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151

Tangara 2022 is out now

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The 2022 edition of Tangara – the student-produced magazine of Australian Lutheran College – is available now to order.

This year’s theme verse is 1 Corinthians 12:20 – ‘There are many parts yet one body’. This verse describes how everyone in the church plays their part in the body of Christ, whether that is a teacher, pastor, layworker, or congregational volunteer.

Inside the 2022 edition, you will find a snapshot of those studying at ALC – both online and on-campus in North Adelaide. It’s a great way of ‘meeting’ those who are training to serve you in the future.

WHAT’S INSIDE?

  • Student profiles
  • 100 years of ALC’s North Adelaide Site
  • 2021 ordination photos
  • Articles on campus life
  • Some light-hearted articles to make you chuckle

Cost: $10 per copy (including postage in Australia and New Zealand). Please email tangara@alc.edu.au to secure a copy.

152

Remembering Strehlow a hundred years on

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by Pastor Neville Doecke

It would seem a rather sad occasion to spend two consecutive Sundays commemorating the death of an important person, particularly if their life was cut short at the age of only 50 years.

But that is what happened at Hermannsburg in Central Australia recently, as the community celebrated the life and work of Lutheran missionary Carl Strehlow. Carl and his wife Frieda are remembered for their service among the Western Arrarnta people of the region, and Carl’s legacy includes extensive Bible translation work and writings on First Nations languages and cultures.

Commemorative worship services on 24 and 31 July 2022 were held at two locations, one at Hermannsburg and the other 300 kilometres south-east at Horseshoe Bend on the Finke River.

The sermon text for the Hermannsburg service, Isaiah 55:8,9, was preached by Ingkaarta Neville Doecke and translated into Arrarnta by Pastor Marcus Wheeler to nearly 300 people gathered outside the Old Church at Hermannsburg. It leads us to think of God’s thoughts and plans. God’s big picture takes in more than the present. ‘All things work together for good’, as Romans 8:28 reminds us.

In 1922, Carl Strehlow died while trying to reach medical help after becoming seriously ill with dropsy. His tragic journey to Horshoe Bend, viewed 100 years later, reveals God’s ‘big picture plan’. Hermannsburg Mission did not close down. Frieda found fulfilment in six valuable years working as matron of Immanuel College. Their young son Theo grew up to follow in his father’s footsteps and continued to make huge linguistic and anthropological contributions. Most importantly, the Western Arrarnta people, led by the strong faith and commitment of ‘Blind Moses’ and other evangelists, continued to preach, teach and spread the message of God’s amazing love for his people.

The gospel message did not die with Carl Strehlow! Aboriginal pastors from all the language groups in Central Australia continue to sow the seeds of the gospel. ‘“The words I speak,” announces the Lord, “will not return to me without producing results”’ (Isaiah 55:11).

The sermon text for the Horseshoe Bend memorial is etched on the base of the cross on Carl’s grave – Hebrews 11:25,26. Sixty people travelled four hours from Alice Springs to gather in the dust and burrs at the bottom of a small hill to ponder Carl’s fateful journey and hear God tell us that his big picture plan includes two important details. For believers in Jesus, there will be hard times and suffering, but we must look ahead to the gift God has for each of us – life forever with him. The grandson of Carl and Frieda, John Strehlow, who had made his own rather difficult journey to travel from the UK to Alice Springs, unveiled a plaque to commemorate the occasion.

We praise and thank God for his big picture plan that wove together the lives of Carl, Frieda and the Western Arrarnta people for his continuing work of growing the gospel.

This story was first published on the LCA South Australia – Northern Territory District website and through Online Together eNews.

153

Lutheran choir members lend voices to TV history

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Five years after the feature documentary film The Song Keepers, which told the remarkable story of the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir, the talented group has been back in the national spotlight this year.

The choir was among performers in a TV and online rendition of the song ‘I Am Australian’, recorded for the 90th anniversary of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Made up of mostly Lutheran Indigenous women and men, the choir is a great witness for their church and their culture.

To see the ABC promo online, go to https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=410910410965125 or watch and listen to it with Pitjantjatjara lyrics, translated by Caroline Windy and Pastor Rob Borgas, at https://www.facebook.com/abc/videos/488247613102595

154

‘Money for nothing’

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The Lutheran church and college community of Rockingham Mandurah at the far southern fringe of Perth has raised more than $7000 by collecting bottles and cans for recycling.

The community signed up with the Western Australian Government initiative Containers for Change when it commenced in October 2020. Proceeds from the sale of the bottles and cans they collect are being directed to the maintenance of the chapel, which is owned by the congregation and used by both congregation and college communities.

Recycling bins are placed around the college grounds, including near the chapel and its carpark so that congregation members can easily deposit their bottles and cans on Sundays. Families, friends and neighbours of the Lutheran community are getting on board, too. They simply use the unique ID number when depositing at a recycling centre, and the payment goes directly into the Lutheran community’s bank account.

‘It’s easy, safe and efficient’, said Pastor Steve Liersch, who was a committed recycler when he was serving a congregation in the Adelaide Hills and was keen to introduce the idea to his community in Western Australia.

‘Our participation in the scheme is providing a regular income stream for us’, he said. ‘It’s taking care of the chapel maintenance budget, which is now ticking away on its own.’ So far, the congregation has been able to replace the 20-year-old carpets and blinds, and upgrade the sound system. Their next project is the renovation of the kitchen.

Pastor Liersch encourages all congregations to get on board with recycling. ‘It’s money for nothing’, he said.

There is another clear benefit in being involved in the scheme. Pastor Liersch said that students are learning the environmental benefits of recycling from an early age and can see themselves making a positive difference.

155

An adventure in sharing grace

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by Gill Stevenson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

156

God’s strength provides a career in caring

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Going GREYT! 1 Peter 4:10

In Going GREYT! we feature stories of some of our ‘more experienced’ people within the LCA, who have been called to make a positive contribution in their retirement. We pray their examples of service will be an inspiration and encouragement to us all as we look to be Christ’s hands and feet wherever we are, with whatever gifts and opportunities we’ve been given.

by Helen Brinkman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘That’s what I want retirement life to be about, but I haven’t quite found it yet.’

What she has found in her lifetime of caring is the skill and sensitivity to be a caring companion.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Mum and Dad were both caring, and community-oriented. Dad used to say if you are going to live in a community, you work in the community or you don’t belong there.’

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

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

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

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

Just look to the mountains!

Helen Brinkman is a Brisbane-based writer who is inspired by the many GREYT people who serve tirelessly and humbly in our community. By sharing stories of how God shines his light through his people, she hopes others are encouraged to explore how they can use their gifts to share his light in the world.

Know of any other GREYT stories in your local community? Email the editor lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au  

157

Invited to join God’s family

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Being baptised as a baby has been traditional for most LCANZ members. But for Luke Horner the journey to joining God’s family has been different. Now a husband and father, Luke went to church occasionally as a child and attended a Lutheran primary school – but he’d never been baptised.

159

Because we bear your name

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Bishop Paul’s letter

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

At a General Convention of Synod at Luther College in Melbourne, I found myself sitting beside Adrienne Jericho. Not only was Adrienne serving as our church’s Executive Director of Lutheran Education Australia at the time, but in 1978 he had also been my Scripture teacher when I was a Year 11 student at St Peters Lutheran College at Indooroopilly in Queensland. So, I felt quite honoured to be sitting with him.

During a regular break in proceedings, Adrienne and I were talking about the impact of Lutheran schooling and how it had been forming our Lutheran Church, both here in Australia and in New Zealand. We wondered how many ‘green cards’ would be held up if Adrienne asked delegates to hold up their Synod voting card if they had themselves attended a Lutheran school?

In the next session of convention, Adrienne did exactly that. At the microphone for his presentation, he asked delegates, ‘Please hold up your green card if you attended a Lutheran school’. Green cards were held up everywhere across the assembly. But then Adrienne went further. He said, ‘Keep those cards up. Now, please hold up your green card if your children or grandchildren are attending or have attended a Lutheran school’. A whole host of additional voting cards were held up. Finally, he asked, ‘Would you hold up your card if you are a delegate representing a community that includes a Lutheran school?’ Even more cards went up until there was a virtual sea of green across the convention. This wonderful moment at that Synod reveals the profound presence of Lutheran schooling in forming the life of our Lutheran Church.

As a church, we establish schools and early childhood services to educate young people in the name of the Lord, bearing witness to the students, parents, teachers and friends of our schools, as we provide quality teaching and learning. While we have been forming young people through Lutheran schooling, Lutheran schooling has been forming us as a church.

As I write these words for you, Lutheran educators and the people of our Lutheran schools and early learning communities are getting ready for ‘ACLE’ in Melbourne. This is our church’s Australian Conference on Lutheran Education begun in 1999, gathering women and men in educational ministries from all parts of the Lutheran Church and from around the world. Participants at ACLE enter into robust, purposeful and creative professional development together to improve the learning experience of the young people and families involved in our school and early learning communities.

During these past years of the pandemic, we have seen extraordinary growth in our Lutheran schools. Across the church, school enrolment numbers have broadly increased despite the great difficulties of lockdown and illness. This is certainly the result of diligent planning and management by our school councils, our staff and our school communities. But we must pause and give thanks especially for the faithful witness and service of the women and men who are our Lutheran school principals.

Let us pray for God’s blessing on the ongoing work of our Lutheran schools as our gracious God continues to form young people through our schools and early learning communities, and as our gracious God continues to form our Lutheran Church through our Lutheran schools.

Personally, I thank God that I have been formed by so many of our Lutheran school communities. God gathered me into our church through the witness of a Lutheran school community; I have served as school pastor in four Lutheran schools, in three of those as the full-time college pastor; my three children attended Lutheran schools to grade 12; and my wife Heidi also attended Lutheran schools to grade 12 and is a trained Lutheran secondary school teacher.

I thank God for the blessing that is Lutheran schooling and Lutheran early childhood services.

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.

160

The mystery of baptism

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by Dan Mueller

A few weeks ago, I welcomed 60 inquisitive Year 6 students to our worship centre as part of their Christian Studies class. Immanuel Lutheran College, a Prep to Year 12 school, is co-located with Immanuel Lutheran Church in Buderim, on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, where I currently serve as the congregational pastor. These 60 students were visiting to learn about the sacraments, including baptism.

The first question I asked them was, ‘What does the word “sacrament” mean?’ After a few good guesses, we learnt together that ‘sacrament’ is a Latin word meaning ‘sacred oath’. God makes promises and attaches his oath to physical elements, such as the water in baptism or bread and wine in holy communion. Interestingly, before this Latin word, a Greek word was used instead: ‘mysterion’, from which we get our English word ‘mystery’. As a sacrament, baptism is a ‘mysterion’ – a mystery. No matter how hard we might try to explain what baptism is – for example, using Luther’s Catechism – it always remains a mystery! Baptism is God’s promise, spoken by his word, that he attaches to water. What a mystery!

How does one explain this mystery to 60 Year 6 students!? That was my challenge for the afternoon.

One of my go-to books for teaching about baptism is Daniel Erlander’s Let the Children Come, which is handily available from Australian Christian Resources.

I like this book because it has pictures! I’m not joking. It literally has pictures – each page is wonderfully illustrated with interesting and funny characters by the author.

But the book also has metaphorical pictures – it draws heavily upon biblical word pictures used to describe the mystery of faith. Metaphors and word pictures are, in my humble opinion, better than so-called ‘literal’ renderings, because they unleash the power to redescribe reality, to paraphrase the famous philosopher, Paul Ricoeur. Word pictures have the power to describe the divine mystery of baptism, so that even – and especially – children can understand. In a metaphor, the abundance of divine truth is poured into shallow human words.

Here are a few biblical metaphors to help us make sense of the mystery of baptism. Baptism is …

  • Dying and rising with Christ to a new life (Romans 6; Colossians 2:12,13).
  • A new birth, a change so complete that it’s like being born anew, born from above (John 3).
  • A cleansing bath that washes away the stain and dirt of sin (1 Peter 3:21,22; Titus 3:4–8).
  • Being clothed in a white robe – the robe is Jesus Christ himself – being covered by his forgiveness and right-ness (Galatians 3:27,28; Colossians 3:9,10; Revelation 7:9).
  • Being adopted into a new family, becoming a daughter or son of royalty, a child of God (Ephesians 1:3–5; John 1:12,13; Galatians 3:25–29; Romans 8:14–17).

Each metaphor is a thread that is woven together to form a beautiful tapestry. Putting all the metaphors together helps us to make some sense of the mystery of baptism. It is dying with Christ in the tomb and walking free with him; it is being born again; it is sin being washed away; it is being clothed with the right-ness of Christ; it is being adopted into God’s family, and so on. The power of God’s word added to plain water makes all of this happen in baptism. Wow! What a mysterious mystery!

I’d love to tell you that all the Year 6 students were blown away and asked to be baptised immediately on the spot! But it was 2.30pm at the end of a long school day. So, I pray seeds were planted that may someday bear fruit (another metaphor!).

May you make sense of your baptism each day. May you know that through your baptism you have been made a child of God, washed clean, clothed in a white robe, and have died and risen again with Christ. May you live each day wet.

Rev Dr Dan Mueller is pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church Buderim on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.