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by Rebecka Colldunberg

Let’s be honest – water is bland, tasteless and downright dull!

If you’re anything like me you will get the sporadic jolt of motivation to ‘drink more water’, whereupon you will dutifully line up eight glasses of water on the windowsill of your kitchen, take one look at them and retreat, defeated, to a darkened corner.

Yes, water is the lack-lustre epitome of monotony in a glass.

That is, until … you need it. When you need water there is nothing else in the world that will suffice. The desperation in you grows. Your mouth becomes drier and drier. You are filled with self-loathing, ‘Why, oh why, oh WHY didn’t I take water with me?’. And then it hits you, ‘That’s right … I think water is boring’.

No other scene in cinematic history quite demonstrates this desperation for water as that iconic moment in Ben Hur, in which we find poor old Ben, having suffered umpteen upsets to his pleasant family fortunes, reduced to a slave in the Judean desert. With very little understanding of the concept of ‘happy worker equals good worker’, his Roman slavedrivers forbid him to stop for a 15-minute water break. And thus, parched in the desert, with a backdrop of sand, sand and more sand, and a heart-wrenching musical theme, two hands appear. The hands are those of Jesus, holding a small, artfully crafted wooden cup of water. With absolute desperation Ben lustily quenches his thirst with the life-giving liquid and finds the strength to carry on.

It is this very Christ-like behaviour that the members of St Paul’s, Glenelg, have emulated annually, during Adelaide’s famous 12-kilometre City to Bay Fun Run (now known as Bay-City), when they hand out bottles of water to parched and despairing runners.

Congregation member, helper and encourager Claire Kleinig explains the initiative’s conception, ‘The whole thing began when one of our members was participating and they commented that our church building is so close to the route’.

The church was so close in fact that congregational runners were able to complete the Sunday morning run and, with one final sprint, make it to communion on time (just!). ‘This one particular woman asked our pastor at the time, David Altus, how we could minister to the runners. The obvious way was to supply water’, Claire says.

Pastor Altus (now SA-NT district bishop) was very keen to support the idea and in 2007 the first crate of bottled water was purchased. In the first year each bottle had a small label affixed, prior to distribution, with the words ‘Living water, St Paul’s, Glenelg’.

In recent years the labels have grown in size and the words have become bolder, reading, ‘Water is a gift from God. May you be refreshed and blessed’, followed by the church name. The labelling …

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by volunteer workers and residents at Zaatari Refugee Camp, Jordan

The lead character Atticus Finch said in To Kill a Mockingbird, ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view …

Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it’. ALWS’s Chey Mattner recently visited Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan, meeting refugees who live and work there; and bringing back their stories, so we can know a little of what it’s like to be inside their skin. The stories have been received in English as told to a translator in Arabic.

What the future holds for the people at Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan is unknown, says Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) Executive Secretary Chey Mattner.

‘As with any refugee, they are at the mercy of individuals (in power in their home countries)’, he says of the camp’s 80,000 residents, having met volunteer workers for Lutheran World Federation (LWF) at the camp earlier this year.

Due to your generous giving, ALWS is able to support the work of the LWF in Jordan, including at Zaatari, and the workers receive a small stipend for what they do.

But, despite their past suffering and the uncertainty facing them, the refugees show great appreciation for the work of LWF (which they refer to as ‘Lutheria’), which gives them a chance to be involved as volunteers, and, importantly, hope for a better future.

Fasil
Dad and garbage collector

I’m Fasil. When the crisis in Syria became dangerous my three daughters were at school. The regime entered the school and sent many children to jail. I rescued my daughters. My brother was tortured under the regime.

We arrived in Zaatari in 2013. We were all in one tent and just recently managed to save some money to buy a ‘caravan’ (pre-fab room). In the tent we didn’t feel cold (it can snow) or hot (40+°C) because our main feeling was that we were safe.

(My knees) often get infected, and so I’m unable to do physical work. But if I have the chance, I collect garbage at the camp. I get paid 1 Jordanian dinar ($2) a day to do this.

I hope one day I can return to Syria but it’ll be difficult because things are getting worse.

Lutheria has been a big help. I really appreciate it. It’s number one! Why? Because it has given my wife a sewing course so now she can make some clothes. My daughter received psychosocial help, and I did a barbering course. I haven’t been able to set up a shop, but at least I can cut my family’s hair.

Mohammed
LWF volunteer worker: Youth educator and supervisor for Life Skills course

My name’s Mohammed. I’m 28 years old. I was studying English literature at Damascus University before the war.

After graduating, I would normally need to do army service, but I don’t believe in war, so the regime put me on their wanted list. Security forces came to my house. They arrested three of my brothers and destroyed furniture.

They sent a message to me through my brothers saying, “If we catch you we will kill you and cut you up into many pieces”. I decided to leave Syria. The Free Syrian Army helped me. It was a very risky trip. Shelling and gunshots were happening every day.

During my first month (at Zaatari) I was shocked and depressed because I had left my family, friends and house. Lutheria visited me to provide support. They explained what their mission, objectives and plans were, and invited me to volunteer. I accepted because I believed in these objectives and needed to break out of my depression.

The quality of Lutheria’s work – not just to provide services but a high quality of services – and the respectful way they treat refugees, with respect and dignity, attracted me.

My dream is to return to Syria one day, to return to my study, and to rebuild my country again.

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by LISA MCINTOSH

Two young Australians are leaving their families and taking their baby – and the gospel – to West Asia.

’‘You’ve got a new baby, and you’re doing what?’

It’s a question Mary and John have become somewhat used to as they prepare to head overseas to serve as volunteer cross-cultural workers – with baby James in tow.

The simplest and best answer is that they’re answering God’s call and following his lead to wherever he guides them, no matter what the cost.

Members of a Lutheran church in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, in South Australia, Mary and John will be going to serve people in West Asia for a time to be determined, but probably at least six years. In the interests of their security, The Lutheran is withholding their names, their exact destination and other details.

They’ll spend the first 12 months learning the local language and culture and building relationships with local people.

Then it will be a matter of what God has in store for Mary, a teacher in Lutheran schools, and John, a software engineer, both in their early 30s.

Their supporting agency Interserve Australia has identified a number of potential voluntary roles, possibly working with refugees, and, in Mary’s case, perhaps with children with autism.  The aim, as with many development roles, will be to train local people to do a needed job.

Their long-term service overseas has been arranged through the supporting agency, which has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lutheran Church of Australia International Mission. They won’t be paid a wage while they are away, but will rather draw on a living allowance and medical cover from Interserve, which will be funded purely by regular donations from individual and church partners.

James will be just six months old when the trio hopes to leave Australia in April, and the young parents know that being away from their families at such a time in their lives will be difficult – on them and their loved ones.

However, Mary and John believe God is behind the move and offers reassurance in the Bible.

‘Mark chapter 10 has really spoken to me because it’s about giving up things, and we’re going to be leaving our families’, Mary says.

John adds: ‘Even though it’s going to be tough leaving, that’s been really encouraging to have Scripture like that’.

‘Having a baby made us think longer and harder about whether it was the right thing for us, but it didn’t ever change our minds. Once we started this journey towards going away, we met so many people with families and discovered that most of the people serving overseas have children.

‘It’s a sacrifice for the people who stay behind as well. Our families are sacrificing a lot and missing out on things. We realise it doesn’t affect just us, our going away.’

Indeed, their decision to leave their families, friends and church family, give up secure jobs and sell their house hasn’t been taken lightly. Nor has it been made overnight. The duo believes God has been working for years to prepare their hearts for this move.

After meeting Mary, John went on a short-term volunteer trip to Cambodia, organised through the LCA International Mission.

He says that once they started planning their wedding, the idea of ‘staying overseas, doing something meaningful’ became stronger.

Married in January 2012, they spent four months in Malaysia volunteering at Bethany Home (a school and accommodation for young people with disabilities), as part of an overseas trip.

Including that LCA International Mission-organised service as a component of an extended honeymoon did have friends and colleagues questioning whether it was a sensible move for newlyweds.

‘People thought that it would be
tough on our relationship’, Mary says. ‘But we found that it was better because we weren’t just going straight into (normal) life.’

At Bethany Home, Mary worked with students with a wide range of disabilities, and ran meetings to train staff, as well as developing resources for the local workers. That work moved her to do specialised study in the field of special education, which she continued after returning to Australia.

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by Tick Zweck

When Ern Heyne died, an entire city mourned.

Riding the tram in suburban Adelaide one day, I noticed the woman next to me fidgeting in her handbag one minute, peering intently out of the window the next. I asked whether she was okay and she responded she was from the country, and had no idea at which stop to get off. I said she could follow me as her destination was on my way.

We chatted and, when I discovered she hailed from Port Pirie, I asked if she had any connections with the Lutheran church there. She didn’t, and wanted to know why I had asked. I told her my mother’s eldest brother lived there, and she insisted I elaborate, so I inquired whether she knew of Ern Heyne. She answered incredulously: ‘Everyone knows Pastor Heyne!’.

A former primary school teacher, Ern made a huge impact on this large regional centre in the Mid-North of South Australia. Ordained in January 1964, he was installed in the Port Pirie Lutheran Church soon after, and continued to serve the city until he retired (officially) in December 1997.

In a civic reception in 2014 he was honoured for 50 years of service to Port Pirie. In 2012 he wrote in his regular column, ‘My Say’, in The Recorder, ‘When I was appointed as pastor of the Port Pirie Lutheran Church, there were people in the big smoke who, in their ignorance, said, “Port Pirie?” My simple response was “Yes. I prayed last night I would get Pirie”.’

He was bound to make an impact, though when he first arrived, sporting long hair and riding a motorbike, one parishioner inquired who he was!

This was a man who sincerely said, ‘Here I am, Lord, send me’. I’ve learnt that when you offer your service to God in gratitude, he will take you up on it, and use you to be his hands and feet to glorify him.

This was a match literally made in heaven. In his own inimitable style, he reckoned God thought, ‘Ern’s a bit rough, Pirie’s a bit rough; they’ll get on great’. He often said he would not want to be anywhere else: ‘I look into people’s faces and

I think, “Port Pirie is the most beautiful place in the world”’ (The Recorder, 18 September 2014).

Ern’s care for the people of Pirie was evident in the 2132 weekly columns (‘My Say’) he wrote for The Recorder spanning 41 years. His final message was on 19 November 2015, only 18 days before he died. Even when he was overseas visiting House of Hope, the children’s home he sponsored in Sumatra, or seeing his nephew working in Uganda, Ern submitted an article. Featuring both everyday issues and broader social topics, they ‘enlightened and inspired people, but also enraged some or caused strong debate’, according to an editorial in The Recorder (9 August 2011). I have read hundreds of the provocative pieces, infused with personal observations and childhood reminiscences. The latter were arguably to illustrate the importance he placed on faith, family values and forgiveness. The same editorial put it this way: ‘Ern is a quiet believer in his faith who has his say, but never forces his opinions on anyone.

 

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by Andrea Cross

Lutherans are well known for putting on a ‘good spread’. Perhaps this stems from Martin Luther’s example of hosting his ‘Table Talk’ gatherings. Or could it be a more recent phenomena fostered by the bounty of blessings many of us share today? Ultimately, of course, it is Jesus who inspires our Longest Lutheran Lunch, with his example of hospitality to ‘the least of these’.

More than 100 Lutheran congregations and schools shared the gift of hospitality by taking part in the Longest Lutheran Lunch this year, as part of the celebration of the anniversary of the Reformation (31 October).

Registrations for this annual event included seven congregations in New Zealand and even one in Ontario, Canada. All Australian states and territories were represented, apart from Tasmania and the Northern Territory, with South Australia having the largest by Andrea Cross contingent of 27. Four primary schools, two secondary colleges and one agedcare facility were involved.

More than 50 congregations and schools took part for the first time.

The official registrations are not a true reflection of the number of congregations involved, however, as some nominated as a parish and invited two or more congregations to events.

Some lunches were held as early as June, while some were in late November. Only one congregation registered a lunch on 31 October.

Others changed the name completely to fit in with their activities. Some participants staged breakfasts or dinners. Members from Zion Lutheran Church, Vectis, in Victoria’s Wimmera region, combined their ‘lunch’ with their annual German Night, which drew more than 120 people, most of whom were not members of the church community.

Others to ‘turn German’ for their Longest Lutheran Lunch included St Peter’s Lutheran Church, Loxton, in South Australia’s Riverland on 8 November, and three congregations from Queensland’s Gold Coast, which met at St Andrews, Tallebudgera, on 1 November.

By contrast, several congregations from the Barossa Valley met at Moculta on 25 October, with an Australian flavour to their lunch, featuring campoven damper, lamb stew and Anzac biscuits on the menu.

A short distance away at Redeemer Lutheran School, Nuriootpa, more than 400 staff and students teamed the Longest Lutheran Lunch with their 150th anniversary, under the theme ‘Eating Together in Our 150th Year’. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Witta, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, hit the front page of its local newspaper with lunchers dressed in period costume.

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