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301

Super merger to deliver ‘best retirement outcomes’

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Lutheran Super members can look forward to some exciting retirement benefits as a result of the superannuation fund’s decision to merge into the Mercer Super Trust via a successor fund transfer later this year.

That’s the view of Lutheran Super Chair John Grocke, who said the move would broaden services, options and support for members of the $700m-plus not-for-profit fund, which was established by the Lutheran Church of Australia in 1987 to enable church employees to plan for their retirement. Any LCANZ member was able to choose Lutheran Super as their superannuation fund from July 2019, when it became a public-offer fund.

Mr Grocke said the merger, which was announced in August by Mercer Super and Lutheran Super, was in the best financial interests of Lutheran Super’s 5,600 members, including more than 340 pensioners.

‘From the outset, we have sought a merger partner that could deliver the best retirement outcome possible for our members’, Mr Grocke said.

‘Following a rigorous process, we’re pleased to have chosen the Mercer Super Trust, where our members will access a wider range of services, options and personalised support to get the most out of their super or pension. Importantly, the merger will ensure that members continue to benefit from our tailored balanced investment option as well as other characteristics of the existing plan.’

Lutheran Super’s Balanced Growth (MySuper) option has performed strongly against its peers over the past five years. It continues to exceed the MySuper median as of June 2022 reporting.

In October 2021, it was named as one of the Top 10 growth funds by Australian online investment advisor Stockspot. It will continue as the MySuper option for Lutheran Super members in the Mercer Super Trust.

‘From strong investment performance to competitive fees, we’re proud of what we have achieved on behalf of our members over the years’, Mr Grocke said. ‘We know that our members’ best interests will continue to be protected as they join Mercer Super.’

Mercer Super Chief Executive Officer Tim Barber said the firm, which has provided administration, investment management and consulting services for Lutheran Super over many years, looked forward to continuing its service to members.

‘Mercer is proud of its long-term partnership with Lutheran Super’, he said. ‘We know well the deep commitment they have to helping their members enjoy a healthy retirement, and we look forward to welcoming them to Mercer Super.

The successor fund transfer is expected to take place in the final quarter of 2022.

The Mercer Super Trust currently manages more than $30 billion in funds and leverages the scale of Mercer globally, which has US$346 billion in assets under management. Upon completion of the Lutheran Super successor fund transfer and the recently announced successor fund transfer of BT Super, the Mercer Super Trust will have more than $65 billion in funds under management.

302

Young adults hopeful for LCANZ

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When 24 young Lutherans gathered in Adelaide for the LCANZ’s Young Adult Forum last month, their sense of hope for their church’s future inspired presenters and participants alike.

Aged between 18 and 26 and representing rural and city congregations from across Australia, forum participants heard about and discussed key issues facing the church and gained a deeper insight into how the church functions.

The event was also an opportunity for LCANZ leaders to hear the needs and thoughts of our young people,

Facilitated by Grow Ministries, the forum also included sessions about worship, the work of the LCANZ in local and international mission, ministry support and public theology, issues to be discussed at next year’s Convention of General Synod and conversation time with Bishop Paul Smith.

Grow Ministries Director Jodi Brook said being among the young adult participants was ‘a blessing’. ‘To listen to the passion that they have for their church, to see their understanding of how the church functions grow and to be inspired by the hope, generosity and positivity which they spoke about the church was such a blessing’, she said.

Bishop Paul said while discussion tables during the forum each included a church leader to guide conversation among the young adults, ‘they really didn’t need the guide’. ‘Each time the groups were assigned a task, they launched into discussion and collaboration with passion and pastoral support for one another’, he said.

‘It was a joy to serve with them. They will certainly be praying for their church.’

Participant John Hillier from South Australia said he ‘gained a sense of hope about a wide range of things’ at the forum. ‘It was good to hear the wisdom and experiences of others’, he said. ‘It took a lot of the sourness I had when I think about the future of the church. It was great to see that our church has many people who are aware of the challenges we face. To me, it was a good reminder that no matter what happens, the church can and will prevail.’

Other participants also said they were encouraged to do more in their home congregations and communities, thanks to their experiences at the forum. Stephanie Swift, from Western Australia, said, ‘I am feeling encouraged to find ways to serve my congregation, such as joining a committee or starting a small group’, while Queensland participant Christian Hansen said: ‘I think being enthusiastically involved in the body of the church is something I’m looking forward to doing more of.’

303

Lutheran artists freely share their talents

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More than 100 artists from three Australian states have shared their creativity and talent through this year’s second annual LCANZ Churchwide Simultaneous Art Exhibition under the theme ‘Free Indeed’.

People who took part in the 2022 exhibition ranged from small children at Lutheran playgroups, school students and youth groups, to congregation members, school staff and parents and people in aged-care communities, with the eldest artist involved being 98, organiser Libby Krahling said.

Coordinated and facilitated by LCA Visual Arts, which is part of the Commission on Worship, the event this year featured seven exhibitions and workshops held across August. These were based in Rochedale in Queensland, Port Macquarie and Sydney in New South Wales, and Nuriootpa, Mount Torrens, North Adelaide and Aberfoyle Park in South Australia. The exhibition theme was based on John 8:36: ‘So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!’

While there were fewer exhibitions staged than for last year’s inaugural event, Libby said that ‘some participating schools and congregations used the event resources to run workshops and to minister to groups within their communities’.

‘Across all the exhibitions we saw a huge variety of media, including paintings, drawings, cartooning, lino-cuts and other print-making, photography, textile art, crochet and knitting, 3D installations and sculptures, woodwork, metal work and floral art’, she said. ‘LCA Visual Arts are planning to reveal the 2023 theme soon, so keep your eyes peeled for announcements.’

304

Sharing the gift of life

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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.

305

Remembering Strehlow a hundred years on

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The life of Lutheran missionary Carl Strehlow was celebrated recently in Central Australia with a series of commemorative events. Carl and his wife Frieda are remembered for their service among the Western Arrarnta people, and Carl’s legacy includes extensive Bible translation work.

306

God’s strength provides a career in caring

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Every morning when Shirley Klinge looks out of her window at the Tabeel retirement village at Laidley, she gazes at the hills and they remind her 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).

307

Because we bear your name

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Bishop Paul’s letter

Rev Paul Smith
Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand

God is busily involved in the messiness of our lives! This is celebrated most wonderfully in Psalm 139, where we are taught to pray, ‘O Lord … it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb’.

Modern scientific discovery has taught us much about the journey of a little child in the mother’s womb. The womb is a place of fluids, nutrients, of warmth and blood flow. The image of God’s hands at work, gently ‘knitting’ us together in our mother’s womb is a beautiful description of the loving gracious care of God for us, from our very beginnings, in that interesting and somewhat messy place.

The psalmist then proclaims, ‘I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well’. God does a great job in creating us. We are each unique and each beautifully created.

We live in a world obsessed with unobtainable ideals of physical perfection. We are told to lighten our skin colour if it is too dark or to darken our skin if it is too light. Our noses are too long or too short. Legs. Hips. The ‘body corrections’ that are posted in images on social media are a testimony to just how endless is the world’s list of ‘body parts that need correcting’. This is an ever-increasing terrible burden for young people. A 2021 study by City University of London discovered that 90 per cent of women surveyed reported using a filter or editing their photos before posting them online.

But from that beautifully ‘messy’ place of our mother’s womb, we are declared to be fearfully and wonderfully made with all our unique, unusual peculiarities. Lutheran songwriter Robin Mann wrote his song ‘Complaint in C’ to celebrate this message. It takes the form of a prayer of a struggling person who keeps asking God to fix all the things that the world says ‘are wrong with me’ rather than to celebrate what it is to be fearfully and wonderfully made by the gracious loving hand of God.

Learning Martin Luther’s Catechism teaches Christian people to celebrate God’s past and present creative handiwork in our individual lives. In explaining the first article of the Apostles’ Creed, he writes:

‘I believe that God has created me together with all that exists. God has given me and still preserves my body and soul: eyes, ears, and all limbs and senses; reason and all mental faculties. In addition, God daily and abundantly provides shoes and clothing, food and drink, house and farm, spouse and children, fields, livestock, and all property – along with all the necessities and nourishment for this body and life’ (Kolb-Wengert edition).

‘God daily and abundantly provides …’. This generosity of God is at the heart of our Christian thanksgiving. God is still at work in our world, creating and preserving abundantly and so we give thanks by faith for all that we have received, including our physical selves. Sometimes, it can be hard to accept this, so we ask for eyes to help us to see God’s loving and creative hand at work, including in the way we are physically created.

This is also our Christian conviction regarding the way we view our neighbours. Each person is a beloved creation of our gracious Creator. God provides for them in the way that God provides for us. Sometimes, we are called to be the means through which God provides for our neighbours.

The incarnation of Christ Jesus in the womb of his mother Mary reveals for all time that we are of the one same humanity. Christ our Redeemer became human in the way that we are all human. He is born from the same somewhat messy place where we are all formed: our mother’s womb. Though without sin, our Lord Jesus was fully human with the same physical uniqueness that we experience.

So, we pray with the psalmist, ‘I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made’.

In Christ,

Paul

Lord Jesus, we belong to you,
you live in us, we live in you;
we live and work for you –
because we bear your name.

308

Exploring the ethics of organ donations

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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.

309

Sharing the gift of life

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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.’

310

New worship resources set for release

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The Commission on Worship (CoW) is launching two new musical worship resources to assist congregations – a new LCA Music Resource, ‘Songs of the Church – Advent, Christmas and Epiphany’, and Sung Liturgy Recordings.

SONGS OF THE CHURCH MUSIC PACKAGE VOLUME 4

CoW’s Music and Song working group has prepared a new volume of music for the church. Available initially as digital downloadable music, each song in the collection of 100 songs is available individually and includes a three-part accompaniment for the not-so-confident keyboard player, with guitar chords and lyrics. Many songs feature fresh arrangements of old favourites, as well as some less-familiar songs to brighten your Christmas worship. Songs of the Church will be available from Australian Christian Resources at www.shopACR.com.au from Reformation Day, 31 October.

SUNG LITURGY RECORDINGS

For congregations without a strong cantor or musicians, CoW has recorded the sung liturgy from the Service with Communion (page 6 of the Lutheran Hymnal). Featuring the voices of Pastor Andrew Brook as cantor, and the Bethlehem Lutheran Church Adelaide choir singing the responses, the recordings are available free on the Worship Planning Page as both MP3s and .wav files.

Melody lines have been produced by David Simpfendorfer to assist musicians and singers.

These are available in PDFs for easy printing and JPEGs for insertion into bulletins. PowerPoints (PPT) in both standard and widescreen formats have been created for each piece of liturgy with the melody lines included. Full PPT service orders with embedded MP3s are also provided. Resources for The Service – Alternative Form (page 58 – Lutheran Hymnal) will be released later in 2022. You can find these resources at www.lca.org.au/worship/wpp/sung-liturgy