M A G A Z I N E O F T H E LUT H E R A N C H URC H O F A US T R A LI A & N E W Z E AL A N D
MAY 2022
He will not ... quench the dimly burning flam e
VOL 56 No 4
Print Post Approved PP100003514
IS A IA H 4 2 :3
NOTHING LEFT...
the perils of burnout
EDITORIAL
Editor Lisa McIntosh p 08 8267 7300 m 0409 281 703 e lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au Executive Editor Linda Macqueen p 08 8267 7300 e linda.macqueen@lca.org.au
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Multi-cultured
Laura Shiromi David has been worshipping at St Lukes, Palmerston North NZ, ever since she arrived from Sri Lanka four years ago and met Jeanette Andersen at Massey University. Jeanette is a third-generation member of the congregation, which was known for many years locally as ‘the Danish church’ (photo: Rosie Schefe). Send us a photograph featuring a recent copy of The Lutheran and it may appear on page 2 of a future issue and on our website at www.thelutheran.com.au
People like YOU bring love to life Fiona Weckert Bethlehem Lutheran Church Adelaide SA Communication coordinator at Walkerville Uniting Church and floor coordinator at Treasure Boxes Most treasured Bible text: Romans 8:38-39 ‘Nothing can separate us from the love of God.’
Isaiah Koelmann St Paul Lutheran Church Blair Athol SA Nine-year-old student who loves playing soccer, cricket and basketball Most treasured Bible text: Jonah 1 and 2 ‘Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.’
Zoe Heinrich St Peters Lutheran Church Stawell Vic Trainee at Tandara Lutheran Camp Halls Gap Vic Most treasured Bible text: Jeremiah 29:11
The Lutheran informs the members of the LCANZ about the church’s teaching, life, mission and people, helping them to grow in faith and commitment to Jesus Christ. The Lutheran also provides a forum for a range of opinions, which do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor or the policies of the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand.
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‘“For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.’ Let the light of someone you know shine through their photo being featured in The Lutheran and LCA Facebook. With their permission, send us a good quality photo, their name and details (congregation, occupation and most treasured text in these difficult times) and your contact details.
Linda is guest editor this month while Lisa is taking a well-earned break.
EDITOR'S
let ter
June
Special features
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If you poke a skewer into Australia or New Zealand and run it through the dead centre of the globe, it will punch through on the other side pretty close to Iceland. So, if you want to flee as far as planet Earth allows, the place to go is Iceland. In the winter of a tough year I ran away to Iceland. I hired a car and spent two weeks driving around the island on its hauntingly lonely ring road. It was summer there of course, and so my driving days often ended late in the evening, in the endless dreamy twilight. It was the ideal location for a factory re-set. In Reykjavik I had coffee with a pastor friend I’d met at an LWF gathering years earlier. Funny how it’s easier to spill your sorrows to a relative stranger on the other side of the world than to your closest friend back home.
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It was a lightbulb moment. And right there my healing from burnout began. It won’t be as straightforward as that for everyone. There probably won’t be one single lightbulb moment that identifies the root of your burnout. That’s why it’s good to hear the stories of others – and there are plenty of stories to tell. Look around and you’ll see a whole host of us church workers and volunteers earnestly loving others instead of ourselves. Thank you to the brave people who share their stories in this edition. I hope their vulnerability assures you that you are not alone if you struggle with burnout (or depression or anxiety or anything else that steals the joy from your life with God). As you bring your exhaustion before God, I pray that you will discover anew how deeply he loves you, cherishes you, delights in you, and that his Spirit of Peace will set you free.
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It’s okay to say no
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Lutherans unite for Ukraine
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Prayer vigil a light for community
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Tamil ministry unfolds in Geelong
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Injection
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Regulars
‘The tank is empty’, I said. ‘I don’t have anything left to give. I’m sick of looking after everybody else. I curse when the phone rings. I want to crawl into a hole where no-one can find me, and never want to see another human as long as I live.’ He said nothing. He stared out at Reykjavik’s shimmering lake, watched a swan coming in to land. I wondered if he’d heard me. After a long pause, and still gazing at the swan, he said, ‘You know what’s wrong with you women? [pause for effect] You act as though Jesus said, “Love your neighbour instead of yourself”. Jesus never said that.’
Running on empty
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Because we bear your name: Bishop Paul’s letter
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Dwelling in God’s word
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Go and Grow
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Church@Home
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Going GREYT!
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The inside story
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Directory
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Sudoku
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Prayer calendar
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Perhaps you might find yourself asking God the questions I did, as Iceland’s horizons beckoned me onwards: ‘God, why should I care for me? Why should I love me?’ ‘Because I do’, said God.
Lind a
Our cover: iStock.com Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following pages may contain images of people who have died. The Lutheran M AY 2 0 2 2
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Because we bear your name My youngest son Jeremy is in his final year of study as he prepares to be a candidate for ordination as a pastor of our church. He is currently serving as a vicar at Faith Lutheran Church Warradale under the guidance of Pastor Tim Klein and is having a great time. My wife Heidi and I dearly love our son and thank the Lord that Jeremy can be prepared for the work of a pastor, through his studies at Australian Lutheran College in Adelaide. This year there are only three students – Jeremy, Edwin Shoesmith and Joel Grieger – in their final year of study, preparing to be candidates for ordination. In 1988, when I finished my studies at Luther Seminary, I was in a class of ten. My class at the beginning of my seminary journey numbered 19. I have heard various opinions about why we have so few men training for the office of the public ministry in our church in this 21st century. Whatever people may say about this crisis in candidates at Australian Lutheran College, we must address this as a matter of highest priority.
BISHOP PAUL’S LE T TER RE V PAUL SMITH Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand
looking at how we should address this wound of church worker supply among us. Each of us will have memories of a faithful church worker who helped us grow in our understanding of the grace of God at work in this world, and in our lives. Our church has been blessed with extraordinary men and women in various roles of leadership in the ministries of the LCANZ. In these difficult times of COVID and lockdowns, the workers in our church have purposefully laboured in the cause of the gospel, but many are struggling.
When I consider these issues, we do not despair but can remain deeply hopeful. It is the word and promise of our Lord that guides our conversations about church workers W HATEVER PEOPLE for the mission that we are given. The church is the Lord’s. We properly call MAY SAY ABOUT TH IS our church work ‘the mission of God’. CRISIS I N CAN DI DATES The Lord who calls us and sends us for this work who declared, ‘I will build AT AUSTRALIAN my church and the gates of hell will LUTH ERAN COLLEG E, not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16).
WE M UST ADDRESS Please pray for those attending this We are a church of the Lutheran workshop in mid-May, that they Confession; therefore we believe, teach TH IS AS A MAT TER OF would have ears to hear what the and confess that: God instituted the H IG H EST PRIORIT Y. Spirit is saying to the church. Also, office of preaching, giving the gospel please continue to pray for this work and the sacraments. Through these, as of church worker development for the ministries of the through means, he gives the Holy Spirit who produces LCANZ. In Luke’s Gospel, we read the words of our Lord faith, where and when he wills, in those who hear the Jesus, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are gospel (Augsburg Confession Article 5). Therefore, we few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out Lutherans have faithfully prepared ‘servants of the word’ labourers into his harvest’ (Luke 10, NRSV). to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments. In our Lutheran Church in New Zealand and Australia we We take up this vital task to better prepare women and call these servants of the word, ‘pastors’. men for works of service given to us, for the sake of the gospel, so that the people we serve in this world, would At their February meeting, the College of Bishops be gathered into God’s marvellous light. resolved to initiate a process to address the vital matter of the supply of church workers in our Lutheran ‘Because we bear your name.’ communities on both sides of the Tasman Sea. The focus will be not only on pastors but also on workers In Christ, across the ministries of our church and will begin with an initial workshop at the May meeting of the bishops Lord Jesus, we belong to you, in Adelaide. I have described this May workshop as you live in us, we live in you; the task of carefully ‘unwrapping the bandages’, before
Paul
we live and
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work for you – your name
because we bear
One bite isn't enough, is it?
Here's how to get the whoe appe.
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