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Lessons of creation

by Heidi Rose

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

Faith Lutheran College, Plainland Qld 

Waterwise award for Faith College

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tanunda Lutheran Early Learning Centre, Tanunda SA

Bush wisdom changes lives

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

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

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

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

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

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Stewards of his earth

by Lisa McIntosh

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

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

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

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

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

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

Luke explains:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Reichenbachs’ tips on caring for the environment

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

Consider what you consume and what you expose your

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Spirit of the soil

by Lisa McIntosh

Wine lovers usually want to know about the vintage and where the grapes were grown before they buy a bottle – or a dozen. Troy Kalleske, from SA’s Barossa Valley, believes making wines with a natural, minimalist approach is the way to capture the truest essence of the vineyard in every bottle.

The Kalleske family has been farming and growing grapes at Moppa, near Greenock, in the north-western Barossa Valley since 1853.

The sixth generation of the family is now working with the earth to yield the best quality crops and livestock they can while caring for the environment.

There have been vines on their 200 hectare property since their forefathers bought it. However the Kalleskes, who are members at Greenock Lutheran Church and part of the Lutheran Winemakers collective, have only been making their own wine since 2002, with the first release in 2004.

In that time the small-to-medium winery business has built a big reputation, winning a string of gold medals and awards at national and international wine shows, including the trophy for Australia’s best red wine at the 2012 London International Wine Challenge. They also took out the gold award at last year’s national Banksia Sustainability Awards, as well as the Small Business gong at the 2015 Telstra South Australian Business Awards.

Their point of difference from many others in this world-renowned wine region, is that their grapes are grown organically and biodynamically and the winery is also certified biodynamic/organic.

The farm also produces oats for the biodynamic market, as well as running beef cattle and sheep, with the same principles by Kym Kalleske, his father John and his mother Lorraine.

John and Lorraine’s winemaker son Troy explains that organic viticulture and farming does not use chemical sprays to control weeds or pests, nor synthetic fertilisers for growth. Weeds are controlled mechanically and growth is promoted by composts and natural fertilisers. Biodynamic practices build further on organic principles, making the health of the soil paramount. Special plant, mineral and animal preparations are added to the soil and the phases of the sun, moon, stars and planets are taken into account.

These philosophies flow right through the wine production – the Kalleskes use the native yeast on the grape for fermentation and use minimal additives, with sulphur at a maximum of half the rate in conventionally produced wine.

The Kalleske property is also self-sufficient in terms of electricity, with solar panels generating power for the whole farm. They use rainwater for the winery, which is captured on site, and they turn to evaporative cooling in the wine production process rather than the refrigerated chilling systems that many other wineries use.

The Kalleskes began organic practices on the whole farm in the mid-1980s. It has been certified organic since the late 1990s and then went biodynamic in the early 2000s.

‘We have always done the vineyard organically, but we did use chemicals on the farm’, John explains. ‘I got to the point where I just didn’t like farming that way. I just didn’t feel it was in harmony with nature and our Christian faith. When we are out there working in the vineyard especially, you feel in touch with God, in touch with nature and it’s a good feeling.’

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Why we look after this land

by Robert Borgas

All aspects of traditional Aboriginal people’s lives revolve around the Dreaming (tjukurrpa in Pitjantjatjara language).

The Dreaming provides laws and ceremonies about how to look after the land and each other, and about art and culture, food and hunting.

Initially the Dreaming referred to the time long ago when the ancestor spirits came up from the ground and began moving over the unformed earth, giving form and life to rocks, hills, plants and animals on the land and things in the sky. The ancestor spirits made new things by dividing or increasing their ‘spirit essence’ (or kurrunpa in Pitjantjatjara).

People become part of their Dreaming by receiving the ‘kurrunpa’ from the site where they were born (or the place their mother first discovered she was pregnant). The child also receives part of its parent’s kurrunpa, and kurrunpa from ceremonies it may attend throughout its life.

Charlie (Kunia) Chirrup was born south of Docker River, Northern Territory, just near his mother’s birth country, Wankari, part of the Seven Sisters Dreaming song line. His father’s birth country is Ilurpa, near Blackstone in Western Australia. This place lies on the Kunia (probably a Woma or Stimson’s python) Dreaming song line that extends to Uluru. Because Charlie belongs to this Dreaming, he must not eat or kill any Kunia snake and must look after his father’s country, his mother’s country, and behave in a peaceful manner, like the Kunia.

Because he is on renal dialysis and can no longer live on his country, Charlie’s relatives care for it on his behalf. Western Desert people care for their country by practising ceremonies, burning-off sections of land to control weeds and promote more growth of the plants and animals they want to thrive. Among the many obligations to their Dreaming, they also clean and protect rock holes from feral animals so that the native animals can find water to survive.

Charlie Chirrup is also a Christian and a Lutheran pastor.

‘God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ really created the whole world’, Pastor Charlie says.

‘We know that now because the first missionaries and Aboriginal pastors and evangelists taught us God’s word. His spirit was also hovering over the sea when he made the light, the sky and the land. Then God commanded the land itself to produce plants and animals.

‘Even though we believe that God really created the world, we still have to hold onto and respect the laws given to us by our fathers and grandfathers or else we will lose our culture and our land. But we also do not confuse our Christian faith with these laws; for our faith and our culture to properly survive we must keep them both separate.’

Pastor Robert Borgas is the Pastoral Support Worker for the Pitjantjatjara area of the Finke River Mission Parish.

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Everyone can show care

by Sonya Braybon

‘Nurna pmara nurnakanha ntarntarama’. (‘We care for our home country’. – Western Arrarnta language)

I am a member of the Tjuwanpa Women’s Rangers, based in the Hermannsburg area of the Northern Territory. We do water monitoring to see if it is healthy to drink and to swim in. This happens every month.We do prescribed burning around Hermannsburg as a firebreak, and around waterholes to keep them healthy.

Some introduced plants are taking over, such as couch grass, buffel grass and Mexican poppy. And some animals, including feral cats, horses and camels, are pushing out native species. We are concerned about our bush tucker. Yalka (bush onion), pmurlpa (quondong) and others are hard to find now. Caring for our country is important, and everyone can take a part.

Tjuwanpa Women’s Ranger Sonya Braybon spoke with Hermannsburg Lutheran Church secretary David Roennfeldt to share this story.

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Planting a better future

by Paul Schlüter

Lutheran Landcare is a small group of dedicated individuals in Tasmania who plant trees in autumn, water and weed in summer, and propagate in spring.

This year we’ll plant another 100 trees and probably care for another 100 we planted last year. It’s time-consuming and slow, but it’s rewarding.

Initially, the group was formed in the early 1980s from members of St Peter’s Lutheran Church in suburban Hobart to remediate the grounds at the adjacent Eastside Lutheran College. Aiming to halt soil erosion and rid the surrounding public reserve of weeds, we’d organise tree planting days in winter with school children. Most of us had a background in botany, horticulture or forestry, so we knew a little bit about saving the planet. In the 1990s we’d organise small groups of school children and their teachers to help us weed and regenerate the surrounding bushland.

Now we’re a small group of Lutherans and their friends who care for land and vegetation, mostly working on a volunteer basis in the Tasmanian midlands, which has the greatest need in the state. It is surprising the enthusiasm that develops once a few people with a passion get together. These days our group hasn’t grown too much larger but the principles have remained the same. Working with councils is a key way to go and most are happy to involve themselves with improving the planet to further their green credentials. Most politicians regularly publish glossy pamphlets that are a good place to get funding information for future projects.

Bush regeneration is a really pleasant process that maximises diversity and returns bushland back to what it once was. However, it doesn’t necessarily increase biomass or the amount of photosynthesis, which is vital in keeping down the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is like putting a blanket around the world. It causes ice caps to melt, glaciers to retreat, sea levels to rise and land to disappear. Secondly, it causes animal habitats to change and species to become extinct. Sure, it is going to be nice having a slightly warmer Hobart, but it’s going to cause insurmountable problems for the human race!

In his book Back from the Brink, farmer Peter Andrews says the world needs more photosynthesis – in other words, it needs more plants. If everyone planted one sizeable tree a year, I’m sure Australia would be a better place. It’s also incredibly satisfying seeing a tree you’ve planted grow into something that is helping to save the planet!

Paul Schlüter trained as a botanist and completed a certificate of horticulture, and worked for public land agencies in Tasmania for 10 years. He is now a commercial pilot. In the 1950s, his father Albert Schlüter was a founding member of St Peter’s Lutheran Church, Hobart, where Paul attends.

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Hope among the ashes

by Lisa McIntosh

In the aftermath of tragedy, God’s plan to bring regeneration and new life is not always clear.

As much as the world tells us we should ‘move on’, there are some losses we never get over. However, a strong sense of community spirit, along with the generosity and prayers of those near and far afield, is helping those affected by bushfires that ravaged many Australian states this past summer to find hope among the ashes.

It’s been a tough time for some people who live in the farming regions around the picturesque coastal town of Esperance, in Western Australia’s south-east.

Last November, four people and thousands of livestock died in the blaze that reportedly razed more than 130,000 hectares of crops. Three of the people who died were overseas visitors working on a farm, while the fourth was a local farmer and neighbour to members of St John’s Lutheran Church, Esperance.

Along with the ongoing grief for those who died, some farmers have had to endure the anguish of destroying and disposing of dying and dead livestock. There have been insurance claims to make – and in some cases battle for. There has been conflicting emotion and frustration for some farmers who did not get burnt out but still had to harvest a wind-ruined crop, which is not covered by insurance.

There are decimated fences and farm buildings to clear and rebuild. Personal problems are often exacerbated in the face of such stress and anguish.

Understandably, people are still hurting even as the rebuilding and regrowth begins.

Among the relatively small Lutheran community in the region of around 70 members, farmer and St John’s treasurer Trevor Schutz and his wife Marie were hardest hit, losing 870 hectares of crop and 670 sheep.

St John’s pastor Jason Pokela says farmers in the community have been experiencing a wide range of emotions in the wake of the tragedy.

‘Those who were burnt out are dealing with the loss; the ones who almost got burnt out are dealing with the fear of that happening to them in future; the farmers who were right next door who didn’t get burnt out are also feeling guilty that their neighbour was burnt out and they weren’t, especially if they’re sitting on a header harvesting probably the best crop ever’, Pastor Jason says.

‘There are people who have gone through their grief and are in the recovery process, but then there are others who’ve had such significant loss and trauma from it that it will stay with them forever.’

However, Pastor Jason says, it is not all bad news for the people of the greater Esperance area.

‘Even in amongst the grief on the first few Sundays after the fire, there were some beautiful stories that congregation members shared of just being thankful to God for the near misses that they had’, he says. ‘And I’m not talking about near misses as in there was a fire 10 kilometres down that road, I’m talking about “If I hadn’t had a sudden thought to go down this road instead of that one, I’d be dead”.

‘The way that people rallied and responded to the needs of the community was quite overwhelming.

‘I’ve certainly found a lot of people – and not just church members – who have been very keen to call out to God, so that is quite significant. And when we think about it in the context of what’s going on theologically, in Scripture we hear about suffering and that it’s not the most terrible thing that can happen to us, because if it drives us to the foot of the cross to cry for mercy then that’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?’

He says the best thing members of the wider church can do for those suffering in the wake of the Esperance fires is to pray for them.

‘Please pray for us to have the wisdom to know how to care for people who are hurting’, he says.

Pastor Jason says they are still working out the best way to serve the local community with a share of the LCA’s Disaster and Welfare Fund, which had raised $335,000 as at press time.

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Prayer for new beginnings

by Lester Reinbott

Imagine being threatened with death for being a Christian in this day and age. What would you do? A young Iranian family facing that terrifying reality risked everything for the hope of a fresh start and a new life in Australia. This is their story.

Why would a young family suddenly leave their home and parents and friends, their work and country, and risk their lives on a dangerous sea voyage from Indonesia to Australia? Yet that is exactly what Amin and his wife Khatereh and their five-year-old daughter Ailin became desperate enough to do in 2013.

They fled Iran in fear of the government. To stay would have meant torture and imprisonment for Amin, or even cost him his life.

Amin, Khatereh and Ailin* currently live in Brisbane, having moved there recently on an Australian Immigration Department community detention order.

They have connected with the St John’s Lutheran congregation at Corinda in the inner-western suburbs, where they have been warmly welcomed and are enjoying the friendship and support of the congregation. They attend worship every Sunday and Khatereh was baptised on 5 February. Last month they prepared a special Iranian morning tea for the church members as a way of saying ‘thank you’ to them for their help and support.

Amin, Khatereh and Ailin live in hope of being able to build a new life for themselves here in Australia.

Amin worked for 14 years for a government-run cement company in Mosjed Soleiman in Khuzestan, in southwestern Iran. In his role as a representative to management for the workers, he criticised the government for their poor treatment of workers in the factory.

He was arrested for doing so and tortured and interrogated for two weeks, before being taken to court and charged with apostasy (converting from Islam to another religion) and insulting the ‘Supreme Ruler’ of Iran. The penalty for apostasy in Iran is either death or lengthy imprisonment. Amin had become Christian through the influence of some friends, and the authorities had become aware of this.

A lawyer friend at the court helped Amin and the charge of apostasy was dropped, but he was convicted of the second charge and sentenced to 40 lashes and two years in jail. The lawyer appealed the sentence and Amin was let out on bail and was able to go back to work at the factory. However, under pressure to do so from the other workers, he again spoke out against conditions at the factory.

Intelligence officers then raided his house and seized Christian literature. When Amin again contacted his lawyer he found out that the judge was asking for him to be re-arrested and charged with apostasy as well as breaking his bail conditions. The lawyer told Amin he had no choice but to go into hiding.

So Amin, Khatereh and Ailin fled Iran. They flew to Indonesia hoping to get to Britain but, finding that door closed, their only other option was to go by ‘people smuggler’ boat to Australia. It was a terrifying journey for people who had never even seen the sea or been on a boat before they left Iran. They arrived at Christmas Island on 25 July 2013. Since then they have been in detention, spending six months on Christmas Island, 10 months on Nauru and 12 months in Darwin.

As a result of these conditions, both Ailin and Khatereh have been very traumatised. Khatereh still has trouble sleeping at night because of the experiences she has had and her fears about the future.

Amin, Khatereh and Ailin live in hope of being able to build a new life for themselves here in Australia. They are grateful to the Australian government for the help they are currently being given for their medical conditions and they are enjoying the relative freedom that community detention in Brisbane is allowing them.

Amin and Khatereh give thanks to God for the freedom they have to practise their Christianity here in Australia, something they could never have done as Christians in Iran. Ailin is also enjoying going to Sunday school, which she would never have had the chance to experience back in Iran.

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Miracle brings life

by Roger Ashcroft

God’s many wonders assured his people of his presence in the Old Testament and Jesus’ life-changing miracles are well-documented in the New Testament. We read, too, of the signs worked through the apostles of the early church.

There are testimonies from around the world that miracles still happen in Jesus’ name – but do we really believe that God would choose to exhibit such power among us today? For one Northern Territory family recently he did just that.

I became a teacher because I believed that was what God wanted me to do.

Now, as principal of Yirara College, I believe that God does this job with me and without that, I couldn’t do it. So I trust in God. I think it’s the same for many people – how would you take the stresses without knowing God is on the journey with you?

Last December, almost 16 years after I became a teacher, God worked a miracle in a family I barely knew which reinforced my decision to serve in this role. It also reinforced my belief in the awesome power of prayer.

It wasn’t long before Christmas that I was told a brother of a student at the college had tried to commit suicide about 300 kilometres west of Alice Springs.

He was found at seven o’clock in the morning and was not breathing, so he was resuscitated and was airlifted to hospital.

That night I was told that he was brain dead and was on a life-support system. I decided to visit the hospital and to offer support to his brother who was a student at the college.

My wife Jann came along, too, which I appreciated. We drove to Alice Springs hospital and, as we started to walk through the carpark, we were stopped by a security guard who asked who we were there to see. I told him and he said there were a lot of people wanting to see the same young man but that I could go through.

I went up to the first level, to the Intensive Care Unit, and walked down the hallway. There was a large group of people at the end of the hallway and then there were double doors to the right. I was almost pushed through by hospital staff.

As I was walking down the hallway, which was about 100 metres long, to where the young man’s bed was, I felt uneasy: I didn’t even know him; I didn’t even know the family; I only knew the brother and he would be the only person I’d know there.

When I got down to the end of the hallway I saw the young man lying in bed, quite thin, with plastic around his legs to push oxygen up into his organs. He was clinically brain dead, lying there with no movement, nothing, with his family around him.

Taking in this tragic scene I thought, ‘What can I do? Why am I here?’

I touched everyone and told them I was really sorry. Most just nodded but the father looked
at me and said, ‘So you’re the principal, that’s what you look like’. We shook hands but I was still asking silently, ‘What can I do?’

It seemed the family was almost looking to me for some sort of answer, so I said, ‘The only thing we can do is pray for a miracle’. So I found a little bit of uncovered skin on the young man’s leg and I put my hand on that.

And we prayed for a miracle. Afterwards I said to the family, ‘Every time you wake tonight, make sure you pray for him; make sure you continue to pray for this miracle’.

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Scholarly look at Luther

By Lisa McIntosh

German professor Dr Oswald Bayer, an authority on Martin Luther, will present a public lecture at an international theological conference in Melbourne this year to mark the upcoming 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.

Three years in the planning, the Luther@500 conference will be hosted by the Australian Lutheran Institute for Theology and Ethics (ALITE), under the umbrella of Australian Lutheran College (ALC). Putting the spotlight on Luther’s theology, it will be held from 28 June to 3 July, at the Catholic Leadership Centre in East Melbourne.

The conference will explore the way the reformer’s theology is received today and its significance for Christianity in the future. This exploration will be three-dimensional: ecumenical, global and future-focused.

Five international scholars will join Luther scholars from Australia and New Zealand to present papers. Setting the conference apart from many other academic conferences is that each keynote presentation will be followed by small-group discussions or Tischreden (‘table talk’), so-named in honour of Luther’s own practice.

ALITE Director Rev Dr Stephen Hultgren says that Luther@500 will be the main theological conference of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. It is targeted at Luther scholars, theologians, clergy, students and laypeople of all denominations. A number of overseas participants are expected, including a good number from Asia and the Pacific.

In addition, Dr Bayer, professor emeritus of the University of Tübingen and one of the most important Luther scholars of the past 50 years, will speak on the significance of Luther today and for the future, under the title: Luther Ahead: From Promise to Fulfilment.

ALC lecturer and planning committee member Rev Dr Stephen Pietsch says while looking at the history of Luther is not the main purpose of Luther@500, it is intertwined with understanding the impact of his theology for the current age and beyond. ‘You can’t study Luther without studying history and when you study history it catapults you into the future’, he says.

Another presenter, German-American scholar Dr Franz Posset, brings expertise particularly in the area of Luther’s life and theology from a Catholic perspective. An award-winning researcher, Dr Posset will speak on the theme OUR Martin: Catholic sympathisers yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Dr Hultgren says the strong ecumenical theme to the conference is crucial and that presenter Professor Theodor Dieter’s paper on Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses will further that. A pastor with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Württemberg and research professor at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, Professor Dieter played a leading role on the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, adopted by the Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran churches from around the world in 1999. He also contributed to the Lutheran-Roman Catholic document From Conflict to Communion, a resource for the ecumenical commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

The remaining keynote presenters are Finnish-American theologian Kirsi Stjerna, co-chair of the Martin Luther and Global Lutheran Traditions of the American Academy of Religion; American professor emeritus James Nestingen, a distinguished international teacher of Luther and Reformation studies, who in 2006 was a visiting scholar and lecturer in Australia; and Finnish theologian Risto Saarinen, professor of Ecumenics at the University
of Helsinki.

Find out more here www.luther500.com.au

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