Welcome to the Finnish Lutheran Church of Melbourne
We offer a welcoming meeting place for all Finns in Melbourne, and provide spiritual care and a broad range of activities for all age groups.
On these pages you can find information on our background, services, usual activities, and calendar of activities.
In addition, you will find the latest Pastor's column below the news post hereunder.
On these pages you can find information on our background, services, usual activities, and calendar of activities.
In addition, you will find the latest Pastor's column below the news post hereunder.
NEWS: Changes to upcoming events
Due to the announcements made today - Tuesday 7 July 2020 - by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, we have suspended our upcoming program of face to face worship services until further advice.
As July is normally a vacation month for our ministry, we will continue with this as planned.
In the event you are experiencing a crisis or emergency and seek church counsel, please contact Pastor Ian Vainikka on his mobile on 0422 292 372 or via email at ian.vainikka@gmail.com
***MORE DETAILS TO BE POSTED ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND IN THE SUOMI NEWSPAPER***
Pastor Ian's latest post (Column number 21 - 24.9.2020)
"Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:6-9)
When I was little and I got into trouble, the last thing I wanted to do was to go home. I knew what was waiting for me—consequences of my actions. That was why I became very good in running away and avoiding my parents.
It's a pretty normal response, right? We do evil, and then we run away. We avoid the person we wronged, because we don't want to face up to them and their anger or disappointment.
But that's what makes our Isaiah reading so strange. God says to us, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Have compassion on him? Abundantly pardon? What could God be thinking? That's not a normal homecoming. Could this really happen?
But those are the words that the Holy Spirit says to us. And so, we carefully look up and around from the places we are hiding, just a little—wondering if maybe, just maybe, God might mean it. Maybe, just maybe, he really won't give us what we know we deserve. Maybe we can go home again, can return to the Lord, can find peace and joy and love again in spite of who we are and what we've done. Maybe God is serious about his offer.
And we discover that he is. He wants us home again, wants his children forgiven and cleansed and happy and home—wants this so much that he lay down his own life to make it possible. That is what Jesus was doing when he came into this world, looking for all the lost ones, all of us who did wrong and then ran away. He came to bring us home. And if the only way to make that happen involved suffering and death, he was willing to pay that price. He paid it for me—and he paid it for you.
God wants you home again. He wants you home forever—not as a child on probation until you do the next bad thing and run off again. He wants you home forever—always with him, always being forgiven, always being changed, bit by bit, into the image of God's own Son Jesus. And so, God calls you to him: "Come home. Return to the LORD, that I may have compassion on you, and to your God, for I will abundantly pardon." That is what is waiting for us.
Pastor Ian
As July is normally a vacation month for our ministry, we will continue with this as planned.
In the event you are experiencing a crisis or emergency and seek church counsel, please contact Pastor Ian Vainikka on his mobile on 0422 292 372 or via email at ian.vainikka@gmail.com
***MORE DETAILS TO BE POSTED ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND IN THE SUOMI NEWSPAPER***
Pastor Ian's latest post (Column number 21 - 24.9.2020)
"Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:6-9)
When I was little and I got into trouble, the last thing I wanted to do was to go home. I knew what was waiting for me—consequences of my actions. That was why I became very good in running away and avoiding my parents.
It's a pretty normal response, right? We do evil, and then we run away. We avoid the person we wronged, because we don't want to face up to them and their anger or disappointment.
But that's what makes our Isaiah reading so strange. God says to us, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Have compassion on him? Abundantly pardon? What could God be thinking? That's not a normal homecoming. Could this really happen?
But those are the words that the Holy Spirit says to us. And so, we carefully look up and around from the places we are hiding, just a little—wondering if maybe, just maybe, God might mean it. Maybe, just maybe, he really won't give us what we know we deserve. Maybe we can go home again, can return to the Lord, can find peace and joy and love again in spite of who we are and what we've done. Maybe God is serious about his offer.
And we discover that he is. He wants us home again, wants his children forgiven and cleansed and happy and home—wants this so much that he lay down his own life to make it possible. That is what Jesus was doing when he came into this world, looking for all the lost ones, all of us who did wrong and then ran away. He came to bring us home. And if the only way to make that happen involved suffering and death, he was willing to pay that price. He paid it for me—and he paid it for you.
God wants you home again. He wants you home forever—not as a child on probation until you do the next bad thing and run off again. He wants you home forever—always with him, always being forgiven, always being changed, bit by bit, into the image of God's own Son Jesus. And so, God calls you to him: "Come home. Return to the LORD, that I may have compassion on you, and to your God, for I will abundantly pardon." That is what is waiting for us.
Pastor Ian
ONLINE CHURCH SERVICES
If you would like to view services from St Paul's Lutheran Church in Box Hill, please go to their Youtube channel and select the services you would like to view:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxCh_msqE8PDXBFkF1AGPA
Finnish services are broadcast on Yle Areena - to view the programs, follow the link here:
https://areena.yle.fi/1-3757226
You can also get a lot of information, devotionals etc, from Finland's church website, including English translations if needed. Visit:
www.evl.fi
Join the church
You can join the Mikael Agricola Finnish Lutheran Church by completing the attached membership form. Please print out, fill in, sign, and scan the form, and email it to ian.vainikka@gmail.com. You can also post the form to the church manse, 72 The Strand, Point Cook, 3030.
| seurakuntaan_liittymiskaavake.pdf |
