願 父 神 所 賜 的 恩 惠 和 平 安 與 你 們 同 在
Grace and peace to you from God
Staying in Touch: Hearing and Speaking
Kia ora koutou my dear friends. Last week I heard but I had trouble speaking; last week I received but I couldn’t send. “Sounds like email/internet connectivity problems there, Mark” I hear you saying. And you’d be right! Whilst in Adelaide for meetings last week, due to what we might call ‘technical difficulties’, I was able to receive all in-coming emails, but none of the ones I wrote and ‘sent’ went!
Eventually, on the last day I was there, I found a way to send.
Receiving and sending; hearing and speaking … this reminded of the message I preached at Pastor Joe Kummerow’s installation at Mountainside Lutheran Church in Auckland a few weeks back. I preached on the healing of the deaf and mute man in the gospel according to St Mark (Mark 7:32-35), under the theme, Touching Ears, Touching Tongues, Touching Lives.
I encouraged pastor and people together to be open (Ephphatha) to hearing and speaking the gospel of Jesus … to hear God speak his love for us in Christ, and having heard, to proclaim this love to the world.
And may I encourage you – whoever you are / wherever you are – to be open (Ephphatha) to how God might be speaking into your life/lives … that your ears and eyes and hearts might continue to be open to what the Spirit of Jesus is saying … that mouths and lives also may be open to proclaim the good news of Jesus to others.
There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. (Mark 7:32-35)We pray with the psalmist:
- Lord, open my lips (and my ears and my heart), so that my mouth will declare your praise. Amen. (Psalm 51:15)
On Sunday the people of God at St Pauls Wellington and St Francis Mauriceville West heard the great news, that Pastor Jim Pietsch had accepted the call of God through his people to be their new pastor … and in keeping with the encouragement of the psalmist they clapped! A long vacancy extending back to July 2011 is about to come to an end. Pastor Jim will come to us from the Melbourne North West Regional Ministry Multipoint Parish in Victoria, where he has been pastor since November 2006. Pastor Jim intends relocating to Wellington in January next year with installation set for some time in February.
During the vacancy we have been grateful to God for providing locum ministry through the following pastors – Norm Bergen, Robert Wiebusch, John Koch, and Colin Hartwich. Pastor Brian Schwarz will start his locum ministry at the end of November through to the beginning of January.
- Lord God, we thank you for speaking by your Holy Spirit into the heart of Pastor Jim, and we thank you that he heard your call to serve your people in Wellington and the Wairarapa, and that he has answered ‘yes’. Watch over Jim as he concludes your ministry through him in Melbourne and as you prepare him to come to us. Thank you for watching over your people in Wellington and the Wairarapa during this vacancy, and for sustaining them by the ministry of your grace. Amen.
I spent last week in Adelaide attending a College of Presidents’ meeting, being involved in interviews with the graduating class of Australian Lutheran College (ALC / The Seminary), and attending a General Church Council meeting. While I still find elements of these meetings somewhat overwhelming, I also continue to grow in my understanding of a church whereby the love of God comes to life in places and ways way beyond our LCNZ experience. It is also exciting for the College of Presidents to have opportunity to interview and speak with graduating pastors and their wives. Graduation and ordination is set down for the second weekend in December in Adelaide.
- Lord God, shepherd of the sheep, thank you for providing pastors for your church. Thank you for the ministry of Australian Lutheran College in shaping and forming men for pastoral ministry. Thank you also for the leadership of our church – at National and District level. Continue to bless their work for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
A message from our editor, Dan:
Hi everyone.
I am writing to let you know the theme of the December edition of the Olive Tree. The theme is “What does Christmas means us in the LCNZ.” It would be great to get stories from local congregations on how they celebrate the story of the birth of Jesus. The text comes from Mathew 2: 1,2 (When Jesus was born in the village of Bethlehem in Judea, Herod was king. During this time some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and said, “Where is the child born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”)
All articles should be emailed by the 15th November to Dan.
Happy writing and God Bless.
Dan CarswellGifts of Grace
The brand new 2012 Lutheran World Service (LWS) Gifts of Grace for our Lutheran family is hot off the presses and fresh on the website!
In Gifts of Grace this year, you’ll find ducks (10 of them), chickens (a whole farm), Seed Vouchers (including ground-nuts), fishing gear for South Sudan PLUS a dozen more gifts. There’s a ‘hot’ Mystery Gift, as well as our famous Lutheran Long Drop Loo. Buy gifts online.
Gifts start at only $5 (for a Rooster), and six gifts are under $12. That means Gifts of Grace are a perfect way to get kids and grandkids and Sunday Schools thinking about others at Christmas! LWS have created a two minute promo clip for Gifts of Grace. Watch it on YouTube but beware! The jingle will stick in your head forever, as will its star – the world’s cutest piglet!
Last year, more than $518,000 of life-changing aid was given through LWS Gifts of Grace, and was delivered by our Lutheran teams and other partners across Asia and Africa.
Gifts of Grace is a wonderful way we can come together as a Lutheran Church, help others, and live the values of love and service in a very practical way. I hope you can use it in your ministry.
Longest Lutheran Lunch: 28 October
Church Workers Conference
Next week the pastors and lay church workers of the LCNZ will meet in Christchurch for the final Church Workers’ Conference of the year. The middle day will be set aside for guided spiritual retreat (I’ll report on that next time around). Please pray for us as we travel, meet together, talk, study, pray and worship.
National Office Shift
Most of the boxes are packed and we’re almost set to go. New administrator, Robert Hagen has overseen the preparation-for-relocation process so far, and has done thorough planning for when the time comes for us to move into the new office. The shift will happen on Friday 26th October.
And to Close, Listen to this from Harrison Street Community Church, Whanganui
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I do believe we are beginning to cook with gas. First free soup night at HSCC was great. We got visitors who came for tea and stayed and I got to see the members of my congregation talking and interacting with people from our area. It’s about relationships. Praise God we are on the move.
… I reckon Pastor Phil’s excited about something. And so he should be. A church cooking with gas … the Spirit (= breath, wind, gas) stirring in his people … reaching out and connecting with their community … touching people with love of Jesus.Mā te Atua koe e tiaki
… yes Phil, along with the rest of, we’re excited too! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! … or could that be Holy! Holy! Holy!
God be with you.
Pastor Mark Whitfield BTh MSM
President – Lutheran Church of New Zealand / Te Hāhi Rūtana o Aotearoa
