to enjoy an impromptu coffee in a park together and catch up on news and views from around the church. Jenny (not pictured here) took the photo. Kathy and Mal are members of Melbourne’s Outer Eastern Lutheran Parish, while Volker and Jenny are members at Good Shepherd Ringwood.
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 Sarah Richter Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Mildura Vic
DESIGN & PRINT
Mum to two little girls, aspiring nurse
Design & Layout Elysia McEwen Printer Openbook Howden The Lutheran is produced on the traditional lands of the Kaurna and Dharug peoples.
‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast.’
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.
David Hoger Nazareth Lutheran Church Woolloongabba Qld Research and Development Manager Most treasured Bible text: Matthew 28:20 ‘And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’
Michelle Storie
LUTHERAN
Trinity Lutheran Church Hope Valley SA
OF AUSTRALIA
Executive Administration Assistant to the Bishop LCA SA-NT District
CHURCH 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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Most treasured Bible text: Ephesians 2:8,9
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Most treasured Bible text: Philippians 4:13 ‘I can do all this through him who gives me strength.’
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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Each of my parents was married twice, due to the death of their first spouse. Subsequently, I have half-siblings and stepsiblings. So, I suppose I should know something about blended families! Thankfully, my experience is not like Cinderella’s, Snow White’s or Hansel and Gretel’s in those dark, scary fairytales. My stepsister is anything but wicked, and while I’ve never had a stepmother, my stepfather has always been the epitome of loving-kindness. Through my relationships with other people, I have also seen that the blending of families, including through adoptions and foster care, can bring about joy or sorrow, or both, depending on the circumstances and personalities involved. There are simply no hard-and-fast rules about whether family members unrelated by blood will fight or flee, or that those from the same gene pool will form firm bonds. Yet the only thing I really do know is that a so-called blended family is much like any other. There will be challenges and pain caused by our imperfect efforts at togetherness and, hopefully, there will be love aplenty and the comfort and security of belonging. Sometimes, as with a good salad dressing containing competing ingredients such as vinegar and oil, family dynamics need to be shaken up in order to harmoniously blend. As one of the people I interviewed for this edition said, it’s really unconditional love and support rather than genetics that are the hallmarks of a family.
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We also meet Brett Hausler, the new executive officer of the church, in ‘The inside story’ section, and share the news of graduate pastor placements, home faith-life and other resources and uplifting features from our church family.
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Three stories of family
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Finding out where we belong
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Learning beyond the classroom
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Let’s not forget the suffering of others
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Regulars 9
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So, this month, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus into an ‘unconventional’ family, we can remember that God sent his Son not just to live in an earthly family but to suffer and die, to reclaim us as members of his eternal family. In this edition, we are truly blessed with beautiful stories from our LCANZ community about what ‘family’ means. You’ll also read the final Heartland column from LCANZ Bishop John Henderson before he retires. In February next year, we’ll welcome the incoming LCANZ bishop, Pastor Paul Smith, with a new column.
Together, we are family
Heartland
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Dwelling in God’s word
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Go and Grow
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Church@Home
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The inside story
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Your voice
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Directory
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Sudoku
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Prayer calendars
29, 30
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As this is the last edition for 2021, I would like to thank you, our readers, subscribers, group collectors and other ambassadors (you’ll hear more on that opportunity soon) 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 goes, too, to our wonderful team which brings you The Lutheran.. Thank you to Linda Macqueen (executive editor), Elysia Lutheran McEwen (graphic designer), our regular contributors Helen Beringen and Rebecka Colldunberg, proofreaders Lyall Kupke, Kathy Gaff and Pastor David Strelan, Gaynor Gower in subscriptions and Trevor Bailey and all at Openbook Howden. Have a safe, joyful and blessed Christmas,
Lisa
Our cover: iStock.com The Lutheran D EC E M B E R 2 0 21
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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
A DV E N T S E T S T H E S C E NE F O R T H E C H R I ST I A N Y E A R ‘From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”’ (Matthew 4:17 NRSV). The four weeks before Christmas are the Advent season. Advent is, in effect, the Christian new year, the first season of the church calendar. This year it began on Sunday 28 November, when we changed the church colour to violet, for repentance and to honour our coming king. I wonder how many of us noticed. Did we share it with others? Our Hindu neighbours visited us during the recent Diwali festival, or Hindu New Year, with a gift of homemade Indian sweets. It was a lovely, neighbourly gesture. The Christian new year, Advent, however, is not so well-known, even among us. It tends to be swamped by Christmas, which has crept forward to whenever the merchandise hits the shelves or the online shopping site. Advent, however, gives Christmas its context. Together,
GOD ARRIVES O N EARTH I N TANGI BLE, SPECI FIC WAYS . OU R GOD IS N OT J UST A REM OTE ETERNAL BEI NG ... RATH ER , GOD IS WITH US , RIG HT H ERE, RIG HT N OW, PHYSICALLY AN D SPI RITUALLY. 4
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Advent and Christmas direct us to the great festival of Easter, preceded by Lent and followed by Ascension and Pentecost. This rhythm of festivals, drawn from Scripture, is the backbone of our worship and faith life. In this way, we always remember and celebrate what God has done and is doing to save the world. Advent comes first. It is the backdrop, the scene-setter, that puts the rest into perspective. Taken from Latin, ‘Advent’ means ‘arrival’. God arrives on earth in tangible, specific ways. Our God is not just a remote eternal being, somewhere ‘out there’ beyond the universe and therefore impossible to find. Rather, God is with us, right here, right now, physically and spiritually. God chooses to be available to all who believe and is never far away. Look at the evidence: his mother bore him, people physically touched him, and he touched them. They penetrated his hands and feet with nails. Even in his death, they touched him, laid his body in the grave, and mourned him. And when he rose from the dead, they ate with him and knew him as a living human being. He ascended into heaven, God our brother going ahead of us to welcome us home. And for now, here on earth, God is present in his church, the physical gathering of baptised saints and believers who hear the word and receive the sacrament. In Advent we remember that God, who has come to us in the person of Jesus
Christ, is always with us. He restores our life. We are alive in him. He comes to us daily through the Spirit and the word. He comes in the sacraments, in water and the word (baptism), in the meal of bread and wine he instituted for us (holy communion). God comes to us, the same God who also waits for us on the last day. We know him now, and he knows us. In Advent we learn to wait – and wait well – for the coming of our Lord. We do so in humility and with repentance, since salvation depends entirely on him and we contribute nothing. We remain confident and we are not afraid, since, as Hebrews says, ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever’. He is, and will always be, our Saviour, who came to live among us and never leave us. All glory be to God.
This edition of The Lutheran marks my last Heartland column during my time as bishop. It has been a pleasure and a joy to prepare these articles. I express my thanks to Lisa McIntosh, Pastor David Strelan and the LCA Communications team for your encouragement and support in making this possible. I also thank the many readers who have written in over the years, sharing your own stories of faith. Thank you all so much. I pray that our great and merciful God will continue to bless and restore every one of you, until the great and glorious day of the resurrection to eternal life.
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