The Lutheran June 2021 Digital Edition by Lutheran Church of Australia

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

JUN E 2021

VOL 55 NO5

Print Post Approved PP100003514

Walking

‘Walk in the way of love.’ EP H ES IA N S

5: 2

together

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

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Cups of kindness

Sarah Barber grabs the chance for some inspirational reading in between serving customers with good coffee and conversation at Café 3:16 and Bookshop at Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. The café/bookshop is a volunteer-run ministry of St Michael’s Lutheran Church there.

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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: Isaiah 40:31 ‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.’

Phyl Atze Mackay Community Lutheran Church Qld Retired; local guild president, loves sewing and cooking Most treasured Bible text: Psalm 23 ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.’

Oscar Joppich Grace Lutheran Church Tanunda SA Retired; enjoys visiting and gardening Most treasured Bible text: Psalm 23 ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.’

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.

June Special features EDITOR'S

let ter

When I took part in Australian Lutheran World Service’s (ALWS) Walk My Way in 2019 in the Adelaide Hills with about 380 others, I thought it was a wonderful example of church unity, community outreach and engagement, and living the LCANZ’s tagline of ‘bringing love to life’ – all wrapped up in one event. I was inspired by the creativity and passion of the organisers, the service and professionalism of volunteers and the camaraderie and commitment of participants, who took the challenging 26-kilometre Pioneer Women’s Trail in their stride. They did it to raise money to help send refugee children in Africa to school – kids they would never meet, facing hardships they could only imagine. This is a beautiful expression of church, I remember thinking at the time. Last year, of course, COVID-19 put paid to walkers again hitting the trails in big groups. But ALWS, as it so often does, got creative and Walk Your Way was born – an individual challenge, in your own time and place. Around 2800 of us walked paths near home and raised enough to send 6390 children to school. While that was truly inspirational, I wondered whether the buzz of 2019 and the resilience of 2020 would be replicated in 2021 when Walk My Way group events returned. Boy, was I wrong to doubt the spirit of our Lutheran family! When it became clear that the first event for 2021, in South Australia’s Barossa Valley in May, would be bigger than, well, even our General Convention of Synod, our editorial team changed the theme for June to ‘Walking together’. We thought that, as we prepare for Synod, it was also a timely reminder of Christ’s prayer for his church that we ‘may be one’ (John 17:20). Inspired by the 650 participants who ‘walked together’ in the Barossa Valley, and a further 249 who have registered (by 18 May) to walk elsewhere at different times, these pages contain stories and images of thanksgiving and joy from Walk My Way. I pray that you’ll be blessed by them. All walker groups are receiving copies of this edition and so we especially welcome those who are reading The Lutheran for the first time. Our Lutheran family is also ‘walking together’ as we endeavour to better hear the Indigenous voices in our churchwide family through practical applications of our Reconciliation Action Plan, and we have included a progress story and some ideas for your ministry group. And, as a further bonus for subscribers, you’ll find inside Australian Lutheran College’s Saints Alive publication, as we walk together with the LCA’s provider of tertiary theological education. May God richly bless our efforts to ‘walk together’ at home, at school, at work, at church, or on the nearest footpath or bush track.

Lisa

Scattering the light of hope

‘Privileged and proud’ to walk

We’re having how many coming for breakfast?!

‘We have nothing, but education is riches’

Walking Jesus’ way is a daily challenge

Walking the talk

The LCA's RAP … Are we there yet?

Regulars 14

Heartland

Dwelling in God’s word

Go and Grow

Church@Home

Going GREYT!

The inside story

Directory

Sudoku

Your voice

Prayer calendar

Our cover: The Wheelie Good Walkers team of Lutheran Disability Services clients, support workers and family members added extra joy to last month’s ALWS Walk My Way in SA’s Barossa Valley, walking, wheeling and woofing their way to raise money to help send refugee children to school. See story page 7. 7. Photo: David Modra Wraparound cover: Hundreds of participants and volunteers gather before the 26-kilometre Walk My Way challenge from Redeemer Lutheran School Nuriootpa in the Barossa on 1 May. Drone photo: Tim Hage

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

WALKING TOGE THER IS OF THE ESSENCE FOR CHRISTIANS ‘…in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Romans 12:5 – NIV). Do you remember those three-legged races at school camps and church picnics? With one leg tied to that of another person, you tried to walk, run, or most likely stumble together to the finish line. Awkward, even agonising, at least the races were mercifully brief. The hilarious spectacle you made was often more important than the actual competition. I expect such races are off the agenda these days, especially during COVID-19. The three-legged race, however, is an apt illustration of learning to walk together. I rarely chose my partner. He was chosen for me out of a pool of available candidates. We would barely know each other’s names, but suddenly

I F WE WANT TO G ROW I N FAITH AN D M OVE FORWARD I N OU R SPI RITUAL LI FE, WE M UST LEARN TO WALK I N STEP WITH EACH OTH ER. 4

The Lutheran J U N E 2 0 21

we were joined in intimate physical contact, trying to merge as one. When we succeeded in establishing a sort of rhythm, momentum would often take over and our different heights and weights would put us on the ground. If I tried to force my partner to walk or run my way, this would always end in total collapse. He would become a dead weight. Trying to stand up again was harder than learning to walk together in the first place. I have never read of a three-legged race in the Bible, but I have read of Christians learning to walk together as members of the one body. St Paul writes about it in a well-known passage in Romans 12 and expands on it in 1 Corinthians 12. He emphasises how all the different parts of the body work and move together. Each part must pay careful attention to the needs of the others. St Paul says that the body of believers is the body of Christ. As the body speaks, acts and walks, so Christ himself speaks, acts and walks. In the body, all the parts belong to each other. No single part can be lopped off without the whole body taking a blow. And as we know from personal experience, a pain in the smallest part of the body resonates through our whole being. It is the same with Christ: he feels the pains and the hurts in his body – our pains, and our hurts.

Bodies, of course, are made to move. Christ’s body is also made to move. St Paul tells us how: in prophesying, in serving, in teaching, in encouraging, in giving and in showing mercy. The body of Christ is alive and breathing, always doing something, engaging in the world with the mission of Christ. So, this business of learning to walk together is much more than a curious pastime. It is of the essence for Christian faith and life. If we want to grow in faith and move forward in our spiritual life, we must learn to walk in step with each other. We need to value each other. We need to forgive each other for any missteps. We need to encourage each other and celebrate our progress together. When we fall, we will feel the other’s pain as much as we feel our own. We won't want to coerce or overcome other members of Christ’s body by force because we would only be hurting ourselves, and even worse, hurting Christ. This is a great mystery. God chose us and gave us faith. As we share that faith, God opens up between us an extraordinarily intimate, sacred space. As fellow believers, saints in the body of Christ, we care for one another, pray for one another, and bow down as one before the throne of grace, where he forgives our sins and equips us, once more, to move out into the world with his mission of truth and love.

Last month Walk My Way Barossa brought 650 walkers together for a common cause – helping to build a brighter, more hopeful future for refugee children through education. We asked Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) Community Action Manager Jonathan Krause to share with us how Walk My Way is …

Scat tering the

LIG HT OF H OPE by J O N A T H A N K R A U S E

Thanks to support from our LCANZ family through ALWS and its partners, a primary school was built in an East African refugee camp in Djibouti and now brings hope and light into the lives of children through education. Inset: Kalsuma, a refugee in Djibouti who had to flee her home in Somalia, welcomes this support through events such as Walk My Way.

Walk My Way was born inside a refugee camp in the desert in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa in 2016. A group of teachers from Lutheran schools in Australia was there on an ALWS leadership tour. They met people who had lost everything. They saw a bare block of land that in six months our Australian Lutheran family would turn into a school for 2000 children through a partnership with the European Union. They met Kalsuma, a refugee for 16 years, who fled the war that destroyed her home and farm in Somalia. ‘We welcome you with open hearts. We have not before seen visitors like you, interested in education’, she said. ‘We really appreciate that you put aside all your things and come to be with us. It seems to me an illiterate person is like a person who is blind. We who are parents see education as the light. We need that light of education to scatter. We are thanking all those who support education. Please keep telling our story to your people.’

One of the teachers from that leadership tour was so inspired, that they decided to walk from Melbourne to Adelaide to raise money to help refugee children go to school. When the logistics of that proved too difficult, ALWS instead created a walk down the Adelaide Hills from Hahndorf, following the trail taken by pioneer Lutheran women in the 1840s. The trail was 26 kilometres long, which ‘matched’ the average cost of supporting a refugee child in school for a year – $26. So, Walk My Way was on the way. That refugee camp in Djibouti and those at Kakuma in Kenya where our Lutheran church works through ALWS, are a long way from South Australia’s Barossa Valley, which was host to this year’s Walk My Way. And the original hope for the first Walk My Way in 2017, that perhaps 50 people might be persuaded to take up the challenge to walk 26 kilometres, is a lot different from the 650 people who walked on Saturday 1 May.

‘ WE WHO ARE PA R ENTS S EE

education

AS TH E LI G HT. W E N EED TH AT light O F ED U C ATI O N TO SC AT TER .’

Even though it was an exhausting challenge, retired nurse Sharon and farmer Fiona were committed to finishing all 26 kilometres of Walk My Way Barossa and knocked back offers of a lift along the way. ‘We want to do the full 26 kilometres, so our sponsors help out’, Fiona explained. ‘We are doing it for the girls.’

Yet, for me, being both in that refugee camp in Djibouti and at Walk My Way in the Barossa Valley, there are many things that intersect. First, when people arrive in a refugee camp, our Lutheran-supported team welcomes them with a friendly face and three good meals a day. ALWS aimed to do this at Walk My Way too – with a donated big box Barossa brekkie, a sausage sizzle lunch and ‘Made-It’ munchies at the finish line at St Jakobi Lutheran School Lyndoch. Second, Walk My Way welcomes everyone, and especially celebrates the gifts of those the world sometimes overlooks – those who are senior, young children, those with a disability. This is what happens in the refugee camps too, where our ALWS family works hard to make sure no-one is forgotten, and those who may be overlooked or ignored are instead welcomed with open arms, just as Jesus asks of us in Matthew 25:40. Third, Walk My Way has the simple goal of supporting refugee children to go to school – like 14-year-old Sebit, who says: ‘When I am in school, I forget that I am a refugee.’ Of course, throughout our Lutheran history in Australia, we have known the importance of a values-rich education. The 40,000 students in Lutheran schools parallels the thousands of refugee and displaced children who receive a Lutheran-supported education in places like South Sudan, Somalia and the refugee camps at Kakuma. Fourth, Walk My Way asks people to take on a challenge, to do something hard, in order to make a difference for others. In this, we seek to echo the courage and commitment of parents who carry their children out of warzones in the hope that they may find safety, and perhaps even the hope an education can bring.

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At the Barossa Valley Walk My Way, I spent some time at the 24-kilometre mark with my 85-year-old dad, Colin, and his four-legged best friend Oscar, as they directed weary walkers across the road. By 4pm, all but two of our 650 walkers had completed their walk. Thirty minutes passed. Not a walker in sight. Then, two figures appeared in the distance. Slowly they stumble-walked toward us, clearly exhausted. Sharon is a retired nurse, Fiona a farmer. They told us that cars had slowed regularly to offer them a lift. Each time they said no. ‘We want to do the full 26 kilometres, so our sponsors help out’, Fiona explained. ‘We are doing it for the girls.’ I walked with Fiona to the finish line. Telling her that, as Christians, we know the first will be last, and the last will be first. By this time, the band at St Jakobi had played its last song. The food vans had closed their windows. Stalls were being packed away. Yet, as Fiona reached the finish, the cheer that greeted her was the loudest of the day. Last. First. Jesus turns the world upside down. Seeks the lost; the overlooked; the forgotten. That’s what the 650 walkers in the Barossa Valley … and the 200-plus walkers in other walks across the country … and those who sponsored them or donated … and the volunteers who prepared food, marshalled traffic, took photos, or emptied rubbish bins … did too. Quiet humble service. Courage to care. Willingness to give the best they had, no matter what they had to give. Stepping out … so refugee children can step in to school. Through Walk My Way, people like you do just what Kalsuma begged us to do. You make the light of education scatter. In doing so, you are a blessing ALWayS.

Julie Green, second from right, felt privileged to do Walk My Way with the Lutheran Disability Services team.

‘ PR IVI LEG ED AN D PRO U D’ TO WALK Lutheran Disability Services (LDS) Support Worker Julie Green hadn't heard of Walk My Way before the lead-up to last month’s event in South Australia’s Barossa Valley. But now she says the LDS team of clients and staff – the Wheelie Great Walkers – ‘can’t wait to do it again’. Like her fellow LDS walkers and wheelers Julie, of Hamley Bridge, north of Adelaide, was encouraged to take part in Walk My Way by fellow support worker Tamara Martin, wife of Barossa North Parish Pastor Damien Martin. LDS clients David, Chelsea, Jeanette and David were among 650 participants who walked or wheeled along the 26-kilometre trail from Nuriootpa to Lyndoch to support refugee children to go to school. The quartet was joined by five LDS staff, six of their children and two dogs. ‘It was extremely special for LDS family to feel the unity and inclusiveness of their community for this worthy

event, as they talked, laughed, sung, and walked through the Barossa Valley’, Julie says. ‘They have expressed how proud they are to support Walk My Way and to help so many strong and resilient refugee children in East Africa to go to school. They can’t wait to do it again!’ With two members in wheelchairs and the rest on foot (or paw), the team also sang along to music played from a speaker Julie provided. Each client walked or was wheeled along for at least five kilometres; two did 13 kilometres and four staff, including Julie, and some of the children, completed the full trail. ‘When any of the clients had had enough, we had someone pick them up’, Julie says. ‘They’ve said since how wonderful it was. Personally, I felt so privileged to be a part of such a movement.’

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Thank you for assisting children ‘grow in Christ’. Feed My Lambs - John 21:15 For more information about how you can make a difference visit lll.org.au For more information or to open an LLL Personal Savings Account:

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Thank you! Together in mission

W E’ R E H AVI N G H OW M ANY CO M I N G FO R B R EAK FAST?! When Walk My Way volunteer Julie Slaghekke agreed to coordinate breakfast for this year’s Barossa Valley event, she thought ALWS organisers were overestimating how many people would take part. ‘When they said, “I think we’re going to have 600 walkers”, I thought, “No you’re not; you couldn’t possibly have that many”’, Julie, pictured, says. Ultimately there were 650 registered participants, along with volunteers who would need sustenance. That meant sourcing food for 700 COVID-compliant breakfast boxes while utilising promised donations. Julie, who has a small catering business and helped to coordinate the LCA’s Longest Lutheran Lunch project, baked 700 muffins and made 700 muesli balls. Together with Julie Krause, an ALWS community action officer, Julie made yoghurt granola berry pots for the breakfast boxes and added fresh fruit, breadsticks, mini kransky sausages, cheese, dried fruit, nuts and fruit juice. The two Julies were supported by student volunteers from Redeemer Lutheran School Nuriootpa and teams of adult helpers. ‘It’s amazing; 650 people chose to give up their Saturday to go for a walk and raise money for ALWS. That’s mindblowing’, Julie Slaghekke says. ‘The other thing that was astounding was the level of support in the Barossa – from the churches, individuals, businesses and the community,

who chipped in and said, “We’ll help with that and we’ll donate this”. It was inspiring. ‘It was a great team effort, too, and nice to be a part of a bigger ideal.’ For Julie, a member of Our Saviour Aberfoyle Park in suburban Adelaide, her faith is a ‘huge’ motivation for volunteering. ‘I think that’s what we are here on this earth to do’, she says. ‘We’ve all been given something to offer, and it gives you so much enjoyment when you use your gifts in a way that helps others.’

‘ W E H AV E N OTH I N G , B UT ED UCATI O N IS R I CH ES’ We know Walk My Way raises money to support refugee children to go to school in East Africa, and that each $26 of support helps to provide a teacher, textbooks and school desks for one child for a year. Deng (pictured), a Year 7 teacher in Kakuma Refugee Camp, explains how the education Walk My Way supports changes lives … I arrived in Kakuma in the early 2000s from South Sudan with both of my younger brothers, who were very young when we arrived. We lost everyone in the family whilst travelling to Kakuma. I am the head of our household. I never had any formal education and neither had my brothers. Here at Kakuma, I had a chance to go to school. I went right through to Year 8. I was able to go to school here, at Shabelle in the camp, where I am now teaching! And now I am teaching my brothers as I work here in this same school in Kakuma! One of my challenges is riding my bike here each day on a dusty, bumpy, difficult road to get to the school. It takes me over half an hour to get here. If I am walking it takes over an hour. My brothers and I have nothing, yet education is so rich, and no-one can ever take that from us or anyone in the camp. I feel very privileged to teach. No-one can ever take an education away from a child. All possessions can be taken away, but not what’s in your head. We are so grateful for all the support we receive.

DWELLING IN GOD'S WORD

Walking with Jesus Our journey through life is filled with millions of steps. Even though we live in an era of fast-moving vehicles, walking is still an important aspect of daily life. It’s generally thought that walking 10,000 steps a day is a positive way to help keep blood pressure down and heart disease at bay. But walking is more than trying to stay healthy. Walking causes us to slow down and gives us time to reflect. The Bible has a lot to say about ‘walking’. Generally, it’s used as a metaphor for life. ‘Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him’ (Psalm 128:1). Read Psalm 1:1–6. What does this psalm say to you about walking through life? Note how verse 1 refers to the stagnation of those not walking with God – they start off walking, but soon are standing still until they end up sitting down. What things in life have interrupted your walk with God and left you going nowhere? Verse 6 mentions the ‘way’ of the righteous and the way of the wicked. ‘Way’ can also be translated as road or journey. The first followers of Jesus became known as ‘the Way’ (see Acts 9:2; 19:9,23). My first assignment as a graduate pastor was as a missionary in Papua New Guinea. I had many opportunities to go on two-week ‘patrols’, trekking mountains and fording rivers in the highlands as I visited remote congregations. Sometimes those walks were fraught with danger, including fast-flowing rivers, slippery narrow log bridges, and drunken axe-wielding men in the dark of night. I never walked on my own. When Jesus calls us to follow him, he’s calling us to walk life’s journey with him. And sometimes this journey can bring the unexpected.

by Peter Hage Read Matthew 14:22–32. What surprises do you see in this story? How do you imagine Jesus looked as he ‘walked’ across the lake in the storm? How do you imagine Peter looked as he ‘walked’, before and after noticing the wind and waves? (vv29,30)

On one mountain patrol in PNG, I was visiting a remote community that took a 12-hour walk to get there. This community of eight villages had no roads, no airstrip, no health centres and no schools. The nearest primary school was a six to eight-hour walk away, so students had to start walking in the middle of the night to be on time and board with another family during the week. When Australian Lutheran World Service started Walk my Way several years ago raising money to help refugee children get an education, my heart went out for this cause. It was a ‘joy’ for me to walk 26km – as I did four times in 2019 – to raise money in support of these children. Read Luke 24:13–33. What surprises you in this story? How do you imagine Jesus looked as he ‘walked’ along the road with the two disciples? How do you imagine the disciples looked, before and after they recognised Jesus? Besides the surprise of recognising Jesus, the other surprising thing is that these two disciples immediately got up and ‘walked back’ (or did they run?) to Jerusalem; another 10 kilometres in the middle of the night! What surprises have been part of your ‘walk’ with Jesus? Was there a time when you found yourself able to walk further and for longer than you imagined, because of the joy that was associated with your walk?

Pastor Peter Hage serves St Johns Perth and is a former chair of the ALWS Board. The Lutheran J U N E 2 0 21

Walking Jesus’ way I S A DA I LY C H A L L E N G E B Y R E I D M AT T H I A S

‘After this, the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness’ (Mark 1:12). This verse strikes my funny bone. Reading it in a 21st century context (and out of biblical context), it sounds like the Spirit and Jesus pile into the ute for a drive into the bush where the Spirit kicks the door open and says, ‘Alright, have a good time camping!’ No, Jesus is not driven by car into the dusty outback of Israel, but he is motivated by the Spirit to walk into the wild where he will encounter temptations, struggle and critters. As I read about Jesus’ time in the wilderness, I wonder if there aren’t some similarities between God’s invitation to his Son to ‘Walk My Way’ and what I encountered in 2021. As we drove through what could easily be considered something of a dusty wilderness, vast stretches of summer dryness now in different shades of yellow, ochre and brown, I was amazed at the landscape through which we’d walk. I tried to imagine the early pioneers who had to walk down the hill to the eastern parts of Adelaide from Hahndorf and back up again or the refugees who fled for their lives on foot in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. If I’m truly honest with myself, I don’t know if I could have survived very long doing any of those walks.

Imagine, though, if you could have been on the trail with the pioneers or the refugees. Imagine the stories you would hear if you only begged the questions: ‘Tell me your story. Tell me about your life. Help me to make the connection.’ These musings were what Jesus was very, very good at. As he wandered the dusty trails of Palestine, people followed him – throngs of people, multitudes. Pressing up to him, many wanted to touch him, to hear him, to see him. As they walked his way, they all desired a sign or wonder, yet time and time again, Jesus does not give them a miracle, but a question. For it is in the questions that we find the miracle of walking together. This is where we find that Jesus has an interest in us. In Luke 10, after Jesus sends 72 people to go walkabout two-by-two, he encounters a teacher of the law who wants to know how to put the cherry on top of life: ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Certainly, as their paths had intersected, Jesus could have simply told the man, ‘I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life’, brushed his hands and said, ‘Alright, have a good time’. But what does Jesus do? He comes alongside the lawyer and asks two questions. ‘What is written in the law? How do you read it?’ What do these questions do? Two things. 1. Jesus establishes that he values the expert in the law enough to ask questions. ‘How do you read it?’ is a perfect way of asking, ‘So, tell me a little bit about your experience. Tell me about your own learning journey.’ 2. All of life is a dialogue. If we are open enough to ask the question, why not dig deeper? What captures me most about this short incident is that Jesus paused in his own walk to interact with someone who could easily have irked him. But he doesn’t keep to himself, checking his pedometer, making sure he’s getting his steps in and his calories counted. No, he invites people onto the road with him. Even people who are different from him.

Walkers Josephine Matthias, Madison Watts and Greta Matthias take a break among the autumn leaves during the Walk My Way Barossa lunch stop.

‘Team Matthias’ members hit the Walk My Way trail in South Australia’s Barossa Valley last month to raise money to send refugee children to school – Christine Matthias (front right) and Pastor Reid Matthias (second from right) share the experience with Wendy and Simon Janetzki, while daughters Greta and Josephine and their friend Madison Watts follow behind them.

WA LK I N G J ESUS’ WAY IS A DAI LY WA LK HIM A N D OTH ER PEO PLE SO TH AT TH EY C A N EXPER I EN CE H IS G R ACE A N D LOV E O N TH EI R OW N .

alongside To me, this is the difference between walking with and coming alongside someone else. Walking with someone else means that you are travelling in the same general direction, but might not have the same goal. Walking with someone means that you might smile politely, nod and put your headphones back in your ears. Walking with someone might mean that you walk a little faster so that you can finish before they do. Walking with someone doesn’t necessarily imply connection, only sharing space. But walking alongside? Well, that’s a Jesus-kind-ofwalk-my-way. It’s a choice. You opt to speed up or slow down so that you can match the other walker’s pace and go in the same direction. Walking alongside necessitates a kindred goal and spirit. Walking alongside is about greeting and creating relationships, asking questions of history and future. Walking alongside is about the journey, whereas walking with is about the destination. As the hordes of walkers gathered together for Walk My Way in the Barossa Valley, I was interested in how people separated themselves. Talking with people before, during and afterwards, I noticed those from congregations or friendships tended to walk with each other. Theirs was friendly banter, maybe an occasional jog. It’s natural. The day was designed for the relational journey and connecting with people who have the same goal. But then on the way back, being driven through the wilderness by bus, back to the very beginning, I met a couple who were come-alongsiders. After having spent years living abroad, they told me the story of different cultures, different struggles, of being a stranger in strange lands, and they asked the same questions of me. For the journey, we found similarities and differences, common bonds of Christian understanding.

journey

Which brought me back to opining about pioneers, refugees and Jesus himself: how are we called to come alongside people? In what ways do we slow our pace to match step with others along the road? After Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan to this expert in the law, he asked, ‘Which one of these three do you think was a neighbour?’ The expert replied, ‘The one who had mercy’. Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise’. Maybe what I learned most about the Walk My Way experience of 2021 was that it didn’t finish on 1 May. Walking Jesus’ way is a daily walk alongside him and other people so that they can experience his grace and love on their own journey. Go and do likewise. Pastor Reid Matthias serves the flock at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Para Vista in suburban Adelaide. He completed Walk My Way Barossa Valley with his wife Christine, daughters Josephine and Greta and family friend Madison Watts. The Lutheran J U N E 2 0 21

Lutheran schools have been part of Walk My Way from the start (see page 5). 5). And 19 schools are walking in 2021. Associate Professor Lisa Schmidt, executive director of Lutheran Education Australia, explains why our schools are …

WALKI N G TH E TALK

Lutheran schools are great supporters of Walk My Way. Inset: Assoc Prof Lisa Schmidt

BY LISA SCHMIDT

One of Lutheran Education Australia’s values is justice. Through genuine concern and developing a conscience for the rights and wellbeing of everyone in the human family, seeking justice requires understanding and responding to the reasons behind injustices as well as responding to unjust conditions. It requires integrity between beliefs, words and actions. It may necessitate taking a stand and acting with courage. It is wonderful to see students and staff from Lutheran schools and early childhood services making that connection and responding to the needs of other children through Walk My Way. This is one step on the shared road to justice that we can walk together. My dad was born in a refugee camp but came to Australia and spent time in Bonegilla Migrant Centre (from which ALWS was born), before receiving an education, including at a Lutheran school. I have been the beneficiary of that as a good education changes the lives of generations. All children should have that chance, no matter where or when they are born. I want these children in Africa to have the education my dad had, and their children to

have the opportunities I’ve had. That’s why I walked. And I wonder about the stories of other walkers too. You can’t tell people’s stories under the sun hats and bright blue T-shirts, but we’ve all got one. Walk My Way Barossa was a wonderful day of getting together and trying to make a difference for someone we will never meet. For one day, we were all part of that same story.

INTEGRATE YOUR FAITH with where you are now

o you long to share your love of Christ to inspire the faith journey of others? Have you felt the call to go deeper into God’s Word?

ALC is here to support people just like you, whether you feel called as a teacher, church leader, pastor or church lay worker. With undergraduate and postgraduate courses, vocational education and training, workshops and online learning, ALC has options to suit everyone. Our courses are available to study from anywhere in Australia, so don’t delay your journey into theological study. Whether you want to study on campus or online, ALC is a vibrant learning community where you can deepen your faith and be equipped to step into your God-given purpose for ministry and service.

Semester 2 enrolments are now open! Contact us today:

Email: enquiries@alc.edu.au, call: 1800 625 193, or visit: alc.edu.au/study 12

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Building relationships through listening and understanding what is important to Aboriginal people are two of the four objectives of the LCA’s Reconciliation Action Plan.

TH E LCA' S R ECO N CI LIATI O N ACTI O N PL A N …

AR E WE TH ER E YET? B Y M A R I LY N W A L L

Almost 12 months on from the endorsement of the LCA Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and six months after copies were distributed to all congregations, schools and agencies of the LCA, we might ask: ‘Are we there yet?’ That depends how we define ‘there’. One way is to measure our progress against the RAP’s four objectives, which encompass building relationships through listening; understanding what is important to Aboriginal people; providing a culturally appropriate mechanism to address recognition and representation; and developing appropriate ways to encourage and enable Aboriginal people to serve and lead in church life. While we have made a start, there is much to be done before such matters are embedded into the fabric of the church.

R EM EM B ER , E V ERY J O U R N EY STA RTS W ITH A FI RST STEP. B UT G EN U I N E CU LTU R A L I N CLUS I V IT Y TA K ES TI M E TO EM B ED, SO SU CH ACTI O NS N EED TO B E O N GO I N G .

Remember, every journey starts with a first step. But genuine cultural inclusivity takes time to embed, so such actions need to be ongoing. Perhaps your ministry has a story of engagement with and growth of relationships between First Nations peoples and others. We would love to hear and share your stories and photos – email them to rap@lca.org.au Marilyn Wall is the LCA’s RAP Project Officer. For more information and resources, go to www.rap.lca.org.au

We can still improve our awareness. For example, did you know that more than 80 per cent of those who identify as First Nations or Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia live, work and raise families in urban areas? So, we may have First Nations peoples in our local communities and ministry spaces. Also, as Aboriginality is not just a matter of skin colour, would we know this is the case? Unless we build strong

relationships and provide environments that are culturally inclusive, safe and welcoming to First Nations people, they may not identify as such.

WA N T I D E AS? H ER E A R E S O M E I N I T I AT I V ES B EI N G U N D ERTA K EN BY LU T H ER A N M I N I ST R I ES : • Utilising worship resources shared by the Commission on Worship through its Worship Planning Page (www.lca.org.au/wpp www.lca.org.au/wpp), ), for occasions of significance for First Nations peoples • Discussing, researching and identifying the traditional country upon which a ministry is happening and including this information on signage or websites • Including Acknowledgements of Country in publications • Incorporating stories and resources from the LCA RAP website (www.rap.lca.org.au (www.rap.lca.org.au)) into ministry programs • Experiencing the relationship and awareness rewards of connections with remote Lutheran Aboriginal communities • Developing or investigating a Narragunawalli (a RAP for schools)

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ES R ESO U RC ... O T U O FOR Y

WA L K I N G TO G E T H E R BY B U I L D I N G R E L AT I O N S H I PS The staff at Grow Ministries often talk about being ‘relational’ in ministry. We have been known to say things like: ‘Prioritise relationships over programs’, or ‘It’s all about relationships!’ But what do we mean when we say these things? Being ‘relational’ is one of those terms that has been used so much that its meaning is now very difficult to define.

PEO PLE FI RST, S H A R I N G I N F O R M AT I O N S E CO N D Grow Ministries would say that being ‘relational’ refers to the decision to prioritise relationships between people above sharing information. A relational leader recognises that any information will not have a lasting impact unless there are strong, authentic relationships established. A relational leader sets out to encourage people in their faith as they grow in relationship with God and others. The term ‘relational’ also refers to the method by which content is delivered. A traditional model of content delivery involves an expert presenter telling people what they need to know. A relational method still shares content, but also allows space for questions, discussions and creative responses. Additionally, ‘relational’ refers to the environment. A relational environment is comfortable, welcoming, challenging and safe – both in its physical aesthetic and its ambience. People need to experience and do things together as they explore their faith. There need to be opportunities and space for them to discuss faith and life.

L C A C H I L D Y O U T H & F A M I LY M I N I S T R Y

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W H AT ’ S A ‘ R E L AT I O N A L’ A P P R O A C H ? Taking a relational approach to leadership and ministry means that everyone has a place to discuss openly and honestly matters of faith. How are you walking together with others along their faith journey? ‘The church may have a building, but that is not its place. The building may be the church’s location, but its space is in the shared humanity of its persons.’ – Author and Lutheran Professor of Youth and Family Ministry Dr Andrew Root

I D E A S TO B U I L D R E L AT I O N S H I PS • Find ways for all the generations to spend time together and feel welcome. Perhaps offer an intergenerational Bible study or host an intergenerational lunch with conversation starters. • Nurture spaces where people can get to know each other and develop meaningful relationships. Offering hospitality through shared meals is a great place to start. • Provide opportunities for people to share their life and faith stories. This could be both written and spoken, in person or using video. • Encourage people to check in with each other outside of worship and other church events. This could be through small groups and/or mentoring relationships. • Look for ways to serve together across generations in your local community.

The Lutheran Study Centre has reached out to different Lutheran language communities – including the Bahasa Malaysia people – through seminars, lectures and publications in their languages.

WALKI NG WITH OU R OV ERS E A S PA RT N ERS LCA International Mission walks together with our partner churches overseas through support for such projects as the Lutheran Study Centre (LSC) at Sabah Theological Seminary (STS) in Malaysia. LSC Director Dr Wilfred J Samuel explains the critical role of the centre for the region’s Lutheran churches. The Lutheran Study Centre (LSC) at Sabah Theological Seminary (STS) in Malaysia was established to meet the need of enhancing Lutheran confessional identity among the member churches of the Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Malaysia and Singapore (FELCMS). After initial talks with the LCANZ’s Dr Vic Pfitzner, the need was raised with LCA International Mission and other mission partners. The centre was opened in March 2010, thanks to advisory and financial support from the LCA and Australian Lutheran College, and technical assistance from the Lutheran World Federation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

W H AT A R E T H E O B J E C T I V ES O F T H E C E N T R E? The centre's key objectives are to serve the Lutheran churches in SouthEast Asia in providing Lutheran distinctive training for pastors, lay members and theological students; to serve as a centre for theological research; to develop resources and publications to enhance Lutheran identity; and to network with regional and international Lutheran study centres. The LSC has been able to reach out to the four main language groups in Malaysia and Singapore – Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Tamil and English. This has included organising seminars, making publications such as the Book of Concord and selected doctrinal tracts available in the different languages and giving theological lectures on Lutheran themes. FELCMS member churches have a policy that all pastoral candidates must go through Lutheran distinctive training by LSC before ordination. These efforts have helped the LSC to achieve its goal of enhancing Lutheran confessional identity in Malaysia and Singapore. But we acknowledge that the journey has just begun and more needs to be done.

M O V I N G B E YO N D M A L AYS I A A N D S I N G A P O R E The ministry of the LSC was also extended to Indonesia and the Mekong region. In Indonesia, Lutheran churches were encouraged to send students to STS for training in Lutheran distinctive, while LSC also invited Indonesian Lutheran theologians to serve by giving lectures and conducting seminars. The LCA and the Mekong Mission Forum also played a crucial role in connecting the LSC with the Mekong region. The ministry in this region was conducted on three levels. Firstly, post-graduate students were invited to study at STS and major in Lutheran studies. Secondly, training programs were organised for the Lutheran churches in the Mekong region; and thirdly the region’s churches were invited to participate in online courses and training modules.

The Lutheran Study Centre has provided training for young indigenous students on the Lutheran understanding of worship and church.

We continue to pray, that God will use the LSC to be able to do greater things for his glory. At the same time, we at LSC ask for the continued support and prayers of our International mission partners. Thank you for your partnership in this ministry. The Lutheran J U N E 2 0 21

MISSION TRAINING TO E Q U I P CO N G R E G AT I O N S

THE BIBLE IN THE S P OT L I G H T The world’s most widely circulated book is also one of its most highly debated. Check out how the Bible has withstood intense scrutiny from critics and cynics alike in The Bible on Trial: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt DVD available through Lutheran Media. You, the viewer, are the jury and you’ll come away with a fresh appreciation of the Bible as a historical document and the word of God. The Bible on Trial DVD contains a TV show and four shorter videos with a discussion guide. Find out more at www.lutheranmedia.org.au/bibleontrial

WA L K I N G TO G E T H E R W I T H M ESSAG ES O F H O PE Sharing a message of hope with people you are walking with through life can help encourage and uplift each of you. An inspiring story shared on social media can help many people. Your Messages of Hope shares encouraging and inspiring posts daily on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. You are free to share these posts with your friends and family to encourage and inspire them. You can walk with us on social media by clicking the icons on the top left of www.messagesofhope.org.au or www.messagesofhope.org.nz

Renew Mission Life is a four-step training pathway for congregations developed by the LCANZ’s New and Renewing Churches Local Mission department. An overall goal of taking the Renew Mission Life journey is to multiply the people becoming Christians in your congregation and the small groups and ministries that support spiritual growth. The supporting resources – videos, sermon outlines, Bible studies, and leadership tools – are now available on the New and Renewing Churches website: www.newandrenewingchurches.org.au Why not have a chat with your pastor or church council members about taking your congregation through Renew Mission Life. Step 1 – Renew Mission Life LEADERSHIP You will gain tools to equip your congregation to be effective in local mission. Step 2 – Renew Mission Life STUDIES Sermons and Bible studies will guide your congregation further into God’s mission. Step 3 – Renew Mission Life MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES You will learn how to form and equip teams which will go and reap the harvest. Step 4 – Renew Mission Life SENT: SEEKING THE ORPHANS OF GOD You will learn how to reap the harvest.

CHURCH

@home

www.lca.org.au/churchhome

PSALM 61:2

FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH I CALL TO YOU, I CALL AS MY HEART GROWS FAINT; LEAD ME TO THE ROCK THAT IS HIGHER THAN I.

sgnielbrctahpyf D

Regular devotions are a powerful part of an active home-worship life. They can help nurture our faith and even that of our families, as they strengthen our relationship with Jesus, increase our trust in God and our openness to the call of his Spirit. We pray that you will receive blessings from the devotional materials here and in the Church@Home resources collection collated and shared on the special webpage at www.lca.org.au/churchhome www.lca.org.au/churchhome.. There are also other faith-building and practical resources available through this webpage. If you have internet access and a printer, why not print some and mail or deliver them to those who may otherwise miss out?

DEVOTIONS FOR HOME WORSHIP

Lisa

These reflections are from a fresh set of devotions written for our LCANZ family and friends to help us to keep our eyes on Jesus. They can be used by families and individuals as part of the Church@Home resources. You can find these and more on the LCA website at www.lca.org.au/daily-devotion

The One

‘Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures’ (Luke 24:45). Read Luke 24:36b–48. The disciples huddled in a closed room, confused and afraid. They had heard strange stories, first from the women and then from an out-of-breath Cleopas, of appearances by their teacher, whom they had seen taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb. And, suddenly, he was there in their midst. The One. The teacher. The master. And in their shock, panic and emotion, they cried out in fear. ‘It’s a ghost!’ What happened next could have come from a TV sitcom, complete with canned laughter. Jesus did everything he could to convince these overwhelmed people that he was alive, real and with them. He told them to look at his hands and side, to recognise the scars they had watched him receive. Then when that didn’t work for some, he asked them to bring him some food, to prove through normal human digestion that he wasn’t a ghost with food falling through him. What a hysterical picture he must have seemed! The disciples knew Jesus as one who loved to share food with them. Then he taught them,

YRA B CHAELST ZR as he always had, of the importance of his role on earth, now with the benefit of hindsight and perspective. And they recognised his voice and teaching, and it all began to make sense. Jesus went to such lengths to change his disciples’ fear and confusion to joy and confidence. And Jesus still transforms his followers today. What fears, panic and confusion do we go through? What stories have we heard? And do we recognise the One, the Teacher, the Master, for who he really is when he stands among us? Jesus still lovingly shows us who he is. Through his word, people and church, Jesus teaches us, laughs with us, calms us and speaks to us, despite the many other voices that clamour for our attention. May we continue to learn from him, to recognise his voice and ways, and know the confidence and joy of the risen King. Risen Lord Jesus, open my eyes to see you. Open my ears to hear you. And open my mind to learn from you. I know you will help me in the challenges of the day ahead. Thank you. Amen.

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DEVOTIONS FOR HOME WORSHIP

In Jesus’ name

BY RUTH OLSEN

‘If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it’ (John 14:14). Read John 14:1–14. Wow, what a promise Jesus gives us! And what an invitation, opportunity and responsibility! Jesus invites us to work with him! He invites us to pray the kind of prayers that change us and reach beyond ourselves, the ones that touch the Father’s heart for others, reflecting to the Father the heart of Jesus for those being prayed for. He desires to bring glory to the Father – through us! Jesus is the way to the Father. Jesus is our home base, our safe place and our security. The more we grow in trusting and knowing him, the more we will be enabled to see through his eyes, as it were. He reveals the Father to us as someone who is for us because that’s how Jesus is – for us! He said anyone who has seen him has seen the Father. We look to Jesus, and we are awakened to God as the Father who is for us. And we come to the Father through Jesus’ relationship with the Father. Wow, isn’t that worth taking time to ponder, to chew over? As we grow in knowing Jesus, we will also know the Father as well. And we recognise what the Father is like by how Jesus is. He earnestly desires for us to know the Father. Tucked into that relationship of love, acceptance and belonging, is an overflowing heart of prayer. In trusting Jesus to meet our needs (including through others), we are increasingly set free to focus away from self and recognise how he wants to bless others, also in answer to our prayers, words and actions. Amazingly, Jesus says anyone who believes in him will also do what he has been doing and even greater things. And in the verses following our reading from John 14–16, he introduces us to the promised Holy Spirit, his Spirit of truth, who is our enabler, helper, teacher and trainer. Holy Spirit of Jesus, only you can enable us to do and pray what Jesus desires so that Jesus can give glory to the Father through us also. Open this up further to us. Give us insight and draw us into a closer relationship and communication with you. Amen.

PRAYER BE AT PEACE

By Saint Francis De Sales Do not look forward in fear to the changes in life; rather, look to them with full hope that as they arise, God, whose very own you are, will lead you safely through all things; and when you cannot stand it, God will carry you in his arms. Do not fear what may happen tomorrow; the same understanding Father who cares for you today will take care of you then and every day. He will either shield you from suffering or will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.

SAY TO THOSE WITH FEARFUL HEARTS, ‘BE STRONG, DO NOT FEAR; YOUR GOD WILL COME, HE WILL COME WITH VENGEANCE; WITH DIVINE RETRIBUTION HE WILL COME TO SAVE YOU’. ISAIAH 35:4 CHURCH

@home

Recognising God’s voice

BY NICK SCHWARZ AND PASTOR BRIAN SCHWARZ

‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no-one will snatch them out of my hand’ (John 10:27,28). Read John 10:22–30. A visitor to Israel, observing a shepherd leading a flock of sheep, once conducted an experiment. He put on the shepherd’s cloak, took hold of the shepherd’s crook and called the sheep to follow him. But the sheep just ignored him. Why? Because what they heard was a strange voice. Even though the man now looked somewhat like their shepherd, they recognised that he was a fake, an impostor. He was not to be trusted like their real shepherd – the one who knew them intimately, who cared for them daily and was prepared to sacrifice his life to keep them safe. Sadly, there are pastors, teachers and leaders who masquerade as shepherds of God’s flock but whose

voices sound different to that of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Rather than stressing what God has done for us through Jesus, they emphasise what you must do to win God’s favour. Rather than giving glory to Jesus, they tend to seek glory for themselves. Rather than acting as humble servants, they act like proud bosses. False shepherds can do great damage to God’s flock. Beware of them. Become so familiar with the voice of Jesus that you can quickly detect the difference between those who are genuine shepherds and those who are not. Dear God, we thank you for shepherds whose voices are in tune with the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Bless them. Help us to become so familiar with Jesus’ voice that we can quickly recognise true shepherds from imposters. Amen.

Simple, yet difficult

BY PASTOR PETER BEAN

‘Love one another’ (John 15:17). Read John 15:9–17. Simple, eh? How many philosophers, songwriters, poets and authors have echoed the Bible’s words: love one another, with the implication that all will be well. Perhaps the cartoonist Leunig captures it best in his cartoon where he states, ‘Love one another and you will be happy; it’s as simple and as difficult as that. There is no other way’. So, yes, it is simple as that, but it is also very difficult. We all know and have experienced that in our everyday living with our family and friends, not to even mention the loving enemies part. Simple as, yet difficult as. It would be great if I, and if you, could love one another and all life’s problems disappeared. But it doesn’t work like that, and Jesus knows it better than anyone. Perhaps that’s why before he tells us to love one another, he spells out that the Father loves him, and he remains in the Father’s love. Just the same Jesus loves us, and we can remain in his love. Then we can love another. It’s not through our own strength or ability; it’s because we, you, I, are first loved unconditionally. Living in that love allows us to love ourselves and love others. This enables us to look beyond those things that distract from loving. Sharing in the joy that Jesus offers

and promises (verse 11) allows us to continue to love when it seems humanly impossible. For me (and that person), replacing negative thoughts about someone with the love of Jesus has changed the way I think, act and speak. It’s this love won for us and given to us by Jesus that allows us to love one another. It’s as simple and as difficult as that! Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me as your Father loves you. Help me to live in this love. And through your presence and with your help, help me to love all those I encounter. Amen.

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1 Peter 4:10

In Going GREYT! we feature stories of some of our ‘more experienced’ people within the LCANZ, who have been called to make a positive contribution in their retirement. We pray their examples of service will be an inspiration and encouragement to us all as we look to be Christ’s hands and feet wherever we are, with whatever gifts and opportunities we’ve been given.

Sharing stories

to preserve our past BY HELEN BERINGEN

Life is too interesting to overlook anything. So says Chris Halbert, whose approach to life has seen her capture and preserve history in many forms, from football memorabilia to sheet music. For Chris, each piece tells a story that keeps our history alive. The 74-year-old volunteer director collects stories of the memorabilia for archiving in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) History Centre which she manages. And as one of the choir librarians at Adelaide’s Bethlehem congregation, she is equally passionate about preserving the Lutheran Church’s history of church music. Chris’s service to both fields – the history of Australian Rules football and music – was recognised with a Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in this year’s Australia Day Honours. She believes it’s critical that we not only keep our tradition of church music alive but also build on it. ‘The Lutheran Church has such a superb history of church music. I, and many others, are committed to keep this, build on it, and not lose it’, she says. ‘We have got a tradition that cannot slip through our fingers. That is why we are passionate about keeping it.’ Music has always been a part of Chris’s life, from her childhood in Peterborough and Port Augusta, in South Australia’s Mid North, to adulthood where she went on to study and teach at the Elder Conservatorium of Music at The University of Adelaide.

‘ I A M R E A LLY PAS SI O N ATE A BO UT VO LU NTEER I N G I N TH E CO M M U N IT Y. E V ERYBO DY IS B LES S ED TO B E A B LE TO S ERV E.’ 20

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It was part of her environment from the moment she was born and is in her blood as a descendant of early Lutheran and pioneer farmer JH Koch. ‘My great-grandfather arrived in South Australia from East Prussia in the mid-19th century’, Chris says. ‘He founded Petersburg, which became Peterborough during World War I … So, music has been in my blood and all my relatives from the beginning, and that includes piano and singing. I started learning the piano when I was seven years old.’ There is a treasure-trove of sheet music that Chris helps safeguard in the Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Adelaide, whose current Flinders Street building was erected in 1871–72. The congregation’s 9am traditional service includes organ and choir music, some of it almost as old as the church itself. Not only has Chris sung in the choir for two decades, but she is also part of a team that preserves and files hundreds of sheets of music. ‘As you can imagine, there is a lot of music sung each week’, she says. ‘I was mending music this morning and thinking, “How many people have touched this music before me and used it?”. It could be 100 years old.’ Chris is as passionate about ensuring a continuation of this music tradition, as she is about preserving the history of South Australia through its SANFL History Centre. ‘The history of the SANFL is an important part of the history of South Australia. That, in itself, is the best reason for treasuring it’, she says. That’s despite not knowing much at all about football until she met and married Sturt premiership player and Magarey Medallist John, her husband of 53 years. John’s involvement in the SANFL for more than 50 years as a player, coach and administrator meant he, and his mother, had collected a lot of football memorabilia. So much in fact, that Chris wrote to the SANFL asking what could be done with the collectible items.

Top: Chris Halbert, centre, with her husband John and daughters Julie (back), Karen and Kate, at Government House South Australia, on the day she was presented with her Order of Australia Medal. Middle: The SANFL History Centre’s display featuring the Magarey Medal, which is awarded each season to the SANFL’s fairest and most brilliant player. William Magarey instigated the award, with votes determined by umpires, because he ‘wanted to clean up the thuggery in football’. Bottom: Chris Halbert sings with and is one of the choir librarians for Bethlehem Lutheran Church choir, Adelaide, which is pictured here during a Martin Luther hymn festival. The CD of the festival is available at www.lutheranmedia.org.au/our-ministries/ martin-luther/

The SANFL’s interest in preserving league memorabilia led to Chris’s involvement in establishing the SANFL History Centre in 2014, which is now housed above the Lutheran Archives in Adelaide’s inner-suburban Bowden. ‘Football history has become a significant part of my life and I am working with people who feel the same way’, she says. ‘As a close-knit volunteer team, we need to work well together. We need to match people with the tasks required.’ The centre processes and catalogues donated memorabilia. It is also digitising football content inherited from four television stations plus the SANFL – about 4800 videos and films so far! The centre’s artefacts range from the shiny to the quirky. Along with the socks, jumpers, photographs and trophies, they’ve got a tiny 1897 gold replica football which was awarded to a player, and even a toilet seat painted with a landscape by a well-known artist, along with a matching painted football. This was donated by SA football great Barrie Robran. The centre’s first exhibition in the State Library in 2017 attracted 70,000 people, and Chris and the team from the library and SANFL are now planning for a second exhibition, slated for June to August 2022. Chris says the inaugural exhibition was a great way to tell the stories behind the memorabilia, and the feedback from visitors to the exhibition provided an opportunity to hear new anecdotes. ‘People loved the community aspect of it, and families loved it’, she says. Chris remains passionate about working with others to make such events happen. ‘I am really passionate about volunteering in the community’, she says. ‘Everybody is blessed to be able to serve. Working with individuals is amazingly rewarding, working with a team is also rewarding. I don’t think about it much, I feel blessed that it just happens.’

Helen Beringen is a Brisbane-based writer who is inspired by the many GREYT people who serve tirelessly and humbly in our community. By sharing stories of how God shines his light through his people, she hopes others are encouraged to explore how they can use their gifts to share his light in the world. Know of any other GREYT stories in your local community? Email the editor lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au The Lutheran J U N E 2 0 21

Lutheran walkers support thousands of refugee children More than 650 members and friends of our LCANZ family walked or cycled up to 26 kilometres through South Australia’s Barossa Valley last month to support thousands of refugee children to go to school. The walk from Redeemer Lutheran School Nuriootpa to St Jakobi Lutheran School Lyndoch on 1 May was part of Australian Lutheran World Service’s (ALWS) Walk My Way, which is aiming to support schooling for 10,000 children in East African refugee camps this year. It costs $26 to support one child in school for one year and, as of 18 May, the Barossa Walk My Way had raised enough money to support 7102 children. Bringing together people from the ages of five to 85, from as far afield as Townsville in Far North Queensland, the walkers and cyclists created a virtual river of blue t-shirts flowing through the valley against a backdrop of autumnhued vines. With varying abilities and disabilities, some accompanied by their dogs, on bicycles or in wheelchairs, or pushing strollers, the walkers, wheelers and cyclists were supported by approximately 130 volunteers. Sam Hoopmann, 15, was first to finish the course in just under three hours, ahead of Rev Dr Dean Zweck, 75. The same day, members and friends of St John’s Lutheran Church Unley participated in shorter walks in support of Walk My Way in suburban Adelaide, while walks and fundraising challenges have been held or are ongoing among the communities of Encounter Lutheran

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Susie Stevenson from Tarrington in western Victoria walked 26km on 8 May, completing six laps of Lake Hamilton for Walk My Way. She was joined and encouraged by family, a work colleague and members of her church family for part of the way.

College Victor Harbor, south of Adelaide and Good Shepherd Lutheran College in the Northern Territory, and by members and friends of the RingwoodKnox Parish in suburban Melbourne and Tarrington in western Victoria. The St Marks Kids Club is taking on the challenge of walking 26 laps around the Freeling wetlands in South Australia between May and September. Individuals are also completing Walk Your Way in their own time to support the cause, while other churches and schools in Queensland and South Australia are planning to take part in the coming months. By 18 May, these had added 249 walkers and more than $50,000 to the Barossa tally – in total more than double the numbers who participated in the previous group Walk My Ways in 2019. With group walks cancelled by COVID last year, more than 2800 people participated in Walk Your Way individually or with their families and helped 6390

refugee children go to school. As of 18 May, walkers had raised more than $234,756, which supports schooling for 9029 refugee children. ALWS Community Action Manager, Jonathan Krause, who has visited the schools supported at Kakuma Refugee Camp, and in South Sudan, said ‘before our help from Australia, these children did their learning sitting on rocks under trees, practising their writing in the dirt’. ‘Walk My Way walkers help supply books, uniforms, teaching materials, school desks, the repair and building of classrooms and the training of teachers’, he said. • Catch the joy of Walk My Way Barossa in pictures www.flickr. com/photos/192932501@N02/ sets/72157719124274992/ • It’s not too late to donate! Go to walkmyway.org.au or phone 1300 763 407 to support education opportunities for refugee children.

LCANZ BISHOP ANNOUNCES RE TIREMENT

ALWS launches Nepal COVID appeal

LCANZ Bishop John Henderson has announced that he will not be standing for re-election at this year’s Convention of General Synod. Bishop Henderson, the first LCA leader to be known by that title, has held the position for three synodical terms, having been elected in April 2013. He has also indicated that he intends to retire from the active pastoral ministry. General Synod delegates will therefore need to elect a new Churchwide bishop. Pastor delegates at General Pastors Conference in July will hold a nominating ballot to select pastor nominees for the position of LCA bishop. Those nominees will be presented to General Synod. Each nominee must receive a minimum of 25 per cent of Pastors Conference votes in order to be placed on the electoral ballot at Convention of General Synod. Typically, this process results in the Pastors Conference nominating two or maybe three candidates. There is also a special provision, although rarely used, for delegates at General Synod to nominate further candidates from the floor.

Mr Jay Narayan Shah, chair of Jhapa Rural Municipality, Jhapa, receives COVID health care essentials from Mr Kumar Chudal, program coordinator for the Social Network for Justice and Development, an implementing partner of ALWS through the Lutheran World Federation.

With Nepal facing a COVID-19 catastrophe along with its neighbour India, Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) last month launched an appeal for urgent funds towards emergency medical supplies, health care and support for the Himalayan nation. Donations are being bolstered by Australian Government funding on a 5:1 basis – for every dollar donated, the government will contribute $5. Last week, Nepal reported 9070 daily infections of COVID-19 – its highest ever rate, while 47 per cent of COVID tests are coming back positive. International news media outlets are reporting that Nepal’s health system is overwhelmed by cases of the virus and that medical supplies have run out. On 6 May, Lutheran World Federation’s Nepal team, supported by our LCANZ family through ALWS, delivered supplies

including hospital beds, IV fluid stands, face shields and surgical masks to Jhapa Rural Municipality. Jhapa borders India, and so is in the frontline COVID danger zone, according to ALWS Community Action Manager Jonathan Krause. Jonathan said the equipment would be part of a 20-bed Isolation centre the local government is setting up. ‘It is essential because two people in this small area have already died from COVID-19, and another 29 are in home isolation’, he said. ‘Aid is offered to all. You help people regardless of religion, gender and politics and your care is focused on those who are most vulnerable because of age, disability or status in the community.’ To donate to the ALWS Nepal COVID appeal, go to www.alws.org.au/donate and select ‘Nepal 5:1’ from the drop-down menu or phone 1300 763 407.

Leaders release statement on ordination actions At their third special meeting on the division within the church over the ordination of women and men, the LCANZ’s General Church Board (GCB) and College of Bishops (CoB) agreed on three initial actions. Last year, GCB and CoB released a report with three potential scenarios over the division in the church around the ordination of both women and men. There were 48 formal responses from individuals and congregations to the scenarios. In March 2021, GCB and CoB held a third special meeting to analyse these responses.

Secretary of the Church Dr Nigel Long said the leaders agreed on three initial actions in preparation for the 2021 General Pastors Conference (GPC) and General Convention of Synod. A statement summarising the responses and actions has been released. In brief, the actions are:

1. GCB is asking the GPC to provide advice in advance of General Convention on the relevance of Theses of Agreement (TA) 1 Principles governing church fellowship to the ongoing discussion about ordination.

2. The Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations will work (with CoB) on framing questions and providing background for the GPC on the applicability/inapplicability of TA 1. 3. GCB and CoB will work together to frame any questions and/or proposals on the ordination matter that might be useful for the 2021 General Convention and for the wellbeing of the church. You can download the statement from the link at www.lca.org.au/lcanz-leadersrelease-statement-on-ordination-actions/ The Lutheran J U N E 2 0 21