Immanuel Lutheran Church at Novar Gardens in suburban Adelaide is situated between a Lutheran college and primary school which each bear the same name, meaning ‘God with us’. Its geographical setting gives the church extra opportunities to minister to and serve children and families. Church pastor Nigel Rosenzweig says it is a privilege to serve the Lord – and learn from children – in this context.

Many of us were positively influenced by children’s ministry when we were young. It was in these years that we discovered who we are in Christ and the mission God invites us to participate in.

Children’s ministry involves sowing into receptive soil before the troubles of life come and make growth harder. Being involved in this ministry can transform not only the present generation but also influence generations to come, because children are actually the church of both the present and the future.

Every congregation needs to ask the hard question, how are we working together to nurture our children? In recent years I have discovered that children’s ministry is best done with all ages together.

Sunday school still has value in enabling age-appropriate teaching, but I no longer see it as the only way our church should provide children’s ministry. I believe the tide is turning towards doing children’s ministry more often in an all-age environment.

The church is not just for adults – it is for people of all ages who journey together and inspire each other as the Spirit leads us and helps us grow up in Christ. I believe adults can learn as much from being church with children as the children can learn from adults!

Children make great learners. They also make great missionaries. God can reach parents through their children! When parents see their children engaged, they too become receptive to new learning.

When we invest our time and energy into engaging with our children and are willing to enter into their world, we are creating a better present and shaping an amazing future. ‘Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time’ (Deut 4:40).

There is also great significance in the old saying: ‘It takes a village to raise a child’. All generations can work together to support families in passing on the faith to the next generation.

When children’s ministry is working well, children model for adults what it means to be receptive.

In churches, as in homes and in schools, we have a precious opportunity to sow the seeds of faith into the lives of children and families. If there is a worthy investment we can make with our time, talents and resources, it is in children’s and family ministry.

Children have so much potential. They are missionaries, they are the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, the apostles and prophets in our midst. The question really becomes: will we listen and learn and let them lead?

Sowing seed bears fruit

The Holy Spirit is leading children to grow in their faith through the presentation of the gospel at Immanuel Primary School.

From time to time children are led to express their interest in baptism. Last month four children from three school families were baptised. Sometimes these baptisms occur in the regular congregation, while at other times joint school and church services are held and members of the congregation are invited to be part of baptism services at the school.

When children learn about baptism, they also learn about the many different ways water is applied in baptism. More children are expressing
a desire to be baptised by ‘full immersion’ and so far Immanuel has been able to accommodate this request with help from ecumenical partner churches (see top photo above).

The congregation has a deliberate plan to further develop its partnership
with the primary school to support the faith formation of families. A year
ago the church reformed an Immanuel campus spiritual life team which brings together leaders from the college, primary school and congregation to further enhance the spiritual life of the entire Immanuel campus. This is already bearing fruit!

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by Andrea Cross

This year is a special one for our Longest Lutheran Lunch – 2016 is the 50th birthday of the Lutheran Church of Australia. And what better way to thank God for 50 years of blessing than by reaching out to others with his love. This year our Longest Lutheran Lunch theme is ‘Sharing the Gift of Service’.

The 50.500 committee asked me to develop a ‘recipe book’ to inspire people in congregations, schools and aged-care communities to share the gift of service through their Longest Lutheran Lunch in 2016.

I reflected on the task and sought God’s direction, but there was not a glimmer of an idea in my head. I reached for my laptop and asked the internet. This is what appeared on the screen: ‘What do you want to do before you die?’

I discovered that a Presbyterian congregation in the US had created a simple project by constructing a wall coated in chalkboard paint with the phrase ‘Before I die I would like to …’ on it. They provided chalk and invited the community to share responses, launching the project with a community lunch. And there was my link – they launched it with a lunch!

This idea morphed into my 20 Top Tips of Service for the Longest Lutheran Lunch 2016. Your lunch (or dinner or breakfast) can take whatever form you like. It doesn’t have to be held on 31 October or the closest day to Reformation Sunday. Just make it an event that shares the gift of service.

Four top ways to serve

Backyard Blitz Picnic

Allocate helpers to make a picnic lunch for volunteers working on someone’s backyard. Once lunch is served, sit with the residents and the volunteers and enjoy a picnic together which provides everyone with enough energy to finish the job!

Student-free Day Brunch

Offer to provide brunch for teachers on a student-free day at your local school. Cook a barbecue of egg-and-bacon muffins, and serve some slices, fresh fruit, juice, tea and coffee. Watch the teachers interact with the visitors and each other. It’s a real staff morale booster!

Meals on Wheels – Longest Lutheran Lunch style

Cook up a storm in your church kitchen for the elderly, someone who is recently home from hospital, a newly engaged couple, a young family, or anyone else who may enjoy being treated to some home-cooking. It is such a blessing to receive the gift of a meal at your doorstep. Stay a while and chat if it suits.

Clean-up Community Lunch

On a beautiful day, spring-clean your church while playing gospel songs loudly enough for neighbours to hear. Finish with a barbecue lunch and invite anyone who’s walking past to stay for a bite to eat.

Andrea Cross is Coordinator of Longest Lutheran Lunch. To discover Andrea’s

20 Acts of Service lunch ideas, visit www.longestlutheranlunch.org.au and click on Lunch Ideas, or visit the Longest Lutheran Lunch Facebook page. Jot down some ideas that might work at your place, bounce around some lunch-with-service ideas, and register your lunch event on the website – and help other congregations find inspiration for their own community service ideas. You can also contact Andrea on 0400 425 254.

Lacey Rudolph, Dalton Cross, Dusty Cross and Jemima Olsten with baby daughter Romy demonstrate an idea for an act of service – helping a local agricultural society set up for the town’s annual show, with a lunch to follow for committee members. If your congregation has links to a local service or interest group, could you get a team together to hold a working bee for members and then serve them lunch afterwards? Another act of service could be to help the group clean up after an event such as a country show, a scout jamboree, a bowling club tournament, a school fete or a car club rally.

During this synodical term, 2015–2018, the LCA/NZ reaches two significant milestones: in 2016 the LCA’s 50th birthday; and in 2017 the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. 50.500 faith.freedom.future invites us to celebrate and commemorate these special anniversaries – with thanks to God for his past blessings, and in the sure hope and confidence that he is building the LCA/NZ for the future.

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by Elizabeth Delaney

As part of the lead-up to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, an ecumenical working party of Lutherans and Catholics has been planning a program of projects and events to jointly commemorate the occasion. One is a series of articles, written by Lutheran and Catholic authors from around Australia, to be published in both Lutheran and Catholic publications. The fourth piece in our series of six is by Sister Elizabeth Delaney, a Sister of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict and General Secretary of the
National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA).

Why do I find joy in our shared faith?

It is not so much the statement of faith but the journey to this day that encourages and gives me hope. Glimpses of the way ahead for our churches deepen this hope.

‘When the Western Church divided at the time of the Protestant Reformation the understanding of the doctrine of justification was at the heart of the separation.’ So begins the 1998 document Justification, A Common Statement of the Australian Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue. The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church, signed on 29 October 1999, echoed this. These documents illustrate the journey our churches have travelled.

I am an enthusiast rather than a scholar of ecumenism, and so it is the ecumenical statements in these documents which cause my spirit to leap.

The quote often attributed to Spanish poet Antonio Machado that ‘We make the path by walking’ comes to mind. The Joint Declaration exemplifies this principle. For while the participants understood they had taken some steps, they knew more were to come: ‘[The Declaration] does not cover all that either church teaches about justification’.

The Australian statement also recognises the need for further discussion and elucidation, reminding us this growth is the work of the Spirit: ‘It is our prayer that the Holy Spirit will continue to lead and guide us into an ever fuller understanding of this central truth of the gospel’.

I frequently look back, recognising new learning, often from mistakes. I love to see a similar learning in theological understanding – not just for myself, but for my church and all our churches. The participants in the international dialogue affirmed the Declaration was ‘shaped by the conviction that in their respective histories our churches have come to new insights’.

Receptive ecumenism provides a wonderful framework for our churches to continue to discover new insights.

Following the signing of the Joint Declaration in 1999, on 23 July 2006 the Methodist World Council affirmed the Declaration with a Statement of Association. At the NCCA Forum in Brisbane in 2007, one of the church leaders commented, ‘Perhaps our church might consider associating with the Declaration’.

May many church leaders take such steps!

We offer together…, we have been able to do behind this apparent difference … we have come to see … we recognise …. How frequently the pronoun ‘we’ is used in the Common Statement. And each use is deliberate.

May we, urged on by God’s Holy Spirit, broaden its use.

The way we have travelled so far gives me joy in the belief God’s Holy Spirit is guiding our churches together along a wonderful path!

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by Chris Materne

When you or someone you love is diagnosed with dementia your world changes forever. Dementia affects thinking, behaviour and the ability to do everyday things.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia and typically begins with memory loss. Other types of dementia bring different dysfunctions, but ultimately people with dementia face increasing impairment.

While there is no cure for dementia, neither the rate of decline, nor the trajectory of declining capacities is set in stone or predictable. Drugs may slow the progression of dementia for some people, but these are not always well-tolerated.

There are, however, many things we can do to support people with dementia to ensure they have good quality of life. There is strong evidence that social engagement has positive benefits.

Churches and faith communities provide opportunities to help people with dementia maintain social connections. The rhythm of familiar worship practices can be comforting, while music can have a strong effect that may result in better memory and ability to converse with others (see Heidi Smith’s story, pages 10-11).
Social gatherings and Bible study groups may also be enjoyable for those living with dementia.

People with dementia may not remember activities they have been involved with, but the feelings they experience will remain. There are many small things we can do to make our churches more ‘dementia-friendly’.
For example:

  • Encourage members to wear clearly visible name tags
  • Print off PowerPoint slides as older people may miss having something to hold and read in church
  • Ensure signage is clear and easily recognisable
  • Set up a space a person with dementia can retreat to if they feel overwhelmed
  • Pray for and with people living
    with dementia
  • Ask a person with dementia whether they would fold the church bulletins. This type of contribution can have a powerful impact on
    self-worth
  • Be flexible to help people living with dementia feel supported and encouraged – something that has been enjoyable once may not be on another day.

Dr Chris Materne completed a PhD in 2012 after investigating memory rehabilitation in people living with dementia. She was previously employed at the Flinders Centre for

Ageing Studies at Flinders University and Domiciliary Care, before taking up the role of LCA Church Worker Support Department manager this year.

Stimulating activity ideas

  • Walk on the beach with a person living with dementia, talk about what you can see, hear and feel
  • Have an ice-cream and talk about being a child
  • Play dominoes or Scrabble. It doesn’t matter if you don’t follow the rules – the idea is to have fun!
  • Make a jigsaw puzzle from photos of people important to the person with dementia
  • Look at photos of places they have visited and talk about them
  • Take a drive and look at autumn leaves, full reservoirs, grapes on the vine, Christmas lights …
  • Do some gentle exercise together
  • Do a craft activity – even if they can’t follow a knitting pattern, they may be able to knit squares that could be sewn together as a blanket, or wind wool for another knitter
  • Find out whether a local men’s shed has familiar tools they may enjoy using
  • Go together to a local amateur sporting event
  • Read the newspaper together
  • Listen to music and sing along to favourite songs and hymns
  • Read the Bible or pray together, and start a prayer journal to record what you have been praying about

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No cure but God’s promises

by Colleen Fitzpatrick

My confirmation text offers me comfort and encouragement and is one I often recall: ‘I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 1:3-6).

The promise in that text applies to all of us – no matter what age we are, or what frailties we have.

My husband has his birthday in August and I’m wondering what sort of tacky messages will emerge on his birthday cards. Will there be references to uncontrollable bodily functions? Or will there be bottles of wine (he likes an occasional glass), golf clubs (he has terrible ball skills), or sailing boats (he comes from Port Adelaide)? Or a reference to the fact he is getting older and must be entering his dotage?

One of the challenges of ageing is the increasing frailty of people around us. We also develop a growing awareness of our own declining health and wellbeing, whether physical, emotional or mental. One of the scariest possibilities may well be dementia – whether it is a personal diagnosis or affecting someone near and dear to us.

Some people choose to accept what is happening, and adapt their lifestyle accordingly. Others will seek information and treatment if it is available. Both are valid choices.

There is no magical cure for dementia. But you can get help and support from sources such as Alzheimer’s Australia at fightdementia.org.au or on 1800 100 500 or, if you are in New Zealand, www.alzheimers.org.nz or 0800 004 001.

And if living with dementia is your destiny, God will always be there for you and for those dear to you. I love the pictures in these words: ‘There is no-one like the God of Jeshurun who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms’ (Deuteronomy 33:26,27).

Recently I wrote a booklet on dementia for Lutheran Media. Through it I shared the stories of some courageous and generous people, regarding their experiences living with this debilitating and seemingly indiscriminate disease. For them and all of us, there is hope through the promises of God. The following are excerpts from that booklet.

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by Heidi Smith

Since her childhood Heidi Smith has known about the influence music can have on people’s physical and mental wellbeing. And having played organ and piano for church services in congregations and aged-care facilities since she was a teenager, she has seen positive changes in people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Now as a chaplain, she uses music therapy as one avenue to support people living with dementia.

I grew up with music and singing as part of my home life. We had family devotions, singing Christian hymns and songs within that intergenerational setting. My grandparents loved to sit around the piano and sing while I played. My siblings and I used to put on
concerts for elderly ‘shut-in’ people in our lounge room and music was a great connector for community building in that space.

I can’t really remember a time when I didn’t ‘hang out’ with elderly people in care and those living with dementia. My grandmother was diagnosed with dementia and lived with us before moving into a nursing home. Our youth group sang carols in the local hospital at Christmas, and the way people diagnosed with dementia responded by clapping, smiling and singing encouraged me to focus on the power of music to help connect people to their memories.

Additional research in music therapy theories supported my earlier observations.

I have worked professionally for six years with more than 40 residents living with dementia since becoming a full-time Lutheran Community Care (LCC) chaplain at Immanuel Gardens Retirement Village, Buderim Queensland, and now at Zion Lutheran Home, Nundah Queensland.

While at Immanuel Gardens, I led story and song sessions. The village had ‘old-time’ large print songbooks and residents would choose songs, calling out the numbers they wanted. Many residents living with dementia love hunting for numbers, since numbers are often the last written texts people remember.

I would play the piano and sing the chosen song with everyone joining in. Residents living with dementia loved to tap and clap along to the music.

As a chaplain at Immanuel Gardens, I also led church services for people who at that time lived in
a ‘secure wing’ due to their diagnoses of various forms of dementia. During those worship times, I noticed amazing behavioural changes which occupational therapy students doing research also noted: some residents moved from random roaming, looking off in the distance and/or aggressive behaviours, to walking into the room for church and sitting down. At church, they sat together, holding a hymnbook, looking up the numbers of hymns and singing together. Many would model earlier learned ‘church behaviours’, such as sitting quietly and listening to Bible readings and a sermon. They prayed the Lord’s Prayer and confessed the Apostles’ Creed together, while others joined in rituals such as crossing themselves.

One man who hardly ever spoke would sing with gusto for various hymns – I learned he had been an Anglican choir boy. A woman, who needed to be fed by staff since she was unable to remember how to feed herself, ate lunch with her utensils straight after church. And a resident who ordinarily isolated herself, turned and shook her neighbour’s hand during the ‘passing
of the peace’, then remained holding hands until the next song.

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Standfirst: As part of the lead-up to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, an ecumenical working party of Lutherans and Catholics has been planning a program of projects and events to jointly commemorate the occasion. One project is a series of articles, written by Lutheran and Catholic authors from around Australia, to be published in both Lutheran and Catholic publications. The third article in our series of six is by Rev Dr Stephen Pietsch, lecturer in pastoral theology and homiletics at Australian Lutheran College, Adelaide.

Why I’m not celebrating the 500th anniversary

Breakout quote: What has come to light for Catholics and Lutherans through this dialogue is shared joy; joy in Jesus Christ and his reconciling grace.

by Stephen Pietsch    

Now, please do not get the wrong idea! I fully intend to mark this event and give thanks for aspects of it. I am enthusiastic about Luther and his legacy to the church. But I will not be celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

For many centuries the western church has been divided and its catholic and apostolic integrity has been fractured. Its testimony to the world has been damaged. On the Lutheran side, some have fashioned a ‘hero-protestant’ Luther, who ‘refounded’ Christianity. The Reformation was seen as a renewal almost as profound as Pentecost.

On the Catholic side, Luther has been seen as the ‘wild boar who was let loose in the vineyard’, who brought sectarian schism and mayhem not only to the church, but to all of society.

Both mythologies are well off the mark. It is now widely realised that the tragic split of the church was neither inevitable nor necessary. In his fascinating 1996 article, The Catholic Luther, Luther scholar David Yeago observes:

…the Reformation schism was brought about … by contingent human choices in a confused historical context defined less by clear and principled theological argument (though that of course was present) than by a peculiar and distinctively sixteenth-century combination of overheated and ever-escalating polemics, cold-blooded Realpolitik, and fervid apocalyptic dreaming.

Human weakness resulted in what might have been a true reformation becoming a deformation.

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by Andrea Cross

Ninety Victorians made history on 29 June, but it had nothing to do with the upcoming federal election or end of the financial year!

They all participated in the first Longest Lutheran Lunch (LLLu) in the world for 2016! These people were campers, cooks and leaders at Christian Life Week (CLW), held at Tandara Lutheran Camp, Halls Gap, in Victoria’s Grampians National Park, and hosted by Lutheran Youth of Victoria.

I was chief cook and, along with my assistant Dee Simons from Dunkeld, prepared more than 1000 meals and served 52 litres of ice-cream during the week for the campers.

Service is this year’s theme for the annual Longest Lutheran Lunch and the young people at CLW learned about servanthood during their week at camp. They shared their faith and their Christian love through service, which reflects the very purpose of the LLLu.

CLW’s history-making lunch is proof that sharing the gift of hospitality and service isn’t confined to just one day of the year. While the LLLu is designed to fit on or around 31 October, Reformation Day, it doesn’t mean we can’t attach it to any other church celebration throughout the year.

There are many opportunities to share the gift of service through hospitality. Here’s a couple to consider:

Victorians are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Lutheran Youth of Victoria (LYV). They have earmarked the weekend of Reformation Day to reminisce and remember – a perfect opportunity to make Saturday’s lunch a Longest Lutheran one!

As the whole LCA, we are also celebrating our 50th birthday. So it’s no surprise the LLLu will be running under the 50.500 banner this year. We encourage you to use the theme ‘Service’ when you plan your lunch (or dinner). Think about ways your get-together can reach out into your community.

Please share your plans and ideas on the Longest Lutheran Lunch Facebook page.

If you’re stuck as to what to do, contact me so we can build any grain of an idea into a fabulous service event. We want to encourage everyone to consider how our congregations and communities can be places where people see God’s love coming to life.

Register your event here – longestlutheranlunch.org.au/register/

Andrea Cross is the coordinator of Longest Lutheran Lunch.
Website longestlutheranlunch.org.au
Contact her on 0400 425 254 or at hello@longestlutheranlunch.org
or follow the Longest Lutheran Lunch Facebook page.

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by Reid Matthias

If the great reformer himself could have attended the Martin Luther@500 conference held in Melbourne recently, what would he think of everything being said and done in his name? We asked Pastor Reid Matthias, who attended the conference, to investigate.

He stands blockish and imposing, with his feet planted stolidly and his arms crossed in a posture of frustration. Unaware that I am watching, his brow is deeply furrowed and his concentration on the presenter is stark in the dimly lit hall.

Then he notices me. His frown deepens. Slowly, he beckons and I feel like Mowgli on his hypnotised walk towards the great snake, Kaa, in The Jungle Book.

‘So’, he whispers, ‘what do you think?’ ‘It’s …,’ I wait to see if he’ll fill in the blank, but he does not, ‘… different’.

He nods, once again concentrating on the presenter’s words. ‘Ja, this is very interesting. I never knew it would last this long.’

Then it hits me – here is Martin Luther straight out of the 16th century. His once tonsured head is covered with hair; his strong, prominent jaw boasts a shadowy stubble. He looks exactly like the miniaturised statue brought in for this Martin Luther@500 conference from 28 June to 3 July 2016.

Almost 200 Lutherans have descended on Melbourne to hear lectures about the theology of the man standing beside me.

‘What do you think of the proceedings here at the Catholic Leadership Centre?’ He snorts, the irony is not lost on him. ‘I have some thoughts about everything, but I sometimes choose to keep quiet.’

It is my turn to snort. According to my Luther knowledge, holding his tongue was not his greatest strength. ‘But, how do you feel that we’ve all come together in your name 500 years after your challenge on the Wittenberg doors?’ ‘I wish they would have listened when I said “please don’t call yourself Lutheran, but Christian. What is Luther? The teaching is not mine! … How could it happen that I – poor stinking bag of worms that I am – end up having the children of Christ called by my miserable name? … Let us get rid of all party names and call ourselves Christians, after Christ, whose teaching we hold”.’ (as relayed by Dr Oswald Bayer)

‘Don’t be too hard on yourself’, I say, trying to comfort the reformer. ‘You’ve given such wisdom to the church.’ ‘Wisdom! Many of these people have much more wisdom than I. Did you hear Dr Franz Posset? “Today, then, let us look for what unites, and not what divides … Without one, strong, ecumenical voice there will be no meaningful Christian impact on the world”.’ I nod. ‘It would be a wonderful thing if the denominations of the world could band together under the common banner of what we share as Christians rather than what divides us.’

‘Think of the gift we could give to the world’, he says. ‘Dr Risto Saarinen – he hit the nail on the head. “Giving” is in many cultures and in the Bible connected with … the hands … God’s hands are considered as the vehicle, the instrument through which God gives good things.’

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Church worship can be a hot potato for us in the LCA/NZ, as it is in many other denominations. No congregation or pastor is exactly alike in the way they conduct and participate in services. We asked two pastors from the Commission on Worship for their personal responses to some burning questions on the subject.

  1. Why do we worship God formally? Why do we have to go to church to worship?

Pastor Adrian Kitson: We don’t ‘have to go to church’, but we do need the mutual encouragement of other Christians to remain faithful, fruitful disciples of Jesus. We need him, his word and holy gifts no matter what, when or where. We can gather in loungerooms and bars and parks and schools. We are also free to gather in the buildings purpose-built for worship. Any worship gathering is a miracle. God serves us and we respond in thanks and praise, listening, proclaiming, singing and prayer. The question is, why would any Christian want to miss out on what God does for us when we gather in worship?

Pastor Tim Klein: Why do I worship in a congregation? For me, at the base level, it’s about being part of the body of Christ. Sure, I worship God in many personal ways, from celebrating and giving thanks to the Lord for all good things around me as I go: singing, whistling and writing songs of praise, and serving the Lord in all sorts of ways. But going to church every week to worship is heartland; it’s biblical; it’s life in the family of faith. I worship with my faith family, into which I am baptised.

  1. Why does God want to be worshipped? One of the things God wants of us is humility – and yet he wants to be worshipped. How is that effective role modelling?

AK: For the most effective role modelling of being fully human with the deepest humility, all we have to do is look to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. His words and actions of acceptance, challenge and calling, all said and done in love, are not just for information but also for transformation of the heart and mind. For all he has done and all he continues to do for us, there is only one appropriate response – to follow, to love, to pray, to sing, to listen to him above all others. We call that ‘worship’.

TK: I’m neither puppy nor puppet – not licking the hand that feeds me, nor dancing to the puppeteer’s tune. God wants me to worship him so he can bless, feed, forgive, guide, refresh and restore me for everyday life. God doesn’t need my worship; he loves it! In worship he has my full attention and that maximises his blessing potential on me and those with me. We are
built for relationship with God and with each other. God knows that worship together
is good for us all.

  1. What are the essential elements of Lutheran worship and why they are critical?

AK: The essential element of our worship and what makes it divine and spiritually alive is the presence of Jesus. What we participate in is truly of profound spiritual blessing because Jesus speaks to us, and because his word does what he says. He is far beyond our understanding and yet he reveals his character and intention for us by his powerful word, as it is proclaimed in words and in actions of baptism, absolution, the Lord’s supper and the blessing.

TK: All of the above. It’s the Lord present with his body – together in one place. Baptism into Christ affirmed; sins confessed and forgiven; God’s word publicly read aloud, taught and proclaimed; feeding at the Lord’s table; being blessed and sent. These are for me the essentials of worship. There’s one other key for me: that in worship God is both subject and object. It’s not about me. I can proclaim Jesus as Lord in worship only by the working of his Holy Spirit. So he has brought me there, he inspires my worship and there the body of Christ worships God in his entirety.

  1. Which ‘ingredients’ of worship come down to preference?

AK: Our worship has a rhythm to it from the Scriptures. The point of this rhythm or shape is not to restrict us, but to keep us firmly fixed on Jesus and the gospel at the centre of worship. The words, songs, prayers and actions within this rhythm are not set in concrete, and yet it is good to have common words, songs and prayers from Scripture. God has also called pastors in his community to proclaim God’s word and administer his gifts of grace. This includes the training, support and empowering of others to assist in worship, including the organist or band, the Bible readers, prayers, those who share messages for children, people who usher and welcome the stranger, and lay preachers.

TK: As the body of Christ in worship we fit into the rhythms laid down for us – shaped around the cross of Christ – with biblical foundations. Each of us brings to the body of Christ unique gifts, character and style. But I am conscious that my personal ideas, gifts and character should not move worship away from the biblical models upon which our service orders are based. We do, however, add to the collective memory of worship with modern expressions, new songs and ritual appropriate to the context.

  1. God made me unique, not a clone. So why can’t I worship him any way I want?

AK: God promises he is with us. At any time we can speak with him, hear him speak, ask him for what we need and seek his will for our lives. In this sense we can and do ‘worship’ him anywhere, anytime. But he has created a special gathering where he gives us unique gifts. In this more public gathering of church, through pastors, he gives us his gracious acceptance and love in concrete, tactile means of word and water, bread and wine, in a public, corporate, communal way that makes us his body on earth in a visible, tangible way.

TK: Of course you can – especially when you are alone. When we are together, we share a common ritual – something that belongs to all of us. Some people worship with arms and heads raised high; others with hands clasped and heads bowed. Some sing loudly; others softly. Some read the Bible and some listen. Some smile and laugh with joy as they are fed the bread of life; some weep. But in worship the Lord meets all our needs. In forgiving each other our differences, God is at work in us refreshing us with a new sense of being gathered around the cross in the body of Christ.

  1. What is liturgy and why do we need it?

AK: ‘Liturgy’ is a strange word to our ears. We say now that it is the ‘shape’ or ‘rhythm’ of what happens when God’s Spirit gathers us in Jesus’ presence. Sure, the liturgy can be done poorly in some dead, rigid, formal, lifeless kind of way, with little regard to those gathered and what their culture is. But when enacted with the gospel at its centre and when people’s needs and language are taken into account, it shapes us in good ways – in the gospel way, with Jesus at the centre. We receive him and respond to him in prayer, praise and thanks.

TK: The word ‘liturgy’ comes from a Greek word meaning service. For me, liturgy is the framework that makes way for God to serve us and for us to respond to him. Without a frame our worship would, in some ways, be spineless. It’s the ‘order’ that frees us to worship in a way that is not cluttered or bent out of shape by our own ideas and expectations. Healthy liturgy moves and flexes, responding to needs and circumstances. It responds to the word of God so that real ‘serving’ happens. I went to hear a visiting speaker who said, regarding the shape of worship: ‘We should be rooted in tradition before we can innovate with integrity’ (Nadia Bolz-Weber).

  1. What is the role of music in worship and why does it matter what we sing/play?

AK: Music is a beautiful gift of God that enhances our worship because it can engage people in ways the spoken word often cannot. Its purpose in worship is to serve. Luther called it the ‘handmaiden to the gospel’. The role of musicians is to support people in the singing of the word, prayer and praise. They also support the preaching of the word as they work with the pastor to enact the drama of the liturgy, telling the story of God and his people. A well-played old song, sung with a faith-filled heart and rhythm, led by an old organ or single guitar or no instrument at all, can be just as helpful and encouraging as a song played by a cast of thousands with great skill and the same good heart.

TK: Like Pastor Adrian, I’m a musician, primarily a singer. I have a broad range of musical knowledge and taste. For me, music suited to church worship needs to be faithful to Scripture and serve a function of teaching, prayer or praise. Music can be liturgy or prayer. It can convey truths of God into deep levels of subconscious, or simply celebrate moments of grace. Some music is better suited to larger or smaller gatherings; some is more personal, reflective or devotional. Some is better performed, while some melody is easier sung by various generations. But church music belongs to all of us. We share a collective memory and need to be wary of dismissing the heartland of that memory.

  1. What should the relationship be between worship and outreach?

AK: All we do in worship is, by its very nature, ‘outreach’. This is because wherever God speaks his word, he achieves the purposes for which he sends it. Therefore all worship services are evangelistic in nature. Strangers need to be welcomed. Words and actions need to be inclusive. The gospel needs to be the main word in everything done and said. The coffee needs to be good and the welcome full. The preaching needs to use common language, and stories told need to be God’s story intersecting with those of everyday people. Love needs to shine and the Spirit’s calling, gathering and enlightening power needs to be welcomed and prayed for.

TK: Only a person who knows God can worship God, so worship is perhaps, by definition, meant for the faithful followers of Jesus. But worship is also a place where the Lord feeds and equips us, forgives and refreshes us. Good news is proclaimed and done. His purpose is that we should serve him; that we would be his presence in the world! So, while the primary focus of worship might be for the body of Christ to gather, it also has dimensions of outreach where the Lord reaches out to us and others in our brokenness, to bring us back to the foot of the cross – worshipping and serving the Lord.

Adrian Kitson is pastor at Nuriootpa, SA and writer of the LCA theme song Where Love Comes to Life, and Tim Klein is pastor at Warradale SA and also a musician and songwriter. Both pastors are members of the LCA’s Commission on Worship. However, these responses represent their personal reflections and are not official statements on behalf of the commission.

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