From the Principal

Learn from the past but do not let it define your future!

I was blessed to attend a conference this week of Lutheran principals from across Australia. It was the ‘2020 Lutheran Principals Conference’ as it was postponed twice for obvious reasons. We always enjoy coming together as educators working in Lutheran schools across the country and all Lutheran staff in school are having their conference this year too in July here in Melbourne.

The theme of the principals conference was ‘Embracing the past, inspiring our future’ and we spent time in the areas in which the first Lutheran migrants resided - Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills and Tanunda in the Barossa Valley.

We were reminded of the commitment and hardship of the first Lutherans who left their homeland to avoid being persecuted for their faith. Sadly, while they indeed escaped religious persecution, many Lutheran schools were closed and principals and pastors imprisoned during both the World Wars. There is a particularly moving photograph below of a school in Tanunda which was taken on the last day of operation before being closed by government order.

I had heard many of the stories before but heard a new story which moved me greatly. Near Tanunda, there is a hill called ‘Kaiser Stuhl.’ Pastor August Kavel, the leader of the first Lutherans, would make his congregation gather on the top of the hill once per year. He did this to remind them of two things. Firstly, sighting the sea from the hilltop they were reminded of where they had come from, the good and the bad. Below them, overlooking the village, they were reminded of the future, and of the blessings and hope that comes of a life with God.

At Lakeside College we join with many who have come before us in the ministry of Christian education. We should always remember that while not all of us are church going and certainly few of us formally align ourselves with the Lutheran church, we are all now part of this Lutheran family and share in a common history. I am sure that Pastor Kavel would be equally amazed and proud to see how the original Lutheran schools grew to be who we are today and see the richness of the community they now serve.

We read in the Bible: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?...And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-12)

Just as we are all now part of the Lutheran family, we are all a part of God’s family. God sent his Son Christ to die so that we all may have eternal life. Christians commit themselves to living in this hope and caring for all God’s children. This was the hope that the first Lutheran’s had and one that continues to drive us all today. God has acted on our behalf and has assured for us a bright future.

May we all recall our pasts, be proud of the good, rest in the assurance that God has forgiven the past, and that a blessed future awaits us all.

Blessings

Tom