Nebraska Synod ELCA

Sunday, November 24 was the last Sunday in Year B of the liturgical calendar.  As such, one of the suggested readings was from Daniel and included these words: “To him was given dominion and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.”

But this isn’t a story about the end of the church year.

Sunday, November 24 was the last Sunday in November, and thus the theme of Cultivating Love through Community.

But this isn’t a story about the end of a month.

Instead, this is a story about a friendship that began despite different languages and a community that extends beyond one congregation or city.

On Sunday, November 24, the congregation of Nile Lutheran Chapel in Omaha took a road trip to worship with the congregation of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Tekamah.  The people of Emmanuel had traveled to Nile earlier in the fall.

Energy filled the air as the sanctuary was filled with more than twice Emmanuel’s average weekly attendance.  Greetings of welcome, songs of praise, words of community were lifted in English and Nuer.  Pastors Rex Rogers and Gok (John) Badeng spoke of the ample opportunities in the month ahead to gather in worship and around tables.

After the worship service, all those present gathered around tables in the fellowship hall for a meal that included homemade ice cream.  As Pastor Rogers mentioned in the sermon, Emmanuel is known as the ice cream church.  That was not a phrase that required translation.  It was understood as part of Emmanuel’s hospitality.

When asked about her experience of going to Nile, an Emmanuel member gushed about the warm welcome she and everyone else had received there.  Hospitality is something both congregations in this community understand and extend.

The community reaches beyond Omaha and Tekamah though.  A freewill offering was taken for a congregation in South Sudan that both Nile and Emmanuel support.

What is it that brought Nile and Emmanuel together?  Years ago, when Pastor Badeng was going through candidacy, Pastor Rogers – not yet a pastor himself then – served on the candidacy committee.  The two formed a friendship as Pastor Badeng worked on his English and Pastor Rogers walked along beside him.  When Pastor Rogers answered the call to rostered ministry, Pastor Badeng was one of his companions on the journey.

Now serving congregations that some would see as separated by language or distance, the two pastors are celebrating that community is simply people coming together – for praise, for purpose, and yes, for ice cream.

This is a community that extends beyond a month or a year.  So, while November’s theme was Cultivating Love through Community, we tell this story now in December: Cultivating Love through Hope.