Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you ROMANS 15:7
BECOMING A CHURCH
LUTHERAN CHURCH
EDITORIAL
Editor Lisa McIntosh
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m 0409 281 703
e lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au
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Design & Layout Elysia McEwen
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LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA
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.
Well prepared for a new role
What better place to pick up a copy (or two or three) of The Lutheran than from our LCA Communications booth at the Australian Conference on Lutheran Education (ACLE)!
Jodie Hoff is busy preparing for an exciting career change as she gets set to step into the role of Executive Director of Lutheran Education Australia (LEA).
She swung by our stall at ACLE for some ‘light reading’ during the three-day event held at the Brisbane Convention Centre in October. We wish Jodie all the best!
Send us a photograph featuring a recent copy of The Lutheran and it may appear on page 2 of a future issue and on our website at www.thelutheran.com.au
People like YOU bring love to life
This edition features three attendees from the Australian Conference for Lutheran Education (ACLE) held recently in Brisbane. You can read more about ACLE on pages 23 and 24.
Mick Hoopmann
St Michael’s Lutheran Church Hahndorf SA
Volunteers as communion assistant and coordinates men’s shed group
Most treasured Bible text: Psalm 23
‘The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures.’
Ruth Byers
St Paul’s Lutheran Church Caboolture Qld
Teacher at St Paul’s Lutheran Primary School Caboolture Qld
Most treasured Bible text: Ruth 1:16,17
‘Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.’
Tim Jarick
St Peter's Lutheran Church Indooroopilly Qld
College pastor at St Peter's Lutheran College Indooroopilly Qld
Most treasured Bible text: 2 Corinthians 12:9
‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’
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 and most treasured text) and your contact details.
Are you looking forward to Christmas? And are you ready for Christmas?
I think I only score one out of two. Looking forward to it? Always. Ready for it? No way!
But what does it take to be ready for Christmas? Read any supermarket recipe magazine or an Instagram influencer’s account on social media, and you’ll think being ready for Christmas requires having done the shopping, bought the presents, planned the menu, chosen the outfit, hung the decorations and hosted the parties.
I used to love holding pre-Christmas parties, welcoming a hundred or so people to our home, having the chance to catch up with family and friends. But these days, I feel there’s no ‘space’ to offer such a welcome. I’m too busy with work, family and church commitments to be welcoming. Too overwhelmed by all that needs doing.
But what really needs to be done? What is critical, or as the biblical expression from some translations of Luke 10:42 suggests, ‘the one thing needful’ for Christmas to be Christmas? Isn’t the lead-up to Christmas –the season of Advent – actually just a time of reflecting on God’s gift to us in Jesus and eagerly awaiting the birth of the Christ-child? Nothing else matters. He is Christmas.
Knowing this, we can breathe. Pause. Be still and know. At Christmas, we shift from waiting to welcoming – welcoming our King of kings into our hearts, lives and busyness. Of course, he first welcomed us into his family. And, so, we are called to share this welcome, as our cover text from Romans 15:7 reminds us.
As faith communities, we hope we are seen as welcoming by those who visit or dip a toe in at this time of year. But what can we do better to ensure everyone feels welcome and included? In this edition, members of our Lutheran family share their thoughts and experiences, and I pray that you will be challenged and encouraged by them, as I have been.
As this is the last edition for 2025, I would like to thank you, our readers, subscribers and group collectors for your support.
My gratitude goes, too, to the people who help bring The Lutheran to you. Linda Macqueen, who retired as LCA Communications Manager and Executive Editor in September, has been a great support as always, while Elysia McEwen has again brought stories to life on these pages through her extraordinary design talents. My heartfelt thanks go to Helen Brinkman, who has shared her wonderful gift for writing in a voluntary capacity through the Going GREYT! column for nine years but is ‘retiring’ from that role.
A big thank you, too, to Bishop Paul Smith for his columns, volunteer proofreaders Lyall Kupke and Kathy Gaff, LCA Communications colleagues Elise Mattiske and Beth Fiedler and Acting Communications Manager Jodi Brook. We also greatly appreciate the work of Lyndal Fuller, Tanya Leech and Harry Phan on subscription administration and the support of Trevor Bailey and all at Openbook Howden.
Wishing you the joy and blessing of knowing the warm welcome of Jesus this Christmas,
Becoming a welcoming church
The joy of hearing the word
Welcome to the neighbourhood!
A church built for welcome
Defined by our identity as God’s children
A little taste of heaven
Camps connect young Christians
Because we bear your name: Bishop Paul’s letter
Dwelling in God’s word Congregational Life
* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following pages contain images of people who have died. Our cover: iStock.com
Because we bear your name
I firmly believe that, in their deepest souls, young people yearn for a religion that gives them meaning and purpose in life. Young people are showing an ever-increasing commitment to service and charity. In fact, the age group with the highest involvement in volunteering in Australia is 15–17-year-olds, alongside 65–74-year-olds.
Christian history tells us the story of a young Christian man who became a beacon of hopeful gospel meaning and purpose almost 1000 years ago in the land historically known as Bohemia. We know this young person as King Wenceslas. He was just in his 20s when he was assassinated and had only ruled for about five years. We would never have heard of this young Christian if it had not been for Englishman John Mason Neale, who wrote the story of Wenceslas into a popular carol: ‘Good King Wenceslas’. The story in this ballad about Wenceslas begins on a cold and frosty ‘feast of Stephen’. This is the day after Christmas, and the king’s dining table is set for the days of the Christmas festival. But in the carol, this focus on feasting takes a surprising turn: ‘Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel, When a poor man came in sight, gath'ring winter fuel.’
BISHOP PAUL’S LETTER
been unable to buy food for the feast. In the story of the hymn, Wenceslas asks his servant who the man is. It turns out he is more than ‘just a beggar’. He is a homeless beggar. We hear that this beggar is welcomed into the palace for the feast, having been sought out by both the king and his page, who both go out into the snow to bring this man into the feast.
THIS CHRISTMAS CHRISTIAN FAITH HELPS US KNOW WE ARE NOT SIMPLY CONSUMERS … WE ARE LOVED BY THE GOD WHO WENT TO THE CROSS FOR US.
Scholars tell us that Wenceslas was a real person murdered for explicitly promoting Christianity in what was a nonChristian land. As a new king, Wenceslas worked for social reform in his country to change the future for people who were cast aside or trampled down. But this charitable Christian way of life was not welcomed among his enemies, so they sought to rid themselves of this king and his religion of charity. In his death for his faith, Wenceslas became an admired hero for the people. Christian teachings subsequently spread throughout the country.
In John Mason Neale’s carol about King Wenceslas, the king has looked out into the snow and seen the beggar: a man in poverty, hungry and gathering wood, as he is unable even to buy fuel for his fire. This tells us that the man would have
‘But
This is our Christian faith. Because we have been given a place in God’s gracious heart by faith in Jesus Christ, we can thank God by works of charity for those in need. That is why many of our Lutheran congregations promote the appeal from Australian Lutheran World Service at this time of year. Many congregations also promote other charitable activities at Christmas, even inviting poor or lonely people to their Christmas feasting table. This Christmas Christian faith helps us, and especially helps our young people, to know that we are not simply consumers driven by sales and marketing. We are loved by the God who went to the cross for us. We are people whom God delights in using to bless the poor. As John Neale writes in his carol, ‘You who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing. ’ But there is one more important thing to remember about Christmas feasting. As our homes are filled with fine food and drink, God’s home is also filled with feasting. We gather at church to eat and drink the body and blood of the Christ at Christmas.
When I receive holy communion at God’s table, I am like the poor man in the carol of Wenceslas. I am the one the Good King Jesus has gone out for, to fight death and the power of the devil; to gather me into the warmth of his love and forgiveness; to restore me and wash away sin.
So, maybe you can remind yourself of this gift of grace by writing on your Christmas shopping list: FOOD IN GOD’S HOUSE (holy communion).
A holy and blessed Christmas to you.
In Christ,
MICAH 5:2
REV PAUL SMITH Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand
you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.’
