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SEPTEMBER 2014 NATIONAL MAGAZINE OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

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Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. [Hebrews 13:2]

Mettwurst, hay-bales and friendship ... see how a Lutheran school and congregation plan to welcome their community in a Longest Lutheran Lunch!

Redlands Lutheran Church, Redlands Qld

Piano teacher

Enjoys playing music, cooking for her family

Fav text: Romans 5:4

Janine ClarkSt Paul’s, Kalgoorlie-Boulder WA

Nurse

Enjoys meeting new people, reading

Fav text: Proverbs 3: 5–8

EDITOR/ADVERTISING phone 0427 827 441 email rosie.schefe@lca.org.au

SUBSCRIPTIONS phone 08 8360 7270email lutheran.subs@lca.org.au

www.thelutheran.com.au We Love The Lutheran!

As the magazine of the Lutheran Church of Australia (incorporating the Lutheran Church of New Zealand), The Lutheran informs the members of the LCA about the church’s teaching, life, mission and people, helping them to grow in faith and commitment to Jesus Christ. The Lutheran also provides a forum for a range of opinions, which do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor or the policies of the Lutheran Church of Australia. The Lutheran is a member of the Australasian Religious Press Association and as such subscribes to its journalistic and editorial codes of conduct.

CONTACTS Editor Rosie Schefe 197 Archer St, North Adelaide SA 5006 phone 0427 827 441 email rosie.schefe@lca.org.au

Executive Editor Linda Macqueen 3 Orvieto St, Bridgewater SA 5155 phone 08 8339 5178 email linda.macqueen@lca.org.au

Design and layout Comissa Fischer Printer Openbook Howden

ADVERTISEMENTS and MANUSCRIPTS Should be directed to the editor. Manuscripts are published at the discretion of the editor. Those that are published may be cut or edited. Advertisements are accepted for publication on a date-received basis. Acceptance of advertisements does not imply endorsement by The Lutheran or the Lutheran Church of Australia of advertiser, product or service. Copy deadline: 1st of preceding month Rates: general notices and small advertisements, $18.00 per cm; for display, contract and inserted advertisements, contact the editor.

SUBSCRIPTIONS and CHANGES of ADDRESS LCA Subscriptions PO Box 731, North Adelaide SA 5006 phone 08 8360 7270 email lutheran.subs@lca.org.au www.thelutheran.com.au

11 issues per year— Australia $42, New Zealand $44, Asia/Pacific $53, Rest of the World $62

Issued every month except in January

Star Zhou

Surprise someone you know with their photo in The Lutheran. Send us a good-quality photo, their name and details (congregation, occupation, what they enjoy doing, favourite text) and your contact details.

WARM HEADS AND HEARTSStudents from Yirara College, Alice Springs, enjoy paging through The Lutheran as they break in the beanies they have just received from Lyn Schultz on behalf of Lutheran Women of South Australia. These ladies sent a gift of more than 6000 beanies to Central Australia at the beginning of winter.

Photo: Neville Doecke, Chaplain, Yirara College

Send us a photograph featuring a recent copy of The Lutheran and you might see it here on page 2.

People like you are salt in your world [ Matt 5:13 ]

We Love The Lutheran!

Front cover: Where’s my mettwurst? Members of St John’s Portland—Trevor Huff, Pat Mibus and Florence Huff with the Night-time teddy look forward to sharing German delights with their hosts Abebaw Holliday, Chaplain Julie Holliday and Principal Mick Emmett at St John’s Lutheran Primary School. Photo: Kim Sadler

Redeemer, Toowoomba Qld

Retired

Enjoys being an elder in the congregation, woodwork

Fav text: Psalm 46:10

Allen Stiller

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09

‘You welcomed me.’ How truly welcoming are we, as a church?

In one of my earliest columns as editor, I touched a sensitive nerve when I wrote about the particularly Lutheran tribalism that assumes immediate common background (April 2013). I was very blessed to receive letters affirming the words I’d written, but

I was saddened to hear too from people who had not felt welcomed, who have even felt excluded from our congregations.

It happens too easily. Perhaps the ‘rostered welcomer’ joins the congregation just a minute or two before the last visitors arrive, leaving them stranded nervously in the foyer, uncertain of what to do next. Perhaps nobody speaks or makes eye contact or acknowledges the stranger in any way. But if nobody speaks to you after worship, how much of the whole experience will you want to remember?

God created us as social beings, and in gathering together to worship him, we also acknowledge that fact. We can worship away from other Christians, but, when we gather together we strengthen the bonds we share, as God’s family and as Christ’s body. The love Jesus poured out for us on the cross is also poured through us, as a blessing to each other and to the people we encounter in our everyday lives (including that unfamiliar face at the other end of the pew).

The stories you’ll find in this issue are mostly about two closely related concepts: service and hospitality (or welcoming others, if you like). Because Jesus loved us first, we love other people by serving them—putting their needs before our own. And because Jesus never turned anyone away, we welcome others—ideally, so that we can meet their needs too.

Next month’s Longest Lutheran Lunch and our related October Outreach through The Lutheran is a great starting point for welcoming and getting to know others. As you sit and share, remember that God has a place for all of us, whether our tastes run to mettwurst and kuchen or to salad and sashimi.

In the Bible translation sitting on my desk, the section Romans 12:9–21 is headed ‘Love in action’. In these few verses, Paul provides a very succinct action plan which applies equally to our personal lives and to congregational mission statements: ‘Hate what is evil; cling to what is good … honour one another above yourselves … share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality … Live in harmony with one another … do not think you are superior … live at peace with everyone.’

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to belong to a church like that? Surely this kind of church would grow at a speed to make us dizzy. It starts with me. If I place my focus on others, rather than on myself, then I will look for ways to serve, instead of expecting to be served. Then Jesus’ love will be poured through me. And I will forget myself and my own shortcomings and live to serve others. To welcome them.

FEATURES

05 Never too old

09 The road ahead

22 You're Welcome Top 10 Tips

23 You're Welcome

COLUMNS

04 Heartland

08 Reel Life

11 Bookmarks

12 Little Church

13 Inside Story

17 Letters

18 Stepping Stones

20 Notices/Directory

26 Bring Jesus

28 World in Brief

30 Coffee Break

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‘And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet’ (Matthew 24:6 NRSV).

Europe recently commemorated 100 years since the declaration of war in 1914. In Australia, 7 August was a national day of mourning for the victims of MH17. All through July we heard reports of death and violence in Gaza. In early August militant aggression in Iraq caused masses of people, many of them Christians, to flee their homes.

Wars and rumours of wars abound. There is suffering and struggle on so many fronts. Each situation is complex and interconnected. Very few make headline news in our part of the world.

Australia and New Zealand might feel remote and far removed from these troubling events, but

we are not insulated from them. We lost a generation in 1914–18. Most recently, 39 people living in Australia and New Zealand died in the MH17 tragedy. Victims of war and violence continue to seek refuge among us. The death of Leo Seemanpillai, a Tamil asylum seeker (The Lutheran July 2014), is a potent reminder of how the aftermath of war and trauma is right here among us.

How do we respond? We will have our personal answers to that, but I suggest these pointers to help us along the way:

• We are to remain confident about our God and his promise. Jesus Christ remains the centre of our faith, and he gave his life for the sins of the world.

• We confess and teach: ‘We should fear and love God, and so we should not endanger our neighbour’s life, nor cause him any harm, but help and befriend him in every necessity of life’ (Explanation to the Fifth Commandment from Martin Luther’s Small Catechism). That includes asylum seekers and refugees. We should support and advocate for people who have already suffered so much.

• We are to be salt and leaven in society, witnessing to hope, love and resurrection. We should take care that our attitudes, words

and actions do not contribute to a society of malice, hate or vilification.

• We should practise reconciliation, learning to forgive one another as Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32). Now is the time to practise Christian living in the best possible sense.

• We should live as responsible citizens, encouraging our governments to enact just policies and to work for the well-being of all.

Dear Lord, as we are strangers and pilgrims on earth, help us by true faith and a godly life to prepare for the world to come, doing the work you have given us to do while it is day, before the night comes when no-one can work. And when our last hour comes, support us by your power and take us home to your heavenly kingdom. We ask this through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(Prayer of the Church, LCA Hymnal, p. 14)

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by Nick Mattiske

‘Ah, retirement. That will be sweet. Finally, some me-time. Fishing, relaxing, a bit of travel, and pursuing my interests ...’

It’s a seductive image. Yet in his forthcoming book, Australian Christian writer Rodney Macready bluntly states that the common Australian cultural understanding of retirement is not ‘a biblical concept’. Macready suggests that Christians have been too willing to endorse the idea of ‘leisured retirement’. Too often we can simply assume the values of our surrounding culture and (sometimes unconsciously) legitimise them by ‘Christianising’ them a little.

It’s not that retirees are consistently selfish, but the sentiment is often

expressed that, ‘if I have served the church in my younger years, I deserve something of a break in retirement’. This has had a noticeable impact on the life of the modern church, particularly when it comes to volunteering. In the past, participation has traditionally increased when members reach retirement age—but some congregations have begun to notice quite the opposite.

In his insightful book The Good Life, social researcher Hugh Mackay makes a distinction between living with purpose and being happy. No doubt a certain amount of happiness can be derived from retiring and focusing on oneself, but this is not exactly what makes for a ‘good life’. Serving others is the purpose for which God has

One for all and all for One: finding fulfilment through service

I’ve always been convinced that the church, whether local or corporate, is Christ’s body on earth, and that my chief call is to serve this body

Nevertoo old ...

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placed us on earth. One volunteer church worker in a city congregation—let’s call her ‘Irene’—says, ‘I’ve always been convinced that the church, whether local or corporate, is Christ’s body on earth, and that my chief call is to serve this body’.

Irene goes on, ‘I firmly believe that in my latter years I’m not called to serve my needs and whims’, though she concedes that ‘the freedom to manipulate one’s time means there can be more of these pleasures, perhaps’. She travels, attends concerts and is always willing to share her thoughts on movies she has seen. But when it comes to serving God, ‘whether you are retired or not’, it is ‘a continuum’. She savours the extra time retirement has given her to better discern how she can serve.

Retiree ‘Jack’ volunteers in his local church, helps out with disability support, ferries elderly neighbours to appointments and spends time at an inter-denominational drop-in centre that provides emergency food parcels, financial assistance and (just as importantly) a sympathetic ear. He perhaps proves the old maxim that if you want a job done, you should ask a busy person. When asked what inspires him to volunteer, he simply quotes Matthew 25:35: ‘I was hungry and you gave me something to eat’.

At the drop-in centre Jack is clearly inspired by various churches working together—beyond the doctrinal

squabbles that so often separate us—towards a common goal that can be difficult to achieve but is articulated simply: caring for the poor.

Jack says that he gains satisfaction from ‘being able to help someone’. Our society is increasingly likely to praise altruism as exceptional, but we are social beings, and, as Hugh Mackay suggests, love must be expressed in community. It is not a solitary thing. Interestingly, Jack also comments that his work encourages him to feel grateful ‘for how I have been blessed’.

Irene says it is a ‘sheer privilege’ to volunteer. There are subtleties here. We are constantly reminded through advertising and our media’s focus on the rich and glamorous how much better our lives could be. There will always be someone who is doing better. Turning away from ourselves and to helping others can be hard work—and may not always make us happier—but it can give us perspective about what is important in life, and this in turn gives us deeper satisfaction.

Our management-obsessed society also encourages us to think that we must have things planned out, goals set and skills aligned to the job at hand. For Irene, it is sometimes difficult to know just where God is calling her. But she jumps in nevertheless, trusting in him. Jack comments that many would-be volunteers are put off by the thought that they are not qualified. They ‘feel they have nothing to offer’, but one of the high

notes of Jack’s volunteer work is seeing other volunteers surprise themselves during the on-the-job training.

When working in the church, we often develop as we serve. It can also be the case that even retirees are busy and need some encouragement to serve. Our society is very good at distracting us with trivialities, so we need to encourage one another to focus. The increasingly urgent task of the church is to reorientate our thinking away from the materialistic, individualistic values which our society pushes upon us.

Though it is not unique, the Lutheran Church has a long tradition of volunteer work, both within and beyond the church itself. In times past, there might have been some obligation to keep up this tradition. When asked if he feels obliged to follow in his ancestors’ footsteps, Jack’s curt answer is ‘No’. For him, God’s call is deep. He doesn’t feel the weight of tradition, because the Spirit working within has made him think that there simply could not be another way to live.

Irene gives a longer answer. She does feel a duty ‘handed down to me from former generations’ and values that. But she worries that duty has become

Love must be expressed in community. It is not a solitary thing

Australian author Rodney Macready says that ‘Christianisation’ of cultural attitudes to retirement is beginning to cost Australian churches and, ultimately, communities too.

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attitude that older people need to make way for young innovators. In turn this feeds the self-doubt of retirees (‘I have nothing more to contribute’) and their attitudes to retirement.

There is an increasing separation of generations in our society. It is now unusual for grandparents to be living with their grandchildren. As Macready points out, this has economic consequences, as retirees need to pay for and maintain their own homes. Then there is the issue of the increased isolation and loneliness of older people. Our country’s relative affluence allows us to live this way, but it makes, too, for diminishment of our community. These are obviously big, complex issues.

Macready wisely suggests that while there are no easy solutions, these

something of a dirty word, with echoes of ‘martyrdom’. Another aspect of our society is that it shrilly calls our attention to the present, at the expense of the richness and fulfilment of tradition.

When it is suggested to Irene that she has gained wisdom in discerning where her talents are best applied, she baulks at any implied cliché that wisdom develops with age. She simply takes comfort in the fact that she feels God is calling her to relinquish leadership roles and to serve in less conspicuous ways. The particulars of God’s call may change over our lifetime, but, as she says, ‘worship of God and service of others never changes’.

Rodney Macready points out that while some aspects of retirement in our culture are couched as positives—‘people deserve to focus on themselves when they retire’—there is also a negative side: the idea that older people reach a ‘use-by date’. This is perhaps unsurprising in our youth- and novelty-obsessed culture. Of course there is a limit to physical endurance, and there are not a lot of 90-year-old bricklayers. But the attitude that older people simply have less to contribute is prevalent in society too.

While Irene displays her wariness of the assumption that age automatically brings wisdom, there is also the fact that, compared with other cultures, we simply do not value the wisdom of our elders. This feeds into the workplace

Saturday 1 November 2014•Thanksgiving Service and Family Fun Day from 10.00am

•50th Anniversary Dinner 7.00-11.00pm, CLC Function Centre Guest speaker: Sharny Russell van Herp (Class of 1964) - jazz pianist, vocalist and composer. Book at trybooking.com

154 Stephen Street Toowoomba QLD 4350 07 4688 2700 | www.concordia.qld.edu.au | enquiries@concordia.qld.edu.au

Other weekend events include:

Friday 31 October Student Art Exhibition & Concert from 5.30pm in the CLC Gym

Saturday 1 NovemberHigh Tea on the Chapel Lawn 2.30-4.00pm for past students whose graduating year was between 1965-1969

All past students & staff are invited

Christianity should be a constant thorn in the side of prevailing cultural values, but instead we bend it out of shape to fit those values

are things that we should be talking about—and yet within the church we tend not to. Christianity should be a constant thorn in the side of prevailing cultural values, but instead we bend it out of shape to fit those values.

Another prevailing cultural ideology is that of autonomy. For the last 300 years or so, individualism has been steadily promoted as the cure for society’s ills. Although this is in obvious opposition to the church’s focus on community, it too has infiltrated the church in a number of ways, including an attitude that the church is there to serve our needs, not the other way around.

Yet 1 Peter 4:10 bluntly states that we should use our gifts to serve others. And, as Macready points out, autonomy is something of an illusion: we become slaves to ourselves, yet it is only in serving others that we acquire the freedom God gives.

The most inspirational Christians dedicate their whole lives to serving God. Christian service is not simply another thing to be added to the long list of other tasks, like cooking sausages at the football canteen. So when Christians retire from paid work, the circumstances may change, but their work in the kingdom of God continues.

Nick Mattiske is a member of St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Box Hill, Victoria. You can find his blog at coburgreviewofbooks.wordpress.com

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PLANES: FIRE AND RESCUERating: PGDistributor: DisneyRelease date: September 2014

Comments on contemporary culture

by Mark Hadley

Disney continues to expand its Cars universe with a follow-up adventure for last year’s favourite flying hero, Dusty Crophopper. But while Planes preached an unrestrained ‘Be all you can be!’, Planes: Fire and Rescue addresses what happens when your dreams don’t deliver.

Fire and Rescue picks up shortly after the original storyline, showing Dusty, the crop duster turned racer, winning events all over the globe. However, writer Jeffrey Howard thought it worth considering what would happen if a workhorse plane actually pushed itself so much to win. An examination of Dusty’s engine reveals a severely damaged gearbox. News that the failing part is now considered rare means that our hero’s racing career is at an end.

Struggling to plot a new course, Dusty heads to Piston Peak National Park where he hopes to be trained as a firefighter. There he meets a crew of experienced fire-and-rescue vehicles, charged with preserving the wilderness as well as keeping its inhabitants safe. Dusty’s disabled engine and regrets over his racing career hamper his ability to fit in. But a monster fire forces him to realise that serving others might be more worthwhile than a super-charged career.

Fire and Rescue has a fairly predictable plotline, centred on the usual crowd of after-market characters. The most recognisable is the wounded mentor, a role filled by Doc in Cars, the Skipper in Planes and now Blade Ranger, the helicopter with a dark past. But Disney knows its market and the film is still likely to please the littlies, even if their parents suffer a severe case of déjà vu. One thing which has improved, though, is the film’s message.

Planes celebrated the individual’s right to become, ‘—more than we were built for!’ It was an argument that left me, as a Christian, feeling more than a little uncomfortable. It’s one thing to rise above your circumstances but another to entirely disregard your design. But Fire and Rescue actually asks kids to consider how they will respond when the dream slips away. Producer Ferrell Barron calls it a classic ‘injured athlete’ story. ‘I think we’ve all experienced some kind of loss at some point in our lives’, he says. ‘We’ve all had to recalibrate.’

Not surprisingly, Blade Ranger has been there too, and he challenges Dusty to keep his eye on his destination, even though the path ahead seems almost impossible:

Life doesn’t always go the way you expect it. But you came here to become a firefighter. If you give up today, think of all the lives you won’t save tomorrow.

His encouragement is the same sort the writer of the letter to the Hebrews offers all hard-pressed Christians: ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith’ (Hebrews 12:1).

Dusty doesn’t get his dream, but he begins to realise there might be an even brighter one ahead, peopled by those who’ve been through the same struggles and come to love what he loves.

In a world where unbelief will dog or even block our children’s steps, it’s a lesson they’d do well to learn—even from a talking plane.

New dreams for dust

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(Hopetoun) and Nadia Bunge (Portland), and South Australian Tiarna Hahn (Adelaide) are now well settled into life as camp staff members.

The girls are expected to clean, cook, maintain the campsite, contribute to the camper experience and assist wherever they are needed.

But key to the overall experience is study and the opportunity to devote time towards spiritual growth and figuring out God’s purpose for their lives.

‘It’s a year of learning and getting to know God’, Darren says. ‘On top of their camp duties, we put interns through a Certificate IV in Christian Theology through Australian Lutheran College, as well as a Certificate III in Outdoor Education. Interns at Tandara are paid on a traineeship basis, much like in any first year apprenticeship, and have one day per week to dedicate fully to study.

‘The program doesn’t just help us; it helps to build young leaders for the church.’

On completion of their year of study and practical experience at Tandara, the interns will be able to apply to the LCA

Board for Lay Ministry for accreditation as lay workers.

Darren believes that often young people sign up for internships because they don’t have a specific direction in mind for life after school, and they use this year to make decisions for their future.

‘When I interviewed one of our interns, she was saying she wanted to go to university the following year’, he says. ‘She’s now completely changed her mind, having decided the study thing isn’t right for her, thanks to this experience.’

This sense of clarity and conviction is an ideal outcome, with participants gaining life experience through service and being given time to focus on God’s voice in their lives.

Meeting once a day for a staff devotion based loosely on the Grow Ministries ‘Faith Five’ is one key avenue for spiritual awareness and growth, Darren says, and interns experience the benefits.

WARRAMBUIAt Warrambui, near Canberra, Ministry Development Coordinator Thea Janetzki

The road ahead by Tom Kitson

A year to prepare for the journey of life

Where does God want me to go? What should I do with my gifts and abilities? How can my work reflect God’s love coming to life in the world? These and many other questions surface when Christian young adults begin to make their life decisions.

Since Warrambui Retreat and Conference Centre in New South Wales began its yearlong camp internship program, God’s love really has come to life for more than 100 interns through service, spiritual growth and personal development.

TANDARAFollowing Warrambui’s lead, Tandara Lutheran Camp in the Grampians, western Victoria, this year offered a similar program.

Tandara camp manager Darren Linke and his wife Kerry are seeing the benefits, not only in the running of the campsite but also in the personal learning and growth of their first three interns.

Beginning their internship early this year, Victorians Shinae Colville

Travis Doecke, pictured with his wife Jess and daughter Sienna, says that ‘something clicked’ for him as an intern at Warrambui that has led him to find his vocational and spiritual path.

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