, , ,

The idol of the self … in our church and our world

by Pastor Michael Lockwood

Years ago, when I first began reflecting seriously on the idolatry of contemporary society, my goal was to understand the beliefs of those outside the church so I could bring them the gospel.

Yet the more I reflected on the idolatry of the world, the more I realised that the same idolatry had infected the church and my own heart too. Just as the ancient Israelites were tempted to worship the Lord and Baal as well, so we easily slip into thinking we can serve Christ without relinquishing the idolatrous agendas of our society.

In past ages, people worshipped gods of wood and stone. In the West today, we mostly just worship ourselves. This problem is as old as Adam and Eve, who wanted to be like God. Nevertheless, our society has sunk to new lows with its dedication to the worship of human beings, and all too often we Christians fall into the same trap. I therefore will explore three ways in which this idol is evident in us and our world and how the true and living God can set us free.

THE PROBLEM

  1. Who do we love? We love ourselves.

Our secular world can propose nothing greater to live for than individual happiness and equates happiness with the fulfilment of our desires. Thus, the goal of life is to get the world around us to give us what we want.

This idolatrous self-interest is not restricted to those outside the church. The reality is that we all love ourselves too much. We may not always like ourselves, but we are self-interested and want the world and even God to revolve around us and give us what we crave. Often, we put a religious spin on this. We slip into thinking that if we are sufficiently virtuous or pious, God and those around us should reward us by bending to our will. We are then inclined to get angry with God or lash out at others when this strategy fails.

Furthermore, the church often panders to this idolatry. Pastors become people-pleasers. Churches try to cater to people’s felt needs, hoping to be rewarded with popularity. In the process they lose sight of giving people what they really need, the Bread of Life.

Paradoxically, this pursuit of our own happiness does not bring happiness. We were not created to be at the centre of the universe, and neither God nor the world around us will allow us to pull them into our orbit. Such efforts just lead to frustration. It is God’s will that will finally be done, not ours, whether we like it or not.

  1. Who do we trust? We trust ourselves.

Our society repeatedly tells us to believe in ourselves and its fundamental assumption is that there must be a human answer to every problem. No matter what confronts us, we are told that human work and ingenuity can engineer a solution. This appeals to our sinful pride, which wants to be able to say, ‘We can do it’, rather than giving glory to God as the one who provides.

People in the church are not immune. All too often we say we trust in the Lord when our behaviour shows that we are really trusting in ourselves or other human beings. For example, what do we do in a crisis? Often, we call a meeting, in which we pray for two minutes and then plan and strategise for three hours. We never dream of calling on the church to pray all night as we see in Scripture, and as I have witnessed among Christians in Nepal. This pattern reveals the extent to which our faith is really in ourselves and not in the God who answers prayer.

This idolatrous self-reliance is expressed in how we relate to all three members of the Trinity. For example:

  • Our Heavenly Father promises to care for our earthly needs. Yet often our prayerlessness, workaholism and desperate groping after earthly things reveal that we are really trusting in ourselves to provide.
  • Our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who justifies us. He alone makes us acceptable in God’s sight and worthy to hold our heads up high. Yet too often we seek to justify ourselves instead and turn our own righteousness into an idol we put in his place. We make excuses, point the finger, pass the buck, exaggerate our virtues, downplay our vices, go fishing for praise and try to claim that the wrong we have done is really right, instead of confessing our sins and glorifying Christ as the one who forgives and saves us.
  • The Holy Spirit is the one who enlightens us through his word, works faith and its fruits in our hearts, and so builds God’s church. Yet all too often we seek to enlighten ourselves and turn our own wisdom into an idol. We neglect God’s word as if we are too clever to need it or set it aside for the sake of human opinions. Then we try to build the church or reform our own lives through our own efforts.

These efforts inevitably fail. Like all idols, the idol of the self demands great sacrifices from us, but then it lets us down since we have neither the strength, virtue, nor wisdom to take God’s place. Whether we like it or not, we are totally dependent on him. When we act like we do not need him, we guarantee that we will end up sinking exhausted under the weight of our foolishness, failure and sin.

  1. What do we fear? We fear everything.

Our humanistic society is an anxious place. This is the hallmark of idolatry. When we turn to idols, trusting them to provide for us and take our fears away, they inevitably fail us, so the fears remain. The same is true when we trust in ourselves or other people. The more we do so, the more anxious we will be about our performance and the things we cannot control.

The COVID crisis did not create this anxiety, but it has revealed it. In this crisis, our society has fractured into two camps, both of which are driven by fear. One side has been fearful of COVID and has trusted in human measures like masks, lockdowns, and vaccines to manage this fear. The other side is more fearful of things like censorship and creeping authoritarianism and has fought these fears with social and political activism. Whatever the merits of these respective actions, both sides would be less frantic if we spent more time looking to Jesus.

THE SOLUTION:

The God who gives us every good thing by grace.

The good news in this situation is that the true and living God wants to give us by grace all the things we have vainly tried to supply for ourselves.

This true God has come to break us out of our narcissistic self-focus. He wants what is best for us and is able to deliver. Yet he knows that this involves us dying to our destructive self-centred desires.

True joy is not found in getting whatever we want, but in learning to want what God wants. The blessed life is one that revolves around him and his will for us, which is always gracious and good. We are free to live this way, since he has promised to give us everything we need by grace, apart from our self-centred striving.

God has got our backs, so we can forget about ourselves, and instead focus on serving him and those around us as he calls us to do.

This same God now calls to us: ‘Trust in me. I will give you by grace what you have failed to provide for yourselves. I will feed you, clothe you, protect you, heal you, forgive you, honour you, empower you, delight you, instruct you with true heavenly wisdom, and welcome you into my kingdom.’

Furthermore, this God has come to calm our fears. The most frequently repeated command in the Bible is ‘fear not’.

Fear the Lord and him alone and then you will have nothing to fear, since he is gracious and he is mighty, and he has conquered everything that can bring you harm.

When Peter took his eyes off Jesus, he became afraid and started to sink.

How often have we not done the same? Yet while his eyes were on Jesus he could walk on the waves. The same is true with us.

By ourselves we can do nothing. We cannot provide for our earthly needs, save ourselves from death and hell, still our fears or fill the aching void in our souls.

Yet the true God is calling to us and saying: ‘Look to me, and me alone, in every dimension of your lives, so that your cup runs over with what my grace supplies.’

Rev Dr Michael Lockwood serves as a theological educator for LCA International Mission and has recently been called to teach in Taiwan. He is the author of The Unholy Trinity: Martin Luther Against the Idol of Me, Myself, and I.

Already a subscriber? Click here to login and read this article.
Not a subscriber? Click here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full
/by
, , ,

The idol factory

by Mick Hauser

It is difficult to know where to start when writing about the subject of idolatry. I’d like to approach it with some humour, but it’s such a hard-hitting topic, how can you do that?

Australian Lutheran pastor Rev Dr Michael Lockwood, who has also written for this edition, has penned a book on Luther’s understanding of idolatry entitled The Unholy Trinity. Its central thesis is that the self and its desire to be covered in glory rather than with the blood of Christ lies behind all idolatry.

And we continue to make innumerable idols, chiefly with our imaginations.

‘Idolatry is an attempt of the imagination to take the divine and make it visible, to make it understandable, to make it manageable’, say the authors and Lutheran theologians Gene Veith Jr and Pastor Matthew P Ristuccia, in their book Imagination Redeemed.

Martin Luther, his fellow Protestant reformer John Calvin and 20th-century Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer all agreed somewhat that the imagination was an idol factory.

Our imaginations seem to be unrelenting in creating idols. Even within the church, faithful Christians have a habit of unwittingly chiselling out idols, abstract or otherwise.

We often take aspects of a divine promise or gift and idolise them. For instance, freedom, love and wisdom or reason.

These are aspects or qualities of divinity, but torn away from the person of Christ, created and carved into abstract notions or principles, they become idols.

The most common idol according to Luther is mammon – money, property, riches or any material wealth. They are created gifts that we mistake for God. In our materialistic world and culture, we don’t have to look far to find the influence of mammon on our lives.

Idols, too, especially most recently, often dress themselves with the garment and scales of ‘justice’. For instance, freedom for everyone is good, especially for me! Ethical philosophical systems easily become idols. ‘Virtue signalling’ is a product of idolatry.

A little more hidden is the idolatry we find surrounding the chief articles of the church, our confessions. I don’t mean that the Book of Concord itself is an idol – although this would be and is concerning – but I mean the idolatry that seeks to copy closely the articles of faith, but with distortions that can be manipulated.

We idolise the office of public ministry, the pulpit and the authority it holds and the voice that it gives.

We idolise the keys to the kingdom too, to bind and to loose sin as we become the judges of the world, offering up an opinion on everything and pasting them all over the cyberworld. We are very ready to declare someone as unspeakable and another to be worthy of mention.

A little closer to our hearts though, the idol of self-love has always told us that we can be whatever we want to be. In our pandering to one another, we thought that loving our neighbour meant agreeing with them and reiterating the lie.

Now we reap what we sow. People modify their bodies, not only in their gender, but some go so far as to want to look like a different species altogether.

Science fiction often imagines cybernetics or beings that are part-human and part-machine, leaving humanity facing a struggle to maintain control. In many cases, the progress and ultimate survival of humanity are held up as the leading ethical principles of what is just and right.

Living for eternity seems to be the goal for many, as we idolise life itself. We have literally locked up those who threaten life with sickness.

We cast aspersions and mock those who stand against worldly tides. Idolatry has infiltrated all levels of society and it is a religion in itself.

Lord have mercy on us! We have plenty to turn away from. Help us, we pray!

Pastor Mick Hauser serves as a lecturer at Martin Luther Seminary at Lae in Papua New Guinea.

Already a subscriber? Click here to login and read this article.
Not a subscriber? Click here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full
/by
, , ,

Ordination on the agenda

As the in-person sessions of the 20th Convention of General Synod approach, LCANZ members are asking whether the ordination question will be on the agenda once again. It will be. Six proposals on the topic have been presented for discussion by delegates. Three of them refer to the Theses of Agreement. The following document has been prepared for delegates and other church members interested in this conversation. Endorsed by the General Church Board, it provides a summary of the proposals about ordination to come before Synod, as well as the status of the Theses of Agreement.

Ordination of women and men – the proposals before General Synod

Six proposals relating to the ordination question are before the 20th General Synod and will be considered at the in-person sessions in February 2023:

  • three proposing to remove TA 6.11 from the Theses of Agreement
  • one proposing that the LCANZ allow two practices of ordination
  • one proposing that the General Church Board (GCB) work through the theological, constitutional and governance requirements in establishing one church with two different practices of ordination, and reporting back to General Synod in the form of a proposal for discussion and potential endorsement
  • one proposing to give a peaceful dismissal to those congregations unable to live under the current teaching of a male-only pastorate and exercise their right to withdraw membership from the LCANZ.

Some proposals refer to the Theses of Agreement, particularly TA 1.4 and TA 6.11. The GCB is aware that, across the church, there are various levels of understanding of the Theses of Agreement and has approved the following summary.

Theses of Agreement

What are the Theses of Agreement?

The Theses of Agreement are the common consent of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia (UELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia (ELCA) on matters of doctrine which were in dispute between them. They were adopted by the respective churches in the mid- to late-1950s.

The journey to union of the two Lutheran churches had a number of false starts in the early part of the 20th century. The concerted effect to renew union discussions began in 1937–38, but it was not until 1941 that the official meetings of representatives of the two churches began. The various theses were adopted by the joint committees between 1948 and 1956. Aspects of Theses 5 ‘The Church’ were adopted by the joint committees in 1965.

Although the clarification on matters of doctrine was predominantly settled with the adoption of the Theses of Agreement by both churches, the way forward on cooperation and fellowship was only resolved with the Document of Union, which was registered by the churches in 1965. The Theses of Agreement was recognised in the document as acceptance of the expression of the common consent of the two churches and was made part of the Document of Union.

At the constituting convention of the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) in 1966, the General Synod adopted the LCA Constitution and resolved other matters regarding the amalgamation of the new church. The Theses of Agreement is not part of the LCA Constitution; however, its status as a document of the church has been articulated since the constituting convention in 1966.

Theses of Agreement relevant to the office of the ministry

Theses of Agreement (TA) 6 defines the teaching of the LCA on the office of the ministry. TA 6.1 to 6.10 refer to God’s institution of the office and the responsibilities and authority of those called to the office as recorded in Scripture and in the Lutheran Symbols of the Book of Concord of 1580. TA 6.11 refers specifically to prohibiting women from being called into the office of the public ministry.

None of the five proposals before the General Synod seeking the ordination of women and men disputes TA 6.1 to 6.10. Three of the proposals seek the removal of TA 6.11. One calls for the LCANZ to allow two practices of ministry in the church. Another calls for the LCANZ to work through the theological, constitutional and governance requirements to operate as one church with two different practices of ordination.

Use of Theses of Agreement 1 as the basis of proposals to allow the ordination of both women and men

Three of the proposals refer to TA 1, ‘Principles governing Church Fellowship’, specifically paragraph 4 (TA 1.4).

TA 1.4 can be summarised as follows: that where differences in exegesis (interpretation of Scripture) exist that affect doctrine (the church’s teaching) and if agreement cannot be reached following ‘combined, prayerful examination of the passage or passages in question’, divergent views arising from such differences are not church-divisive, providing that:

  1. There be the readiness in principle to submit to the authority of the Word of God;
  2. Thereby no clear Word of Scripture is denied, contradicted or ignored;
  3. Such divergent views in no wise impair, infringe upon, or violate the central doctrine of Holy Scripture, justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ;
  4. Nothing is taught contrary to the publica doctrina of the Lutheran Church as laid out in its Confessions;
  5. Such divergent views are not propagated as the publica doctrina of the Church and in no wise impair the doctrine of Holy Writ.

The full text of TA 1.4 can be found on the Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations page on the LCA website at www.lca.org.au/cticr

Already a subscriber? Click here to login and read this article.
Not a subscriber? Click here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full
/by
, , ,

The power of the humble lentil

by Matthias Prenzler

Legumes such as lentils are an essential part of the East African diet. 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, Shepparton in Victoria was hit hard by the Delta COVID outbreak. At one stage, a third of the city was in hard quarantine, and essential services like supermarkets were struggling to keep up.

The lockdowns were felt keenly by African members of St Paul’s Lutheran Church, who were cut off from their families, community and church. Our congregation did our best to attend to the physical and spiritual needs of members. One of the only ways we could do this within restrictions was by delivering care packages of culturally appropriate food items, including lentils. These fed the belly and 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 during a pandemic? I rang Gavin Schuster, a farmer from Freeling in South Australia and a member of the Light Lutheran Church. He asked members of his church, and although nobody had any lentils available, they sent money to enable us to purchase legumes locally. Soon after we invited Light Lutheran Church to consider a mission partnership with Goulburn Murray Lutheran Parish.

With the assistance of Craig Heidenreich, the LCA’s Cross-Cultural Ministry Facilitator, and Brett Kennett, LCA Victorian District Pastor for Congregational Support, we have been looking to establish mission partnerships. As well as financial support, these partnerships aim to provide opportunities for prayer, sharing of skills in cross-cultural ministry and mutual encouragement.

For the past six years, the Goulburn Murray Parish has been blessed by the ministry of Kathleen Mills, a deaconess from the USA who has been instrumental with ministry work among the Shepparton African community. Her position has previously been funded by a generous grant from the LCANZ’s Board for Local Mission, but this funding ended in May 2022.

On 31 July 2022, a delegation from St Paul’s Shepparton visited Freeling for a mission festival. Members of St Paul’s African choir sang, Kathleen shared a presentation on her work in the parish, and representatives of the two church bodies signed a Memorandum of Understanding. It was a very joyful and encouraging start to the partnership, and we look forward to seeing it grow and develop.

Light Lutheran Church is raising funds for mission through the work of some innovative farmers from the church. The farmers received permission to crop a plot of government land if they used 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!

Pastor Matthias Prenzler serves the Goulburn Murray Lutheran Parish in Victoria.

The full version of this story first appeared in the Victorian District including Tasmania’s District eVoices.

Already a subscriber? Click here to login and read this article.
Not a subscriber? Click here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full
/by
,

Sharing the gift of life

by Lisa Mcintosh

In 2008, 39-year-old Darren Forrest contracted a virus that caused his kidneys to malfunction. Unless a compatible kidney donor was found, Darren would need to go onto the life-altering routine of dialysis, something medical professionals wanted to avoid. Family members were tested for compatibility and, while his mum, Marg, was very keen to be the donor, only his father, Geoff, was a match.

Willing to donate a kidney to his son, but also feeling as though he had no choice in the matter, Geoff, who was then 65, underwent a year of very extensive medical tests – between 20 and 30 in number according to his estimates.

However, in the last scan, doctors found lumps on his lungs. The transplant was put on hold due to concern that Geoff might have cancer. The medical team decided they could test again three months later to confirm that the lumps were benign.

‘The whole process took more than a year from start to finish’, says Geoff, who taught and then tutored at Immanuel College in suburban Adelaide across
a period of more than 35 years from 1981. ‘And they tested for everything. It was very reassuring to me. Because I was older, they had to check absolutely everything to ensure that I wasn’t going to get cancer or anything that would leave my remaining kidney damaged.’

While the lead-up to the transplant impressed Geoff, what happened afterwards was painful – physically and emotionally. Darren was in intensive care after the operation with nursing support throughout, but Geoff was put in a public ward that accommodated a violent patient with dementia and then was sent home from hospital after two days despite not feeling well enough to be discharged. He split his stitches due to the extreme pain and the effect of the drugs he was given, but was unable to access promised nursing support through a 24-hour hotline.

Naturally, though, there were plenty of good outcomes of Geoff’s sacrifice. The amount of the chemical waste product creatinine – which is removed by the kidneys – in Darren’s system had been at near-fatal levels before the transplant, but the improvement was dramatic. ‘The transplant happened at about 8am and by midday, it had gone down from 2000 to 200’, Geoff says. ‘So, the kidney started working straight away – it was incredible.

‘The transplant also enabled Darren to have a child so, indirectly, I was responsible for that, too. So, all that was really good, but it was much harder on me than I thought it would be. I still would have done it, don’t get me wrong. But I also resented the fact that I felt that I didn’t have a choice.’

Thankfully, Geoff’s experience of a lack of post-operative medical support was not typical of other donors that year from the same hospital. The donors were asked to share their experiences with health practitioners at a meeting. ‘All these other people were saying it was the best experience of their life’, Geoff says. When it came to his turn, he says the surgeon was ‘shattered’ by what had happened to him, because she said they hadn’t paid enough attention to the donors while focusing their attention on the recipients.

Geoff, who was raised in the Methodist church and had taught at an Anglican school in New South Wales, before joining the staff at Immanuel College and becoming involved with the Lutheran church through the chapel services there, says he has often pondered the interplay between Christian living and the ethics of organ donation. ‘Is it playing God or is it just like any other advances in medical treatment?’, he asks.

However, it was his second experience with organ donation and, more particularly, the sudden death of his wife of more than 49 years, Marg, that he says shook his faith to the core.

In 2015, Marg, who had also been a teacher and, like Geoff, was at that time tutoring Indigenous students who boarded at Immanuel, fell one day at work and hit her head. Otherwise fit and healthy, Marg played golf and worked in the two days following before a severe headache led to her being hospitalised. Within a further 24 hours, she was in a coma from which she never recovered. Marg was on life-support for two days, with Geoff and his children, Darren and Kerry, keeping a hospital bedside vigil.

Geoff knew Marg wanted to be an organ donor. However, when the family was told that donating her heart and lungs would mean a further two days on life support, it was too much to ask. ‘And so we said. “No, we don’t want that”’, Geoff says. ‘We were able to donate two kidneys, and that’s what she would have wanted because of Darren.’

Even more traumatic for the Forrests were the three hours of interviews that followed Marg’s death with the workplace health and safety regulator and the organ donation representatives, including highly personal and even ‘revolting’ questions. ‘It was hell’, says Geoff, who hopes there will be procedural change that will save other families going through what they endured.

‘The whole thing with Marg’s death rocked my faith because I’m thinking, “Why me?” I’ve had a friend who was five minutes from dying due to blocked arteries – now they’ve had a quadruple bypass and they’re fit as a fiddle. And I’m thinking, “Why wasn’t Marg given that chance?” I don’t like the suggestion that God simply needs her more than others.’

However, Geoff says the tragedy has changed his outlook on life and relating to loved ones. ‘I’ve learnt that life is very precious’, he says, adding that it’s critical to treasure the people you love while you have them. ‘And remember to tell them that you love them.’

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by
,

God’s strength provides a career in caring

Every morning when Shirley Klinge looks out of her window at the Tabeel retirement village at Laidley, she gazes at the hills at Cunninghams Gap, a pass over the Great Dividing Range connecting coastal Brisbane to the Darling Downs, in southeast Queensland.

Visible from Brisbane on a clear day, the mountains are a reminder of her favourite psalm, and the source of her strength: ‘I look unto the hills, that is where I get my strength from’ (Psalm 121).

Shirley’s home in the picturesque Lockyer Valley, nestled between the peaks of Mount Cordeaux and Mount Mitchell, is perfect for where God has placed her.

‘God’s given me gifts, so why not use them to the best of my ability?’, asks Shirley, who turns 74 this month.

So, she has done just that through a lifetime of care for the people of her community.

Shirley’s passion for caring for others has touched people through all life stages, from children as young as two, to elders as old as 108 years.

The trained nurse spent a decade from 1985 as director of nursing at Tabeel aged-care home at Laidley – in the same location where she and her husband of 52 years David have since moved into the retirement village.

She’s also run a childcare centre, worked in a hospital casualty department, been an in-home nurse, and a voluntary parish nurse, and provided chaplaincy support to the valley’s Faith Lutheran College.

‘I’ve gone where the need has been and then paid work often followed’, Shirley says.

Despite several failed attempts to retire from 2013, she is hoping her current attempt will allow her to spend more time caring for the member groups of the West Moreton Zone of Lutheran Women Queensland, of which she is president.

‘I do love my guild work, it’s women supporting women in the church’, Shirley says. ‘Until COVID hit, I visited every parish in the zone, and in August I will start again, just to let them know they are not on their own, that Lutheran Women of Queensland care for them.

‘That’s what I want retirement life to be about, but I haven’t quite found it yet.’ What she has found in her lifetime of caring is the skill and sensitivity to be a caring companion.

Since finishing work at Tabeel, Shirley has previously been called back to serve as chaplain, and now does paid relief work when the current chaplain, Pastor Noel Burton, is on leave. Shirley often also volunteers in palliative care chaplaincy in a role she finds very rewarding using her nursing skills.

‘There’s no greater privilege’, she says. ‘Many a night I have gone in to stay with them, especially ones with no family around to support them. It’s all the little things that can provide that last special touch, a back rub, sharing Bible readings and their favourite music.

‘I ask God to please give me the gifts and inspiration I need to give them what they need in their last hours.

‘To me, it’s just special. It is beautiful, peaceful, and it’s just a privilege, especially in the early hours of the morning.’

From when she was a little girl, Shirley knew she was going to be a nurse.

Born in Kingaroy, in Queensland’s South Burnett region as the second eldest of five, she grew up on a peanut farm in nearby Kumbia, before going to boarding school
in Warwick.

‘When I finished school, I did dental nursing until I was old enough to do my nursing training from 1966 to 1970’, Shirley recalls.

Her future husband David, a diesel fitter, was working across the road from the hospital. They wed just after she graduated, and they moved to Mt Isa for work. That is where they had their two sons, Nigel, 50, and Nathan, 48, and where she became director of the St Pauls Lutheran Church Child Care Centre.

And, after a life of caring, what is Shirley’s secret ingredient? ‘God loves us, so you’ve got to love everyone else’, she says.

Now, in her (most recent) retirement, Shirley is an elder in the Laidley church, president and treasurer of Redeemer Lutheran Women’s Fellowship and convenes the congregation’s funeral catering group. And she loves her roles with Lutheran Women of Queensland.

Shirley’s also been awarded life membership of the Lutheran Nurses Association of Australia for her volunteer pastoral nurse role.

Her tip for lending a helping hand? ‘Do what makes you feel comfortable’, Shirley says. ‘You’ve got to be comfortable with what you do … other than running a mile the other way!’

Just look to the mountains!

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by
, , ,

Exploring the ethics of organ donations

Most people only ever face the question of whether to become an organ donor when they renew their driver’s licence. A few confront it when close relatives suffer kidney failure. Hardly anybody decides they have excess kidneys and volunteers to donate one to a needy stranger. Nick Schwarz shares some guidance on the ethics of organ donation by living donors and by donors immediately after their death.

In wealthy countries with advanced health care systems like Australia and New Zealand, people who suffer organ failure often go on a waiting list for a transplant. They rely on an organ coming from someone else – an organ donor.

There is a waiting list because there are always more people who need transplants than there are suitable organs available.

Organs can be taken from the bodies of people immediately after their death, or, in the case of kidneys, they can be donated by living people, as most people are born with two functioning kidneys. A healthy person can function well on one kidney if the other is removed.

Australia deals with the shortage of donor organs by allocating available organs fairly, and by encouraging drivers to tick the organ donor box on their licence which consents to organ donation after their death.

IT’S PERSONAL

Imagine your brother or sister needs a kidney transplant. As a healthy person with two normal kidneys, you might consider offering one of yours! Being closely related genetically means your sibling’s body has a better chance of accepting your kidney.

If you did offer one, and your sibling agreed (and you passed all the necessary screening), you’d have an operation to remove one of your kidneys for immediate transplant into your sibling. You’d most likely recover from the surgery in about eight weeks but face potential complications in the days after the operation such as bleeding, wound infection and pneumonia. In the long-term, you should be able to lead a relatively normal life, aside from avoiding contact sport to protect your remaining kidney. Your gift will dramatically enhance your sibling’s life expectancy and quality of life.

Choosing to donate a kidney while still alive is a big deal. Because it is ethically complicated, there is no campaign to encourage it. Living organ donation goes against the traditional ‘do no harm’ principle in medicine because it involves healthy individuals undergoing medical interventions that are not for their own benefit and which cause short-term pain with no long-term gain.

Potential donors are assessed for their suitability and have the short and long-term risks and consequences explained to them. In Australia and New Zealand, the choice to donate a kidney is supposed to be voluntary. Nobody is supposed to be pressured into it. It is also meant to be a gift, with no payment involved or special conditions attached.

WHAT ABOUT VITAL ORGANS LIKE YOUR HEART?

The ‘dead donor rule’ states that doctors can only take vital organs like the heart, lungs and liver from people who have died. Even if it would improve the chances of a successful transplant, it is unethical to ‘finish off’ (i.e. murder) dying patients to ensure organs are as fresh as possible. To avoid perceptions of a conflict of interest, separate medical teams deal with (a) the business of treating the dying and confirming death, and (b) the business of harvesting and transplanting organs.

For many families of organ donors, coming to terms with their loved ones’ death is complicated by the need to understand and accept the concept of ‘brain death’. Brain death occurs when, because of an injury or accident, the whole of a person’s brain is deprived of oxygen for so long it permanently stops functioning. Patients diagnosed as brain dead can still appear to their families to be alive because artificial life support is used to pump air into their lungs to oxygenate their blood and keep their heart going and their skin warm and of normal colour. Without proper explanations and support, they can be traumatised by the misapprehension that their loved one is still alive as, still attached to life support, they are taken away to an operating theatre to have their organs removed and given to unknown recipients.

DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, DIFFERENT POLICIES

In Australia and New Zealand, we have an ‘opt-in’ organ donation policy. This means organs can only be removed from people who have explicitly stated that they want to be an organ donor. The wishes of families are respected, however. Organ donation can’t proceed without the family’s agreement. Opt-in organ donation is the norm in English-speaking countries where we have a strong sense of ownership over our bodies and want a say over what happens to them even after we are dead.

Some countries such as Spain, France, Norway and Sweden have an ‘opt-out’ policy. There, adults must explicitly state they don’t want to be an organ donor, or they’ll be presumed to have consented to being one. The wishes of families are still taken into account, however. If families say no, donation won’t proceed.

The citizens of Iran can legally buy and sell kidneys in a government-regulated trading system. But in Iran and many other nations around the world, there is also illegal trading in organs. ‘Transplant tourism’ occurs especially in China, India and Pakistan, where medical services are sophisticated enough to perform transplant surgery for rich locals and foreigners.

Organ traders prey upon the poor for cash in exchange for kidneys, then sell them at a profit to transplant clinics. Kidneys and other organs are also reportedly harvested from prisoners and people who are kidnapped and murdered, including homeless people, people with unpaid debts and dissidents.

See the more information reference for details about the ethical principles that underpin Australia’s and New Zealand’s current organ donation policies.

A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

God’s clearest source of his will for us, the Bible, offers no clear directions for us on organ donation. That’s no surprise given it was written many centuries before organ transplantation became possible. Even so, God’s word is still helpful.

The Bible teaches that human life is precious. God himself creates and gives life to every human being. Most churches consider Jesus’ life and teachings as neutral on or leaning towards support for organ donation. Those that believe they find support in the Bible cite evidence like the following:

  • Jesus modelled sacrificial love. He invites us to follow his example, saying, ‘Love one another as I have loved you’.
  • As Jesus sent out his disciples, he instructed them to, ‘Heal the sick… freely you have received, freely give’ (Matthew 10:8).
  • Jesus healed the sick. He didn’t tell them their sickness was ‘God’s will’ or ‘God’s just punishment for sin’. He generously gave them a new lease on life.
  • In Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37), he urges us to extend our love and charity to neighbours in need.

Many Christians view organ donation as ‘acceptable’ or ‘good’ and willingly register as organ donors provided it occurs in a way that is consistent with Christian ethics. If the circumstances of their death were to open up the possibility of organ donation, they would be pleased to honour God’s gift of life by giving to others a new lease on life. Key criteria for Christian support are that:

  • the donor and their family consent,
  • the donor is dead when vital organs are removed,
  • it is done in a way that treats the body of the donor with respect,
  • it treats the family of the donor with respect and compassion,
  • it is truthful, respectful and fair towards organ recipients, and
  • organs are donated freely and unconditionally.

Yet Christians who support organ donation on these terms will also be slow to criticise individuals who cannot bring themselves to say yes, or families who override a recently deceased loved one’s wishes to donate their organs. The lack of clear biblical teaching on organ donation should caution us from being judgemental.

TALK ABOUT IT WITH YOUR FAMILY

Discuss your thoughts on becoming an organ donor with your family. If you end up in a situation where your organs might be removed for transplantation, your family will need to give consent – right when they are trying to process the news that you are dead. It will be a very difficult time for them and talking with them in advance will help not to add to their trauma.

Current policy allows the family to refuse permission for organ donation. If you wish to donate your organs but your family is opposed, you’ll need to convince them they’ll be able to give permission and feel sure they have done the right thing.

A good time to review your decision about becoming an organ donor and talking with your family about it is when your driver’s licence is renewed. Check that organ donation and transplantation are still being done in a way that aligns with Christian ethics and discuss organ donation again with your family.

Nick Schwarz is the LCANZ’s Assistant to the Bishop – Public Theology and a consultant to the church’s Commission on Social and Bioethical Questions (CSBQ). His Christian ethical decision-making guides are available at www.lca.org.au/csbq

For more information, go to the Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority: www.donatelife.gov.au and click on the ‘All about donation’ tab.

Already a subscriber? Click here to login and read this article.
Not a subscriber? Click here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full
/by
, , ,

Sharing the gift of life

Geoff Forrest has had more experience with organ donation than most people. The retired Lutheran college teacher not only became a living donor for his son in 2009 but then, six years later, also had the heartbreaking task of deciding on organ donations from his wife, when she died suddenly. While each occasion was painful in different ways for Geoff, he says that, given the chance to revisit the past, he would do it again and hopes others understand the critical need for organ donors.

by Lisa McIntosh

In 2008, 39-year-old Darren Forrest contracted a virus that caused his kidneys to malfunction. Unless a compatible kidney donor was found, Darren would need to go onto the life-altering routine of dialysis, something medical professionals wanted to avoid. Family members were tested for compatibility and, while his mum, Marg, was very keen to be the donor, only his father, Geoff, was a match.

Willing to donate a kidney to his son, but also feeling as though he had no choice in the matter, Geoff, who was then 65, underwent a year of very extensive medical tests – between 20 and 30 in number according to his estimates.

However, in the last scan, doctors found lumps on his lungs. The transplant was put on hold due to concern that Geoff might have cancer. The medical team decided they could test again three months later to confirm that the lumps were benign.

‘The whole process took more than a year from start to finish’, says Geoff, who taught and then tutored at Immanuel College in suburban Adelaide across a period of more than 35 years from 1981. ‘And they tested for everything. It was very reassuring to me. Because I was older, they had to check absolutely everything to ensure that I wasn’t going to get cancer or anything that would leave my remaining kidney damaged.’

While the lead-up to the transplant impressed Geoff, what happened afterwards was painful – physically and emotionally. Darren was in intensive care after the operation with nursing support throughout, but Geoff was put in a public ward that accommodated a violent patient with dementia and then was sent home from hospital after two days despite not feeling well enough to be discharged. He split his stitches due to the extreme pain and the effect of the drugs he was given, but was unable to access promised nursing support through a 24-hour hotline.

Naturally, though, there were plenty of good outcomes of Geoff’s sacrifice. The amount of the chemical waste product creatinine – which is removed by the kidneys – in Darren’s system had been at near-fatal levels before the transplant, but the improvement was dramatic. ‘The transplant happened at about 8am and by midday, it had gone down from 2000 to 200’, Geoff says. ‘So, the kidney started working straight away – it was incredible.

‘The transplant also enabled Darren to have a child so, indirectly, I was responsible for that, too. So, all that was really good, but it was much harder on me than I thought it would be. I still would have done it, don’t get me wrong. But I also resented the fact that I felt that I didn’t have a choice.’

Thankfully, Geoff’s experience of a lack of post-operative medical support was not typical of other donors that year from the same hospital. The donors were asked to share their experiences with health practitioners at a meeting. ‘All these other people were saying it was the best experience of their life’, Geoff says. When it came to his turn, he says the surgeon was ‘shattered’ by what had happened to him, because she said they hadn’t paid enough attention to the donors while focusing their attention on the recipients.

Geoff, who was raised in the Methodist church and had taught at an Anglican school in New South Wales, before joining the staff at Immanuel College and becoming involved with the Lutheran church through the chapel services there, says he has often pondered the interplay between Christian living and the ethics of organ donation. ‘Is it playing God or is it just like any other advances in medical treatment?’, he asks.

However, it was his second experience with organ donation and, more particularly, the sudden death of his wife of more than 49 years, Marg, that he says shook his faith to the core.

In 2015, Marg, who had also been a teacher and, like Geoff, was at that time tutoring Indigenous students who boarded at Immanuel, fell one day at work and hit her head. Otherwise fit and healthy, Marg played golf and worked in the two days following before a severe headache led to her being hospitalised. Within a further 24 hours, she was in a coma from which she never recovered. Marg was on life-support for two days, with Geoff and his children, Darren and Kerry, keeping a hospital bedside vigil.

Geoff knew Marg wanted to be an organ donor. However, when the family was told that donating her heart and lungs would mean a further two days on life support, it was too much to ask. ‘And so we said. “No, we don’t want that”’, Geoff says. ‘We were able to donate two kidneys, and that’s what she would have wanted because of Darren.’

Even more traumatic for the Forrests were the three hours of interviews that followed Marg’s death with the workplace health and safety regulator and the organ donation representatives, including highly personal and even ‘revolting’ questions. ‘It was hell’, says Geoff, who hopes there will be procedural change that will save other families going through what they endured.

‘The whole thing with Marg’s death rocked my faith because I’m thinking, “Why me?” I’ve had a friend who was five minutes from dying due to blocked arteries – now they’ve had a quadruple bypass and they’re fit as a fiddle. And I’m thinking, “Why wasn’t Marg given that chance?” I don’t like the suggestion that God simply needs her more than others.’

However, Geoff says the tragedy has changed his outlook on life and relating to loved ones. ‘I’ve learnt that life is very precious’, he says, adding that it’s critical to treasure the people you love while you have them. ‘And remember to tell them that you love them.’

Already a subscriber? Click here to login and read this article.
Not a subscriber? Click here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full
/by
, , ,

An adventure in sharing grace

by Gill Stevenson

In the autumn of 2020, when COVID-19 arrived in Australia and we were all isolated at home, our whole world changed.

One morning, during my quiet time with God, I looked up to see a sudden gust of wind tear the remaining autumn leaves from a tree outside. They rained down and I thought of tears falling – tears of confusion, fear, loneliness and frustration. I thought of those, like me, who struggle with depression and anxiety and would find this extreme change a huge challenge.

God prompted me to step out in faith and ask our pastor whether I could develop a support group, using the wonderful technology of online meetings. He said, ‘Go for it!’ So, with his blessing and God’s, I did, and what an amazing adventure it has been!

I knew of several women who struggled with mental health issues, so I asked whether they were interested in forming a Zoom support group. The response was very positive. We decided on the name ‘GPS’ – or Grace Positioning Support, Grace being the name of our congregation, as well as our goal to be blessed by God’s grace in our lives.

We meet once a fortnight for 90 minutes and receive strength and blessings for our life’s journeys. We follow a structured but flexible routine of greetings, followed by a devotion on our theme for that day, sharing time, teaching time, a little humour and prayer.

Initially, I thought that the group would disband after COVID restrictions eased. But members chose to keep going as we had realised how vital it was to continue supporting each other. As one member says, ‘I look forward to the time of gentle Christian fellowship where I can be honest about my fears or concerns in a God-inspired space’.

The depth of sharing far surpassed any brief exchange on a Sunday after church. As another member says, ‘I joined and soon became comfortable sharing and feeling the trust and confidentiality within the group’.

The momentum is only gathering, the longer we get together, and we are all stronger for it. There are tears and laughter, but we encourage each other beautifully. There have been varying degrees of trauma and stress, but we have helped and prayed each other through this.

I encourage anyone who has a heart to help support others in this way to give it a go. The wounded healers are prime contenders for the role. We need to have experienced life’s challenges and pain to empathise with others who are struggling. I pray that other like-minded risk-takers are willing to take on this challenge and begin this amazing journey of discovery, healing and blessings. 

Gill Stevenson is a member of Grace Lutheran Church at Bridgewater in South Australia.

Already a subscriber? Click here to login and read this article.
Not a subscriber? Click here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full
/by
, , ,

A centuries-old play retold for our age

by Valerie Volk

On a tour of Europe in 1973, I had my first accidental encounter with Oberammergau, a tiny town in the southern German Bavarian Alps. At once I was intrigued by the place, with its medieval cobblestoned side streets and picturesque houses with murals of fairy tales, Bible stories, myths and legends.

I was more fascinated when I learned about the famous Oberammergau Passion Play, the result of a 1633 vow by the whole village, a promise to God that if he would spare them any further deaths from the Black Plague, they would offer a passion play to him in thanks. The first play was performed in 1634 and, over the past four centuries, the passion play has been held every tenth year to fulfil the vow. Almost four hundred years!

So began my 50-year love affair with this place. It was an interest that led me to the publication of my fictional novel, Passion Play – the Oberammergau Tales, in which a group of travellers tell their personal stories during a trip to the 2010 passion play. The event has brought me back here eight times.

In May I spent a week in Oberammergau with my daughter Sam, an exciting time to be there as the small town and its 5000 residents made the final-week preparations for the current passion play which will, over a five-month season concluding in October, bring half a million visitors from all over the world to this famous event.

Many tour groups visit, and I know of a number of Australian Lutherans who this year have made or will make the three-day trip from Munich to Oberammergau and back again.

Final rehearsals and preliminary performances for surrounding villages, last-minute script changes and costume adjustments, finishing preparations for hotels, guest houses, shops, and restaurants – it was a great time to be there. More than 2,000 of the town’s residents are actively involved in the play’s five-time-a-week performances, with up to 1,500 people on stage in the crowd scenes. No-one in Oberammergau is outside the play; it’s a way of life.

This was my eighth visit to Oberammergau, and the fourth time I’d come for the play. I have been in the audience in 1990, 2000, 2010 and now the 2020 play, postponed until this year because of COVID. The town feels so familiar, and I return each time with a sense of coming home. This year was very special, as I’d been invited to the official opening day of the play on May 14 as the Australian press representative. So, I felt particular excitement – and anticipation.

The Oberammergau Passion Play has remained the same since its inception in 1634, in that it relates the story of Holy Week, from Christ’s processional entry to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, through Jesus’ betrayal, trial and crucifixion, to the triumphant ‘Hallelujah’ of the resurrection. It is a deeply moving retelling of that week during six hours in the huge passion play theatre, as 4,500 people watch this story unfold at each performance.

The same story, and keeping close to the biblical account, but always a bit different. This year’s was a much more socially aware play, with a picture of Christ, himself more firmly than ever a Jew in the full traditions of Judaism, but also deeply concerned with the real truths of God’s message. His focus was on the need for love and compassion for one’s fellow man, with social justice and equality a keystone. His plea to the priests and the religious hierarchy was to move beyond empty formalism and law and show real care for the poor and the underprivileged.

It is, as the play’s four-time director Christian Stückl emphasised, a play for our age, a time of wars and massacres, famines and starvation, homelessness and fleeing refugees, an age in which the message of Christ has even greater relevance. This year’s Passion Play is less a theatrical spectacle than in the past, and more a play of ideas and debate. The theology is there as a firm underpinning, and the gospel story is unchanged but given a sharper relevance to a troubled world.

In keeping with this more sombre mood, the colouring is more muted. In crowd scenes, people are not – as in 2000 and 2010 – dressed in blue, but much more realistically in normal Jewish clothing of the period; even the traditional gorgeous and colourful robes of the chief priests are now more monochromatic. This play emphasises concepts and messages – it is not so much a ‘show’.

It is a Passion Play to make one think. The 500,000 visitors who will attend this year should take away memories of not just a spectacular event but of a moving experience of that last week in Christ’s earthly life and a renewed sense of the gospel message and its importance today.

Dr Valerie Volk is a Lutheran author, poet and educator who fell in love with the Oberammergau Passion Play in 1973. More information about her book Passion Play – the Oberammergau Tales is available at www.valerievolk.com.au

Already a subscriber? Click here to login and read this article.
Not a subscriber? Click here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full
/by