Our Busy, Busy Nebraskan Days

So, you might think that life in rural American is kind of laid back and carefree, but you'd be wrong. These folks are busy and they are keeping us busy and very engaged in learning about day to day life in southeast Nebraska, especially in regard to what it means to be in ministry here.

We started our day having coffee with some folks in Talmage and got a bit of an inside look into the things like the challenges that go with managing cemeteries that have been in use since about the 1880s … sometimes with little or no accurate record keeping of where people were buried. Then we were off to a cluster meeting of pastors who are in many stages and types of ministry to our Nebraskan brothers and sisters and Christ. One pastor serves as an interim anywhere he may be needed throughout the statewide synod, a couple of them were first call pastors, another was a pastor who has been in her first call for 15 years, still others were brought to Nebraska specifically for their multicultural perspectives, or to serve very small congregations or growing churches and the list goes on. They were gracious enough to take the time to tell us how they came to rural ministry and what it means to them, what they've learned about themselves and the communities of people they serve. Overwhelmingly, despite challenges big and small, they have found the experience “rich” and feel it's truly a gift to have the opportunity to provide ministry in the Heartland.

We also had the opportunity visit Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City, an impressive hotel, restaurant, conference center, farm, conservation and family activity complex in the middle of a relatively small Nebraska Town. We learned about everything from J. Sterling Morton, who founded Arbor Day about 120 years ago, to how the Lied Lodge on the property uses scrap lumber to efficiently heat and cool the facility in an innovative and sustainable manner, to how trees often go unrecognized for the key roles they play in many movies.

Then we returned to our growing circle of familiar faces at St. James (Long Branch) Lutheran Church near Humboldt to visit with women who gather weekly from January to Easter all day on Tuesdays to make quilts for Lutheran World Relief. They typically send off 100 quilts a year from this tiny corner of the world to keep people warm and wrapped in Nebraska quilted love and compassion.

Finally, we were off to a experience some high school basketball in Beatrice. Basketball, like many other sports, are an important point of community gathering in these communities. Our host Pastor Amalia Spruth-Jannsen commented that St. James will often have youth on different teams in the area so when the rural pastor goes to basketball games they often have to cheer on all the teams.

Tomorrow we head out for another fun-filled day of Nebraska life and we are all looking forward to the new insights and people it will bring. Here's a little photo essay our adventures today. It starts with a lovely little angel ornament in the morning sun at the home of our host family for the last couple of nights, Kim and Terry Hahn and their three children. Each year they put up their "Angel Tree" to remember family members who have died. The next two photos are from Arbor Day Farm ... a grand old Burr Oak tree and Josh and Zak at the top of a tree house. Then there is a little montage of the quilting operation we had a chance to visit at St. James. Prof. Swanson even pitched in to help create one of the quilt tops. The last photo is from the basketball game, which, by the way, ended with a sweet Hail Mary three-pointer at the final buzzer. You don't get to see too many of those!

Sweet Dreams & Blessings from Nebraska, Ann