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50th Anniversary at Lilydale Immanuel Lutheran Congregation

On Sunday November 20, 2022, OELC members and visitors, including a number who were part of the establishment of the Immanuel Lilydale congregation, joined together for a special thanksgiving service with Holy Communion. The service, led by Ed Blow, included a ‘profession of our faithfulness’ and a ‘litany of thanks’.

After the service, Chairperson Darron Jensz spoke of the history of Immanuel and the amalgamation of Open Door Croydon and Immanuel to form Outer Eastern Lutheran Church. John Walkenhorst, one of the original church councillors, spoke of the early days and said both he and his wife, Margaret, were overjoyed to see that the chapel was almost unchanged since they moved to Ringwood many years ago. A number of written greetings were read, including from Una Micken, the wife of Immanuel’s first pastor.

A light lunch followed, with lots of reminiscing of the old days as the group watched two videos supplied by David Modra – one of a very early church service and another of a casual get together at the Modra’s farm, entitled ‘Chariots of Fire’. And the members who had been wondering for some years where the Immanuel photo albums were finally saw them on the big screen thanks to the work of Lutheran Archives. What a day of thankfulness for the life of the Immanuel (and OELC) congregation.

(photo by Adolph Wurm)

2023 Lutheran Nurse of the Year Nominations

Nominations are now invited for the Lutheran Nurse of the Year award for 2023.

Nomination Form

The award recognises faithful and outstanding service during the preceding calendar year by a Registered or Enrolled Nurse who is an active member of a Lutheran congregation in Australia or New Zealand. It comprises a certificate and a $100 monetary gift. Nominations may be submitted by congregations, schools, aged-care facilities or other bodies or agencies within the LCANZ.

Nominations must be lodged with the LNAA secretary, Mrs Rose Howard, on the official nomination form by no later than 31 March 2023, together with a separate sheet giving details of the service that forms the basis of the nomination, and references from three people, including the congregation’s pastor. A nomination form is attached.

The award was launched in 2020, to mark the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, who is recognised as the founder of modern nursing. The inaugural winner in 2020 was Angela Uhrhane, of Albury/Wodonga, NSW/Vic. Last year’s joint recipients were Fred Miegel of Alice Springs and Gillian Mibus of Adelaide.

Rev Robert J Wiebusch

200/1215 Grand Junction Rd, Hope Valley, South Australia 5090

08.8336 3936 0497 898 696

revbob@ozemail.com.au OR robert.wiebusch@lca.org.au

Thomastown Lutheran Church celebrating 166 years of worship

The Thomastown Lutheran Church has been open for 166 years this month. We have been worshiping monthly on the 4^th Sunday since lockdowns but have recently gone back to the 2^nd and 4^th Sunday over the summer months. There are still no utilities connected (and no toilets) but we still love to gather in this historic little church for worship and fellowship.

Many in attendance on Sunday 13^th November were descendants or connections of the original German Lutheran settlers in the region. We often have people who are touring the pioneer precinct poke their heads in for a look at the living history taking place before them.

Rather than using the elevated pulpit above the altar, Pastor Tim usually sits for the sermon, a different perspective than the attached photo!

When you pass through the waters – a devotional message from Bishop Lester

But now thus says the LORD,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;”

These words from Isaiah 43 were part of God’s message to us at our recent District Convention. There we considered them metaphorically. The rising rivers and flood waters were a picture of the overwhelming challenges we often face in our daily lives and in our church. Of course, now rising rivers and flood waters are a literal reality across many areas of Victoria and Tasmania.
Our prayers are with all those people and communities whose lives and livelihoods are affected by the flooding, or who live in fear of further rising waters. Some of those people are our relatives or our brothers and sisters in Christ.
It is timely then to remind ourselves of the comfort we received from God as we focussed on these words a few weeks ago, under the theme, ‘a new thing.’
We acknowledged that the ‘new things’ that come into our lives are not always exciting, but quite often are disruptive, painful, and threatening. It isn’t easy to see God’s gracious, loving rule when the rising rivers and flood waters threaten to ‘overwhelm’ us (Isaiah 43:2).
Yet, God reminds us that his commitment to us is constant. He says, “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour” (Isaiah 43:3). That fact never changes. Nor does the fact that we are his created, redeemed, called, precious, honoured and loved children. He says, “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine’” (Isaiah 43:1).
As his children, he has taken us through the waters of our baptism, in which we are “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). Even as the rising rivers and flood waters – literally or metaphorically – threaten to overwhelm us, we can hold onto the hope that he who rescued us and gave us new life in the waters of baptism, are never without his gracious rule in our lives – his loving, rescuing, transforming, renewing, and resurrecting grace.
It is my prayer that God will protect all who are facing or affected by the ‘overwhelming’ flood waters in these days and hold you in the knowledge of his gracious rule and care.
Fear not, He is with you, O be not dismayed;
For He is your God and will still give you aid;
He’ll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand
Upheld by His righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through the deep waters He calls you to go,
The rivers of woe shall not you overflow;
For He will be with you, your troubles to bless,
And turn to your good e’en your deepest distress.
LHS 392 v.2 – 3 (Ascribed to Richard Keen) 1787

Pastor Lester Priebbenow
District Bishop, Victoria and Tasmania

Riding the Waves conference

The IRC conference speakers provided hugely valuable insights, and encouragement, for those of us navigating change – and that’s pretty much all of us!

The day was a wonderful opportunity for more than 60 attendees to receive and reflect on missional approaches from many different perspectives. Although originally planned as a fully in-person event, one of the presenters tested positive for COVID and one could not travel from the UK because of a COVID diagnosis, and so they gave presentations on Zoom – a perfect illustration of the waves of change that all of us have faced in the last two and a half years! The presenters took us through a post-war history of the mission of the church in Australia; New Testament approaches to spiritual formation; assessing whether your local church is ready for change, and the dynamics of the change process in local churches. Read more from Pr Nathan Hedt’s article HERE

Below are some ‘take aways’ and links to resources from Vic District attendees:

“The great first century religions ‘of wood and stone and marble’ are extinct (think Rome and its great temples). The only two religions who have survived are the religions ‘of the book’, Christianity and Judaism. And you wouldn’t have bet on either of them in the first century!”

“Christianity does not save me from suffering – it gives my suffering new meaning”

“The primary task of the church is spiritual formation. We are rediscovering this. The Holy Spirit is working, through the church, to spiritually form us into the image of Christ. This is also known as discipleship formation. Spiritual formation is: a life-long process, a communal process, a thoughtful process. It’s a thoughtful process because God renews our minds as we read his word. Congregations do well when they focus on a few regular habits or practices that are communal, thoughtful and focussed on God’s word. God uses suffering and persecution to bring about spiritual formation.”

“COVID was not a snow storm, it ushered in a new ice-age and has given God’s church a chance to ‘tell it like it is’”

“Historically the church stuck around when plagues hit (unlike the pagan Roman elites who ran away from opportunities to be infected). And plagues hit regularly. Historians estimate that christian numbers increased by one third after major plagues. “How can we serve our neighbours best in a time of plague?”

“Let’s not waste a good crisis.”

(shared by Pastor for Congregational Support, Pr Brett Kennett)

A couple quotes stood out for me (both by Ian Robinson):

“Whatever happened to the grasp Jesus had on us?” – referring to the way evangelism has all but disappeared from church agendas, and the fact that most church members rarely read their Bibles.
“The church we are saving cannot be the one we have had.” – referring to the tendency, in challenging times, to want to return to what we have known rather than to seek to be the church we need to be in those challenging times.

(shared by District Bishop Lester Priebbenow)

My highlight was participating in a physical identification of our context as a part of exploring “ Theory U” from work by Otto Scharmer. The Rev’d Canon Dr Nigel Rooms asked us to position ourselves as a representation of where our Congregation/denomination was at in terms of working through the reality of our context as Church in a Post-modern world adapting to Change. It was interesting hearing from those at different points in the “U” in regards how it felt to be at that place in the journey.
About Theory U

IRC Open Day conference on 29^th June 2022 : now available for viewing. Four videos, one for each speaker from the conference, on the New and Renewing Churches website: www.newandrenewingchurches.org.au/events

(shared by Congregational and Migrant Ministry Support Officer Erin Grainger)

Living Litugically

God, who made the earth and heaven, darkness and light:
you the day for work have given, for rest the night.
(Reginald Heber “God, Who Made the Earth and Heaven”)

The 6am alarm. Morning coffee. Children to school, off to the office. Emails. Meeting. Drive home. Family dinner. Bedtime devotions. Asleep by 10pm.

Does the rhythm of life soothe you? Do you feel at home in your routine? It’s not surprising if your answer is yes. The patterns in our life have been established by God Himself in His creation. We wake, we sleep. We are granted a Sabbath for rest. We can mark time and plan for the future using the seasons. Some seasons in our life are busier, and some more restful.

Advent. Christmas. Epiphany. Lent. Easter. Pentecost.

This rhythm is not seen only in the creation around us, but also the life of the Church. Do you remember getting excited as a child when you saw the Advent wreath show up in the sanctuary? Do you pray and fast as you sing “O Lord, Throughout These Forty Days” during Lent? Martin Luther marked his life according to the liturgical year – even signing his letters based on the season: signed on the Vigil of Saint Luke, Pentecost Eve, or the Wednesday following St Catherine’s Day. Having grown up in the Church and lived through these seasons repeatedly, I tend to mark my life just as much around the Church calendar as I do around the months of the year. This has become an even greater reality since I became a full-time church worker.

The lesson is in learning to read the seasons and allowing yourself to work in the ebb and flow of them. Some seasons are busier. Every parish worker feels the difference between the Third Week in Lent and the 17^th Sunday after Pentecost. It’s why I couldn’t write for Kate when she asked me in February – we were preparing for Transfiguration Sunday and I distinctly remember looking at the readings with Pastor and realising the time was flying quickly into Lent. The penitential seasons working up to the high feasts of the Church year are busy for us. Our minds are a flurry of activity and planning and looking forward.

But, ah! I can write now. It’s the week after the 5^th Sunday after Pentecost*. Kids have just started back to school for Term 3, and I’m ready to rest in the shade of the long, green season. Sure, there are many things on our church calendar between now and Advent 1 (Sunday, 27 November). It just feels different now. Slower. More restful. I’m at peace in the calmer seasons.

What routines have you established for your life? How do you mark your seasons? God has given us day and night, planting and harvest, days for high praise and great excitement and days for quiet, peaceful gratitude. I pray that each of you will have energy and focus in your busy seasons, and peace and rest in the quiet times.

Blessings,
Deaconess Kathleen

*Kathleen supplied this some weeks ago

The Power of the Lentil

Legumes such as lentils are an essential part of the East African diet. There is little surprise why this is the case: they’re nutritious, filling, long-lasting, and cheap. But would you ever see legumes as agents for mission? Never underestimate the mission potential of the humble lentil!

In October 2021, the Shepparton community was hit hard by the Delta Covid outbreak in Victoria. At one stage, a third of the city was in hard quarantine, and essential services like supermarkets were struggling to keep up. Many people were hungry, helpless, and alone. The lockdowns were felt keenly by African members of St Paul’s Lutheran Church, who were cut off from their usual lines of support: family, community, and church. As a congregation, we did our best to attend to the physical and spiritual needs of our members under these very difficult circumstances. One of the only ways we could do this within the pandemic restriction was by delivering care packages of culturally appropriate food items, including lentils. Unfortunately, a lot of the food delivered by Foodbank and other support agencies was unfamiliar to African people, and being able to deliver legumes and other more familiar foodstuffs not only fed the belly, but also the heart. It also gave us an opportunity to pray with people, satisfying the needs of the soul as well.

But where do you get large quantities of lentils in the middle of a pandemic? It was at this point that I rang Gavin Schuster, a farmer from Freeling, South Australia and a member of the Light Lutheran Church. He put out the request to other members of his church, and although nobody had any lentils available, they quickly resolved to send a generous amount of money to enable us to purchase legumes locally to us.

It was soon after this that we invited Light Lutheran Church to consider entering into a mission partnership with the Goulburn Murray Lutheran Parish. For the last six years, the Goulburn Murray Parish has been blessed by the ministry of Kathleen Mills, a trained deaconess from the USA who has been instrumental with mercy ministry work amongst the Shepparton African community. Her position has previously been funded by a generous grant from the LCA Board for Local Mission, but this funding came to an end in May 2022. With the assistance of Craig Heidenreich, the LCA’s Cross Cultural Ministry Facilitator, and Brett Kennett, LCAVD Pastor for Congregational Support, we have been looking to establish mission partnerships. While financial support is an important element of these partnerships, the desire is to see them as mutually beneficial by providing opportunities for prayer, sharing of skills and experience in cross-cultural ministry, and mutual encouragement.

On the 31^st July 2022, a delegation from St Paul’s Shepparton visited Light Lutheran Church for a mission festival held in Freeling. Members of the St Paul’s African choir sang, Deaconess Kathleen Mills shared a presentation on her work in the Goulburn Murray Parish, and representatives of Light Lutheran Church and the Goulburn Murray Parish signed an MOU signifying the relationship between the two church bodies. We wrapped the festival up with a sumptuous meal provided by our hosts, and more singing from the choir. It was a very joyful and encouraging start to the partnership, and we look forward to seeing it grow and develop over the coming years.

You may be interested to know how Light Lutheran Church is raising the funds to support mission. Well, some innovative farmers in the church received permission to crop a plot of government land on the condition that they use the profits for charitable purposes. Last year, they got a bumper crop that earned four times what they expected. What did they grow? Lentils, of course!

Pr Matthias Prenzler, Goulburn Murray Lutheran Parish

District Church Council Strategy review day

On Saturday 25th June District Church Council members joined with District Office and LEVNT staff and representatives from District boards and bodies to review the current DCC Strategic Initiatives. District Bishop Lester presented on ‘the state of the synod’ – a snapshot of the pastoral ministry in our District, followed by Pastor for Congregational Support Brett Kennett speaking to Renewing Churches with specific reference to our District context. Rev Dr Tim Stringer spoke to Digital Engagement for church context and we closed with some discussion about the Eastern Region Review which opened up into broader areas such as engagement with Lutheran Schools, congregational and parish partnerships, sharing of successes, and even the function of the Council for Ministry Support.
District Church Council Strategic Initiatives

25 Years of Worship, Learning & Fellowship – Bethlehem Lutheran Church Bendigo

On Sunday 22 May, visiting Pastor, Rev Mark Tuffin lead the worship service commencing a 9:00am where we gave thanks to God for the past 25^th years of worship, learning and fellowship at our Spring Gully site. A letter of greetings from Rev Lester Priebbenow, Bishop of the Victorian District, was read to the congregation.

Following the conclusion of the service a professionally catered lunch was held in our hall and this was attended mostly by local members. At the conclusion of the lunch members were invited to share their recollections and stories about the purchase of the Spring Gully property and the extensive renovation work required on our Church building. The renovation of the building, and property landscaping works, were largely carried out by our then members, some of which were present at this celebration event.

The day was a joyous occasion for our Parish and it was particularly appreciated that we able to come together for lunch on this occasion as prior to covid-19 these were a regular part of our Parish calendar and have been largely absent for the last two and a half years.

by Craig Linke
Bethlehem Congregation Secretary

The Nature of Christian Love – Reflections on 1 Corinthians 13

[At the college of Bishops retreat in March, our chaplain led us into reflection on 1 Corinthians 13. Following that, each of us committed to reflecting further and sharing our reflections with each other as we thought about the issues before the church now. Here are my reflections]

There is an obvious progression of thought in 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14, ‘concerning spiritual gifts’ (12:1). Chapter 12 is about the gifts themselves; chapter 13 begins with a description of the gifts without love, then reveals the nature of true Christian love; and finally chapter 14 shows how the Spirit’s gifts are exercised with love in the church.

Verse 11 is the key that unlocks chapter 12, ‘All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.’ Not everyone has the same gifts or responsibilities in the body of Christ, just as the parts of the human body each have unique roles. Gifts in Christ’s body are Spirit-given. They only have value when used, according to the will of God, to build up the body, hence verses 27-31. Christians should ‘desire’ only to play that part in the body that God wills and equips them to play.

The one gift that gives value to all others and to the body – the ‘more excellent way’ (12:31) – is Christ-like love. If exercised without Christ-like love, all other gifts lose their value completely. While human love will never be perfect, love motivated by the Holy Spirit teaches us to set aside desires motivated by the human spirit.

One way I find helpful to reflect on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 is to put an ‘even when’ phrase after each of the seven positive and seven negative descriptions of love.

Genuine ‘love is patient’ (long-suffering) even when patience is tried to the limit. Love continues to be ‘kind’ even when kindness is not shown or returned.

Love ‘doesn’t envy’ or desire what God gives to others but learns to rejoice with them, even when we wish we had what they have. Love ‘doesn’t boast’ about our gifts or assert our rightful place in the body, even when we feel we have good reason to do so.

Love ‘isn’t arrogant (puffed up)’ with thoughts of our own importance or superior gifts, even when praised by others. It ‘isn’t rude’; it offers others respect, thoughtfulness, and honour, even when we feel the same has not been shown to us. It ‘isn’t easily angered (provoked)’ even when our desires or expectations are not met.

Love ‘keeps no record of wrongs,’ even when those wrongs seem many or great. Love ‘doesn’t delight in evil but rejoices in the truth;’ it doesn’t compromise, deny, bend, or stand in opposition to the truth, even when the truth is hard to hear or understand.

True Christian love ‘bears (suffers) all things’ humbly and quietly for the sake of others, even when we feel we have suffered too long or too much. It ‘believes (trusts) all things;’ it trusts in the goodness and sovereign will of God and speaks well of others, even when we feel there is just cause to doubt God’s will or be suspicious of their motives. It ‘hopes all things,’ resting in God’s all-conquering grace and provision, even when our human hopes are not realized. It ‘endures all things (perseveres),’ – does not give up on, or right others off, even in the face of disappointment, discouragement, or hurt.

Finally, ‘love never ends’; it remains eternally alongside – but always greater than – the gifts of faith and hope, even when our gifts, knowledge and foresight are temporal and incomplete. Love rests in and is motivated by the gracious eternal truth that we are fully known by God.

Just as the words, ‘And I will show you a still more excellent way’ (12:31b) knit chapter 12 to chapter 13, so the words, ‘Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts’ knit together Chapters 13 and 14. 1 Corinthians 14 shows us how ‘love comes to life’ when God’s people gather for worship.

Christ-like love shows in the loving, orderly exercise of the spiritual gifts for ‘building up the church’ (14:1-25) and in orderly worship practices, showing reverence for God’s will as revealed in his Word and godly respect for one another (14:26-40).

Pastor Lester Priebbenow

District Bishop, Victoria and Tasmania

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