THE LUTHERAN November 2014

NATIONAL MAGAZINE OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

Print Post Approved PP100003514 VOL 48 NO10

‌ to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature (Ephesians 4:12,13a)

Vol 48 No10 P299

NOVEMBER 2014

EDITOR/ADVERTISING

Would Martin love it?

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

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

LCA Bishop John Henderson reads our June issue at the grave of Martin Luther, in the Castle Church at Wittenberg. Luther is buried beneath the pulpit in the church, which was a building site full of scaffolding at the time of Lutheran Education Australia’s Principals Tour and visit to Wittenberg, in the German summer.

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

We Love The Lutheran!

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

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

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

Makenna Huxtable

David Klinge

Joanne Knobel

St Paul’s, Broken Hill NSW Student Enjoys Taekwondo and guitar Fav text: Matt 5:16

Green Pastures, Lockrose Qld Retired Enjoys his family and playing ‘der Flugelhorn’ Fav text: Psalm 121

St Paul’s College, Walla Walla NSW Finance and administration Enjoys spending time with her family and doing patchwork Fav text: Philippians 3:13,14

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.

Issued every month except in January

2

The Lutheran November 2014

Vol 48 No10 P300

The first lesson a journalist learns is to always ask the big questions. Not sensational, Walkley Award-winning questions, but the questions which prise open the tap to let information flow into the public arena.

Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Basically, the only six questions a journalist ever needs. All the answers (eventually) develop from those starting points. By joining the dots a story can be told.

As Christians, these same six questions are fundamental to shaping our identities. Who am I? What am I doing here; what is my purpose? Where is God? When will I be right with God? Why does he let bad things happen to us? How do I know that I am forgiven/loved/saved?

Big questions indeed. I’m certain that you have asked yourself and God more than one of them—and no doubt, plenty of variants not listed here—throughout your life and your walk with God. I would be very surprised too if the answers to your questions were always the same answers. How could they be?

You change as you grow. Your everyday faith and understanding change as God works in and through you. Your understanding of Scripture builds as you read more and more, as you ask and receive answers to your big questions.

It is actually pretty easy to ask big questions of God; the hard part is listening for his answers. Hard, because we might not know where to listen for them. Hard, because we might not like what we hear. Hard, because sometimes an answer only leads to more questions. Hard, because we don’t recognise his voice.

Hard, because nothing that is worthwhile comes easily to us. This hard place is where a little ‘old-fashioned’ Christian discipline comes in handy. Or we could call it faith formation: an ‘intentional exploration’ of God’s word and its effect in our lives, carried out privately or with other people, supervised or mentored.

Faith formation is important. Paul reminds the congregation at Corinth: ‘I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready’ (1 Cor 3:2). But he doesn’t intend for them to stay that way. The rest of his letter (and his next) is full of teaching that we still rely on and value and discuss to this day. He doesn’t leave the Corinthians in the dark; he points them to the light. He encourages them to grow. That’s what faith formation really is, and why it shouldn’t be left only for Sundays but carried on throughout our whole week—our whole lives, in fact.

So don’t stop asking big questions. Please don’t take one answer as the only possible one. And don’t stop listening for his voice, no matter how dark your night.

Vol 48 No10 P301

FEATURES 05 www.faith.formation 09 Speaking to Pharoah

05 09

22 The church gig 24 ROLL UP! ROLL UP!

COLUMNS 04 Heartland 08 Reel Life 12 Little Church 13 Inside Story 17 Letters/Directory 18 Stepping Stones 20 Notices

22 24

21 Bookmarks 26 Bring Jesus 28 World in Brief 30 Coffee Break

I often hear people say they are busy. I don't always know how to interpret it. Do they mean, ‘Go away, I haven’t got time for you’? or, ‘I’m drowning here, can’t you help?’ Their level of busyness isn’t necessarily linked with the number of things they need to do, or the difficulty of their tasks.

Sometimes, it seems, even a little is too much.

Years ago I promised myself that I wouldn’t use the word ‘busy’ to describe my life. Sadly, I break that promise all the time. Life is busy. Or is it? What makes for all this busyness, all this noise? Even when I go to worship, when I want to rest in the presence of God, the services are filled with bustle and activity. We fill the church with noise. I remember earlier years when there was silence or gentle music before worship began. We used the quiet time to pray and to prepare ourselves to be in the presence of God. Now the sanctuary is busy with the last-minute setting-up of bands,

microphones, data projection and props. All good things, but sometimes they crowd out the essentials.

Busyness crowds us in; we do not understand how to turn off the TV, silence our mobile phones, disconnect from social media and shut down our email. We seem to have lost the art of quiet contemplation and Scripturereading, of waiting expectantly for God in the silence. ‘Be still and know that I am God’ (Ps 46:10) remains a popular text, but it frequently goes unfulfilled.

I know it’s hard to be still. Things are complicated. We might miss something. We must keep moving. If only God would add a few more hours to the day! And there it is: I’ve said it.

I’m busy not because my life is fulfilled, but because I have a complaint against God. I must finish what he has left undone.

This is the height of human pride, disguised as human need. It conceals a deep, often unrecognised, lack of trust. Am I the only one left to shoulder the burden? There is so much to do, so much that is incomplete, so much risk to avert.

I must hold it all together.

But we are not gods, even though we mistakenly may try to be. At the end of the day, and at the end of

life, we are defeated. We must put it all down, let go and let God. That might sound like a cliché, but it's a cliché with truth.

We must put it all down, let go and let God. That might sound like a cliché, but it’s a cliché with truth Martin Luther achieved a great deal in his lifetime. He was a busy man, who left behind a reformation and a library of books. Thankfully for us, he still found time to write an evening prayer for times just like these: ‘I thank you, heavenly Father, through your dear Son, Jesus Christ, that you have graciously protected me today. I ask you to forgive all my sins and the wrong which I have done. And graciously keep me this night. In your hands I place my body and soul and all that is mine. Let your holy angel be with me, so that the evil one may have no power over me. Amen.’

Vol 48 No10 P302

How can communications technology be our friend?

www.faith.formation An eight-year-old child has not known life before the iPhone; an 18-year-old has not known life before the internet. People communicate in ways not even imagined a few decades ago. Some congregations find all this new technology a hindrance to ministry, but could it be a blessing?

In a series of workshops held across Australia this year, Roman Catholic educator John Roberto argues that churches have been slow to adapt to the digital environment, viewing it as a place filled with threats rather than as a landscape of opportunity. While mobile devices might seem like a distraction, what they can do is open up new pathways of learning and of faith formation.

Mobile devices have fundamentally changed the relationship between information, time and space, John Roberto says. This is paralleled by Vol 48 No10 P303

the rise of social networks, fuelled by social media phenomena, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, Pinterest and Instagram. Rather than looking to authoritative sources, technology-savvy people now filter and evaluate news and other information through social networks.

‘People have become content curators; when they discover content they will share it with their broad network’, John says. ‘Reciprocal sharing is the way in which people build their own social capital and reputations.’

Similar shifts are occurring in education, where digital media is allowing learning to happen anywhere and anytime, where learners become active participants rather than just consumers of information, and where people access material from a range of places rather than from one single institution.

By re-imagining faith formation programs to suit this landscape,

by Rosie Schefe

churches could better deliver lifelong learning and help to maintain connections with families and individuals, John maintains.

People have become content curators; when they discover content, they will share it with their broad network He uses the idea of ‘faith formation networks’ to explain how this might be done. A faith formation network brings people of different generations together, and supplies them with programs, activities, faith formation experiences and other resources that are tailored to match their needs and lifestyles.

The Lutheran November 2014

5

Photos: Rosie Schefe

By using the internet and utilising mobile technology, it is possible to build networks where people can learn, share and experience and grow together Above left: US-based educator John Roberto has worked for the Roman Catholic Church for 45 years in the area of faith formation. Right: Using wireless technology, catching up and learning can take place at any time, anywhere.

By offering multiple ways to learn and grow, including via the internet, churches can reach into people’s lives and experiences to help them to grow in their faith.

Worship retains its central position as the time of coming together as the body of Christ, and the congregation remains the vital place of connection and relationship with the community.

But, John says, that is not where the work of the congregation ends. By using the internet and mobile technology, it is possible to build networks where people can learn, share and experience and grow together—in their own time and space and at a pace that suits them.

Tools such as live or archived webinars (web seminars, in which a group meets for Bible study, streaming the content and discussion through a video link), links to ready-made resources, e-books, blogs and online prayers can all be used to equip members of the network where and when it suits them.

Many resources are already in place and available, John says. So the person in charge of planning faith formation activities becomes a curator, searching out relevant material and creating links for the network, so that people can access them for themselves.

‘Then you can have a soccer mum, for example, accessing Bible study

You can have a soccer mum … accessing Bible study or online prayer from her mobile device while she’s waiting for practice to be over

GRANDMA’S CORNER Rev Rob Morgan is a Uniting Church minister on Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, caring for ten congregations. He came to John Roberto’s workshop with a goal already in mind: to create a faith formation network for children, but with its own dedicated space called Grandma’s Corner.

‘I was approached by a couple of ladies in one congregation who were looking for something they could use to connect with their grandchildren’, Rob said.

‘The idea is to provide short videos, craft projects, colouring sheets and prayer patterns. Each week these grandmas can find resources and send a link to their grandchildren, encouraging them to check them out.

6

The Lutheran November 2014

‘We are already using internet-based videos, music and craft ideas in Sunday school lessons. If a family hasn’t been able to get to Sunday school, we can send them an email to log in and stay connected to the group.

‘They can see what they missed out on, see what was done and engage with it. But they can’t do everything; for that they need to be physically present.’

Vol 48 No10 P304

Another way of networking is the ‘flipped classroom’. In this model, network participants carry out learning tasks (reading documents, watching clips, writing responses) with material provided online. They then meet together to share not only their learning, but also new experiences, which might flow out of joint service projects or retreat activities. This has the dual benefit of strengthening real-time bonds, while ensuring that learning tasks are completed.

John’s challenge to congregations is to build their first faith formation network, targeting a group of people and finding content to suit their needs. (See the accompanying examples of faith formation networks: Rob’s story and Nigel’s story.)

John Roberto visited Australia in August and September, conducting workshops in Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide. The Adelaide workshop was facilitated by Grow Ministries (LCA Board for Child, Youth and Family Ministry).

Photos: Rosie Schefe

or online prayer from her mobile device while she’s waiting for practice to be over’, John says. ‘She doesn’t have to be in the same time or place as her Bible-study friends; she can do this whenever she has some time.’

Above left: Uniting Church minister Matthew Carratt has made a strong start to the architecture of his faith formation network. Right: Rob Morgan’s network corresponds to an already identified need among his Yorke Peninsula congregations.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Learn more about John Roberto, LifelongFaith Associates and the 21st Century Faith Formation Project at www.LifelongFaith.com Vibrant Faith Ministries www.vibrantfaithathome.org has good examples of online faith-forming activities for all ages Families and faith: how religion is passed down across generations by Vern L Bengtson, Norella M Putney and Susan Harris, Oxford University Press Souls in transition: the religious and spiritual lives of emerging adults by Christian Smith and Patricia Snell, Oxford University Press

KINDLING A FIRE Rev Nigel Rosenzweig is a Lutheran pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Novar Gardens, in Adelaide. In 2013 Immanuel established a Messy Church, which has grown to an average attendance of 140 people.

‘Our challenge is to help families take that spark home from Messy Church and kindle a fire over the next six weeks’, Nigel said.

‘I want to provide ideas that extend from the latest Messy Church event, but also include material to help answer fundamental questions: such as Who am I? Who is God? ‘I also want to include practical and devotional family helps and provide a link into the wider Immanuel community, enabling families to connect with others.’

Vol 48 No10 P305

Nigel Rosenzweig is hoping to send his Messy Church into family homes through the network he is building.

The Lutheran November 2014

7

Still lost in space Interstellar is one visionary’s attempt to return humanity’s gaze to the stars. Yet is the view from up there going to be terribly different from the one down here?

Christopher Nolan, director of some of the most forward-looking cinema of the past decade (Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy) is a man who has spent the last two years looking back. He says his science-fiction creation Interstellar is an ‘ode to human spaceflight’ and, in particular, a reminder of the inspirational blockbusters of his youth—2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars and Blade Runner. Though different, each contained compelling views of the future that encouraged humanity to dream of its full potential.

INTERSTELLAR Rating: M Distributor: Warner Bros Release date: November 2014

The storyline of Interstellar is both epic and personal. Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper, a widowed pilot and aerospace engineer, doing his best to provide for two children in a world where environmental disasters are leading to international starvation. He is introduced to a mysterious professor (Michael Caine), who heads up a space program, proposing an ambitious solution.

Working from the theories of real-world physicist Kip Thorne, the research team has suggested a way to use a newly discovered wormhole in space to traverse the vast distances between the earth and unknown planets. Cooper’s mission would be to find humanity a new home: Professor: We’re not meant to save the world. We’re meant to leave it, and this is the mission you were trained for.

Cooper: I’ve got kids, Professor.

Comments on contemporary culture

by Mark Hadley 8

The Lutheran November 2014

Professor: Get out there and save them. We must reach far beyond our own life spans. We must think not as individuals but as a species.

You can almost hear the planned Hans Zimmer score surging beneath such an inspirational speech. Prior to filming, Nolan treated crew to a screening of

the 1983 classic The Right Stuff as an example to follow. The triumphant humanism that powers that plot has also been injected into the dialogue employed by Interstellar’s characters, particularly Cooper: ‘We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible.

And we count these moments. These moments when we dare to aim higher, to break barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known.

We count these moments as our proudest achievements.’

But is this speech truly any different to something we might have heard as someone prepared to lay the first brick for the Tower of Babel? ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth’ (Genesis 11:4).

Humanity’s dream of saving itself is nothing new, even when Nolan makes use of the newest effects to promote it. Nor has it resulted in a better world.

Arguably, much of the West’s futuristic living has been achieved at the expense of less fortunate nations. And such rhetoric will not stop God acting in the real world to frustrate such goals. The Tower of Babel ground to a halt not because the Creator is a cosmic killjoy, but because he cares for humanity. He will not let us trust in a false saviour, even in the creativity and drive he has given us.

Our mistake lies in failing to realise what our real problem is. The builders of Babel thought our greatest need was for unity; Nolan’s professor suggests it is to spread across the galaxy. Yet humanity’s greatest problem continues to be the sin that resides in our hearts, threatening to keep us separated from the source of all life, near and far. We may one day make it into the stars—but we will only succeed in taking our spiritual need for God along with us on the ride.

Vol 48 No10 P306

Photos: courtesy Micah Challenge

A voice for the voiceless … in the corridors of power

Speaking to Pharoah

by Rosie Schefe

‘Christians from all denominations, all walks of life’: Voices for Justice delegates gathered in June to meet with MPs at Parliament House and shine the light on global justice issues, (from left) Maddie Houghton, Jude Blacklock, Jordan Curbishley and Linnea Houghton.

In Jesus’ time, nobody liked tax collectors. But in 2014, it’s the people behind corporate taxdodging who are being exposed for draining billions of dollars each year from the world’s poorest people, who live in developing countries.

This issue was the focus of the recent Micah Challenge ‘Voices for Justice’ conference, which brought together more than 200 Christians from all over Australia who are passionate about social justice and fighting global poverty.

Micah Challenge is a global movement of aid and development agencies, churches, schools, groups and individuals who speak out against Vol 48 No10 P307

poverty and injustice, in support of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

When this year’s delegates gathered in Canberra in June, this mission was broadened to include speaking out against corporate tax-dodging.

Delegates’ first two days together were spent at a Canberra church, training for the campaign, praying and worshipping.

They also planned and prepared for the final two days and pinnacle of the Voices for Justice program: lobby group meetings with members of parliament at Parliament House.

Second-time delegate and member of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Belconnen

The highlight … was meeting other like-minded Christians … who care enough about the world’s poor to do something concrete about the poverty The Lutheran November 2014

9

Photo: Sheree Schmaal

Photos: courtesy Micah Challenge

Above left: Meeting with Tasmanian senator Lisa Singh (third from right) about social justice issues as part of Voices for Justice were: (from left) Jeff McKinnon, Maddie Houghton, Jordan Curbishley, Jude Blacklock and Linnea Houghton. Right: ‘Walking the walk’ of her faith: Jude Blacklock believes that advocacy and action are closely linked.

ACT, Jude Blacklock, says Voices for Justice is an empowering experience.

senators from all sides of politics to present their campaign requests.

‘The highlight for me was meeting other like-minded Christians from all denominations, all walks of life, and from all over the country, who care enough about the world’s poor to do something concrete about the poverty,’ she says.

Jude describes going into these meetings as initially quite a daunting prospect.

It helped to remember the fact that God is always with us, and we draw our strength from him ‘Seeing that the campaign related directly to what I was learning through my International and Community Development studies, and was happening right here in my home city, I felt called to participate a second time.’

Working in groups, Jude and the other delegates held more than 100 meetings with members of parliament (MPs) and 10

The Lutheran November 2014

‘But our training helped; we were reminded of Moses, and the fact that going “up the hill” to Parliament House was probably less daunting than approaching the might of a Pharaoh of Egypt’, she recalls. ‘And, of course, it helped to remember the fact that God is always with us, and we draw our strength from him.’

Jude feels blessed that her lobby group had two very positive meetings at this year’s Voices event: with Tasmanian senator Lisa Singh (ALP) and Victorian senator Richard Di Natale (Greens).

‘You soon realise that MPs are just normal people, and that it’s actually their job to listen to their constituents’, she says. ‘Both senators really listened to what we had to say and were very supportive of the campaign aims and requests.

‘Senator Di Natale actually encouraged our lobby group to be specific about our Christian values, as he felt that challenging MPs and senators about their own values—which may be rooted in a personal faith—was an important way of influencing the decisions they made in the parliament.’

In particular, the Voices for Justice delegates asked Australian politicians to ‘shine the light’ on tax-dodging by multinational companies, and to lead the push for a global solution by putting the issue on the agenda of the G20 leaders meeting, being held in Brisbane mid-November.

‘Highly conservative estimates show that poor nations lose more than $160 billion each year through corporate tax dodging’, Jude says.

‘This is money that rightfully belongs to the citizens of these countries and should be used to provide essential services like healthcare, education, infrastructure and water.’

Wealthy developed countries like Australia are affected by corporate taxdodging, but it is the world’s poorest nations that suffer most.

Following the meetings, several MPs took up the cause, raising the issue in parliament and during Question Time in the Senate. Treasurer Joe Hockey made a number of statements regarding this issue in the ensuing months, and it has been placed on the agenda for the G20 Summit.

Having completed her studies, Jude Blacklock is turning her passion for international development into a career by taking up a position at Australian Vol 48 No10 P308

Business Volunteers, a non-governmental organisation that sends short-term business volunteers to developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

equal’, she says. ‘I believe everything I have is a gift from God, and so those of us who have more have an opportunity and an obligation to do something concrete for those who have much, much less.

I believe taking a step in faith, in doing something that you really feel called to do, is always rewarding

‘Therefore, while giving money towards these sorts of issues and charities is something a lot of people do—and that is really important—for me, I felt it was time to take a step of faith and do something more.’

But it’s not just a job; Jude views advocating for the poor as a privilege that is central to her Christian faith.

‘The underlying tenet of my Christian faith is that all people are created in the image of God and so are created

Jude says she would like to see more Christians become involved in advocacy opportunities such as Micah Challenge, and she hopes her experiences encourage others.

Her encouragement has already helped members of Holy Cross complete a walking challenge to increase poverty awareness, and inspired the congregation to learn more about Hope for Creation—a Micah Challenge campaign that challenges Christians to think about how Australians live their lives, and the impact this has on people in the developing world.

‘It’s taken me almost 30 years of adult life to actually do something like this, but I believe taking a step in faith, in doing something that you really feel called to do, is always rewarding ... because our God is a faithful God.’ If you would like to contact Jude about her advocacy experiences, you can email her at djcjb@tpg.com.au

‘I think it’s important to take opportunities that allow you to “walk Ithe know the I haveit isfor you, says the Lord … to give walk” of yourplans faith—whether For more information about Micah global poverty, or any other issue you Challenge, the ‘Shine the Light’ are passionate about.

It is a humbling Jeremiah 29:11 campaign and Voices for Justice, see experience to be able to speak out www.micahchallenge.org.au about something you believe in … to be a voice for the voiceless in our world.’

a one-year

you a

A foundational theological qualification for church and ministry workers in a range of fields

diplomathe with aEssentials!

Encounter Do you know someone whoand wants to: biblical

 deepen their faith and be equipped for mission?

Learn Lutheran theology  participate in training for lay ministry that is practical and personal? within the Christian tradition  take a Gap Year?

Impact church and community Then, tell them about the Certificate IV in Christian Ministry and Theology (10433NAT)* through Australian Lutheran College.

Features include:

practical ministry focus

• Exploring God’s word • Gaining theological understanding • Learning about relationships, leadership, and our Phonepeacemaking, 1800 625 193 spiritual identity in Christ Email • Discovering practical and personal ministry skills sts@alc.edu.au For further information please contact the School of Theological Studies.

Enquiries

Web

Inquiries: Phone 1800 625 193 Email sts@alc.edu.au Web alc.edu.au 104 Jeffcott Street North Adelaide SA 5006 Vol 48 No10 P309

alc.edu.au

*ALC is a partner in the Australian College of Ministries training network (RTO # 90965)

Transform self and others

Flexible delivery through oncampus or on-line learning

Eligible students can build upon their studies into the Bachelor o Ministry or the Bachelor of Theology

ENROL NOW FOR 2015!

The Lutheran November 2014

11