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HEARTLAND - eNews from LCA Bishop John Henderson

3 December 2013

Ordination, we're listening

www.lca.org.au

I hope that you are still finding the resources in Ordination, we’re listening useful.

New items are gradually being added. The most recent of these is a contribution by Pastor emeritus Neil Stiller on his lifelong journey with hermeneutics, “My journey with Hermen: the highways and byways of hermeneutics”. It’s a personal, approachable, and useful guide to what is often regarded as a difficult subject. Thank you, Neil for making this available.

Syrian refugees

You will shortly read in ‘The Lutheran’ that Australian Lutherans donated more than $160,000 in less than three weeks to assist Syrian refugees in Za'atri Refugee Camp in Jordan. This result exceeded expectations – Australian Lutherans helping Muslim people, fleeing a war we know little about, in a part of the world we've never really talked about before. That's an incredible amount of love coming to life.

Advent

We have now entered the season of Advent, and are experiencing the tussle between secular and cultural Christmas preparations and our more spiritually reflective, anticipatory preparations for the coming of Christ. It happens every year and strangely catches us out, as the Christian voice of preparing for his coming is lost in the clamour of ‘let’s go shopping’.

Advent is a long range season and goes way beyond short term preparations for Christmas. It looks to Christ’s unexpected return when we are most likely to be unprepared. Our prayer for the First Sunday in Advent (LCA worship resources) was:

Jesus, Son of God,
you have promised to return
at a time that no one knows.
Keep us watchful in prayer
and strong in faith
as we wait for you to come.
For you live and reign
with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

God bless your Advent season, and your preparations for Christmas.

Ordination service 2013

We’re celebrating the ordination of 5 freshly minted pastors for the LCA this Sunday, December 8, at St Paul Lutheran Church Blair Athol SA. It’s a slight change of venue from recent years because a wedding is being celebrated in Concordia College Chapel. While only a relative handful of LCA members will be able to attend the ordinations, we hope to fill the building to overflowing. I invite you to pray for these new pastors:

Levi Graham – Rainbow Victoria
Joshua Muller – Eudunda South Australia
Michael Rudolph – Newcastle New South Wales (LifeWay Lutheran Church)
Stephen Cronau – Central Eyre Peninsula South Australia
Andrew Dockerill – Wodonga Victoria


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