THE LUTHERAN August 2014

Print Post Approved PP100003514 VOL 48 NO7

AUGUST 2014

Vol 48 No7 P203

NATIONAL MAGAZINE OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

Front cover: Baby Caelan is baptised by his grandfather, Rev Dr Mike Semmler, on 19 August, 2012. Photo: Naomi Bassham Photography.

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

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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.

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

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

Traversing the Birdsville Track, all news is welcome.

Friends Daryl and Joy Hardy and Russell and Audrey Menzel revisit our March issue, while Sandra Paterson, Peter and Mavis Thamm, and Elaine and Lyall Moller share the April issue. It seems appropriate to do so at the memorial marking the site of Bethesda, the first mission established by Australian Lutheran congregations, at Killalpaninna, South Australia.

The travellers come from congregations at Hervey Bay, Noosa, Caboolture and Everton Hills, Queensland.

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

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

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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.

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Alex Hughes

Patricia Kolec

Dennis Paech

Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Norwin Qld Theology student Enjoys historical fencing and farming Fav text: John 3:16

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Knox Vic Retired Enjoys cooking, reading and walking Fav text: Acts 20:35

St John’s, Karoonda SA Retired farmer Enjoys Jaguar club Fav text: Acts 16:31

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Issued every month except in January

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God’s family. As I witnessed the baptism of Sarah in mid-July, I was reminded again that in baptism we all become part of God’s family.

Sarah was just a day or so over four weeks old when she was baptised.

She didn’t have much say in whether she wanted to be baptised or not. Her parents, Comissa and Matt, brought her forward anyway, confident in the promise that she would become a child of God through the combination of water and God’s word spoken over her.

So what does it mean to be a child of God, part of his enormous family on Earth now and beyond in eternity? It means that we are connected—not just to the people within our own family but also to the people who are part of our congregation, of our church and of all Christian churches around the world. In the congregation witnessing Sarah’s baptism were people young and old, of different cultural, language and ethnic backgrounds, men and women, boys and girls. Some are gifted musicians, others only sing on Sunday. Some are active in youth ministry or ministries to men, women, children, older people, or those outside the church doors. Some were there just because they needed to be close to God. Some, like me, were visitors invited along for the occasion; others were visitors who just happened to choose this particular church on this day. In her baptism Sarah is now related to all of these people—by water and word, if not by blood.

There’s an old saying that you can’t choose your relatives. It’s true of your relatives in God’s family too. God is the one who does the choosing. He wants all of them in his family: the ‘nice’ ones you want to be near and the ones that you might want to cringe away from; the ones you know and the ones you may never meet. All of them are as precious to God as you are. And that is precious indeed.

Above: Sarah, her family and godparents receive a final blessing from Pastor Roly Stahl at the baptismal font.

Sarah’s mother, Comissa, is the designer and layout artist for The Lutheran.

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FEATURES 05 I never say no 07 Treasure 10 Death & resurrection

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21 Take a bow 24 Christmas with tattoo man

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COLUMNS 04 Heartland 09 Reel Life 12 Little Church 13 Inside Story

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16 Letters 17 Directory 18 Stepping Stones 20 Notices 26 Bring Jesus 28 World in Brief 30 Coffee Break

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CS Lewis was a 20th century Oxford academic. After years of rejecting faith, in his early thirties he ‘gave in and admitted that God was God’. He was a friend and colleague of JRR Tolkien, of Lord of the Rings fame. Lewis went on to write many well-known Christian classics.

The Pilgrim’s Regress is one of CS Lewis’s lesser-known books. It is an allegory about John, a tenant farmer from Puritania. Puritanians have a ‘Landlord’ and a set of rules, and life is mediocre at best. It is certainly not enough for John, who dreams of another place, a desire that he calls ‘the island’.

John sets out to find the island.

Along the way he meets the intellectual, spiritual and sensualist movements of the time. Each offers its solution: romanticising, minimising, rationalising or debunking. He rejects them all, determined that his desire is true.

John comes to a vast canyon cutting across the land. He meets an old woman, chronically unfashionable, who offers to carry him over the canyon. He hears her story of the Landlord, the enemy, and of the Landlord’s son. Not ready to trust her, John continues his search. Finally, he reaches the floor of the canyon, facing a sheer cliff on the far side. The old woman meets him again. She tells him to dive into the water that lies between him and the cliff.

The old woman is Mother Kirk, by whom Lewis means the church.

With nothing else left, John surrenders and dives in. Emerging on the other side he joins a mass of pilgrims, whom he had never noticed before, all heading in the same direction. The island he discovers is not the one that he set out to find. He sees the landscape with new, faith-filled eyes that easily penetrate the enemies’ deceptions.

Lewis’s intellectual landscape is unfamiliar to most of us, since we lack his training in classical literature and philosophy. We inhabit what he calls the ‘machine age’, where the most important thing is to believe the promises of advertising. Lewis despairs of the machine age (we would now call it the electronic age) because, although advertising never delivers on its claims, people continue to pursue its products and promises

in the hope they will eventually get what they really, truly want.

There is only one Saviour, Jesus Christ, and one way to receive him, through faith When Lewis wrote his allegory more than 80 years ago, people were already condemning the church as unfashionable and out-of-step with the Spirit of the Age. They wanted something reasonable and attractive that made sense to them in the modern era. The church offered only faith and believing, the same message it always had.

I really wonder what has changed.

Today’s criticisms of the church are much the same as they were then.

Stubbornly, the church continues to offer the same counter-cultural gift of faith. It will continue to do so, despite all the hype, demands for proof, and negativity of the age.

There is only one Saviour, Jesus Christ, and one way to receive him, through faith.

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I never say no … because God said yes to me

by Peter Ghalayini To baptise or to not baptise – that is often a question that vexes the pastor.

The phone rings. It’s a person you’ve never heard from before.

‘Hi, my family are Lutherans and we want our baby christened. What do I have to do?’

I have never said ‘no’ to a request for baptism.

Maybe that’s because my own baptism is very special to me. It is a critical part of my faith walk with God that first led me to worship at the age of 19 and then to be ordained as a Lutheran pastor.

My mother (a German Lutheran) and my father (a Lebanese Muslim) came separately to Australia in the early fifties as part of the post-war assisted migration program.

They met here, got married and had three children.

The question came: what to do about the children’s religion?

Although a Muslim, my father felt we’d have more opportunities as Christians, so Vol 48 No7 P207

I was baptised in 1960 in Trinity German Lutheran Church, East Melbourne.

The next time I entered a church would be in 1979 when, searching for answers to the big questions of life, I walked into St Paul’s Lutheran Church Box Hill.

Why a Lutheran church?

Because I remembered being told I was baptised in a Lutheran church.

That day I walked into St Paul’s Box Hill was the beginning of a life-long journey in faith, including some years at Luther Seminary, studying for my ordination.

At Ringwood/Knox Lutheran parish, where I am the pastor, we have an annual baptism remembrance celebration, where we invite our baptised members to worship with us and receive a baptism blessing. During the service they come forward to the font to be splashed again with the life-giving waters of baptism and to hear Jesus’ clear, sure promise, ‘Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved’ (Mark 16:16).

This year at Ringwood we adorned the altar with symbols of baptism: blue shawls draped over the cross and

flowing over the altar to the steps of the sanctuary. It reminded us that all who have been baptised into Christ have been baptised into his death and resurrection (Romans 6:1–4).

Just as any parent would not stop searching for a missing child, this becomes the challenge for the church—to search for her child that has gone missing We send invitations to our baptised members to remind them that they are part of our family, even if the only time we have ever seen them is that one time when they presented their child for baptism.

It is difficult, and sometimes it would be easier to put requirements on The Lutheran August 2014

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I believe that the responsibility is not on the family having their child baptised; the responsibility falls on the church. Just as any parent would not stop searching for a missing child, this becomes the challenge for the church—to search for her child that has gone missing.

Having been so touched by my own baptism, I use this as an opportunity to visit the families. Even if they don’t respond to our invitation to remember their baptism, I can still go to them and remind them of their special place in our family.

If I say ‘no’ to their request for baptism, I believe I also say ‘no’ to myself being able to visit them in the future. They will remember my denial, and deny my future ministry to them.

Photo courtesy: Peter Ghalayini

baptism—but they would be our requirements and not God’s—like the disciples who tried to prevent children coming to Jesus. He responded with the words, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these’ (Matthew 19:4).

Left: The sanctuary area at Good Shepherd, Ringwood, decorated for the baptism remembrance service, reminding those present that God’s grace flows from the cross through baptism. Right: Peter Ghalayini.

When that phone rings, I hope and pray that it is another request for baptism, because a request for baptism is also another opportunity to sow the seed of God’s love. Whether that seed falls on the path, among the thorns or the rocky ground, St Paul reminds us, ‘I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God

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has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow’ (1 Corinthians 3:6,7).

Peter Ghalayini is pastor to the congregations of Good Shepherd, I know theSaviour’s, plans I have Ringwood, and Our Knox, in suburban Melbourne.

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Inquiries: Phone 1800 625 193 Email sts@alc.edu.au Web alc.edu.au 6

The Lutheran August 2014

for yo

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Photos: Vicki Rochow

An ordinary box reminds Ella that God is near

by Vicki Rochow Above: Ella (centre) loves to look at her ‘baptism box’ every few weeks, rediscovering the treasures it contains.

Many of you will remember the Child In Our Hands conferences, in 2001.

These conferences encouraged congregations and families to be partners in nurturing the faith.

One of the great legacies from this time of rejuvenation is the gift of the faith chest, presented by congregations to children at the time of their baptism.

Many churches embraced this idea as an opportunity to encourage families to nurture faith at home.

There’s no set style for a faith chest; it might be a big paper-covered shoebox or an ornate wooden chest lovingly hand-crafted by a member of your congregation. Inside it are the spiritual treasures given by your church and Vol 48 No7 P209

family, to be used to nurture faith at home as your children grow.

At Grow Ministries we believe that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, families have the greatest influence on our children’s faith. We also believe that all members of the church family are called to partner with and equip parents and grandparents to be the primary faith nurturers for our children, as intended

by God (Deuteronomy 6).

Items that may be placed in a faith chest include: your child’s baptismal candle, devotion books, Bibles, music (such as DVDs) and Sunday school projects. It becomes the storehouse for resources used by your family to nurture your child’s faith.

ELLA Every couple of months, four-yearold Ella takes out her faith chest (or ‘baptism box’ as she calls it) and sits on the lounge room floor, eager to look through it with her mum Naomi. The day I visited, she took great delight in telling me all about the things inside.

There is an embroidered towel that the pastor used to ‘wipe the water off’.

There are some prayer books and a DVD, and a beautiful letter from the lady who puts the boxes together for Ella’s congregation. All of the baptism cards Ella received are in there too. She displayed great enthusiasm in showing me her favourite one with a baby on the front: ‘She is so cute, isn’t she!’

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Photos: Vicki Rochow

She also likes to light her baptism candle at night-time to remind her of her baptism.

Ella is an amazing example of childlike faith, and of faith that is being formed and encouraged at home. She was so happy to share how Jesus looks after her at night-time and keeps her safe, so she’s not scared of the dark anymore.

She loves to play with Jesus and say her night-time prayers. She also enjoys watching the new babies being baptised at church. She understands that when you are baptised you become a part of God’s family and that you are his precious child.

‘We love our faith chest, as it is not only a reminder to us of the celebration of Ella's baptism, filled with little treasures, but it also provides us with such wonderful tools like prayers and stories that help us to instil the love of God in our family’, Ella’s mum Naomi says.

It was lovely to spend precious time sharing with Ella, Naomi and Grandma Ruth what was in the box. We had a very special afternoon sharing our faith with each other. It was a perfect example of intergenerational faith sharing.

(Naomi and Ella are members at Langmeil Lutheran Church, Tanunda, South Australia, along with dad Jarome and Ella’s little brother Eli.)

A GIFT FOR YOU At Grow Ministries we are passionate about families and congregations sharing faith together. To assist congregations do this, we have created a resource called GIFT, which stands for Generations In Faith Together.

Passing on the Christian faith involves a partnership of generations, individuals and families within the Christian congregation. We encourage congregations to consider hosting a GIFT event once a term, based around the themes of Lent, Pentecost, Baptism and Advent. These resources are based on the lectionary readings. GIFT events provide an opportunity for people of all ages to explore God’s love for them through activities and fellowship— sharing the gift of each other and the gift of faith, the gift of building community and relationships with all generations.

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The Lutheran August 2014

Naomi, Ella and Ruth enjoy an afternoon of building up each other’s faith, sharing in remembrances of their baptisms.

Coming out in August is GIFT: Celebration of Baptism. We live as baptised people of God every day. A Baptism GIFT event provides an occasion to remember the promises of baptism and to share and celebrate the new life we have in Christ through baptism.

GIFT Baptism is available from Grow Ministries. Please email bcyfm@lca.org.au

to secure your copy. To assist us to cover costs we request a small donation.

Vicki Rochow is Resource Co-ordinator with Grow Ministries (LCA Board for Child, Youth and Family Ministry). She lives in the Barossa Valley with her husband and teenage children and is passionate about mentoring others in the Christian faith.

GIFT BAPTISM: Cross+Generational Worship Ideas: GIFT Baptism Worship is a way to bring your whole congregation together to worship God and remember your baptisms. We provide many ideas and suggestions your congregation can use in a special service.

Cross+Generational Event Ideas: The Cross+Generational event helps you celebrate with your faith community the promises made in baptism and the GIFT of new life we receive. Use the ideas to create your own event to share baptism-anniversary activities, rituals and traditions that will enrich your congregation’s life as baptised children of God. We also equip your members with resources and ideas to bring their family/ household together and celebrate the promises of baptism in everyday life.

Take Home Sheet: This resource encourages families to continue their baptism celebrations at home over following weeks.

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New life for old Every now and then a quirky tale comes along where you are almost certain that you know the end from the beginning—but you enjoy it anyway. That’s because seeing a life get turned around never gets old. Begin Again is a case in point.

Begin Again stars Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers, Now You See Me) as Dan, a washed up record producer circling the drain of his own career. He used to be one of the bright lights of America’s independent music scene and once established a New York record label that nurtured rare talent. But in the last decade he’s failed to reel in anything remotely releasable, his marriage has foundered on the reef of adultery and his life has sunk to the bottom of a bourbon bottle. That is, until providence lends a hand.

Dan stumbles into a bar just as a wellmeaning friend cajoles Greta (Keira Knightly) into playing a song. She’s angry over the end of a long-term relationship.

Her boyfriend has been blinded by his own musical success and a microphone is the last thing she wants to see. But when Greta sings, Dan is enraptured by her raw emotion and fills in her performance with instruments only he can hear. At the end of his career he’s come across the hit he’s been waiting a decade for. The question is, can a drunk convince a cynical girl to trust his instincts?

You know where this is going, right?

Well, I thought I did too. But Begin Again benefits from a few storyline twists that lift it above the misfit-makesgood genre. To begin with, there is a collection of beautiful scenes that demonstrate the insight of writer/director John Carney (Once). In Begin Again we recognise music as the medium that regularly connects everything we feel Vol 48 No7 P211

with everything we want to say. As Dan puts it, ‘[That’s] what I love the most about music—the most banal moments are invested with real meaning’.

Better than that, though, is Carney’s take on what it means to turn a life around.

Too many Hollywood redemption stories take the hero and heroine to places where they can finally embrace their hearts’ deepest desire. Likewise, Carney rebuilds both Dan and Greta and brings them to points where they can take hold of what they think they’re longing for. However, they have the wisdom to realise that being set free to begin again does not mean you have to make the same mistakes twice. Too often we think we’ve left the old life behind, but in fact we’ve just moved into the nicer apartment next door. What we need to do is exit the block and walk in the opposite direction.

BEGIN AGAIN Rating: M Distributor: Roadshow Release date: August 2014

That’s what the Bible calls true repentance—turning your back on what’s destroying your life and walking in the opposite direction. I’m not worried about making that connection because Begin Again hints that God has a hand in putting Dan on the right path. Drunk and stumbling around on a city train, this ruined man is accosted by a wellmeaning Christian who suggests God is the answer: Christian: I thought there was no hope.

I thought there were no answers and then I found God. Sir, have a talk with God. Dan: Sure. I’m going to have a little talk with God. But what if he doesn’t answer?

But God does answer as Dan stumbles into that bar, presenting him with a lifechanging opportunity. And his life does change. If that happened to you or me, would we take the hint?

Comments on contemporary culture

by Mark Hadley The Lutheran August 2014

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