longest lutheran lunchBe inspired by what

Lutherans like you

achieved in 2011!SUNDAY 28 October2012

Register now!

If you were part of last year’s first-ever Longest Lutheran Lunch, we hope you’ll enjoy reliving the fun and fellowship in the pages that follow. (Thanks to the team at The Lutheran for the stories and photos!)

If you weren’t a Luncher, then our prayer is you’ll find enough ideas and inspiration here that you’ll register your church for this year Sunday 28 October 2012, Reformation Sunday (or whenever it suits you best)!

To help make your Lunch a success, feel free to ‘borrow’ any of the ideas you’ll find in the pages

that follow. Or simply go straight to: www.longestlutheranlunch.org

Last year we had more than 120 congregations officially take part. In 2012, let’s aim to grow, knowing there are so many people in our communities hungry for more from life.

Register now!

Jonathan KrauseVolunteer Co-ordinator

Hungry for more?

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MENUInspiring stories, ideas and resources

What is the Longest Lutheran Lunch? ..................................... 5

What’s for Lunch? - intersting ideas ..................................... 7

Schmekt Gut? - international ideas ................................... 17

But I’m shy - inviting ideas ................................... 27

What we can learn - involving ideas ................................... 37

Still hungry? ................................... 46

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We Lutherans have always been known for our food and hospitality.

Indeed Martin Luther, and his wife Katie, were famous for their ‘Table Talk’ sessions – conversations about life around the kitchen table, sharing food and wine and welcome.

Looking back at Jesus, we see how much of his ministry was sitting talking with people around food – from his first miracle where he turned water into wine at the Wedding at Cana, to feeding the 5,000, to eating with tax-collectors and other outcasts of society, to the Last Supper.

These days, our TV screens are crammed with foodie programs and people. From My Kitchen Rules to Masterchef, food seems a recipe for success in connecting with people in their homes.

That’s what Longest Lutheran Lunch is all about. Encouraging you to connect with your communities – friends, family, neighbours – through food.

The ‘Longest’ idea has three parts:

• sitattablesinalongrow

• enjoyalongleisurelymealtogether,with plenty of time to talk

• weeattogetheroveralongdistance: from NZ to WA, and Hobart to Darwin, and everywhere inbetween

This year, there is a fourth ‘long’. We long to share our table with someone who might not normally sit with us at church. Christ invites everyone to his heavenly feast, so let’s not be shy about inviting people to this earthly taste! Register now!

Longest Lutheran Lunch?

What is the

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What you do for your Longest Lutheran Lunch is really up to you.

In the next few pages you’ll find congregations got creative with everything from lunches where all the foods started with ‘L’ to the Longest Lutheran Lamington to lunch where the foods literally were l - o - n - g.

There was even the ‘Wurst’ Longest Lunch!Borrow these ideas.

Or go to www.longestlutheranlunch.org

Or simply let your imagination run wild.

Do what suits you and your local community. And have fun!

what’s for lunch? { Interesting Ideas }

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If you like liberal lashings of lentil salad with your leg of lamb, you would have loved Tuggeranong’s Longest Lutheran Lunch. Good Shepherd Community Church, Tuggeranong, lacked no creativity when deciding on a theme for their lunch. The south Canberra congregation took it literally and decided all food had to begin with L.

Congregation member Jacqui Tepper came up with the theme and wrote a poem to entice people to come along.About 35 congregation members of all ages enjoyed a selection of lasagnes, lettuce, lentils, loaves of bread, legs of lamb, lemon desserts and

lemonade.Congregation member Sharon Stephan said the theme allowed for one loophole. ‘If the food didn’t start with L, we decided we would still accept it if it was made with love’, said Sharon.

Sharon said the lunch provided the perfect opportunity for congregation members to take time out and get to know each other better. ‘It’s so important to sit down and share a meal together because that’s when you relax and really open up’, she said. ‘You learn a lot about what’s going on in other people’s lives.

an ‘L’ of a good time {Tuggeranong, NSW }

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On Sunday, 30 October, members of neighbouring Darling Downs parishes Pittsworth and Oakey gathered at St Peter’s in Pittsworth to celebrate the Longest Lutheran Lunch in true Lutheran style.

There was a great turnout on the day, with 135 people from the six congregations (Millmerran, Yandilla, Pittsworth, Nobby, Oakey and Norwin) attending.

The theme of the day was ‘be part of the banquet that lasts forever by feasting on the word and sacrament’.

A general worship service featuring the parish band, Soul Connection, got the day off to a great start, and this was followed by a communal luncheon in the church grounds and a special ‘Q and A’ session.

The lunch consisted of a variety of traditional German foods, including sauerkraut, wurst and kuchen, which was prepared by members of the congregations. ‘The day was an affirmation of the Lutheran Church as family’, Pastor Lionel said. There has been wonderful feedback following the event, with many expressing that it was like a family event enjoyed by all.

whole parish { Pittsworth, Qld }

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WHILE it is at least four hours from the next closest Lutheran church, the congregation of St Paul’s in Kalgoorlie-Boulder was determined not to let its isolation be a barrier to participating in the inaugural Longest Lutheran Lunch event.

St Paul’s, in the heart of Western Australia’s Goldfields region, is served by Esperance-based Pastor Paul Kramer for one weekend a month which the congregation celebrates by sharing a meal, so organising to be part of the October 30 event was relatively simple.

“We thought that you could not do lunches all the way across from New Zealand to Perth without going through the Goldfields so we needed to be involved,” St Paul’s member Karen Crouch said.

The Kalgoorlie-Boulder congregation kept the event to a casual theme, with a barbecue and pool party hosted by congregational chairman Wayne Astill and wife Sue. Some study questions helped to keep the conversation flowing over lunch, while an African Food Basket that featured during the meal was a real talking point.

most isolated { Kalgoolie, WA }

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“There was so much food on the table that we didn’t need to eat dinner that night,” Karen said.

About 25 people attended the event, with a strong contingent of children and teenagers among the diners. The younger patrons also braved a dip in the pool, despite the temperature of 20oC being well below Kalgoorlie’s summertime maximums.

St Paul’s is made up of about 15 families, including two families from Papua New Guinea and two from Zimbabwe. It recently hosted a PNG Mission Festival as part of its activities.

The next nearest Lutheran church is in Esperance, 400km south. Kalgoorlie-Boulder is about 600km east of Perth.

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Angaston, SA really got creative by celebrating the “Wurst” Lutheran Lunch that

turned out to be a great family day with people from the very young to more mature.

Moorabbin, Vic went to great lengths to create a Long food theme with... long spaghetti,

long bread stick, long chocolate roll, and even a long luncher: John from America at 6’4”

Lobethal, SA came a accross a bit of a snag in the planning for their Longest Lutheran Lunch a

sausage many metres long kept these cooks busy. Guests were occupied my several “longest” games

Rochedale, Qld expanded on an old Aussie favourite by producing a record breaking longest lutheran lamington. By the look of it they got a definite thumbs up from these three young lads.

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We all know Lutherans have a long, strong German heritage – and you’ll find your fair share of lederhosen and steins in the section that follows…

… but among our congregations we have Chinese and African and Eastern European and many more.

So, while you’ll find plenty of German recipes at www.longestlutheranlunch.org and some Deutsche celebrations in the pages that follow, don’t stop there – celebrate the culture in your community, and try exploring food that goes beyond your normal menu.

Schmekt gut? { International Ideas }

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The weather was perfection plus the date was optimum. Market umbrellas and gazebo canvases were up and the checked tablecloths flapping on the longest table gracing our church lawn.

Redeemer Lutheran Church Toowoomba was ready to celebrate Reformation Day, during family week, with the Longest Lutheran Lunch. Members of the congregation were initially a bit daunted that they may have to sit around for a very long time being convivial, but were interested to hear it was all to do with time zones.

Pastor Christian Fandrich started the festivities with grace in German.

Our masterchefs rolled out glazed ham, BBQ fillet, boerwurst, Aussie Sauerkraut, baked Kartoffeln, Broetchen, Apfel Strudel, Streusel Kartoffelkuchen and black forest cake. Quite a feast!

We had a rollicking good time Deutsch style, with the best costumes and impressive biersteins competing for prizes. Pastor Kevin Kotzur almost scored 100% in the Martin Luther quiz and together we sang songs accompanied by the small oompah band.

Deutsch Style { Redeemer, Toowoomba, Qld }

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Vicar Tat Tsui, minister to the Chinese congregation at Botany in Auckland, had been ecstatic with excitement in the build-up for the Longest Lutheran Lunch. He anticipated great creativity from his people as they brought dishes to share for lunch that reflected the Reformation - perhaps egg salads representing new life, or dishes with 95 ingredients

And of course there would also be all the usual dishes that feature at Botany fellowship lunches: sweet and sour pork, Peking duck, black-bean sauce beef, egg fu yong, fried rice, spring rolls...

Vicar Tat says that the Chinese congregation at Botany can rightfully claim the title of having the ‘longest Longest Lutheran Lunch’. ‘We celebrate Lutheran meals at every possible moment, so we can claim for ourselves the “longest” Lutheran meal because we are kind of eating all the time!’

Thankfully, Vicar Tat did not follow through on his much-publicised threat to preach the Longest Lutheran Sermon on this day. But true to the theme of the day, he spoke about food and how it helps us to understand the gospel.

Chinese Style { Botany, Auckland, NZ }

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A group of eight enthusiastic volunteers, headed by Ron Jericho, took a big swing at the word, ‘hospitality’ - not only did they plan to provide a “… proper, sit down, knife and fork, hot luncheon”, as Ron put it, but they also sent out almost 400 invitations! It was clear, from the outset that this was going to be true hospitality in bulk and would require coordination and cooperation.

The invitations were sent out to all Lutheran bodies in the area; Concordia Kindergarten, Murray Bridge Lutheran Homes Retirement Village, Lutheran Community Care, Unity College, Christ Church Lutheran, Holy Cross

Lutheran and Zion Monarto Lutheran. Ron said they drew their inspirations from the Operation Connect website, and literally tried to implement as much as possible from its many resources. Their main aim was to connect all Lutheran entities in their district through pure and simple hospitality. The morning’s service was held in the Unity College steeple, which can seat up to 400 people and with more than half of the invitations accepted already, it was just as well. Pastor Dean Zweck from ALC was the guest preacher. who spoke of reform, grace and Luther at the table, which led nicely into the celebrations for the day.

bridging the gap { Murray Bridge, SA }

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Buccleuch, SA are a little rural congregation with a great spirit. They also demonstrated true

deutsch pedigree with what would have to be the littlest lederhosen - well done.

Cowell, SA held a longest meal in their hall deco-rated in the colours of Saxony with sayings of

Martin Luther pinned around the room, a German Bible and various books by Martin Lu-

ther on display. Geraniums brightened the tables.

The three-congregation parish - Kapunda, Allen’s Creek and Bethel - spared not a pretzel when it

came to preparing the lavish spread, which included platters of mettwurst, sour cucumbers, crackers, cheese and a German summer herb dip.

Waikerie, SA ecouldn’t contain their excitement for their German food and fun, in fact it was so

big they had to take over the local basketball stadium ... a slam-dunk of an idea.

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Epping, NSW Community Life Group organises four events to engage people each year and this

just was perfect timing – not too much work and well attended. We will definitely do this again

next year and it will get even quirkier” .

Birdwood, SA joined with members of the extended Kowald family - celebrating a reunion. Consequently our longest lunch stretched from the east to the west of Australia, and included our Canadian relative and encompassed family members who were strangers’’ before the day.

Manawatu parish, NZ engaged with their local community by holding a lunch in their

retirement village ‘Sommerset’ as an outreach project including all ages.

Tauranga, NZ Just over 40 people came from far and wide (16 from Hamilton -- eleven arriving in a mini-bus -- two from Whakatane and four from Kawerau) to join the Longest Lutheran Lunch at

the Carmel Country Community Centre.

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It’s easy to eat lunch with people we know and like. And there’s no doubt we Lutherans can put on a feast like no other.

Our challenge is to reach out beyond the people we see each Sunday, and invite others to join us for this meal of our Longest Lutheran Lunch. We think of family who may only come to church at Christmas, or friends we’ve never quite been game to invite along.

There are our neighbours in the community, and strangers for whom a good meal might be a blessing.

(And why not also invite members of other churches in your community? There may be things we can together as Christians that we can’t do as Lutherans alone.)

But I’m shy...{ Inviting Ideas }

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Sundays are a gift. Every waking day is a gift, but this particular Sunday seemed to be wrapped up especially for those with the outdoors on their mind: sunny, 20 degrees, blue skies and a cool breeze – perfect cycling weather.

People were busy checking bicycle tyres, brakes and helmets. They were busy donning sunscreen and packing picnic lunches. They were happily busy, all in readiness for the Longest Lunch celebration, hailed as ‘Eat Walk Ride’ in the Adelaide Hills town of Woodside.

At St John’s Lutheran Church, Pastor Steve Liersch led a combined parish service focusing on the idea of a ‘new era with God’. He said that as the Israelites entered their new era to the Promised Land ( Joshua 3:1-17), so too did we enter a new era of Christianity, come Reformation day.

This year’s Reformation Day celebrations also marked a new era for the Onkaparinga Parish, as they extended an invitation not only to their own members but to the entire community to come and enjoy lunch, guest speakers and a bike ride or stroll along the Amy Gillett Bikeway.

on your bike! { Woodside, SA }

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We’ve just celebrated the Commemoration of the Reformation, some of us by participating in The Longest Lutheran Lunch.

It was a really wonderful day at the congregation in which I worshipped and celebrated, with a lot of Lutheran people and paraphernalia as well – even Luther dolls, a Lutheran beanie bear (actually a ‘Holy Bear’ with Luther rose embroidered on its chest) and my own picture of Luther set up in a vacant chair at our table!

It was great fun and a way of affirming our identity as Lutherans and sharing it with others.

I hope we can continue such events as real openings for those we can invite who otherwise would not be so comfortable participating in worship at this point in their lives.

That’s the goal of Operation Connect of which the Longest Lutheran Lunch is the first instalment.

Pastor Greg Pietsch (Vic District President)

bear-ing it all { Box Hill, Vic }

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We moved our usual 8.30 am lunch to a 10.00 am service in the nearby Tondoon Botanic Gardens. After the service we had some games and quizzes, and a game of cricket was underway all through the day. Then we had a sausage sizzle for lunch, with people bringing along salads and desserts to share (in the usual Lutheran extremely large quantity!)

We wanted a local Central Queensland celebration, which is why we went for outside in the gardens (great weather always up here), cricket and games

outside, good fellowship and finishing up with a barbie together. A great time was had by all.

As an aside, many people were walking through the gardens during our service, and one couple stopped to film us for a while, and then went and sat down behind us and had their picnic while watching our service. We took the opportunity to give them a service order so they could join in, and they stayed and chatted at the end. Made us reflect on the value of getting out there and witnessing with what we do.

Botanic Gardens { Gladstone, Qld }

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Community outreach can be daunting and disheartening, especially if no-one turns up. But for Redeemer Lutheran Church, Narraweena, guests outnumbered members at their Aussie barbeque lunch. Coordinator, Sally Bradford, said it was a huge success.

‘At first we were a bit reluctant to extend ourselves, but we went ahead with the attitude “if you invite them they will come!” and we left the rest to the Lord’, said Sally. ‘Over half of the 70 people at lunch were invited guests and not regular church-goers.’

One guest, Jan Elliott, said it was wonderful to speak with such welcoming people. ‘A great way to spend a Sunday,’ she said. Church members catered for the barbeque, with a range of side dishes and desserts from nearly every continent, reflecting the Sydney congregation’s multicultural make-up.

But food was not the only highlight. Three-piece band JAM ( Just Add Music), led by church member and guitarist Denis Moore along with David Jack and Amanda Robinson, entertained the crowd with favourites from the 60s and 70s. Some were inspired to do a bit of dancing.

the right note { Narraweena, NSW }

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None of us are ever too old – or young – to learn.

And whether our Longest Lutheran Lunch is in the corridor of a Lutheran school, or the tent of an aid compound in South Sudan (see next pages!), a meal together is an opportunity to learn from each other.

One of the keys to learning is to listen. So, when you’ve invented your Lunch, and sent out your

invitations, and are welcoming people to your meal, make sure you make time to ask and listen.

This is how we can learn more about our neighbours, and discover what they’re really hungry for.

That’s how your Longest Lutheran Lunch can give people a taste of the One who offers food for life!

What we can learn...{ Involving Ideas }

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‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if the whole school got involved? Imagine how long the table would be!’

With the lunch boxes not yet empty, Year 6 and 7 students at Nuriootpa’s Redeemer Lutheran School in the Barossa Valley were already imagining what next year’s Longest Lutheran Lunch might look like.

And so was one of their teachers, Darren Altus, whose idea it was to hold a Longest Lutheran Lunch at Redeemer. Hearing a student dream of a lunch involving the whole school got him thinking: ‘What if we didn’t just invite other students, but also

members of the local congregation or retirement village to come, too...

‘I think this event has the potential to be very powerful in assisting students and Lutheran schools to build conenctions with the church and the community.’

Johann, a student, said, ‘The long lunch brought everyone together It was amazing to look down the entire length of the table ... it was really long. Everyone seemed to be talking and having a good time.’

class action { Nuriootpa, SA }

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At Prince of Peace Lutheran College (Senior Campus), Everton Hills, Brisbane, the Longest Lunch Lunch was also a late Lutheran lunch, held on Tuesday, 1 November -- Melbourne Cup Day.

Students and staff were invited to dress up in a fancy hat or tie and bring their lunch to sit together at the long tables placed together in the campus’s forecourt.

And while plenty of money changed hands in the course of the lunch, this had nothing with horseracing or gambling. Instead, the lunch

organisers used the event to focus on the hunger crisis on the Horn of Africa. Each place setting was marked with a coloured placemat explaining how much food a person in Dadaab Refugee Camp might receive, togehter with other sombre information. A donation box was passed around to collect gold coins for Australian Lutheran World Service’s Africa Famine Appeal. Over $500 was raised.

‘The Longest Lutheran Lunch has been a great opportunity for us here at Prince of Peace’, said Libby Farmer, Head of Pastoral Care and Welfare.

hats off to you { Everton Hills, Qld }

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Our Longest Lutheran Lunch – and, yes, we did celebrate it – was pumpkin leaves, stew with a meat that might have been beef, beans and ugali (a stiff maize porridge you cut with a knife).

Torit is on the way to Ikotos, where drought and conflict force people to survive without food production for months each year. They call this the ‘hunger gap’.

Through Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS), Lutherans from Australia and New Zealand are helping to fill this gap. Together we’ve provided seeds, tools and bore-holes and training for farmers. Because of your action, families here will have a ‘lunch’, too.

All this might seem a long way from your Longest Lutheran Lunch. Yet, as the church of Jesus in this world, we seek to be a community where people are welcomed with friendship, hospitality and care.

Food gives us a simple way to connect with people and helps us understand people’s deeper needs and real hunger.

The person you connect with might be living next door. Or a colleague at work. Or the quiet couple at bowls.

Or they might be the lady I met yesterday in a South Sudan village, whose child had died unexpectedly. And who for seven months of the year does not know what she will feed her surviving children.For many of us, that person might be our own kids or grandchildren, maybe even our life partner – people we love with all our heart who don’t yet know the love of Jesus as we do.

The Longest Lutheran Lunch is not meant to end when the last crumbs are brushed from the table and the dishes washed and dried. I hope that in the months to come, each one of us can find ways to connect more closely and deeply with our community, our family and our neighbours. You’re welcome to visit www.operationconnect.org for ideas and action-starters. My prayer is that this year’s Longest Lutheran Lunch has given you the taste of a church where love comes to life — the first course of the heavenly banquet to which we’re all invited.

FILLING THE GAP{ South Sudan }

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Pastor Tom and Chairman Greg Schulz went door-to-door visiting the residents of South

Kilkerran, SA inviting them to lunch during the week preceding the event – to their delight, they

had an overwhelmingly positive response.

Aberfoyle Park, SA held a “Community BBQ Fun Day”, on our school oval, next to the church. The third community “Connect” event this year. Around 450 people came to the day, with a good

mix of school, church and wider community. We were blessed with great weather for the day

Ropeley, Qld invited people in the surrounding area to join us for a BBQ lunch and were

fortunate enough to have 10 non-members accept their invitation. A great day was enjoyed by all.

Pinnaroo Lutheran Parish, SA consisting of Pinnaroo, Murrayville and Walpeup

congregations decided to invite the community to share lunch with them at the Pinnaroo

football club, then stay for a quiz.

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Go to www.longestlutheranlunch.org to find out more!

Contact the congregations you’ve met here, and learn from them.

Write to: info@operationconnect.org

Register now!

And to see how to use hospitality right across the year to reach out to your local communities,

visit: www.operationconnect.org

Still hungry?

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