Really Free?

Send us Fan MailSunday 8 November 2026IS THIS THE END?There is a big thing on people’s minds at the moment. It is AI (Artificial Intelligence). People are getting very worried that this might be the thing that tips the world towards it’s end or at least, changes our lives so radically that we might long for the end!When the very people creating AI are saying it might eventually end humanity, that is worrying!In these last weeks of the church year, we hear Jesus speaking much about the end. So, with Jesus, we ponder the possible impact of AI and God’s promised end of the world and our place in his new world already begun by the death and resurrection of Jesus who now rules the world and keeps his church.I believe the Lord would have us take the fear and speculation about AI seriously and yet, hear what He says about how we face AI and the end.Pastor Adrian 

Send us Fan MailSunday 25 October 2026REFORMATION SUNDAYEverybody wants to be free. The people around Jesus wanted to be free; free from a lot of things – corruption, endless taxes to Rome, having to work so hard to scrape out a living to feed the family, constant derision for being Jewish ... We all want to be free. Free of trouble, conflict, fear, shame, loneliness, addiction, worry ... The question is how do we be free, what makes us free and free from what? Jesus confronts the religious elites in the city when he says that even they who are so diligent and detailed in their obedience to keeping all the rules of God’s law are still not free. They immediately claim ancestral/racial assurance of their freedom. They are ‘Children of Abraham’, they say. Jesus challenges that belief about what makes them free and what the real bondage is in their lives. He might do the same for us today. I hope he does. It took one little Augustinian monk in 16th century Germany to be enlightened and truly freed from the things that entangles all of us. He was a different person, as a result. God wrote a whole new story with his life – a story that is still being written on our hearts. Pastor Adrian 

Send us Fan MailSunday 18 October 2026Today is a little unique. We will be hearing a different kind of gospel message from a person other than pastor Adrian, and we will be participating in the very important National Church Life Survey together. Every day, young people compare their ordinary lives with everyone else’s highlight reel. It leaves many asking, “Am I good enough?” Year 11 student Milly Fiebiger joins us for an interview. She shares what she told several hundred of her peers at school about social comparison, the pressure of perfection, and where our worth really comes from. Her answer is simple: we are loved by God, not because of what we do, but because of what Jesus has done. Like the shepherd in the parable of the lost sheep, he seeks us out and carries us home, restoring our value and belonging. Paul thanked God for the faith of the Thessalonians, and we give thanks for Milly’s too. Come and hear her and be encouraged to share your own faith with gentleness and respect. The National Church Life Survey happens just after the Australian Census every five years. it has become a primary tool in understanding where the church is at, where it needs to grow and where it can improve in its mission to proclaim the gospel of Christ in this country. Nearly all Christian Churches in Australia participate in it. We at St Petri have used the results in our discerning of the Spirit’s direction and focus for our mission in our region. So, enjoy a young person’s proclaiming of the gospel and help us learn more about how we can keep proclaiming it fruitfully and faithfully where the Lord has placed us! Pastor Adrian 

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 11 October 2026We come across this well-known story of the wedding banquet and the guy who came without the right clothes on and who ended up getting turfed out by the king. It is a sobering story for anyone who believes they belong to the Christian church. It is possible to misplace the robe of righteousness we all had placed on us at our baptism and end up not really knowing the One with whom we gather and the Son whom he wishes all the world to honour. It is easy to protect our own honour, get caught up in all the needed affairs of living in the world and suffering from a rather inflated view of own rightness and rights and what we deserve from others and God. This parable was challenging to those religious people around Jesus and it is challenging to those of us who are involved in this Christian religion. It is a challenge to only be religious for God (we think) and to not willingly enter a relationship with God. Praying today that you hear the call to humility and repentance and to keep that robe of faith in Jesus on so the experience of his great love for you is yours. He loves like a bridegroom loves his bride. This is a wedding banquet after all! Pastor Adrian 

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 4 October 2026We started the year listening to the prophet Isaiah. He pops up again this morning. In his expansive poem of poems there are little gems that have become famous for their imagery and artistry. These have shaped the way these first witnesses of the promised Servant King, Jesus of Nazareth, have passed on the story. We come across the well-known little ‘Song of the Vineyard’ today. It is well known for its poetic imagery. It is also well known for its truth telling. Isaiah had to work hard to get through to God’s people. As is the case for all the prophets God ever sent, and even for his own Son, most people do not listen to what God speaks. So, Isaiah, like the others, and like Jesus would do, uses imagery and forming of words to try and cut through the noise to speak God’s truth so that people may be set free from all that they willingly allow to bind them, blind them and deafen them to God’s promise and power in their lives. This little song is an attempt to draw the hearer into God’s beauty and grace so that truthful words about terrible lack of trust and its accompanying terrible behaviour can be halted and grace and freedom in God’s care found. I am not sure where you are at this particular day: grafted into the vine and knowing his promises and belonging to him and his community or feeling outside or disconnected or unsure of where you belong and who you are. The song will draw you in. The truth about you, and then the beautiful truth about the patience, grace and hopefulness of the Lord for you will come. Pastor Adrian 

Send us Fan MailSunday 27 September 2026I believe that my grandchildren are growing up in an age that is significantly different from any other time in history. Never has a previous generation had access to so much “stuff”. They live in a post-modern, post-Christian era, where the institutional church is declining in our country; where so-called experts claim that Christianity is no different to any other religion, and that no religion is the best way to have peace on the earth. They have access to the most evil and perverted material with just a tap on a screen, and reports tell us that they are lonelier and more anxious than any previous generation. And they are turning away from Christianity. The group of “Nones” is growing. But you and I are in this same culture. And we also are being influenced by what is going on around us. And if we speak out against something that we consider evil or sinful, contrary to God’s plan for all humans, we are told we have a “phobia” – fearful of anything that is different. And now there are laws in our country that can put us in jail for 10 years if we dare to criticise anyone or anything. So we tend to “pull our heads in” and stay quiet. Every day attacks and challenges are made on the Christian faith, and still we remain quiet. I think we are in danger of becoming like the proverbial “frog in a kettle”. The culture of this age is gradually influencing us and we’re not even aware that we’re being boiled in it. Now it’s not all bad news. There is a renewed interest in spiritual matters – it’s just that people are not interested in the institutional church. They are asking questions about life and faith, but they don’t want to be branded with a denominational name. In Matthew 8 the centurion trusted in the love of Jesus. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. We too need to grow in our trust so that we take Jesus at his word. It is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. It’s time to speak the gospel more clearly, to take God at his word. Paul wrote: Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 1 Corinthians 15:1 NIV-UK. Pastor Robert Voigt 

Send us Fan MailSunday 20 September 2026We are glad to welcome two special guests this morning at the 10.30 am Service: General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Estonian theologian and pastor Rev Dr Anne Burghardt, and the LWF Regional Secretary for Asia, Rev Dr Rospita Siahaan. We take time out to celebrate a particular biblical person today – Matthew, the gospel witness. Why remember Matthew and other saints? For praise and thanks to God for all he did through them, for learning of how they faithfully carried the gospel throughout their lives and for celebration; that we all belong to this timeless one, holy catholic (universal) church. It would have been quite a surprise to Levi (whom Jesus named Matthew), the other members of the new ‘Jesus’ group and to everyone in town that Jesus would choose a tax collector for his holy work. They were viewed as being so unholy! They had questionable ethics, unclean associations, ungodly desires, traitorous practice in supporting Rome and were probably defect in some way – almost subhuman. And yet, here is Levi telling of how he was called to join Jesus in his transforming work. Matthew tells it very briefly, but we can tell it was world-changing for him. Praying that the Lord of the Church transform you in your holy calling as his gift of God to those whom you are sent. Pastor Adrian 

Send us Fan MailSunday 13 September 2026 In a community within a Western culture it is hard for the church to really stand out since the values of our culture are drawn from the Bible. The high value of a person created in God's own image, the responsibility those in power should have in using their authority to serve the good of all, the sacred gift of marriage for life and the raising of children, the treatment of the vulnerable as needing to be fair and just and compassionate are all there in our community and they do these things pretty well. What do we do that is different? What is our unique gift to each other, friends, family and community? What allows us to create space to bear witness to the forgiveness and love of God for his world in a world that is not sure it really needs God? I think Joseph of the Old Testament and Stephen of the New might tell us today. They might raise up the thing Jesus raised up as our unique and needed gift to the world. Forgiveness. If this is our unique gift, that is hard even for the hardened sceptic to ignore or dismiss when it appears, then are we committed to it, learning it, doing it as we can and must? We will ponder this gift and our living of it, and how we stand out enough amongst family, friends and community to bear full and faithful witness to the forgiveness and peace and reconciliation we ourselves enjoy from Jesus. Pastor Adrian

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