The Lutheran Feb-Mar 2023 Sneak Preview

We have put our hope in the living God. 1

THE REASON for our hope

LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

EDITORIAL

Editor Lisa McIntosh

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e lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au

Executive Editor Linda Macqueen

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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.

Far from home but staying connected

Robert and Ann Fitzgerald, who are members of St John’s Lutheran Church Unley, in suburban Adelaide, stayed connected with home with their copy of The Lutheran while visiting an ancient temple in Egypt. Here they are pictured at the altar of the Holy of Holies in the circa 300 BC Temple of Horus at Edfu on the River Nile. The temple, which was only rediscovered last century, had been covered in metres of sand and modern houses. A Ptolemaic temple, it is regarded as one of the best-preserved ancient monuments in Egypt.

People like YOU bring love to life

Lauren Kahl

Golden Grove Lutheran Church SA

Secondary teaching and science student

Most treasured Bible text: Romans 5:6–8

‘ … But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

Luke

Buhlmann

Rockingham Mandurah Lutheran Church WA

Church, youth, and ministry worker

Most treasured Bible text: 1 Peter 5:10

‘And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.’

Emma

Strelan

St Stephens Lutheran Church Adelaide SA

Videographer

Most treasured Bible text: Proverbs 3:5,6

‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.’

Let

There’s a saying you might know that goes something like this: ‘It’s not the disappointment that gets you. It’s the hope!’ I suspect it’s a paraphrase of one referring to despair being tolerable while hope delivers the killer blow, which is credited variously to sources from Shakespeare to a John Cleese movie character, to UK football commentators, to TV’s Ted Lasso. In other words, don’t get your hopes up, and they won’t be shattered. Living by that maxim doesn’t exactly make for a joy-filled existence.

An even more familiar saying is, ‘where there’s life, there’s hope’. It’s an appropriate and somewhat uplifting refrain in light of recent natural disasters in many parts of Australia and New Zealand.

I’d suggest that there’s even more truth in the reversed expression – where there’s hope, there’s life. Along with love, hope is something we all crave. Without it, life can be incredibly tough. Seemingly not worth living even.

That’s why our faith is so critical. In God’s undeserved and all-encompassing love for us, in what he has done for us in Jesus and in what he works in us through his Spirit, we have hope. Hope for today, hope for tomorrow, hope for eternity.

Such hope enables us to survive whatever disasters and tragedies we face. It re-energises us and empowers us, lifting us up to ‘soar on eagles’ wings’ (Isaiah 40:31). And it demands that we share the good news of God’s great love for us, as St Peter says, ‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have’ (1 Peter 3:15).

In this edition, we focus on the hope we have, even in the face of seemingly hopeless situations – and we are privileged to share some incredibly inspiring and hope-filled stories from around our Lutheran family.

You’ll notice some changes in these pages as The Lutheran enters its 57th year. As well as trialling a move to six editions to make our churchwide magazine more sustainable in the face of increasing production costs and diminishing church membership and subscriber numbers, we’ve refreshed the look and content for you to enjoy. I hope and pray that you’ll be blessed by reading this edition as much as we have been in bringing it to you.

God bless,

Our cover: iStock.com

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following pages may contain images of people who have died.

Because we bear your name

It has become more and more common in this century, to speak of the ’Lutheran ethos’ of a school or community of care in our church. This expression comes from the desire to point to the overall culture and purpose of a ministry that carries the banner ‘Lutheran’, but for some, it is not always initially clear what the words ‘Lutheran ethos’ mean.

I like to write the words ’Lutheran ethos’ in a pictorial way that highlights the heart of being ‘Lutheran’. I write the word ’Lutheran’ in a vertical line, then the word ’ethos’, horizontally across the word ’Lutheran’ connecting them through the letter h. When you do this, the words ‘Lutheran ethos’ make the sign of the cross.

In 1 Corinthians 2, the Apostle Paul focuses faith on the work of Christ Jesus on the cross of Calvary. He writes, ’When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified’.

Dr Martin Luther explains why this witness to ’Christ and him crucified’ is so central for faith. In his ‘Smalcald Articles’ in 1539 he described the first and chief article of faith: ‘That Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, “was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification” … Now because this must be believed and may not be obtained or grasped otherwise with any work, law, or merit, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us … Nothing in this article can be conceded or given up.’

These two ‘nothings’ from St Paul and Martin Luther explain everything we need to say about ‘Lutheran ethos’. To be Lutheran is to keep the work of the cross central in our witness and service.

When the cross is central, we expect sin to be at work in our world and lives. We also expect God’s means of grace to be at work for the forgiveness of sin. Where the cross is central, Christ is known as God and Lord, Saviour and friend. The cross is central where the word of God is properly distinguished as law and gospel and where God’s people strive daily to lead a holy life, even as Christ has made them holy. This is our Lutheran ethos.

In February 2023, we are gathering for the second part of our Convention of General Synod in Melbourne. Delegates will have significant matters before them, including proposals

BISHOP PAUL’S LETTER

REV PAUL SMITH Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand

regarding whether only men or both women and men are to be ordained as pastors among us. Some are troubled about what is ahead for our church. What is the future of our ‘Lutheran ethos’?

Early on Sunday 28 November 1965, Lutheran leaders from two Lutheran churches in Australia and New Zealand gathered in a common church service to proclaim ‘altar and pulpit fellowship’ between their two churches. In this moment of our history, we received a good charter for our continuing work as Lutherans on both sides of the Tasman.

Firstly, Rev Dr C E Hoopmann, honorary president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia read a preamble, ‘By the grace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia have been led together in the confession and unity of the one faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and of the one doctrine of his holy gospel. We accept this unity as an unmerited gift of our God, in sincere repentance for that which lies behind us since our fathers went their divided ways, and in humble gratitude for all that God in his mercy has done through each of us in the years since 1846. He has kept us and blessed us, and for this we magnify his holy name’.

Then the presidents of the two churches, Rev H D Koehne and Rev Dr M Lohe, each called on the people to this witness to Christ and his cross, when they gave identical exhortations: ‘I call upon all pastors and members of our church to practise such fellowship in the spirit of true brotherly love as the expression of our common faith and confession. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.’ Finally, during the Prayer of the Church, the people prayed for the unity of the church using a prayer written by William Laud in the 1600s.

As we gather for Synod 2023, we continue this united common faith of the ‘Lutheran ethos’ that we have received: to know Jesus Christ and him crucified. Nothing can be conceded or given up of this doctrine of the gospel. Please pray for those who gather in February, that the Lord would continue to build his church through our Christian witness and service, as people of the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand. In Christ,

Paul

TO BE LUTHERAN IS TO KEEP THE WORK OF THE CROSS CENTRAL IN OUR WITNESS AND SERVICE.