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Music key to heart of service

by  Alan Collyer

In Lutheran circles, dating back even to Luther’s time, there is a strong music tradition. Our denomination is known for its love of singing.

And yet we could put even more emphasis on this tradition, and more effort into reinvigorating this history, says one of the LCA’s longest-serving
and most-qualified musicians.

It is 6.30 am on a typically cold and rainy Sunday morning in Melbourne. It is still dark and wish I could go back to bed. But I am the rostered musician for the 8.00 am and 9.00 am services, so I had better get organised.

I wonder why I put myself through this. But we get to church and immediately a positive transformation takes place as I am greeted warmly by so many. They look at me confident I am going to support and lead them with music for the service.

After the essential Confession of Sins and Absolution, we are ready to sing the first hymn. They usually sing it quite well (although I often lower the pitch for this early morning congregation, allowing their unwarmed voices to sing more heartily).

By the end of the service we have sung a number of hymns and the liturgy, confessed our faith, listened to God’s word, prayed for the world and said the Lord’s Prayer, received the body and blood of our Lord, then been blessed and sent out to our communities nourished and strengthened for another week.

Musicians have one of the most exciting tasks in worship, because we assist in proclaiming Christ through our music. We help the congregation sing heartily and with meaning, and we help interpret hymns, songs and liturgy.

While things seem to go well in my congregation, for others things are not so happy musically. Strong congregational singing seems on the decline and churchgoers can be left floundering. Communal singing is also waning. Regrettably, many schools have dropped singing from music programs and, in our Lutheran secondary schools, many no longer sing in chapel!

And then we have the influence of some of the larger evangelical churches, particularly with praise and worship-style songs. I am not suggesting these are bad or unsingable. However, the tendency for the band to be up front, sometimes taking over rather than leading the singing, can rob the congregation of full participation.

So how can we involve congregations more enthusiastically in singing and liturgy? It is an excellent time to think seriously about this as we approach the 500th anniversary of the nailing of the 95 Theses
on the church door at Wittenberg.

To me there are a number of parallels between 16th century and 21st century worship. In Luther’s time – before he brought in changes to worship which included having hymns written or translated into German so that people could sing them – the Sunday mass was conducted up front by clergy and choir, with the congregation at the back with little or no involvement.

This sounds familiar in some of today’s ‘mega-churches’ – those in which the worship leader/preacher is on stage supported by an entertaining but often excessively loud band with visual and lighting gimmicks, while the congregation spectates from padded theatre-style seats. In many of these churches, members have lost their voice and this is a concern for many evangelical pastors and leaders.

Worship bands can accompany many Christian songs well and can take a traditional hymn and give it new life. But congregations need to assess how well they sing with the band and, if need be, make adjustments to allow the congregation to own the song. This applies to organists as well!

So where should we be heading with music and worship in the LCA?

There has been a vast amount of Lutheran choral music written over the past 500 years, yet we don’t access it. Did you know that there are only two choirs in our whole church that sing weekly?

What about the magnificent Lutheran hymns in which there is a wonderful balance between head and heart, law and gospel, faith and doctrine? Have we forgotten about these treasures, many of which are available in modernised form on the LCA worship webpage?

And what about training for our musicians? They are essential to our worship and yet they are neglected, with little or no structured advocacy or support. Did
you know that fewer than 1 per cent of our accredited lay workers work in the area of music and worship?

There are so many possibilities for our musicians, who faithfully give of their time and talents most Sundays, particularly if we believe congregational singing is at the heart of Lutheran worship.

For Lutherans, music is the most honoured servant to the word – so
we need to give it a high priority.

A pleasing development is the proposed introduction of a VET type Certificate Level 4 course in worship through Australian Lutheran College. Another is the fledgling New Song Café, encouraging Christian songwriters in Adelaide (see story page 25). These are a great start but only two of many things that the church needs to do to support its musicians.

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Catholics and Luther – a new perspective

by Denis Edwards

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 about the significance of the Reformation, written by Lutheran and Catholic authors from around Australia, to be published in both Lutheran and Catholic publications. The second in our series of six is by Reverend Professor Denis Edwards from the Australian Catholic University’s School of Theology and Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry.

A new perspective on Martin Luther has been opened up for Roman Catholics by the fundamental consensus with the Lutheran church on the doctrine of justification, which was expressed in the Joint Declaration signed in Augsburg, Germany, on 31 October 1999.

What a joy it is that we can come together on what was the central cause of division between our churches, and that we no longer condemn each other’s views on the central truth of our faith, our salvation in Christ!

What does this mean for Roman Catholics in their view of Luther? I think it provides the possibility to see Luther as offering a precious gift on the journey of faith, in his conviction that God is a radically gracious God, who makes us right.

By studying the Scriptures, Luther came to a truly liberating discovery. We don’t make ourselves right before God, but are justified simply by God’s grace. It is God who saves us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is God who makes us right in Christ. And God does this as a free gift. The whole of our Christian life flows from this free gift.

I believe this insight is a gift from the Luther we Roman Catholics need to receive. Some have a view of God that fills them with fear, and they need to hear again the liberating idea that God is a God of grace and mercy; it is God who makes us right, not what we do. But in our society today there are other ways we can be trapped in self-justification. There can be a desperation to prove to ourselves and others that we matter, that we are important.

We can attempt to make ourselves right by the kind of home we have. We can try to make ourselves right by competing for attention, for status, for a better job, for more money.

Many of us get caught up in a cycle of more and more work, as if taking on more, or achieving more, makes us right.

The Lutheran emphasis on the doctrine of justification is a powerful reminder of what is central to the gospel: that we are made right by God, and by God alone. We are made right by God’s love poured out in the world in Jesus Christ, in his life, death and resurrection.

We are made right by a God of love, whose grace and mercy always goes before us and in whom we can entrust every aspect of our life and our death. In entrusting ourselves to him we find true freedom. We are enabled to live in freedom, free of the desperate need to prove ourselves. We are freed to take joy in God’s good creation and to live lovingly with those around us.

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NZ Lutherans first to greet anniversary

by  Linda Macqueen

As the sun rises on 1 January 2017, a group of New Zealand and Australian Lutherans and international guests will be the first in the world to greet the 500th anniversary year of the Reformation.

The dawn service will be held at the location of the first Lutheran mission in New Zealand, at the north-eastern tip of the Chatham Islands (Rekohu Wharekauri), more than 750 kilometres east of the mainland. The international dateline bends eastwards around the islands, allowing the islanders the honour of being the first people in the world to greet each new day.

‘You are invited to be there with us’, says LCNZ Bishop Mark Whitfield, ‘as we begin a whole year of commemoration of the Reformation and celebration of God’s reforming grace and love’.

The Chatham Islands are the birthplace of the Lutheran story in New Zealand. In 1843, five missionaries from the Gossner Mission in Berlin landed there.
To the Europeans, ‘The Chathams’ were, literally, ‘the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8).

The New Zealand Lutherans have pitched the commemoration on The Chathams as the first place in the world to enter the Reformation anniversary year; something that resonated with Professor Dr Margot Käßmann, Special Envoy of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany for the Anniversary of the Reformation 2017, when Bishop Whitfield met with her in Berlin some weeks ago.

He also met with the Executive Committee of the Gossner Mission in Berlin and extended a formal invitation to them to attend. It is hoped that up to six Gossner representatives will be among the group for the Reformation anniversary on The Chathams. The LCNZ is praying that this commemoration might contribute to
an ongoing process of healing of tension and unease between the indigenous Moriori people and the Maori iwi (tribe),
who invaded The Chathams in the 1830s.

‘It seems that the Gossner missionaries were able to relate to both Moriori and Maori very positively’, Bishop Whitfield says. ‘We are hoping that our presence might offer both groups the opportunity to cooperate, for example, in the powhiri (formal welcome) to us when we arrive on the island, and during our commemorative events.’

The commemoration is also an encouragement for the people of the LCNZ and LCA to listen for God’s call on our lives, Bishop Whitfield says. ‘The Gossner missionaries followed God’s call to the ends of the earth to live and to share the reconciling gospel. Where are the “ends of the earth” that God is calling us to today? Who are the people “on the edge”, waiting for us to proclaim the gospel to them?’

More information about the Chatham Islands commemoration, including  a draft program and costs, can be found at www.50500.lca.org.au

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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Where are you, God?

by Judy Calder

Judy and Bernie Calder live in Mt Pleasant, an eastern suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, which was badly hit by the devastating earthquakes the city has endured over the past six years. Judy recalls what it has been like to live through the fear, the destruction and the uncertainty of these disasters, at times wondering where God is in all of this.

4.35 am Saturday 4 September 2010
– 7.1 magnitude

It begins with a low rumbling sound and builds up to a roaring crescendo within a few seconds. The wall behind our bed wobbles. We are awake in an instant, unsure if a truck has hit our house. Our suitcases are packed, ready to fly to Wellington to attend my brother’s special birthday. It is pitch dark and the lights won’t work. We grope around for torches. No! We’ve packed them.

We feel our way down the hallway to our garage. ‘Get in the car’, says Bernie. ‘It might be safer there.’ But the garage and the car seem very cold and unsafe. We could be trapped here.

We pad our way back to the bedroom, wide awake now and wait for morning to arrive, so we can see what’s happened. Two more massive quakes hit in quick succession. It’s terrifying.

Daylight arrives pathetically slowly. Once the sun is up, we walk around the bay to nearby Redcliffs. The shop is frantically busy – people stock up with bread and milk while the service station has queues of people. Bernie’s sister lives nearby, so we walk there and have a welcome cup of tea. They have electricity.

The earthquakes continue. ‘Expect three days of them’, say the experts. I go to our bed fully clothed for 10 nights. We’ve worked out our safe place – on the deck outside our bedroom door, but away from the house. I rush outside often as the house shakes. How I hate the nights.

My daughter texts from Europe. She and her husband are on a belated honeymoon. ‘R U OK? How is my house?’ I answer the first question, but leave the second. It takes us days to get to her house at Bexley, to the north. We see it drunkenly leaning towards the ground. The lawns are covered in liquefaction, as the soil has become saturated.

And still the quakes continue … where are you, God?

12.51 pm 22 February 2011
– 6.3 magnitude

We’re minding our two-year-old granddaughter Eva while her parents are at work. All hell breaks loose. The house jerks violently and, like a mother hen, I gather Eva up and put her under my body. The mirror on the wall crashes to the floor. She had been playing just inches from it! I grab blankets and we head outside to our ‘safe place’. This is scary. I look at the back lawn and see a sand volcano being born! Its sides rise and form a perfect cone. A spout forms and water pours out for several hours, meeting the liquefaction that now covers much of our land.

We wait for news. No phones, no radio, no TV – no connections anywhere. Eva’s parents, Darin and Anita, arrive. ‘Where’s Eva?’, they ask in panic. They smother her with love. My daughter looks at me with tears in her eyes. ‘Oh Mum, the city! It’s in chaos. People are killed, the buildings are down and the roads are full of holes.’ She tells me how she hid under her desk and got out down the stairwell as the three-storey carpark beside her collapsed.

We are all hungry, so Bernie bravely enters the intermittently shaking house and grabs a loaf of bread from the freezer, some cheese and a knife. We sit outside and enjoy the food, thankful we are alive. We decide to head to Darin and Anita’s house, thinking it may be safer on the rocky hills.

The sand for the foolish man and the rocks for the wise man was different. Here, neither sand nor rocks are safe. The ground continues to shift violently and their house shakes. We decide the whole city is unsafe. We head south to Ashburton, a rural town 100 km away, where Darin’s family has a farm. They are kindness in action when they see our distressed state and watch with horror the news on television.

Then God sends help. An email arrives and it’s from David Stolz – here is a man of God, a former district president of the LCA whom I knew vaguely, who comes in my hour of need and for two long years walks beside me. He teaches me to hang on, he prays for me and my family, he shares our long journey with his family, friends and congregations he preaches at – often reading out sections of my emails. He helps me to share and to laugh and have fun – even when the odds were very, very long.

The land heaves and groans … where are you, God?

We are staying on the other side of the city and we flee town every few months to Ashburton, Wellington (where I cover my head, so I can’t see the tall buildings), Brisbane (where I take a shopping trip but run away when I see
a three-storey mall), and Blenheim. For the next five years I don’t go higher than two storeys in any building.

One day at home I feel brave enough to clean the pantry. Sauces, pickles, broken jars and crockery litter the floor. I reach in the corner, saying a quick prayer, as I wipe up. But another big one hits and my head is stuck for a few seconds. It takes me three weeks to even look at the mess of my book collection.

There are no toilets but we cope. Eventually a portaloo appears in our street, but it’s half a kilometre away! The whole country has run out of portaloos. Thank goodness for China! They make us 900 within a few months and one is placed on our front lawn. We share it with six other houses. A strong wind blows across the bay and the portaloos on the hill fall over. We smile – it’s our first joke for a while.

We go to the local school every two days to collect water. They give out hand sanitiser and face masks. I wonder about the masks, but we soon know. That strong, warm wind dries out the water in the bay at low tide and that’s where all the raw sewage is going.

We gather in church in silence, giving support and prayer for each other.

And still the ground rumbles and roars … where are you, God?

The city has been cordoned off for months but one day is reopened. We join others in having a look. No one speaks as we walk past a deserted restaurant. Tables and chairs, cutlery, plates and food litter the floor. It feels like Pompeii. We return home in silence and don’t go back to the CBD for a couple of years. Big trucks, earth moving machines and cars add to ever-increasing cracks. I look at our bedroom ceiling and hope it doesn’t fall on me. Already we lean towards the sea.

Many Anglican brick churches have come down. Others have suffered, too. We share our building, run services throughout Sundays, open spare rooms and make new friends.

The quakes roll on. Sometimes they’re like gentle waves, rocking our house like a cradle. Others
come with the sound of a car starting and build to a resounding crescendo. But it’s the gigantic sudden lurches that scare me most.

Oh God, our help in ages past … where are you?

1.00 pm 13 June 2011 – 5.8 magnitude

This is another big, shallow one. I grab Eva and we go outside. We wait hours until the earth seems to settle. We walk along the road. But as we round the corner, it comes again. Shopkeepers run outside with customers. I’m thrown to the ground, Bernie’s on the road and Eva’s down, just beyond my reach. (I couldn’t reach her – that’s forever in my mind as tears form remembering this.) A rock as big as a car falls off the hillside and stops two lampposts away. But we help each other – the doctors, the hairdresser, the customers and the chefs.

We set off for home but our street is covered in liquefaction. We don’t know where the next sink hole is. Bernie picks up Eva, throws her over his shoulder and I follow, thinking that if he sinks down, I’ll be able to help. Unrealistic, I know.

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Pain that won’t go away

by Stephen Abraham

In 2003 Stephen Abraham was church planting pastor of the LCA’s new Mawson Lakes congregation and school pastor at Endeavour College in Adelaide’s northern suburbs. He was a songwriter with several worship CDs, including songs in the All Together series. He had aspirations for the future, a happy family with wife Thérèse and young son Joash, and dreams of where he thought life would take him. Two days before Christmas Eve, he ruptured a disc in his back in a sporting accident. The damage constricted the nerve running down his left leg resulting in severe and chronic pain from hip to toe on his left side – pain that simply won’t go away.

‘Let me tell you a secret. Don’t react. Don’t compare. Don’t judge. Just listen. Right now it feels like my left leg is being rolled over by a road roller: a road roller that never ever stops. It goes day and night. It hurts like hell and nothing in this world can stop it. I can take medication to knock me out and make me a zombie, I can try and meditate to lessen my reaction to the pain, I even have a spinal stimulator implanted trying to zap the nerves in my spine to block the pain; and sometimes it helps. But nothing stops the road roller and I cannot escape it as it crushes my leg every single moment of my existence. And it’s been like that for 12 long years …’

What do you think when you hear a story like that? It’s a harrowing story. It’s my story – a passage from my journal. Thanks for listening to it. It’s all I really need from you – unless I ask you for help. Now just treat me as ‘normal’ as you can. See past my mobility scooter and walking stick, look into my eyes and see me as a valid person.

Please don’t treat me as a cripple and/or pity me. Don’t gawk as I roll past on my scooter – but feel free to ask me about it and the freedom it gives me. Don’t whinge about disabled parking – I literally could not go to the shops without it. Don’t feel like ‘I can’t tell him my own problems because his are so much worse’ – that disenfranchises both of us. Look into my eyes, look past my disablement, and see me – a friend who just lives a different kind of ‘normal’.

After my accident, my family and I fought my condition and the pain as best we could, seeking out multiple medical treatments, including surgical procedures and several forms of alternative medicine. Many people prayed for me and my family for healing, but no physical healing came. While only getting one or two hours of sleep a night at the most for these years, and with my condition deteriorating, I eventually had a complete physical and emotional breakdown and had to stop pastoral ministry, going on indefinite medical leave.

I can only stand for a few minutes and walk about five metres before the pain becomes intolerable. Even my ability to sit is limited and I must remain horizontal as much as possible. Of course, this limits driving or even sitting at church where I need a special portable recliner.

Living with a long-term chronic medical condition can present some unique challenges to our Christian world view. The question of divine healing is one. Many hymns and songs boldly proclaim that ‘our God heals’. All through Scripture there are instances where miraculous healing occurs.

As someone who hasn’t been physically healed, how am I supposed to respond? Sometimes I admit I hear these songs and Bible readings and feel ripped off. Why them and not me? Why not just heal everyone? Is God so capricious to heal some and not others? Is my faith not strong enough or am I still held back by some special sin I have yet to confess? I have disabled friends from other denominations who respond by constantly seeking to be healed by the latest touring ‘gifted’ faith healer. Result? They still aren’t healed, just like me!

‘Maybe the pursuit of supernatural healing is not the answer for me personally here on this fallen world. Maybe it’s the whole human journey – including the best and worst of life (even the worst of suffering, including the most crippling of diseases) – where God is to be found. Maybe it’s “my heart that must be healed” in this lifetime and my supernatural healing will come with my “glorified body” in heaven at the end of time. God’s plan to “heal the world” is yet to come …’

(from Stephen’s journal)

The question of why a good God allows evil and suffering to exist – called theodicy, or literally ‘God-justice’ – still presents a significant challenge to many Christians.

My own personal epiphany in coming to terms with my faith while suffering chronic pain was in reading the Book of Job in the Old Testament as a newly disabled person.

I didn’t receive all the answers, but I did learn that my own experiences – how I cope with the day-to-day of my medical condition, my suffering and my interactions with friends, family and God – is a path well-trod by Job thousands of years ago.

Although I would not wish my condition on anyone, for me there is blessing amid the suffering; in the closeness I have to my family and the way they support me; in the way my son has developed a mature sense of compassion at a young age; in the health and financial support available to me in this country; and in the simplicity my life now has.

Chronic pain is a burden but not a death sentence. I encourage anyone who is suffering in this way to seek help from doctors, family and friends, and in God himself, who is with you through it all – even through the anger. Jesus went through enormous suffering and is with you through your journey of pain.

In 2014 Lutheran Media featured Stephen, his wife Thérèse and son Joash in a series of radio and YouTube video interviews simply called Chronic and later they produced a DVD, complete with a study guide for small groups and the booklet Chronic Pain.

For Stephen’s booklet or copies of the DVD, contact Lutheran Media at luthmedia@lca.org.au or 1800 353 350.

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The Reformation: It’s all about Jesus

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 in order to jointly commemorate the occasion. One project is a series of articles about the significance of the Reformation, written by Lutheran and Catholic authors from around Australia, to be published in both Lutheran and Catholic publications. The first in our series of six is by Pastor Fraser Pearce, a member of the LCA’s Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations, and the parish senior pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Adelaide.

Luther wrote and spoke powerfully because he wrote and spoke about Jesus. He wrote and spoke about Jesus not simply as a guide or an example for us, but as the Saviour, who rescues us from death, from sin, and from hell itself. And it’s because Jesus, who died to take away the sin of the world, now lives that the Reformation message about Jesus still has power in our world.

Early in his career (in 1520) Luther wrote a short book called The Freedom of a Christian. In this book, he explained the joy that comes through trusting in Jesus as our Saviour: ‘The Christian ought to think, “Although I am an unworthy and condemned person, my God has given me in Christ all the riches of righteousness and salvation, without any merit on my part, out of pure, free mercy, so that from now on I need nothing except faith which believes it is true”.’

Luther could write these words joyfully, because he knew that God gives us the gift of faith through his gracious word, winning our trust in Jesus, and freeing us from self-centred living. Because we have Jesus as our Saviour, we no longer need to focus inwardly and become anxious about what we lack, whether that is goodness, peace or strength for daily life. Instead we are free to look to Jesus, to trust that, in him, God gives us all that we need. And we are free to respond with simple gratitude.

This is how Luther put it: ‘Why should I not therefore freely, joyfully, and with all my heart, and with an eager will do all things which I know are pleasing and acceptable to such a Father who has overwhelmed me with his inestimable riches?’

This response of gratitude is one that overflows in love for our neighbour. Since in Christ we freely have all good gifts from God, in thankfulness we can share the gifts Christ gives us with the people God brings into our lives. Luther wrote boldly, ‘I will therefore give myself as a Christ to my neighbour, just as Christ offered himself to me. I will do nothing in this life except what I see is necessary, profitable, and salutary to my neighbour, since through faith I have an abundance of all good things in Christ’.

Faith in Jesus gives us freedom to love our neighbour: It’s in Jesus that love comes to life. Luther wrote and spoke about Jesus the Saviour, about Jesus who loves us and who frees us to love each other. This is the message of the Reformation – it’s all about Jesus.

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50.500 faith.freedom.future

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.

Chance to tell your congregation’s story

Lutheran Archives is inviting young people to research and record their congregation’s story since church union in 1966. Cash prizes will be awarded for senior (13-16 years) and junior (12 years and under) students in two categories: written report and multimedia presentation.

The competition is being championed by Ev Leske, son of the late Pastor Ev Leske, who wrote the ‘textbook’ about Lutherans in Australia since 1838, For Faith and Freedom. The title of the book was the inspiration for the tagline for the 50.500 initiative, faith.freedom.future.

‘The 50th anniversary of the union of the ELCA and UELCA – the birthday of the LCA – is a wonderful opportunity to engage our young people in the life of our church’, says Mr Leske, chairperson of the Committee of Lutheran Archives.

‘This year we can look back with thanks to God for his faithfulness and guidance as we have journeyed together as one church these past 50 years. At the same time we can look forward with our children and grandchildren to the LCA God is building for them and through them.’

The Lutheran Archives competition is challenging young people to submit entries under the heading ‘My congregation – past, present and future’. Their reports or multimedia presentations will document the changes in their congregation over the past 50 years, and what it might look like in the future. They will gain extra merit for using material collected from interviews and for contacting Lutheran Archives for research assistance.

Mr Leske stresses, too, that Lutheran Archives’ records are available to all congregation members for research at any time, not just this competition.

Young people from all LCA congregations may enter, including those from congregations established after church union. Entries close on 25 September 2016. Full details are available on the 50.500 website www.50500.lca.org.au

Incentive to ‘have a go’

Congregations, schools and ministry groups have an incentive to dust off shelved plans for local mission. Under the 50.500 faith.freedom.future initiative approved by General Synod last year, they could receive a grant of up to $25,000 from the new ‘Have a Go’ Fund for their project or activity.

The purpose of the fund is to encourage and equip grassroots communities of the LCA/NZ to ‘have a go’ at local mission and ministry. It will provide grants for initiatives likely to start during this synodical term, 2015–2018.

Eligible projects will need to align with the LCA’s strategic priorities (outlined in LCA Strategic Direction 2013–2018) and the group’s own mission and ministry goals. There will also be a focus on ‘going and growing’ as God’s people. The 50.500 panel will look favourably on projects that are innovative, future-focused and sustainable in the mid to long-term.

Pastor Neville Otto, Secretary of the Church, encourages all congregations to ‘have a go’ at something new in local mission and ministry. ‘While we recognise all the good things God has done over our 50 years together, this synodical term of celebration and commemoration is also the perfect time to seek God’s guidance for what he wants to do in the next 50 years – and then to ‘have a go’!

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Our straw bale castle

by Lara Lang

Rather than worrying what the house they have built will do for their social standing or local real estate values, one Adelaide family has placed more importance on the impact it will have on the environment for future generations.

A home is a place to retreat to and recharge from the stresses of the world; a space in which it is safe and comfortable for a family to grow. Darryl Kerrigan, a character from the 1997 hit Australian comedy movie The Castle, was ‘living’ proof of the old saying that ‘A man’s home is his castle’. This past year my family helped design and build our own house, so we could have our own special place to call our ‘castle’.

My husband Benno and I knew we wanted something that encapsulated our values and was an expression of who we are. We wanted a house that was comfortable, light-filled, and sensibly constructed to make careful use of resources. Our Christian belief in being good stewards of the earth’s resources helped inform our choice of building material.

In nature, nutrients are recycled through organisms and waste materials are reused – like food scraps being composted and returned to the soil to grow new plants to feed us. We chose to build our walls out of another compostable waste material: straw bales.

Straw is a waste product from the harvest of grain heads (in the particular example of our house, of wheat). Straw is biodegradable, and if we ever demolish our house, the walls can be returned to the earth by composting them down. Straw is also a readily available and locally sourced material that is easy to work with.

Another consideration for us was having a house that did not require much energy (that is, electricity) to run. We wanted a house that was filled with natural light and could maintain a comfortable temperature year-round, with little additional heating or cooling from air conditioners.

Coincidentally, rendered straw bale walls have very good insulation properties. Straw bale walls have an insulation R value of around 8-10, compared with standard new-build wall insulation, which is R2-3. Houses with high insulation properties should stay cool in summer and warm in winter, making for more comfortable living and reduced heating and cooling costs.

We also selected economical LED lights throughout the house that require little electricity to run; a heat pump hot water system that extracts heat from the air to warm the water; and an electric induction cooktop that directly heats the metal cookware so less heat is lost through radiation. All of these decisions were made to reduce our use of the God-given resources this earth has to offer; to conserve what is available so our children in the future have access to those resources, too.

In addition, we installed a 5.1 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system on our north-facing roof and an 18,000 litre rainwater tank. We feel it is important that we can harvest and use our own rainwater, rather than depleting the resources of the River Murray and our reservoirs, given that we live in the dry state of South Australia.

We enjoy producing our own electricity from our solar panels, as it means we personally require less coal and gas to be burnt in power stations. That, in turn, means less carbon dioxide emissions going into the atmosphere due to our activities, and hopefully our personal impact on global warming is less.

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Lessons of creation

by Heidi Rose

When it comes to caring for God’s creation, it seems some of the youngest members of our LCA community can teach the rest of us a lesson or two. As they learn, students in many parts of the Lutheran Education Australia system are working to protect and preserve our environment as a unique, delicate and precious, God-given gift. Here is just a sample of their stories.

Faith Lutheran College, Plainland Qld 

Waterwise award for Faith College

Faith Lutheran College, Plainland, in South East Queensland, has been crowned the winner of the Best Waterwise Garden category in the Lockyer Valley Regional Council’s Garden Competition.

Showcasing the work of groundsmen Nigel Klinge, Anton Lehmann and Darren Jamieson and project manager Tom Kenny, the college was able to display drought resistance initiatives to ensure its grounds remain green in spite of consistently dry weather conditions.

Faith also took out second place in the Schools and Childcare section of the awards.

The college uses recycled water and run-off from drains and dams, along with plants that require little watering or maintenance as part of its commitment to environmental sustainability.

Darren Jamieson says ‘staying abreast of the latest innovations in gardening, and researching the best plants to use in our soil conditions and that are native to the area, help to make the grounds that much easier to care for and maintain’. ‘It is lovely to see our students sitting under our beautiful shady trees and on our lawns, knowing that we have grown these ourselves during tough weather conditions’, he said.

Heidi Rose is the marketing and publicity coordinator for Faith Lutheran College, Plainland, Queensland.

Tanunda Lutheran Early Learning Centre, Tanunda SA

Bush wisdom changes lives

The children who attend Tanunda Lutheran Early Learning Centre (ELC) in SA’s Barossa Valley may be only pre-school age but they already are gaining knowledge to last a lifetime.

The ELC, which is a part of Tanunda Lutheran School, has the ultimate outdoor classroom within its site and Director Marie Hage says it is changing young lives. What was once just vacant land bordering the North Para River is now a bush block full of life, learning and play opportunities.

About a hectare in size, the block is located at the back of the joint property and has been revegetated by the ELC team, with the support of parents, friends, government grants, local service groups and businesses.

Along with a focus on sustainability and care for God’s creation woven through the curriculum, Marie says visiting the bush block at least twice a week has a huge effect on students.

‘We find that it affects the children cognitively, socially and spiritually and it promotes deep thinking’, she says of the bush block, which is shared with the primary school. ‘Every area of curriculum can be addressed in that bush block and many children blossom in that environment.’

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Stewards of his earth

by Lisa McIntosh

Being a farmer is never easy but making the commitment to farm organically can be an even tougher row to hoe – literally hoeing weeds. However, for the Reichenbach family of Victoria’s Wimmera district, they believe that decision is the right one in line with their Christian faith.

The past couple of years have been pretty dry on the Reichenbach family farm, which is located approximately 80 kilometres north-west of Horsham in Victoria.

But for third generation farmer Lou and his son Luke who work and manage the 1400 hectare property, supported by their wives Jan and Megan, drought years are an opportunity to trust that God is in control.

The farm is a certified organic mixed farming operation, producing wheat, barley, oats and some hay in the cropping department, as well as sheep for wool and meat. The whole property was certified organic as of 2014. However, the Reichenbachs, who are members at St John’s Lutheran Church in nearby Jeparit, began to embrace organic practices in the early 2000s.

One environmental practice they use is shelter belts. Made up of native trees and shrubs within the farm’s paddocks, these act as a windbreak, giving protection to the sheep, providing habitat for birds and beneficial insects, which in turn minimise pests in crops and pasture.

The Reichenbachs also grow saltbush, a quickly regenerated source of minerals for the sheep – and an added attraction for buyers of their lamb. In addition, they don’t use any chemical sprays or synthetic fertilisers in their broadacre farming.

Luke explains:

‘The organic system is a holistic approach using biological inputs such as compost, kelp, microbes and various mineral fertilisers. These are used in conjunction with practices like green manuring and controlled grazing to improve soil, plant, animal and ultimately human health’.

Lou began questioning conventional agriculture ‘late last century’ and its possible impacts on human health.

‘I used to occasionally suffer headaches while applying chemicals and this got me questioning things’, he says.

But what makes caring for the environment even more important for the Reichenbachs as they work with their land is their faith.

‘As Christians we live our lives to glorify God and as Christian farmers we live and farm to glorify God in all that we do’, Lou says with agreement from the whole family. Luke chips in: ‘Faith and farming are intrinsically intertwined’.

‘It’s God’s earth and we are privileged to be stewards of it as farmers and we acknowledge that he’s the giver of all good gifts’, Lou continues. ‘Farming is not always a walk in the park, and your faith is often tested … especially [by] droughts. But we are encouraged by the words of St Paul: “Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess 5:18).’

The Reichenbachs’ tips on caring for the environment

  • Work with nature, not against it.
  • Consider weeds in a new light. A point to ponder is that weeds are not the enemy, they grow for a reason.

Consider what you consume and what you expose your

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