Brisbane South & Gold Coast Zone Rally

 Rally Day Report for Tuesday 21^st March 2023

By Kaye Rossmann – Secretary

On a beautiful day, following a week of hot exhausting weather, 38 people travelled to Bethesda, Beenleigh and were heartily welcomed by the hosting ladies.  A wonderful, inspiring display of wedding dresses, wedding photos, albums and paraphernalia were enjoyed by all and surfaced many memories.  We were greeted with a lovely cuppa and delicious bun loaf.

An official welcome by President of Bethesda, Lynette Freiberg set the tone of the day to be one of “Come and – you are welcome”.  Zone President Naomi Marks welcomed all, emphasizing we encourage all Lutheran women and their friends to attend our functions whether they meet as an official guild, as a bible study group or are individuals who are looking for fellowship.   Our official roll call revealed 72 current members but that many Guilds were having difficulty finding office bearers.  Pastor David Haak, from the hosting congregation further extended the theme of the day: “Come to the Banquet” in his devotion on Luke 14:15 on the parable of the great banquet reminding all that by grace we go into the kingdom of God.  Come to the Banquet – there’s a place for you – All are invited.  This was followed by the singing of “Come to the banquet, there’s a place for you”.

Reports from the Qld Bishop, the LWQ President and the zone treasurer had been distributed prior to rally.  The zone president read her report noting as our zone functions by individual guilds are getting less, ladies are still active in their own churches, particularly behind the scenes in cleaning, arranging flowers, catering, morning teas and supporting their congregations financially.  We continue to serve our church families and communities with the gifts God has given us.

ALWS tells us: in the light of a world facing many challenges: war in Ukraine, earthquakes in Turkey & Syria, famine in Somalia; how does a small community like ours in Australia, facing its own challenges, bring love to life?  It has been one year since Russia began its illegal invasion of Ukraine and 40000 people including over 400 children have been killed; more than 46000 people died in the earthquakes and in Somalia, millions are facing famine.  It was noted that Somalia donations attract an 18:1 matching grant.  Hence a proposal was carried that our zone project for this year and our offering from today which amounted to $603 be split into three equal parts to be directed to victims of the war, earthquakes and famine through ALWS.

Each guild/fellowship was given opportunity to send along one member to each executive meeting of the zone.  This will give more ideas and input which will be greatly appreciated. This proposal met with sincere favour.

The gathering was entertained by a solo rendition of “O Perfect Love”, skits that entertained us as they portrayed our theme of the day as did the trivia which had many delving deep to find answers like: “The only food that never goes bad”, “Where French fries come from”, “How long a wedding celebration lasted in Bible times” and “What is Batology the study of” among other strange questions and even stranger answers.

Pastor David brought all the thoughts of the day together in his closing devotion reminding us to be thankful for the invitation we have received from Christ and that the door is always open for us to invite others through our sharing of God’s love and our helping hands.  What a treasure and life changing invitation God’s grace is.  Prayer to God reflected these thoughts also.

We closed with singing “Jesus Please watch over us” and the singing of Grace: Bless our friends, Bless our food before partaking of a wonderful banquet with a variety of foods brought by all those attending – a true reminder of how fortunate we are to be able to meet together under the covenant of God’s banner in peace with an abundance of food when others in our world are suffering so much.