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Lobethal Lutheran Messenger L I V I N G I N C H R I S T ; S H A R I N G G O D ’ S L O V E ; S E R V I N G A L L P E O P L E

S E P T EM B E R : O C TO B E R : N OV EM B E R 2 0 1 6

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Lobethallutheranchurch.org.au Editor, John Seidel. Letters articles and photos always welcome. Email, [email protected] Phone 8389 6270

Regularly check our Web Site for up-dates — lobethallutheranchurch.org.au

Surprise the World

This is both a preaching

and study series for small

groups, and it’s focus is

on practical outreach.

Please see the sign up

sheet for details in

The Narthex.

It is planned to start

September 11th.

Please prayerfully con-

sider your involvement as

this is so helpful in

growing your faith and

that of others.

Surprise the World By Michael Frost.

Group studies begin in September.

Enrol and be part of an exciting Study Group.

Lobethal Lutheran Messenger

In this Issue

Pages Front Cover. Surprise the World 2. From the Pastors Desk. 3/4 In Remembrance of our dearly departed 4. Leon’s Cycling Blog 5. Editorial & Chairmans Report. 6. Alice Springs, here we come! 7. Smithy’s Page. 8/10 Margy’s Pages 11 Operation Christ - mas Child. Christmas is Coming 12. Living Nativity. 13. From the Principle.

Kingsley’s Column. 14/15 Rosters. 16. Advent.

From the Pastor’s Desk Greetings to fellow members, of Lobethal Lutheran Church. .For weeks I’ve been totally captivated by the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio. Just about every competitor at the Olympics could look up from their particular arena, and see Christ the Redeemer. It is indeed beautiful, im-posing, awesome, and many other adjectives could be used to describe it. There he stands with outstretched arms as a symbol. Symbol of what? It reminds me of the Waiting Father, in the story of the prodigal son. It also suggests one who is offering the invi-tation, “Come to me all who labour and are weighed down and I will give you rest.” Yes, Jesus wants to take all our burdens and troubles and worries and fears and failures upon himself. He wants to open his arms to us to bless us. He came into our world to give us an abundant life, freedom as we let go of our troubles and take them to the foot of His cross, (and this statue is in the shape of the cross). If you want to know how much you matter to God, imag-ine Jesus on the cross with arms outstretched saying “I love you this much”, ”I’d rather die than live without you.” It suggests that Jesus is wanting all people to come to him. His arms are open wide, suggesting his wonderfully generous love and mercy and grace. Our Great Redeemer says, “I have come to seek and to save the lost.” It is a picture of God’s protection over the city and over us. While the seasons change in Rio, and as circumstances are continu-ally changing throughout our world, the statue reminds us that Jesus remains the same Yes-terday and today and forever. I saw one picture of a huge lightning bolt striking the statue. This reminds me of the power of Jesus Christ, which he unleashes in our lives through His Holy Spirit. So as you look at the Christ the Redeemer statue, remember the living Christ who is always present to take us in his arms and hold on to us for all eternity.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE PARISH?

Lots; but mostly the same active ministries of, prayer, worship, fellowship, nurturing the faith, service, etc. By the time you receive this, the “Thriving in change” Conference will be well and truly over. This had to do with the essence of why our church exists. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get a group together, although I do realize that many of you are very busy people and perhaps our expectations are too high and many of you are already doing lots to bless our church, and reaching out to others as you are able. We are praying for an enthusiastic re-sponse to the “Surprise the World” program beginning mid- September. This program is inviting conversation, and making suggestions of simple ways in which each of us, not just a select few, but every member can help build the Kingdom of God. So many times we think “NO, that’s not me, I couldn’t do this or that, I haven’t got the expertise”, but this program encourages each of us to try very easy, down to earth ways of pointing to Jesus, and at the same time, enhancing our own faith in Jesus. It’s really exciting when we catch a vision of what is possible. Small groups will be organised for all members to participate in and a sermon series will be utilised to introduce these weekly studies. It will be run in conjunction with Birdwood, Spring Head, and Woodside congregations. At the AGM I will report further on my activities in ministry. Thank you to all who bless and encourage us with their presence, involvement and contributions. God empower you with His Holy Spirit. Pastor Dave.

Wanted, Kids Corner Editor. This call for help comes directly under the Pastors column because of it’s major impor-tance. Rachel May has been doing it for a number of years now, but her lifestyle has changed and she finds it difficult to find the time. The Kids Page is an insert of a single leaf double sided, it is designed this way so that it can be removed and then the children can have their page for themselves to colour in and fill in the puzzles, etc. If you can help in this task it would be much appreciated, please consider and con-tact the editor and join our fabulous team of contributors. Thankyou, John Seidel.


In the month of July we farewelled three Sisters and one of our Brothers in the Lord to their

Heavenly Home.

Our Deepest Sympathy to their Relatives and Friends.

In Remembrance Of:

Anne Emilie Doherty (nee Sheeky) 1965 — 2016 A Thanksgiving Service for Anne conducted on Friday, July 8th 2016. Passed away peacefully on July 5th. Aged 50 Years. Much loved and devoted Wife of Tom for 21 years. Loving daughter of Edward and Philomena Sheeky (both deceased). Loved sister of Charles, John (dec), Edward, Mary, Pauline and their families. Loved Daughter - in - law of Lilly and the late Tommy Doherty. Loved sister -in -law of Martin, Elizabeth and their families. Anne’s Funeral Text, Isaiah 41:10, So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

49:16. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.

Muriel “Joyce” Boerth (nee Renfrey) 1918 — 2016 A thanksgiving Service for Joyce’s life held Monday July 11th 2016.

Joyce passed away peacefully on July 4th, 2016. Aged 98 Years. Loving wife of the late Clarrie. Much loved and devoted Mother and Mother – in - law of Glen and Rosemary, David and Paulene, Trevor and Jacqueline, Jeff and Lorraine. Loving Nanna of eleven Grand Children and seven Great Grand Children.

Joyce’s Funeral Text, John 14: 1— 6. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you. I am going

there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come

back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the place

where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so

how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth

and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.

Nita Beatrice Hein Funeral Service conducted for Nita Tuesday. 12th July, 2016.

(Sorry, there were no photo or personal information supplied. Editor.) Nita’s Funeral Text was, John 11: 21—27.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know even now God

will give you whatever you ask.” 23. Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha answered, “I

know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you

believe this?” 27 “Yes Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into

the world.”

Nora Jean Klaer (nee Robinson) 1927 — 2016 Nora’s Funeral Service celebrated Thursday, July 21st’ 2016. Passed away peacefully on July 13th 2016. Aged 89 Years. Beloved Wife of the late Ken. Much loved and devoted Mother and Mother - in - law of Pamela, Barbara, Chris and Karen, Sandy and Peter. Loving Grandma of Twelve Grandchildren, and Ten Great Grandchildren. Nora’s Funeral Text was, 2nd Timothy 4 : 6 — 8. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7 I have fought the good

fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the

crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day

— and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

More funeral details over leaf. >>>

In Remembrance Of:

Edgar Herbert Ratsch 1923 — 2016 Funeral Service Celebrated Thursday July

28th 2016. Edgar passed away peacefully on July 24th. Aged 92 Years. Beloved Husband of the late Viola. Much loved Father and Father - in -law of Fay and Malcolm, Kevin and Geraldine, Joan and Brian, (dec), Joyleen and John. Loving Grandpa of seven Grandchildren and Great Grandpa of thirteen.

Edgar’s Funeral text, Psalm 23: 1— 4. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads

besides the quiet waters,

3 He Restores my soul. He guides me in paths of right-

eousness for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow

of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and

your staff, they comfort me.

Thelma Ottilia Pfitzner 1925 —2016 Funeral Service Celebrated Saturday,

September 3rd, 2016. Thelma passed away peacefully on August 28th. Aged 90 Years. Beloved Wife of the late Gordon Pfitzner, Eric Minge and Walter Lange. Much loved and devoted Mother and Mother - in - law of Trevor (dec), Browyn, Yvonne and Greg. Loving Grandma of Mi-chelle and Barry, Christal, Kylie and Sarah. Great Grandma of Amanda and Chloe. Thelma’s Funeral text was John 14: 1 — 6. “Do not let your

hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. 2 In my

Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would

have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and

take you to be with me that you may also may be where I am. 4

You know the way to the place where I am going.”

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord we don’t know where you are

going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No

one comes to the Father except through me.


Leons Cycling Blog

Bug Off

One of the inter-esting hazards of road cycling is riding into bugs! It can happen at the most unexpected time. You've just climbed a hill and are sucking in the big ones and wham! Next minute you're cough-ing and spluttering like a rusty old two stroke mower. It wouldn't be so bad if bugs were tasty, but in my experience they're just bitter and horrible (no offence to the bird popula-tion who undoubtedly find them quite delectable). So there I was on beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon pumping along the Amy Gillett Bikeway at around 45kmph, when BANG, I hit a bug! Now this wasn't just any bug it was a thumping great wasp! Thankfully I didn't swallow the thing! Unfortunately for me I'd unzipped my jersey part way down my chest (it was getting warm after all) and the blighter thumped straight into my chest and then headed south into my jersey! It was pretty clear he was not impressed with being interrupted on his Saturday afternoon flight. Before I had time to respond, he'd dug a sharp and grumpy part of his anatomy into the skin just above my belly. Now at this point things were not looking good! To add to my predicament, an elderly couple were a 100 metres or so ahead of me on the bike path. I had to keep calm and look totally in control of the situation. Unfortunately, this is quite difficult to do when you are travelling at high speed on a bike with an agitated insect attached firmly to your nether region! There was only one option: jam on the brakes, rip off the jersey and deal with the offending insect as fast as possi-ble! I'm not sure what the elderly couple thought seeing this crazy cyclist suddenly screeching to a halt, ripping off his shirt and, with flailing arms, slapping his chest. Maybe they thought it was some form of self flagellation practised by members of the cycling branch of Opus Dei! After composing myself, putting my jersey back on and mounting my bike, I calmly, almost nonchalantly, pro-ceeded to pedal off down the bike path as if nothing had hap-pened. I even stopped to chat to the elderly couple about the glorious day and the fresh bailed hay in the paddock that they were photographing. They didn't mention a word about my strange behaviour, but I do wonder about their topic of con-versation once I was out of earshot! An insect bite is however not the nastiest sting we ex-perience in life. There’s one sting that outdoes even that of the biggest, most terrible wasp. That sting is death, and the sting of death is sin. Romans 6:23 reminds us, “For the wages of sin is death.” The painful sting of death. The final sting of death. The cold, unfeeling sting of death. But, of course, that’s not the end of the story. Death may pack a powerful punch, but it is not the decisive blow. On the cross, our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ, took upon Continued page 5. >>>


From the Editor

Surprise the World, is the title of the book and study series beginning this month and currently being promoted by Pastor Dave, at time of writing. I have had a brief read of the first chapter and have been surprised at the tact that the author, Michael Frost, (an Australian) has taken. By the time you receive this magazine you may be well into the study and hopefully enjoying it. At the time of formatting this magazine I have looked at some of it further and was amused at the attitude the Romans had toward the early Christians referring to them as atheist, some 300 years after Jesus walked this earth. I’m sure you will find it all very interesting. I have had positive feedback from the last copy of the Messenger regarding the colour layout of the front and back cover, so have decided to continue with this theme. The pic-ture blazoned across the top of the front cover with the three crosses and our church in the background is taken from our Webb page designed and managed by Harrison Seidel, so when you dial up Lobethallutheranchurch.org.au on your electronic device, you will instantly recognize It. This edition of the Messenger once again follows the usual familiar layout and trend. I once again thank all of the con-tributors of articles and the proof reader who does a mighty job. Also particularly Russel in the church office, this is a busy time of the year for him, and those who help with photo copying and in any way, as well as those who give me an encouraging word, thankyou. I hope you enjoy the read. John.

Chairman’s Report Both September and another church AGM have come around again, and we all wonder where that time has gone again. The time does seem to pass so quickly. Sharing part of every Sunday with our ‘church family’ is one regular highlight in this passing of time, connecting us to community, across age groups, as we join to wor-ship and give glory to our God, learn-ing from his word. I am grateful of the harmony that I see in the congregation, and glad of the ongoing examples of car-ing that I see amongst the members as they support and encourage each other. Lobethal is not a place that undergoes or can reasonably expect great change, but the loyalty, depth of relationships, and sense of belonging to something very solid and very real has, I think, wort greater than snazzy newness and constant change. So, where are we at? Well, struggling a bit to get peo-ple to fill positions. Struggling a bit with money. As I said, not a lot changes, and as I also said, we can’t reasonably ex-pect massive and easy change at Lobethal. But, the time ahead till the middle of next year will be exciting, challenging and full of opportunity. We have the opportunity to enjoy Pastor Dave and Jan’s run into retirement, sharing with them, encouraging them, and making the last months of their time with us memorable for all. In planning and preparing to call our next Pastor, we have the opportunity to look hard at ourselves in the mirror, think of the future, celebrate what we do well, and be honest with ourselves about where we can change direction or im-prove. Opening up discussions around our ministry goals here for the incoming Pastor will allow for healthy debate, and the opportunity to re-focus. That is renewing and exciting, and I encourage all to think about their Church, and add their unique opinion to the considerations and preparations. After all, that is what being a member is all about. Op-portunities ahead! God bless,

The Centre of the Bible

Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bible.

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible.

There are 594 chapters after Psalm 118.

There are 594 chapters before Psalm 118.

The total number of chapters in the Bible is 1188.

Psalm 118: 8 is the centre of the Bible.

What does Psalm 118: 8 say? ‘It is better to take

refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.’ (NIV)

Isn’t it odd how this works out!

Or was it God at the centre of it?

Submitted by Olga Hein.

Leon’s Cycling Blog (Continued.) himself not just one sting but the multiple stings of all sin and all death. Jesus took the punishment so that the sting of death would be forever healed. The words of 1 Corinthians 15 remind us of the ultimate victory that is ours in Christ: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? ”But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Next time you’re stung by some pesky little insect, remember with gratitude the sacrifice of your Lord and Saviour who was “wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]; The pun-ishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him, And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed” Isaiah 53:5 (Amplified Bible

An invitation was extended to members of the Lutheran Women’s Guild, SA/NT, to attend a retreat hosted by the Alice Springs Women. Three of our Lobethal women thought we would enjoy being part of this . Gloria Seidel and I met forty other women at the Adelaide Airport and flew up to Alice Springs, Beryl went with Marcel by motorbike. Among our group were former Northern Territory teachers, nurses, secretaries, mothers, sisters etc. There were a few who had not been to the Centre before. So with all these reasons between us we were made to feel very welcome when we were picked up at the airport and taken to the Yirara Aboriginal College which is about 10 minutes from the Airport. This school is a secondary boarding college for about two hundred students and has been purpose built by the government for the benefit of Aboriginal secondary stu-dents who come from all over the Northern Territory, as it was school holidays we were able to move in for the week-end. Friday we were taken on a tour of the town with free time for lunch in Alice Springs Shopping Centre with an order to buy something from the church Op-Shop to wear to the dinner Saturday night. Our group spent about $800 and the shop personnel were delighted; then we were to give it back for resale. Later we went on to the Beanie Festival. We could buy any type of beanie in any shape or size for

quite a decent price. Saturday was spent at the college with a couple of very interesting speakers. One shared with us about her very emo-tional migration to Australia with her family, the distresses and problems that these people had to face in a new country. The other, a very dynamic speaker, having been a fashion designer and then she became a pastor. Sue, the first speaker, then went home and cooked dinner for the seventy women at the college that night. Sunday we went to worship in Alice followed by lunch at Hermannsburg about 100 km away. A number of tours were conducted around the Historic Precinct of Hermannsburg and ended with the Aboriginal singers entertaining us in their church. Some of our women joined the choir. Afternoon tea was provided by the Aboriginal women which included damper, kangaroo tail and witchetty grubs. It would be interesting to know how many of our girls tried the witchetty grubs. The kangaroo tail was very tasty. It was a lot like the choice bit of lamb that every one pinches when the cook isn’t looking.! Monday after an early start we flew home very tired, but left with much to think about. A very grateful thanks to the group of women who offered us a share of their life in Alice Springs. Bev Eckermann

Pioneer Church,, Hermannsburg. Alice Springs Op-Shop.


Alice Springs, Here We Come!


Smithy’s Page

Our Memorable Ride to the Centre

evening. Marcel did his own thing while I attended the Re-treat on Saturday. He rode north to check out the speed on the unlimited speed section, and also to thaw out at theTropic of Capricorn. The Ladies Retreat was held at Yirara where most of the ladies who flew up stayed. As school holidays had just started the campus was available for us. Many amazing sto-ries can be told of the weekend. The guest speaker was amaz-ing. The company was fabulous. The other speakers told us much about the history and heritage, the why and how things happen in Alice etc. On the Sat evening we had a German evening meal with a quiz. Sunday at worship we had a multi-cultural service, and we travelled to Hermannsburg for lunch and a tour around the precinct. We were blessed to hear the H Choir and then they invited us to partake of roasted witchetty grubs and roo tails and damper. There is so much history. The Lutheran Church really helped these people. We can be proud of the work the mis-sionaries did, and commend the workers there into Gods hands. I would love to have spent more time there, it really was just a quick visit. Marcel and I left on Monday to get back home on Wednesday evening. We met up with my brother Graham, wife Louise, and my sister Pam at Erldunda. They were going North, and we were on our way South. Erldunda is the professed CEN-TRE of Aust. The countryside was beautiful, lots of water in the lakes and green grass. After the rains the desert really does bloom. The only other incident for us was at Marla on our return. A 4WD decided to reverse, without looking, and nearly ran us over at the fuel pumps. I say, that God of ours had us safe, and kept us from danger. That could have been messy, but it didn’t happen. Our last stop at Clare was to thaw out our frozen bod-ies with a cuppa, and as I walked into the bakery, there at the window seat, was an old boss of mine, who now lives just north of Clare. Just Wow. I could write another few pages about the sights, the people we met, the incidents we heard about, and the amazing countryside. But, that will keep for another time. Beryl M Smith 12/8/16

Everyone who has a bucket list knows the challenge of trying to tick the boxes and gradually reduce the list. Marcel had a bucket list of riding his motor bike to every state and territory of Australia. We have ridden to the Snowies many times, so that covered SA, NSW, Vic and the ACT. The Ulysses AGMs are a great way of visiting the dif-ferent states. 2006 was Tasmania, 2010 was Albany in WA and 2013 was Maryborough in Qld. So if you are keeping up with me, you will have real-ised that the only one left was NT. So when I spoke to Marcel about the Lutheran Women holding a Retreat at Alice, he jumped at the chance to complete the bucket list. The timing was almost OK, as long as we were back before 30th June. We left on a cool morning, and the whole trip was that – cool to cold. I had recently invested in some warm dry rid-ers, with removable thermal liners. They were pretty awe-some. We rode up through Wilmington and across Horrocks Pass to Port Augusta, then up to Woomera for our first night. Sleeping in cabins, or the like, was my bit of luxury. I needed a firm stable bed to un-numb the nether areas. Our second stop was Copper Pedy where we slept un-derground. We checked out the Old Timers Underground mine where we saw opal In the rock, WOW. We rode out to The Breakaways, amazing scenery. There were lots of cloud build ups in front and behind us, quite a few travellers told us of their RAIN experience, but we, by the grace of God, didn’t get rained on at all, for the whole trip. We called in for a night at Kulgera and caught up with Christian Le Page. The next two nights we spent at the Rock, well close by. The Field of Lights was indescribable, over 50,000 solar lights in an area the size of 4 football fields, and they change colour in batches, and shine all night, until the sun comes up, with the Rock in the background. Anyone ven-turing up to the Rock, it is a must see, and it’s only there until the end of March 2017, when it will be all packed up. We had a slight incident at the Resort, while staying in the cabin, someone tried to steal the bike, but a security dude scared them off. They dropped the bike and broke off the hand guard. We thank God we still had the bike, it is a long way to anywhere. Friday evening we got into Alice and stayed with Erik and Suanne Tikoft. We joined the retreaters for tea that


Margy’s Pages. What a fantastic day of winning, grin- ning fun and smiles was had on Wednesday, July 20th. The 50 children attending were entertained and challenged by the puppets about training and winning. Many thanks to an enthusiastic team of adults and a teenager who shared their day, their smiles and God’s love with the chil-dren as they catered, sang, assisted with craft (making beaded crosses, decorating drinking cups, Olympic Frisbees) and silly Olympic take off games such as balloon cup shooter, elephant trunk knock’em down dolly, shower cap Cheezel toss to name a few.... The children were reminded throughout the day that with Jesus we are all winners—he gives us forgiveness, salvation and life. A huge thanks to Tamara Koop for sharing her creative tal-ents with us.

Professional Standards (Child Safe,

Safe Place, etc) update Who is Professional Standards training for??? For those involved in leading any ministries, teams, commit-tees, those who work with others in a paid or volunteer role… many of us! We do this training to show that we care and how we can care—showing God’s love to those with whom we interact. Upcoming Professional Standards Training session: Sat, 15th October Salisbury Lutheran Church 9am-4pm. (sign in at 8.45) Tuesdays 1st & 8th Sept (over 2 sessions) St Petri Nuriootpa 6pm – 9pm (sign in 5.45)

Tues 15th & Wed 16th Sept (over 2 sessions) Murray Bridge

6pm-9pm (sign in 5.45)

Register at http://www.sa.lca.org.au/?q=newsevents/training For any more information about Safe Place & Child Safe and the policies go to: http://www.sa.lca.org.au/ And click on the


Margy’s Pages.

Wanted! Christmas Angels. Christmas Eve worship led by the children at Lobethal Lutheran Church—Saturday December 24th.

We are looking for children to participate from approx. age 3 to year 7 at school. Senior students will be given larger roles. Younger children will be dressed as angels and shepherds. Please consider whether your family will be here and encourage your children and grandchildren to be involved in sharing the Christmas message with those attending worship on December 24th. There will be 2 practises: Sunday, December 18th from 2pm-4 pm and Saturday, December 24th from 10am -12noon. More in-

formation as the time gets closer. Margy Seidel

A great resource - review...

Carey Nieuwhof was in Adelaide last May. The evening session was based on this book, (ACR has a few copies of this excellent book for sale) looking at some of the key stages/phases of life from birth to graduation (that bit is very American). ‘It’s Just a Phase’—So Don’t Miss It: Why Every Life Stage of a Kid Matters and at Least 13 Things Your Church Should Do About It Every church knows that kids matter. That’s not in question. A better question is, does your church act like every kid matters at every phase in their lives? A phase is a timeframe in kids’ lives when we can lev-erage distinctive opportunities to influence their future. That means the whining toddler, the dramatic fifth grader, and the stressed-out tenth grader are not just “going through a phase” that should be wished away; rather, they are transitioning through critical periods that we are called to discover, cele-brate, and navigate strategically with them. Taken from https://secure.orangestore.org/It-s-Just-A-Phase-So-Don-t-Miss-It-Reggie-Joiner-and-Kristen-Ivy.html A brief summary quoted from page 12 of the above book: Being aware of the needs of each major stage:

• EMBRACING them physically as toddlers when they were yearning to know they were safe and loved.

• ENGAGING their imagination as second graders so they could discover how God’s story intersected with their story.

• AFFIRMING their worth as they transitioned through pu-berty and middle school toward increasingly challeng-ing questions.

• MOBILISING them to serve in high school.

We as church need to be careful not to miss these stages.


Margy’s Pages.

SUNDAY KIDS

Sunday Kids continues to operate fortnightly on Sundays when there is no Holy Communion at 8.45 worship. We have a core group of children of various ages and their parents who stay and get involved with the activities. This provides a great opportunity to build relationships with these children and encourage them in their faith development. We’d love some slightly older students to join us too—there’s always the power point and music to run, and younger children to do activities with. It’s been great to involve grandparents and others keen to spend time and share their faith with these younger ones. The children can choose how to follow up the message presented from the Bible, in a variety of ways including active activities and games—we’ve had a tug of war—under the theme of powerful Jesus, “eyes on Jesus—eyes on Jesus” instead of tail on the donkey; sock fishing with Velcro rods (a favourite) the miraculous catch of fish; magnet fishing for “Needs and wants”; tug of war—powerful Jesus, plus many craft ideas; play dough, cloud dough etc; serving with the tea set & plastic food; building strong barns, strong towers. There are lots of fun things to

do to remind us of the message of the day.

We use the same Bible verse that is found in Taking Faith Home (sometimes it is only part of the verse) and the same blessing as we use in church from Taking Faith Home. We enjoy some great Christian songs and a special time of prayer where we pass the cross around as we pray out loud

or silently.

We love having other families visit us too– relatives of our church people, etc. You are welcome to come and join us

at any time.

Margy.

On behalf of our great team of Lea, Alyssa, Bec, Melissa,

Anna, JB & Rachel.


On Sunday July 31st three of our Church members trav-elled to the Infuse Church in Mount barker for the launch of Operation Christmas Child 2016. Heather Jesshope spoke about Christmas Boxes. She informed us that globally 1,200,000 children from 108 developing countries have received an Operation Christ-mas Child shoebox. In 2015 Australia and New Zealand gave boxes to a record number of 342,814 children, an increase of 21,288 over the previous year. In South East Asia and the South Pacific, children also completed ‘The Greatest Journey’, 30,000 enrolled in 2015 and expectations of 50,000 for 2016. ‘The Greatest Journey’ is a Bible based booklet through which children are introduced to Jesus at Bible clubs. Information about this is enclosed in each Christ-mas box. Through these Bible clubs some of the parents are also giving their lives to Jesus. Each box has an infor-mation leaflet placed into it before sending. All boxes packed are inspected, checking that dona-tions are suitable and that boxes have sufficient goods en-closed. If not filled extra goods are placed in the box

before being packed into a container to be sent to develop-ing countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Samoa, Thailand, Fiji, Papua and Belize. There is a saying, ‘God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform’, and Heather told us of several ‘miracles’ connected with these boxes which so much ex-citement and joy to these children. One small girl had been begging her mother to buy her a new dress to go to church in but her single mother could not afford one so the girl had to continue to wear the dress even though it was too small for her. On opening her Christmas box she found a new dress, a little large, but she could grow into it. She was overjoyed. Twins were delighted to find that they both re-ceived exactly the same things in each of their boxes. Fifty boxes were bought back with us and will be packed later in the year. Goods which can be packed in the boxes are listed in our Church Newsletter each week. Any enquiries can be made to Beryl Smith. Can you help with donations? Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come unto me for of such is the kingdom of heaven

Marian Potter.

Operation Christmas Child

John Kleemann and his donkeys. Two may not be biblical, but that’s what we got.

Christmas is Coming. See more pictures and articles next page. >>>

Angels, large and small, come to see baby Jesus. Photo courtesy of Martin Jaeger.


Gospel report at the last Nativity meeting.

Following the last year’s performance season of our 2015 Living Nativity I received a phone call from one of our sup-porters who co-ordinates a carol-singing group for us. She rang to say that it had been her/their group’s plan to make this their last year of coming along to lead carols, because, being only a small church, they were always ‘struggling’ to round up enough singers to be able to make a creditable sound (her opinion, not mine or ours).

This last year, however, as usual, they were again going through their usual pleading with friends and acquaintances, to make up a ‘respectable’ group, and among those she asked was her sister, a lady who thought this “church stuff” was all a load of nonsense, but who very much enjoyed singing, especially Christmas carols. Somewhat reluctantly this ‘sister’ agreed to help ‘make up the numbers’ for the evening on which this particular group were rostered. Also the ‘sister’ had never seen our Living Nativity before.

When the performance stated ‘sister’ became totally en-thralled. She sang all the carols with gusto and couldn’t wait for the second performance to start to do it all again! The experience proved to be a particularly illuminating one for her and she decided to commit her life to Christ, to our co-ordinator’s astounded delight!

Our co-ordinator’s comment, “On the strength of that, even if we happen to only be small in number, if you’d like or need us to help, please let us know ... we’ll be there!” Sue Miller.

Cameleer Todd Muster and Grandma June. Don’t know the

Camel's name.

Stable construction workers. Rodney and his Drill.

LOBETHAL LIVING NATIVITY

WANTED:

Any people who have an interest in the ongoing support for this event.

We meet monthly, at Lobethal

We come from various ages, denominations, townships and backgrounds.

We are a very cheery, happy, welcoming group who would like to eventually pass

on our ‘job descriptions’ to others!

Come along to our next meeting and see if this is ‘your thing’.

The Living Nativity is a free production gift to the visitors of Lobethal for the

duration of the Lights of Lobethal festivities.

It is an incredible evangelism event depicting the birth of Jesus at the stable, with a

cast and crew of ordinary men, women and children.

Contact: John Kleemann - 8389 6557 / [email protected]

Kingsley’s Column

Father’s Day Testimony,

1984

In 1984 I was asked by a prominent member of our congre-gation whether I would be inter-ested in presenting my testimony concerning Father’s Day at the Sunday service, and I readily agreed. “What being a father means to me”

1. First and foremost it means, bring up your children in

the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 2. It also means that fathers have the responsibility to see

to it that their children grow in knowledge and under-standing of what the will of God is and that Jesus loves them.

3. Being a father also means to set the right Christian example at all times, never giving your children the opportunity to question your integrity. Take your chil-dren to church to worship as a family, and I mean take them; don’t send them and you as parents stay at home, or worse, go to church yourselves and leave your children at home.

4. A father has the responsibility to set aside time to have daily family devotions. Let your children take part in the readings and prayers so that they are aware that Jesus is ever present in their lives. For example, when John and Ian were in their early years at school, they asked us if they could erect a family alter in a corner in the kitchen, so we as parents provided them with a small table on which a cloth was laid and a cross and two candles placed which they then lit at devotion time. This time was preceded by freely discussing the days joys and sorrows and bringing all our con-cerns before God’s throne of grace.

Finally be a friend and have fun with your children, go for walks with them and have picnics and barbecues and beach outings as a family. That’s what we did for our five children when they were little, being for them a valuable learning experience, and they loved and respected us for it, and don’t forget the hugs and kisses which are so important. All this has paid off, all our children and grand chil-dren have remained faithful to their Lord and Saviour. I am so thankful to God for having so richly blessed us and our families and oh what a lesson in HUMILITY . I believe that this is still all very relevant today in this hi tech age, however parenting must be so much more diffi-cult with all the distractions of modern life, so let us pray for todays parents and their children. Kingsley Lutze.


From the School Principal What is your reference point? We rounded out Au- gust by celebrating Book Week along the theme ‘Australia: Story Country’. We had a visit from visiting illustrator Mandy Foot, had a book fair and even a recess based on Possum Magic. The highlight of every year is the annual Dress Up pa- rade. Unlike some schools we don’t

award prizes. I still remember it being a bone of contention last year from one of my high profile Portland parents when her daughter didn’t win. The child just lost it. As did her daugh-ter !! For me the reaction that each child gets when they see their peers dressed up is reward enough. There is a sense of anticipation. When we see our students on a day like this it gives us a reference point into their likes, interests and family background. They promote a love of reading and allow their imaginations to run wild. I often get asked about the changing nature of Christian schools and education in general. Educa-tional trends in 2016 are different to school 50, 20, 10 even 1 year ago. It is a sector under political pressure where standard-ized testing results are seen as being at the fore when it comes to assessing the worth of a school. While these are part of that work course, the joy of working in a Lutheran school is that the word of God and the love of Christ are reference points that are constant. While our school families do not all have faith backgrounds we have a message that informs the way that we work with all that come into our community. We are also a community that enjoys learning together. Highlights of this term have been: - The Year 2-3 camp to the Adelaide Zoo. - 17 students nominating themselves to attempt ICAS English and Maths competition exams; - The provision of additional transition opportunities for our 2017 Foundation students. The crea- tion of a transition wonderland in the top of our beautiful church; - Our PFAled by Rachel Tonkin and Danny Schache already putting the building blocks in Place for the 2017 School fair; and - A celebration of community at our annual father’s Day breakfast and new families dinner. While we have a commitment to continue to improve our ap-proach to teaching and learning it is our sense of community here at LLS that continues to astound, amaze and affirm. Thankyou for your continued prayerful, support of your school. Mick.

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.


Advent 1st Sunday in Advent, 27th November.

Luke 3: 4—6

As is written in the book of the words of

Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the

desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5 Every valley

shall be filled in, every mountain

and hill made low. The crooked roads

shall become straight,

the rough ways smooth.

6 And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’ ”

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