Spirited Word

Send us Fan MailSunday 06 September 2026Being a father is a vocation – a calling – where God calls a man to fatherhood through the gift of a child.The Bible has a lot to say about fathers. Throughout the Bible, we discover that God has given a special focus to fathers. We learn that God wants to be known as our Heavenly Father. Our Lord Jesus not only spoke to his Father but also taught us to pray, ‘Our Father in heaven…’Even the story of the birth of Jesus is about a father named Joseph. Joseph had tried to figure out how to deal with his fiancée Mary, who was found to be pregnant – but God had other plans and set Joseph the task of providing fatherly care to the child Jesus, who was to be the Saviour of the World. Did you realise that Joseph was the first human to speak the name ‘Jesus’?In the Ten Commandments, we are told how to respond to fathers. The fourth commandment says, ‘Honour your father and your mother.’How do we do that? For some people, that is a hard thing. But God will provide – this was God’s command after all.One way that everyone can do that is to pray for their father and to ask God to guide and bless their father.And if our father has died, we can commend our fathers to the mercy of God.If your father is still alive and you are able to, you might take the opportunity to express thanksgiving to God for your father and perhaps say ‘thank you’ to him for serving in this God-given vocation in the midst of all his human frailties.Let me guide you in praying:Eternal Father, thank you for the gift of our fathers. You have worked through fathers from the time of creation, and you have commanded us to honour our fathers and mothers. Give to all fathers what they need to serve according to your good and gracious will. Teach us how to honour our fathers. Forgive us where we have failed them – help us to forgive our fathers for their failings. And finally, where children have lost their fathers: give to those children the consolation of your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.In Christ, PaulPastor Paul Smith Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand(This article by Bishop Paul, but Pastor Adrian lead worship on Sunday)

Send us Fan MailSunday 30 August 2026Humped Zebra Crossing. Cats Eyes Removed. Tanks ahead.You see some pretty strange signs when you get off the motorways of the UK, and instead take the narrow winding countryside ‘roads’.When Jesus challenges / invites / commands us to take the narrow road, what comes to your mind?“Enter through the narrow gate.For wide is the gateand broad is the roadthat leads to destruction,and many enter through it.But small is the gateand narrow the roadthat leads to life,and only a few find it.”Matthew 7:13,14Sounds tough, doesn’t it? Especially when you look at today’s Bible readings:Why is my pain unceasing,my wound incurable,refusing to be healed?Jeremiah 15:18Bless those who persecute you;bless and do not curse them.Romans 12:14“If anyone would come after me,let him deny himself,and take up his crossand follow me.”Matthew 16:24Meanwhile, Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List, states that 2025 was the deadliest year in modern history for Christians. It identifies 4,849 people killed for their faith and millions more facing violence, abuse, displacement, or discrimination. Yet, this narrow winding road can bring you and I unexpected blessingsBlessings I discovered on those narrow winding UK roads.Seeing life we would otherwise miss. Experiencing it deeply. Meeting people we can bless. Working together to achieve what we can’t do alone. Being touched by joy that can light our lives.So, what road are you on?Jonathan Krause

Send us Fan MailSunday 23 August 2026The sermon this week reflects on the remarkable faithfulness of God, who calls, seeks, saves and guides his people even when we cannot see where He is leading us. Isaiah calls us to “look to the rock from which you were hewn” and to lift our eyes towards the Lord, whose salvation and righteousness endure forever.In the Gospel, Peter confesses Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God” — a confession that does not begin with human wisdom, but with God revealing Christ to us.For me, this will also be a deeply personal Sunday as I look back over my own journey — from childhood faith, through years of turning away from God, to being called back to Christ and eventually through my time here with you, into the pastoral ministry — I can see more clearly how God’s hand has guidedevery step. I never knew where he was taking me, but He did!As we all look ahead, the encouragement is simple: keep looking to Christ, keep confessing Christ, and keep giving thanks for his grace.Blessings always,Paul Ridley

Send us Fan MailSunday 16 August 2026As long as my wife and I have been married we have been away from home – i.e. from the places where our parents lived. So we always talked of “going home” for holidays. We always looked forward to this time, even though travelling home sometimes involved vast distances, and the travel, at least in our early days, was sometimes dangerous and not enjoyable. But then we also talked of “going home” when it was time to go back to where we lived. “Home is where the heart is” has become a popular saying. And it’s true. But Jesus added another thought to that:“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. Matthew 6:21.Today we will have another look at our theme for this year from Isaiah – “See, I am doing a new thing”. Many of the Jews from Jerusalem and Judah had been taken off into exile in Babylon. Isaiah, from Chapter 40 in his book, began to offer these people hope. Their time of exile was coming to an end. They would soon be going home. And this would be such a joy to them that the 1,143km journey (on foot) will seem like a ‘walk in the park’. Even though they had a huge, difficult and dangerous road ahead of them, the fact that they were heading home would give them strength, encouragement and joy to last the journey.Our lives are also described in the Bible as a journey and we are called foreigners (strangers) in this world because we are really “citizens of heaven” (Ephesians 2). And our lives are far from easy. We have struggles of all kinds – physical and spiritual – before we get home. But our journey takes on new meaning and purpose, and provides us with comfort, strength and courage when we know where “home” is. And when we trust in Jesus as our Saviour, we begin to understand that the “new thing” is what God does in us daily. By his grace he calls us to live an authentic, genuine life of discipleship as we keep our eyes fixed firmly on Jesus.Pastor Robert Voigt

Send us Fan MailSunday 9 August 2026Yes, we are back in that famous scene of wind, water, storm, gale and a ghost’ walking across it all. It is the ‘walking on water’ gospel account today.We know it well. We love it a lot. I think it is because the account of Jesus grabbing Peter and pulling him up out of the stormy sea when Peter seems to ‘fail’ the test of faith that dark night, says that when we are drowning in our own stormy time, Jesus is right there ready and able to save us from it all.But did Peter actually fail the test of faith? Is this account a warning to followers of Jesus to not get too carried away with themselves? Is it a tale that is told to direct us to not be impetuous or risky as Peter seemed to be as he hears that familiar voice and asks to head toward it, even over churning waves and gale-force wind resistance?I am not sure this is a main point for the gospel writers who tell this story. I wonder whether this is a story of faith in Jesus for sure, but a call to real faith; real trust; to not play it safe or ever take a risk, but to do so more often with faith in Jesus.We Lutherans might not like that word ‘risk’. We might find ourselves having a dig at Peter’s apparent ‘failure’ from our comfortable church chairs. That seems all well and good until the storm clouds of life gather over us and we know we are in danger. Is it then that Peter may not seem so impetuous or arrogant or silly?I wonder...Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailSunday 02 August 2026We are back in that magnificent poem of poems as spoken by the prophet Isaiah. In one of the many pictures he paints of both God’s judgement of our sin and God’s beautiful resurrection of whole life, Isaiah issues a call to a free banquet that God has paid for in full for everyone. All we have to do is come, get up, receive the fully satisfying gifts of The Suffering Servant, whom we know as Jesus of Nazareth.Jesus now simply ‘des Iasiah’. That day by the sea on the grassy slopes with thousands looking for food that satisfies, they get it. It is that famous ‘Feeding of the Five Thousand’.Sounds simple and actually is. Just reach out and take the bread and fish. Just receive…It would be very simple if it were not for this heart of ours that simply wants to pay our own way. Isaiah is clear. We are not very smart shoppers in the world of a million delights. We work very hard for things that can’t fully satisfy and we pay a lot of hard-earned cash and a great deal of time we think is ours dreaming of what we want next.Not only do we stay away from receiving God’s gifts but we tend to believe he has no good gifts, or not enough anyway.But Jesus just does Isaiah today. He gives you a meal voucher at the fanciest restaurant in town and there is no bill to pay now or later when he returns to settle accounts.All you need to do is get up, seek, listen and receive. Praying you do that and get more than a trolley of things today.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailSunday 26 July 2026It is with pleasure that we prepare to receive the Word via Dr Tim Stringer, Principal of Australian Lutheran Collage. May the Word call you, challenge you and comfort you for the journey we share together today.Dr Tim says…Last Sunday, we were deep in the territory of weeds and wheat. This week, we hear and read a series of rapid-fire parables that describe what the kingdom of heaven is like.We might think we can recognise the kingdom, yet it is described in several different, surprising and hidden ways in quick succession across five shortparables. These are laid out before the disciples, and when asked if they understand all these things, they reply, “Yes”, but we don’t hear their tone of voice in the scriptures.There is a trend on social media at the moment in which an individual is asked to say a phrase in four or five different tones of voice. In the case of the disciples, would the meaning be altered if they used a surprised, tentative, certain, or assertive tone? Any of those might work in this case.We hope, of course, that they are certain!Do YOU understand all of these parables? How might you answer Jesus’ question if he directed it to you today? Hopefully, as we rummage through the storehouse of treasures hidden in these parables today, we might discover something new or something old that we might feel impelled to bring out and share with others.Blessings,Tim

Send us Fan MailSunday 19 July 2026Sometimes I wish God would deal with all the injustice of the world. Sometimes I wish the Church could be so much better, especially when Christian people do some really silly and bad things.What do we do with the frustration we feel about all the suffering and trouble in the world? What does the Lord do for us when the church gets it wrong and we get it wrong?We are in rapid-fire parable territory this morning. In this little section of Matthew’s gospel there are seven parables in a row. Jesus says every one of them speak of what living with faith in his presence and promises are like for us.The focus today is number 2 of the seven – this picture of a paddock with both wheat and weeds being planted and growing together. The picture comes with a prohibition for us: “Don't try and pull up the weeds!”. In fact, “Let the weeds grow".Why on earth would we do that? We don't do that with real weeds. We get rid of them with hard work or hard chemicals!Apparently, this is not the way in Jesus' way. In pulling up the weeds we may disrupt the wheat. This is not our job. But it is someone's job.All very mysterious. I wonder how you are navigating growing in Jesus among those who aren't?Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailSunday 12 July 2026As Christians we believe that the Bible is the sacred writings of God himself, as he inspired his chosen authors to write it down. Therefore we often refer to the Bible as “the Word of God”. But the truth is that only Christians believe this. Non-Christians (or ‘not-yet Christians’) do not see the Bible with faith. They only see a very very big book with a lot of ‘stuff’ in it that is hard for them to understand. And since they have no idea how we got this book, they simply put it in the same category as the Sutras of the Buddhists, the Vedas of the Hindus, the Qu’ran of the Muslims, or the Book of Mormon of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.Students of three Year 6 classes in a Lutheran school some years ago reinforced the fact that people with no faith, and very little knowledge, see the Bible as an old book that is unreliable, contradictory, out of date and that it must have changed from the original over time. And they believe this even though they have never read the Bible.So when I have a chance to engage with sceptics about Jesus, I don’t start with the gospel. I talk about the Bible and why Christians are so sure that it is the Word of God. Because if it is what it claims to be, then everyone should take it very seriously. I talk about the origins of the Bible and its reliability as a historical record. I want them to understand that Christians don’t close their eyes to history or science. It is a book that is worth a closer look. For if they don’t come to see it as God’s revelation to all people of all ages, they won’t accept they are sinful, or that Jesus came to be the Saviour of the world.The historical story of how the Bible has come to us today is a powerful witness to the God who inspired it. When people at least acknowledge that the Bible has not been altered over the millennia, and that it is no ordinary book, they may begin to take its content and message of salvation more seriously.As one Year 6 student wrote to me after one presentation, “I will never doubt the Bible again.” My hope is that he now trusts in the clear gospel message of Jesus’ love for him. I pray that the message today will help to encourage and strengthen your faith too.Pastor Robert Voigt

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 5 July 2026 We come across those well-known words concerning this internal battle we all know and live as God’s people from Paul in Romans 7.We do not do the good we want to do and do the very bad we don’t want to do!There is internal spiritual power at work in our human needs and desires that wage war against our best intentions to live out those good ten commandments and it is frustrating.Paul ends up crying out in frustration.What can save us from this ‘body of death’; these internal desires that the evil one leverages against us to bring out the worst in us?They turn God’s good law into something we want to ignore or hide away from. The very thing God gives to protect us and guide us only ends up accusing and killing us.Will trying harder bring us hope and joy? Will giving up on God and his good will for us do it? Will singing a sad song lamenting our lack of noble character and our endless weakness do it? Will getting on the dancefloor at the wedding and dancing the dark away do it?Paul leads us to the end of ourselves so we can begin with the Lord anew.There is a way to live in the war with hopefulness, meaning and joy. Praying you receive it today.As you prepare for worship you could ponder these thoughts:Lord Jesus, I am weary of...I keep trying to rescue myself by...I hear you inviting me to...Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailSunday 28 June 2026Today we celebrate something of a uniquely Lutheran story. On July 24th, 1530 the leaders of that first rapidly growing movement of Catholic churches, newly centred on the gospel of Jesus as the only way to be made new in the grace of God (evangelical/gospel centred churches), got to speak that faith in full public view before the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in the fair city of Augsburg, Germany.Their 28 part confession of their foundational beliefs, that were drawn straight from the existing catholic and biblical faith became known as the Augsburg Confession, and became the basic and foundational confession of faith for all people in Lutheran communities around the world.We are part of that confession, and we have Bishop Andrew Brook bringing the Word to us this day.May the Lord sure up our confession of faith so we bear his name well where he has placed us and God's love comes to life in more people in the community to which we are sent.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailSunday 21 June 2026There is no doubt that everyone lives with varying fears. Jesus makes it very clear to his sent followers that fear will always be, even though they know him and have his promises for life beyond all fears. Just because we are Christians, does not mean that we don’t have to deal with all kinds of threats, conflicts, splits, and danger to body, mind and spirit.It can sound a bit depressing. ‘Taking up this cross’ of faith in this kind of fear and suffering does not sound too positive! Then again, what would you prefer: fake promises of easy street living or honest truthful words about how things really are?In this word of Jesus about the difficulties we face as his sent people in a hostile world, there is a higher message; a main message. Three times Jesus says it: ‘Do not fear’.I am not sure what you are facing and fearing at the moment but his word to you is “Do not fear”.He backs it up with an honest assessment of what we fear, what we face and how he enables us to remain hope-filled and faithful to his call.May you receive his call and his assurance in anything you fear.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailSunday 14 June 2026We call ourselves ‘sent ones’ because that is what we are named in Matthew’s gospel today.Being named ‘sent ones’ raises that topic of ‘evangelism’ or ‘mission’. If there are two words that seem to create maximum guilt and/or fear in a church-person's heart, they are them!But, today will be encouraging. We are sent for sure, but with no need of guilt and no fear of results.For the first and only time in his telling of what he witnessed around Jesus, he names the followers of Jesus now becoming his ‘sent ones.There is a definite plan here. Jesus, like any teacher has a method of teaching his people that will serve his mission and bring his vision of life to life.Our text today marks one of those major shifts in training. The disciples are being sent out. Jesus’ mission to call all people to himself takes an expansive step.And why is Jesus stepping up the training? Compassion. He sees the community as being harassed and scattered and he knows there is so much more for people and he is ready to harvest, ready to gather.May Jesus gather you and send you as his sent person free from guilt or fear.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailSunday 7 June 2026We enter into the long time of learning the Way of Jesus in this time after Pentecost. First cab off the rank today is that moment when Matthew is called to follow Jesus.It must have been quite a surprise to Matthew, and to the two groups of people witnessing all this.There would have been people who never thought the mercy of God would get close to someone like this ostracised disliked man, Matthew. He was definitely a sinner with big sins for all to see. Every day he strengthened the oppression of the community under brutal rule of the Empire by taking taxes from the local community and then pocketing some of the tax money for his own life project.Some of the them would have marvelled at this flagrant mercy extended to such an obviously bad person with such big sins. Others would have been very upset that mercy like this should ever be extended to someone like that.Jesus does this mercy-act of calling Matthew and then deals with the eyebrow raising it caused – the good and the bad.To the bad people who are sensing joy that God could be this full of mercy to such a bad person (like they know they are), and to the good people who are deeply offended and angered that someone so bad could be treated as good (like they believe they have earned to be), Jesus reveals the heart of God.I desire mercy, not sacrificeAcknowledgement not burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6)May you know the heart of God for you this morning.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailSunday 31 May 2026“To Whom Will You Compare Me? Who Is My Equal?”That’s the question God asked his people in Isaiah 46. He had cared for them before they were born and had promised to care for them “until your hair is white with age”. And the people had seen God’s power at work countless times in their history. They survived in the land of heathen people only because the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, loved and cared for them, no matter how many times they rebelled against him.But they constantly turned to gods of stone and wood – to the man-made gods of the nations around them.WHY?There are many reasons, but I think one of the main ones is that the Israelites wanted a god they could understand - and manipulate. The gods were made in their own image, and so the character of each idol was similar to their own. These false gods could be bribed and they operated by set, strict rules – all determined by humans of course. And they could be seen, touched and kept close. Archaeology has found thousands of these idols to prove this point.By contrast the people could not see God or get close to him. He remained a complete mystery and could not be cajoled or bribed to do anyone’s will. Even though God remained faithful and served the people with grace and justice, they wanted something concrete to hang on to.Today we still have a mystery about God that only became a little clearer in the New Testament. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Bible never uses the word TRINITY but it’s the only word we humans can find to even begin to explain God.But that brings us to the same temptation as the Israelites. We want to see, touch, smell, and know God. We find it so hard to embrace mystery – to accept that God has revealed all we need to know about him in the person of Jesus. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?” (John 14:9).So how might our awesome, mysterious, all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present, three-Persons-in-One God want us to respond today to his questions above?Pastor Robert Voigt

Send us Fan Mail24 May 2026It is Pentecost Sunday. We remember that first astonishing coming of the Spirit that set in motion a vast global and timeless new creation community, of which we are a part.This is the victorious King Jesus now ascended to his throne of grace sharing the spoils of his victory. Praise the Lord!It is not always easy to rejoice in other people’s giftedness. The temptation is to get ahead by being super-competitive, or opt out and miss out on or feel inferior even though you do have your own gifts.How can we freely accept and enjoy other people’s gifts and not dismiss our own, but thank God for them all? Paul speaks into that today.We are back in that rather interesting Christian community in Corinth as we hear Paul responding to their questions, and their troubles with the many spiritual gifts they seem to have received. They don’t seem to be doing a good job on handling these gifts. There is that old human problem of comparison, competition and therefore, conflict leading to faction within the Body. Never good.We will hear some home truths about who we are and who God is and what those gifts he gives actually are – all grace.We might also ponder how we are going when it comes to feeling inferior or superior in terms of gifts.Paul is pretty clear that the main thing about any spiritual gift is not so much the gift itself, but what the gift proclaims about the Giver of those gifts.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailWe draw to the close of these 50 days of Easter as we witness that rather changing moment of Jesus’ ascension. It is hard for us to know what to do with this account Luke gives us – not just once but twice.We don’t treat it anything like Christmas or Easter. And yet, it must be pretty important for it to end Luke’s account of Jesus and begin Luke’s account of how the church began in his Book of Acts.I wonder if we downplay this part of Jesus’ mission because we struggle to make sense of it. Does Jesus go somewhere else or stay right here? How does he stay here? Where is heaven and why are the disciples told to not worry about looking for Jesus in the clouds but head back to their life in the city and wait?It seems that our culture and maybe our own view of heaven is laced with ancient Greek thought – that heaven is some far off other-worldly place to which Jesus went.The only way we get to bridge that vast chasm when we die is with our so called ‘eternal soul’. When we die our soul flies away (with Jesus?) and finds its home in some cloudy space…This is not Luke’s truth. This is not Christian belief through the centuries. This ascension is all about the still human Jesus ascending, but not some far off world of floating souls, but rising to take up his rule here with us!May you know his presence and his rule in your life and work with us to keep fulfilling his purpose for us to bear witness to him everywhere.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailSunday 10 May 2026As this 50 days of Easter celebration winds to its conclusion, it might be easy to think that the best part of the church year and our life together is over and things will become a bit ‘ho-hum’.How would it have been for those close to Jesus when he started talking very directly and pointedly about his imminent departure via suffering, cross and death! Surely a bit more serious than just worrying about things becoming ‘ho-hum!How on earth would they cope? How on earth would they know what to do? Who would stick up for them, guide them, show them what to say and do, teach them so much more than they already knew?In these questions and in this fear, Jesus does two things. He says that life will not go ‘down-hill’ after he goes and that if they just do what they saw him do, they will get through.Jesus sems to know that everybody needs somebody sometimes and says we have that Someone all the time.In all we face, we have this Advocate, this assistant, this Spirit of Jesus guiding, empowering, teaching, leading, protecting. We also have clear direction on how to go about it: Love as we have been loved and leave the rest to the Spirit!Praying that you don’t live like an orphan, thinking you have got to make all this work out and make sense of everything.Praying that you find great encouragement and strength for all you are facing in this ‘Paraclete’; this Advocate whom you have received in your baptism already.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailSunday 03 May 2026Stop Running - Coming to God, not running away.There is so much that we don’t understand about our relationship with God. For example, I will never fully comprehend the extent of God’s grace. And I’m sure it’s the same with you. We know the Bible tells us that Jesus has paid the full price for our sin (rebellion). We know that since we believe in Jesus as our Saviour we are now in a new relationship with God. In fact we are new creations! But we’re still sinful. We still disobey God. And when we become aware of our sin, we feel guilt and sorrow - which are not bad things. But then we are tempted to wonder if God will go on forgiving us. After all, we find it really hard to go on forgiving others for the same thing every time.And the moment we doubt God’s mercy and grace is the moment that we turn away from the cross and rely on our good works instead. We think, ‘If we read the Bible more, spend more time praying, get more involved in the work of our congregation, be more loving, be nicer, go to church, we will be more worthy of God’s love and forgiveness.’ But that’s our sinful nature and the Tempter talking.That is not how God’s plan of salvation works. Even if we have only a mustard-seed size faith, we are safe and secure in the grace of God. We don’t have to run away from God in fear. God calls us his children and that is what we are!! He says we are chosen, holy, authorised to come before his throne of grace every day (priests of the King) - and he calls us his special possession. So we can come to him without fear, knowing that Jesus paid the sacrifice for sin once for all – for all past, present and future sins! And that’s not meant to encourage us to take sin for granted. The story of humanity is one of running away from God – chasing other gods. But now the new life of the Spirit we have in Jesus is to be the motivation to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.Pastor Robert Voigt

Send us Fan MailSunday 26 April 2026Jesus said he was the Good Shepherd before he was raised. He remains the same now that he is raised. It is Good Shepherd Sunday.The Shepherd said he would lead his sheep into green pastures and living springs of water in this new creation. Today we catch a glimpse of what that green pasture and living water created in the hearts and minds of those gathered on that first Pentecost day when the church was born.We catch a glimpse of a wonderful community of Word, prayer, eating and Lord’s Supper and sharing life together at all levels. It seems idyllic, but I am not sure it would have been.There were people there from all over the world, all with their own stories and cultural differences, language boundaries, political views...It seems that right from the beginning the church was solidly founded on the everlasting promises of God that Jesus delivered in full and yet, living in quite some chaos as new people join in, new hope springs up, new challenges of practical matters within and threats from outside would come.The church seems to be solid and yet chaotic. At our best, are we always meant to be both – ‘solid chaos’?Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan Mail19 April 2026 - Harvest ThanksgivingReturning to Jesus and worshipping him is what that one out of ten healed people do the day that Jesus healed them all. We hear of that account today – the healing of the ten lepers.It is Thanksgiving Sunday. Our lovely display of gifts to be given to others in need shows this.Jesus healed a lot of people. Many things were said as he did those healing gifts. Today he uses this wonderful gift of healing. He gifts a return to a full life lived among family and friends for ten people healed. This brings something home to us about what his healing power and love can create in us – deep thankfulness and worship.That is what the guy who came back to Jesus does. He thanks Jesus for the new life and worships him as Saviour. There is no doubt that this is what Jesus’ hopes for in a response from people he has touched, saved, healed and called to be with him.That is us. We are the ‘one’s’ who came back. We are here giving thanks to Jesus and worshipping him as our Saviour this very day.I am thankful today. I may not always be thankful, but I am today, both for the new life Jesus gave me long ago and has sustained me in up to this day. I am thankful for where he did this and where he has sustained the purpose and hope and joy of his healing love and life in me – among you! Among his church. And here at St Petri.I am thankful for this church. I will share some reason for that and hope to inspire you to be thankful and worship Jesus yourself, like the one leper who came back. Because from there comes; generosity of spirit, willingness to pay the price of telling of Jesus in our lives, courage to make changes to look out, reach out, go out and be instruments of God, calling people home to this healing grace of this resurrected Servant King.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan Mail12 April 2026We often give Thomas a hard time. “Doubting Thomas,” we say - as though he alone missed the memo. But it’s worth noticing: Thomas isn’t alone in doubting. He’s just the only one honest enough to say it out loud. No-one expected the resurrection. No matter how many times Jesus had spoken about his death and his resurrection to follow, no one heard him. They may have heard his words, but none believed them.The women went there to complete the burial. The disciples were hunkered down without even checking whether Jesus might have possibly spoken truly. Everyone in the accounts is puzzled, mystified, and confused. They remained spiritually blind to what had happened.Now place Thomas (as the representative of us all) alongside another man in John’s Gospel — the man born blind in John 9. We heard about him only a few weeks back, on March 15th.Here are two men: one cannot see, the other can. Yet strangely, it’s the blind man who comes to see clearly, and the sighted man who acts as though he’s blind.The blind man begins in darkness, but when Jesus meets him, his sight unfolds step by step. First, “the man called Jesus,” then “a prophet,” and finally, “Lord”—and he worships. His eyes are opened, but more importantly, so is his faith.Thomas, on the other hand, begins with sight. He has seen Jesus, walked with him, heard him. But after the cross, his world collapses. Sight isn’t enough. He wants evidence—“Unless I see… unless I touch…” You can almost hear him: “I’m not falling for wishful thinking.” In these actions he’s acting like a blind man, who must touch and feel his way through the world.And here’s the grace: Jesus meets both men exactly where they are. He doesn’t leave them where they are, but he meets them where they are. So also, with us. Jesus meets us where we are to take us to where he is. He’s not interested in leaving us unchanged.So also, for the two men: mud, spit and water for one; wounds and words for the other. No scolding. No dismissal. Just his transforming presence. Because in the end, both men arrive at the same place: not merely seeing… but believing.Perhaps the real question is not whether we see or don’t see - but whether we know that we are seen by Christ.If we know that, everything changes.Dr Noel Due

Send us Fan Mail4 April 2026We gather over this weekend to celebrate who we are because what God has done for us in this Suffering Servant, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.Christians have always known that the crucifixion, death and resurrection is the very heart of our hope and our motivation for living out the love of this Servant.St Paul famously puts it bluntly: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” (1 Corinthians 15:13)But he goes on to say – Jesus has been raised from the dead by the mighty resurrecting power of the Father and because of that, everything has changed and is still changing.This weekend is not just about feeling sorry for our bad behaviour or being assured that “we will go to heaven when we die”. This celebration confirms that a whole new creation has began that day that death died and God’s new life, based on his goodness and love, not ours, is now here!This Suffering Servant we have been hearing of from the prophet Isaiah is still serving and suffering with us and says he will continue to lead us on to the final resurrection at the last when suffering will finally cease and death will be a distant memory.Enjoy the story. Enjoy his presence. Enjoy the love of the Father poured out in the Son by the power of the Spirit as you ponder the suffering and the triumph once again.Pastor Adrian Kitson

Send us Fan Mail29 March 2026We welcome you to this Palm Sunday gathering called and powered by the Spirit of God for encouragement and equipping in Jesus’ kingdom mission. We are glad you are here.The 40 day journey to the joy of Easter Day continues with an extra shot of good news to help us on our way as we go deeper into that poem of poems – the Book of the prophet Isaiah.The people in the city that Palm Sunday expressed their pure joy at the arrival of the one they believed to be “The Anointed One”, the “Messiah” (Saviour) long promised by Isaiah seven hundred years before this day, under his name for the same – The Servant.The joy of the welcome will not last. It never really has. Isaiah tells the story in blunt truth: God’s people have never really welcomed God’s plans, intent, will, or direction for too long in any full way.Nothing has changed. Within a week, we assume many of the people laying down palms branches and jackets on the road before Jesus on his little donkey, will be shouting “Crucify him’ with one voice to Pilate.What will change this fickle faith for good?Not our love or lack of. But, “… my unfailing love for you will not be shaken”, says the Lord. He will show us his unfailing certain permanent love at Holy Week, when the palms fall silent.Pastor Adrian Kitson

Send us Fan Mail22 March 2026We are walking through one of the four Servant Songs in that ‘5th gospel’- the book of Isaiah. We are in chapter 53, and we come across something new that has not been said so far by Isaiah.Isaiah has been telling us that God has a dilemma. He loves his people, but they are incapable of loving him back. This is not new. From the Garden to Noah to Abraham to Moses to king David and beyond, with kings and without kings, with land and without land, God’s people have constantly failed to live in this life-long covenant relationship of love with the Lord.At first, in Isaiah, it seems that God is going to attempt to make his people the Servant of the world that they were always meant to be. The Servant seems to be Israel.But now, in this middle part of Isaiah, something new is announced. The Servant will actually be a person. The Lord is going send a new king. But this king will be totally different to the way kings usually are. His kingship will be marked by serving and his serving of the world and God will be marked by suffering for the world not dominating the world.And one more new thing: for the first time we hear that this suffering servant will not only suffer. He will rise. I pray you ponder the wonderful Servant Jesus who serves you this day so that his love rises within you.Pastor Adrian Kitson

Send us Fan Mail15 March 2026What does it mean to truly see? This Sunday we explore how the Light of the world opens our eyes - not simply to the world around us, but to Jesus himself.In John 9, Jesus heals a man who has never seen the light of day. Neuroscience tell us that this was a multiple-layered miracle. Not only did his optical equipment begin to work; but his neurones must have been instantly re-wired so that he could interpret what he saw.What follows is more than a miracle story. It is a sign. It becomes a searching paradox about sight and blindness - about who truly sees and who does not. And who enables that paradox to be resolved.The man born blind gradually comes to see more clearly: first a man called Jesus, then a prophet, and finally the Son of Man worthy of worship. Meanwhile, those who are certain they can see become increasingly blind. Their confidence in their own vision prevents them from recognising the Light standing before them. But it is not about ‘them’ and ‘their’ blindness. It is about us and ours. Our confidence in our own abilities, sight, and understanding lead us to unbelief, not faith.By contrast Jesus does not judge by ‘what his ears hear or his eyes see’. He discerns things truly. He sees through to the heart. He knows what is needed, cutting through all the play-acting of our self-righteous posturing.This story is framed by two of Jesus’ great sayings: “I am the light of the world” and “I am the good shepherd.” In this encounter we see both truths lived out. Jesus brings light to us who lived in darkness, and like a shepherd he seeks us out. The healed may was rejected, ‘cast out’, from his own family and people, But the Good Shepherd finds him, to bring him home to the Father. So he did for him. So he does for us.Dr Noel Due

Send us Fan Mail08/03/2026There are four songs about this ‘Servant’ in Isaiah. We are in one of them in Chapter 53.Today's verses are pure gold for the Christian. They are like a golden neon sign beaming out a message of hope when we are at our very worst and when we are trying to be at our very best.Luther named these verses as describing something central, something foundational to the whole bible and to our whole life. He called this ‘the wonderful exchange’ where the ‘Servant’ takes our sin and gives us his peace; where the Servant takes our disease and gives us his healing.Trouble is, we find it very hard to allow him to do this! To allow the Servant Jesus to take your sin you need to know you are dead in it. To allow him to take your disease, you need to know you are sick unto death and need him to give you his gifts.I am praying that you hear the truth about your disease and the gift of his healing; the truth of your idol making heart and the gift of his heart of love for you.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan Mail01/03/2026We are hearing the Prophet Isaiah as we hear Jesus go to that cross this Lent. Issiah is often called the ‘Fifth Gospel’ since the gospel writers draw so deeply from his poetic, colourful words about the Servant, whom they knew to be Jesus of Nazareth.We are seeking some depth and colour and new insight into the Jesus we already know by hearing the Prophet who foresaw his world-changing work seven hundred years before Jesus appeared.Isaiah’s ‘Servant’ is God’s solution to the age-old problem of God loving his people and his people not able to love him back. God wants to keep his life-long covenant of love with his people alive, but his people have a long history of being incapable of responding with love and trust in his covenant promises of new life for all of life and beyond.God will send his Servant as his new king of a whole new kingdom, a whole new creation. But he will be different. The character of his kingship will be suffering. He will be named the Suffering Servant. His suffering and rejection will be a sacrifice for all those who have rejected him.This ‘Servant will be the king most people don’t want. He will look as weak as a gum sapling growing in the hot summer sun.But that little shoot is tough. It pops up in unexpected places and outlast the toughest conditions.Ponder the Servant in all his seeming weakness. His weakness is our life and hope.Pastor Adrian Kitson

Send us Fan Mail 22/02/2026We welcome Pastor Mark Schultz from LCANZ International Mission today. Pastor Mark and I worked together in the fair city of Auckland, New Zealand, some 25 years ago and have been friends ever since. He spent two decades forging a different way for Lutherans to be church in mission in the vast city of Sydney, serving at Lifeway Lutheran Church in Epping and other sites. Pastor Mark will be preaching God’s Word for us and sharing where we are headed. Diagnostic tools are found on computers and used by mechanics, health professionals, teachers, coaches, and employers. Their purpose is to determine a fault, exclude an illness, gain insight, highlight vulnerabilities, identify causes, aid in self-understanding, monitor situations, restore to original condition, promote well-being, and improve life. They are gifts for our journey. In our discipleship walk, there is a diagnostic tool we all have at hand that identifies emptiness, exposes vulnerabilities, highlights faults, and gives insight into those deep places of the soul that need restoration so we can experience the new thing God is doing. More than simply providing diagnostics, it also shows us the solution that propels us forward to fulfil God’s plan, purpose, and mission in the world. We hope you can join us in God’s workshop and discover the blessing of this diagnostic discipleship tool. We look forward to sharing with you and the people of St Petri. Pastor Mark Schultz 

Send us Fan MailIt is Transfiguration Day again. It marks the beginning of the Lenten season now close.There is much in Matthew’s telling of the extraordinary events experienced by some rather overwhelmed disciples. One thing I notice this time around that it is a day of vision.Peter, James and John are privy to a moment of expanded magnificent vision of how things really are when God pull back the curtain on our very limited view of our lives – even just for one stunning moment.The vison given is about who we are and what we are here for. The vision is for Christians of all time as it was for just those three and even for Jesus himself.He and they would need this vision of past, present and future love and life in God. They are about to go down that hill to a dark Jerusalem. They will need every memory of this fear and wonder and joy they got to experience before all the intense, hard experienced coming their way.Vision does that for you. It tells you are God’s loved man or woman. It shows you that you are never alone. But in fact, part of a large global timeless family and it points you to task.And the only way to receive this vision of light and new light for any darkness is via listening – listening to the Son; the crucified, risen and ruling Son.I pray you can listen to him today and regain that vision for who you are and what you are here for as you live this journey of light no matter how dark things get.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan Mail08/02/2026Big questions come along in life. Things happen, things change, transitions come and with them, questions.Questions like:• What kind of person do you want me to be, God?• What kind of things do you want me to do, God?• What does God want my heart and life and directions to be centred on or shaped by the most?• How do I know that what I am living is God-pleasing, and right and true?God’s people were asking these kind of questions after they finally begun to recover their nation, their city, their temple and the whole way of life after the return from Exile.They seemed to want to factor the Lord into their new life and thought they were doing all the right things he required as they attended to all the expectations of temple worship.Problem was, they were only scratching the surface of things. They were outwardly observing religious things while daily doing damage by doing unjust things.They wanted a bigger life and yet, they did not seem to be able to see what the Lord means by a big life and how he provides that life.We pray you receive God’s word today as both a challenge but also for the purpose of enabling you to live his big life where he has placed you.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan Mail2026-02-01As Epiphany season draws to a close, we hear of the first happening post-birth even in Jesus’ young life – the day he was presented to the priests at the Jerusalem temple, in accordance with the requirements of God’s Law in the Old Testament.The day is often named ‘The presentation of Jesus’, for obvious reasons. But there is more than a simple ‘presentation’ going on. It is actually quite a big moment that says a lot about who Jesus is and what he will bring to the world.The old man Simeon’s words are key. We know these words in song – ‘The Song of Simeon’ which has been sung by millions in liturgy and prayer for millennia.Simeon takes this baby in his arms and speaks with prophetic voice and a deep peace.29 ‘… Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.’ (Luke 2: 29-32)Praying that Simeon’s song is your song today – a song of deep peace in this boy for your living, your struggle, your challenges, and even your dying.Take the baby today!Pastor Adrian

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Send us Fan MailGod is in the Manger – light is here in our darkness, hope is here in any despair, joy is here in all circumstances.Pastor Adrian Kitson

Send us Fan MailSunday 28th DecThis Advent and Christmas we have been hearing two voices shedding different light on the stunning reality that Christians hold in their hearts – God is in the Manger. Dietrich Bonhoeffer reflects on this good news of which Isaiah speaks hundreds of years before it came to be. They are the voices. Isaiah is the speaker of God’s truth long before it comes to be and Bonhoeffer is a Christian in extreme circumstances in which he would eventually lose his life for his faith in WWII. He writes from Tegel prison in Berlin in 1943-44. In a Nazi military prison cell with no presents to give, no Christmas turkey to eat, and no gathering of faith in which to participate, Bonhoeffer likens the whole Christian life to the season of Advent – a life of waiting with alertness and trust in the coming promises of God.That gift of Jesus – Saviour – God in that manger is the only thing that counts. Isaiah’s words speak of all those promises in grand style – water in the desert, justice for the poor, celebration in the land, no more crying anymore… The promises are more real than ever now that God has delivered himself into our human hands and cleanses our dirty hands of sin and guilt and shame once and for all. We pray that this God in the manger gives you what Isaiah foretold and Bonhoeffer clung to – hope – hope in our troubled families, relationships, loneliness, grief, marriages, workplaces and wide world. God is in the Manger – light is here in our darkness, hope is here in any despair, joy is here in all circumstances. Merry Christmas and happy New Year!Pastor Adrian Kitson

Send us Fan MailGod is in the Manger – light is here in our darkness, hope is here in any despair, joy is here in all circumstances. Pastor Adrian Kitson

Send us Fan MailGod is in the Manger – light is here in our darkness, hope is here in any despair, joy is here in all circumstances. Pastor Adrian Kitson

Send us Fan MailThis Advent and Christmas we have been hearing two voices shedding different light on the stunning reality that Christians hold in their hearts – God is in the Manger.Dietrich Bonhoeffer reflects on this good news of which Isaiah speaks hundreds of years before it came to be. They are the voices.Isaiah is the speaker of God’s truth long before it comes to be and Bonhoeffer is a Christian in extreme circumstances in which he would eventually lose his life for his faith in WWII. He writes from Tegel prison in Berlin in 1943-44.In a Nazi military prison cell with no presents to give, no Christmas turkey to eat, and no gathering of faith in which to participate, Bonhoeffer likens the whole Christian life to the season of Advent – a life of waiting with alertness and trust in the coming promises of God. That gift of Jesus – Saviour – God in that manger is the only thing that counts.Isaiah’s words speak of all those promises in grand style – water in the desert, justice for the poor, celebration in the land, no more crying anymore…The promises are more real than ever now that God has delivered himself into our human hands and cleanses our dirty hands of sin and guilt and shame once and for all.We pray that this God in the manger gives you what Isaiah foretold and Bonhoeffer clung to – hope – hope in our troubled families, relationships, loneliness, grief, marriages, work-places and wide world.God is in the Manger – light is here in our darkness, hope is here in any despair, joy is here in all circumstances.Merry Christmas and happy New Year!- Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailWe are hearing two voices to hopefully see and hear God speaking in a way that helps us receive the glory and splendour of what he did in being in that manger.Isaiah breaks into a glorious and splendid, good news word this morning. In his words that paint many pictures, he will try and break through our normal Christmas expectations to show us the glory and splendour of Jesus.Like the sun rising for another day, we shall know that in Jesus, we are OK and will be OK, no matter what happens around us.God’s people really needed to hear these words when they were first spoken seven hundred years before John the Baptist and Jesus appeared.Their good life was completely destroyed. Home lost, community de-constrcuted, nation taken away and under the thumb of a neighbouring super-power.Why? Human deafness, blindness, lack of speech concerning the loyalty, power and love of the Lord. Isaiah regularly hits the people with this hard truth.And then a shaft of light that outshines fear and hopelessness and pride. That is what we shall know today – hope in our despair and for our pride.May you watch and wait for this hope in where you are facing.Pastor Adrian Kitson

Send us Fan MailWe are hearing two voices to help us see something new in this God in the manger this Christmas. We are hearing the prophet Isaiah speak of this world-shifting event of “The Servant” arriving to serve the world in love some seven hundred years prior to it happening.We are hearing a Lutheran pastor and eventual martyr under national Socialist regime in WWII speak from his two Advents and Christmases in Tegel prison, Berlin, in 1943 and 44.Today we hear that God is mysterious. Isaiah speaks of wonderful and mysterious images that try and describe just how world-changing and heart-changing this Christmas event really is.Bonhoeffer speaks of the resistance we have to how God operates. He refuses to be boiled down to just what we can get out of him or how we can figure things out. He works in places that defy our logic and are beyond our ability to understand everything.And yet, he has appeared in that manger, and we have been changed by this God in the manger.The Advent call goes out. John the Baptist calls from his wilderness. Get serious. Take the time. Stop simply getting from God or having to figure it all out. God in the manger is here.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailHow do we cope with waiting? This week we hear that there is great value in our waiting. It is in waiting that we hear the invitation to let this Jesus in the manger into our lives. Will we let him into our various questions and troubles and needs? If we can and when we do, we can find the joy in believing in Jesus again.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailWe come to the Last Sunday of the church year before we switch to that season of waiting and watching for the celebration of the coming of the Saviour.We hear one of those parables Jesus tells to address a particular issue. In this case, it is the issue of how we Christians deal with the end of the world as we know it – the day that all the world and all the church will finally be fulfilled; or completed. In other words, ‘the end of the world’.Some around Jesus are thinking that this is it. They are on the way to the city. Things are getting hot in the kitchen. People are challenging Jesus. Jesus is speaking about suffering and dying and rising. Jesus is challenging some. Some don’t like that. Some love it. Could this be it?I have forgotten how many times I have heard so many people say ‘the world must be coming to an end’ and ‘Jesus must be coming back soon’. We do observe the world in all its trouble, suffering and lack of love and truth and we wonder...What does the ending do to our living? How do Christians live knowing there is an ending?Praying you find great comfort in Jesus’ word today and a reason to keep going until the day he completes everything.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailAs the year’s end comes up you might find yourself beginning to think over your year. How has the year gone? How did I do when it comes to our plans, retirement, goals we set, things we did and if we are doing paid work - how is my work going?Paul speaks into this area of our life in Christ. He speaks of work today.There seems to have been a bit of a ‘work’ problem in the Christian community in Thessalonica. It does not seem to be an unemployment problem, but a heart problem when it comes to work that was available. For various reasons, a significant number of people in the church were refusing to engage in honest work. As a result, there was trouble in the church. They were doing ‘work’ but very unruly and unhelpful work – ‘the work of busybodies”.Paul raises up God’s gift of work in an attempt to help people see its high value and its good so that they neither under-work or over-work, but simply enjoy work because it is God’s design and gift for us who benefit from all the work God has done and is still doing for his world, of which we are part.Praying you find purpose and joy in what you are doing at the moment as you get a ‘bigger picture’ of your plans, your goals, your hopes and your work.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailIt is strange how the people around Jesus who seemed to have the most trouble receiving his authority over their life were the people who were very religious.We hear from the Sadducees, who were a group of experts in theology, driven by the law. They try to trap Jesus in their conversation. Jesus responds briefly and clearly, and we get to be re-affirmed in this sure hope of resurrection that we share.Listen for the hope and allow the One who has authority over you to power your life.Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan MailIt is All Saints Day. This is the day to remember and give thanks for who we have lost. It is also a day to remember and give thanks for whose we are and who we are – saints.Hard to believe that we are saints. Often, we hear that word ‘saint’ and think “that’s not me!”. Saints are good people, extra humble people, people who can pray all the time and be so kind all the time, aren’t they?That title, ‘saint’ is something you earn, don’t you? You need to display kindness, humility, prayerfulness, intellect, understanding a cut above the rest.What if none of this was true, except that name ‘saint’? And what if that name, that title, was fully yours despite your lack of kindness, intelligence, understanding, prayer and courage?Maybe being a saint is not what you earn but what is given to you. Maybe being a saint is not being good but being new, day by day. Maybe the name is not something you earn but a title that is gifted to all of us by a Holy One beyond us who truly knows us?May you be ‘sainted’ again today!Pastor Adrian

Send us Fan Mail“The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)Bishop Paul says: Martin Luther’s great reformation discovery was “the big arrow down” of God acting gracious “down” to us. Not humankind climbing a ladder of good works up to God.For Martin Luther, this good news of the grace of God changed our day-to-day living. Rather than being afraid that God was angry with us and striving to appease God, we were “free” to serve as we have been served. Our daily life was a vacation wherever we were serving.Christian faith, founded on this word and promise of our gracious God, carries us through life into death, anticipating the fulfilment of the gift of eternal life in the place that the Lord has prepared for us. Luther’s great discovery was “the just” “shall live” “by faith”.LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith

Send us Fan MailThere is a lot in a name and no matter what name calling you might hear from others or even what name you may give yourself, God has a name for you. He gives us all names - his names: names like he gave Jacob - true, affirming, future-filled, hopeful.Pastor Adrian Kitson