Book Review – The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Joan Didion’s poignant memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking, is an account of her experience dealing with grief during the first year following the sudden death of her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne. John and Joan had been married nearly 40 years when he suffered a fatal heart attack one evening in their New York apartment. To make a tragic event more complicated, the couple had just returned home from a visit to the hospital where their only daughter was comatose after a struggle with pneumonia. Thus, the surreal experience of dealing with bereavement was compounded for Didion by worries about her daughter’s health, and the necessity of informing her of John’s passing when she eventually regained consciousness.

Read Megan’s latest book review here …

St Peters, Gerogery

Our St Peters, Gerogery Fellowship continued to meet spasmodically last year, despite restrictions. Our numbers remain at ten even though our congregation numbers are not much more. Pastor Christian Fandrich leads our Bible studies which are taken from Lutheran Women. Pastor makes our studies so interesting, and he encourages discussion. Our President and Secretary/Treasurer have served in their positions for many years. President, Ros Wilksch, has clocked up thirty-five years while Ann Salzke has passed …

Brekky @ The Hub

Lameroo Regional Community School (LRCS) in the South Australian Mallee has a student population of close to 200 from Kindy to Year 12. About 40 kms east is the Pinnaroo Primary School and equidistant to the west is Geranium Primary School. Secondary students from these schools travel firstly by bus to their own school and are then bussed to Lameroo. This amounts to quite a considerable amount of travel time before they reach LRCS, equating …

Luther Study Centre

The Luther Study Centre (LSC) is based in Pematang Siantar, Indonesia and aims to help church members, seminaries, and pastors to understand and appreciate Lutheran doctrine. To promote the work of LSC and to explore the needs of the people, LSC are teaching and equipping. The National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation in Indonesia (KN-LWF) regularly visits church leaders, member churches, and theological seminaries. Luther Study Centre is a new LWA project. Through your …

Perth World Day of Prayer, 2022

On 4 March, many of the Duncraig ladies travelled to St Anselm’s Anglican church in Kingsley. The church displayed cherished items from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Our pastor’s wife, Maria Rudolph, was the guest speaker, and she spoke of growing up in a non-Christian household in East Germany and then backpacking around Australia when she was 18. In Adelaide one day she wandered into a Lutheran church, was made to feel welcome and invited …

Bible Study – July 2022

“Give us this day (today) our daily bread” – Jesus, as he taught his disciples to pray, in Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4.

When we ask God to give us our daily bread, what do we mean?

Luther gives us some examples in his explanation in the Small Catechism:

Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbours, and the like.

Read Anna’s July Bible Study based on the fourth petition and looking at ‘Sustainability as a care action for today, and future generations’…

Devotion – July 2022

“Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, Today is a gift. That’s why we call it, ‘the Present’ ”. 

Interested to find the source of this quote I turned to Mr Google and discovered it is the title of a book of inspirational quotes for kids written by Eleanor Roosevelt.

A little more googling and I found a version by Bill Keane which I liked better to begin our devotion on the Fourth Petition. Bill was the creator of a series of cartoons called The Family Circus, you may already know his work and I intend to research him further.

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present”.

Read Pam’s full devotion about the fourth petition “Give us this day (today) our daily bread” …

Sowing, growing, reaping, eating …

“We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land …” This hymn reminds me of the days of harnessing horses, ploughing straight lines, green crops growing and then later seeing the stooks of hay and a dusty harvester with no cab for the driver. Gone are those nostalgic days, they are replaced with a fast paced “no-till, spray, fertilise and seed” in one smooth operation. Later huge stacks of hay appear in the paddocks and air-conditioned headers are prepared for harvest…

Give us today our daily bread …

Making bread. It sounds easy. Therapeutic even. My grandmas used to do it all the time. I thought it would be fun. Something to fill in the afternoon and surprise the family for the soup meal that night.

Oh, but when I first tried, it was a disaster. It was like a rock! Even the chooks turned up their beaks at it. Luckily, we had a loaf of bread from the supermarket in the deep freeze to rescue the day.

But, for Francine whom I met in Burundi, there was no bread. No options. I could try making bread for a leisure activity. For Francine, daily bread was a matter of fighting for survival.

Brinkworth Women’s Guild 2022

We have joined up with Brinkworth, Snowtown and Blyth and meet at the Brinkworth Church Hall, on the first Tuesday of each month, ready to have a ball. Those who regularly attend are Coral, Barbara, Rhonda, Joy, Dorothy, Margie, Elva, Joy, Dorathea, and Paster Greg. We get together to find out what’s new. We all enjoy singing and praising the Lord, and “growing” when we are studying his Word. Rhonda Klemm

Rise to every occasion

There is no way the young, fresh-faced, enthusiastic, Apprentice Baker/Pastrycook, in 1990, could ever have imagined her life would turn out as it did.

Really, she was blissfully unaware – perhaps naïve – as to just how tough navigating life could be. Things were simple then and she was fortunate: a loving family, plenty of close friends, a healthy Church life and a bagful of rapidly developing baking skills. As she drove off to work while the rest of the city dreamed peacefully, it seemed the hardest things she had to deal with were hiding the occasional tray of burnt cornflake cookies from the boss, and whether she’d finish work in time to join her friends clubbing on Friday night.

Read Belinda’s moving story of resilience and recognition of God’s strength helping her through some really tough times.