Lutheran Service Corps

 

  Lutheran Service Corps (LSC) in Omaha partners with Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) for national support to build a community of faith uniting people to work for peace with justice in greater Omaha. LSC provides a setting open to volunteers of all faiths or no faith committed to living in intentional community, practicing simple and sustainable living, and exploring spirituality. By bringing together volunteers and community organizations in the Omaha metropolitan area, LSC engages the community, forming and strengthening alliances among people of many cultures and communities, striving to intentionally dismantle racism within LSC/LVC, the church, and society.

  Volunteers, who live together at Hillstrom House, located in Omaha on North 30th Street across from Miller Park, spend one year serving full-time at local nonprofit organizations. By doing so, they provide skilled labor to community organizations at a cost much lower than a paid full-time employee, increasing the organizations’ capacities to expand services to clients, to offer new programs, and to enrich the lives of the populations they serve. In addition, the volunteer experience is transformative for those who participate as volunteers. It provides them with both valuable work experience and an opportunity to reflect on community issues and their particular contribution to enhancing the community. 

  The 2020-2021 service year ends in July.  Two of our volunteers departed for their next adventures, taking with them a year of challenges, joys, experiences and learning opportunities.  Elizabeth Kulus, who was placed at Hospice House – the Josie Harper Residence, had this to say about her experience this year: “What I learned most about myself from service is that genuine hospitality is really important to me. During a wild COVID year, any time that I could make people feel welcome and comfortable felt amazing. I really enjoyed that aspect of this year. In the future, I want to lead by asking thoughtful questions. I am naturally very curious and I want to use this skill to understand issues more deeply in order to find creative solutions.”

  In August, at least two new volunteers will start their service year in Omaha.  The sites that have been placed as of this writing are Project Hope and the Institute for Public Leadership IPL/Omaha Together One Community (OTOC).  Please pray for all new volunteers in Omaha and with LVC nationwide that they be comforted during this transition time through the natural anxiety that occurs during this process and that they have a successful year in their new communities.

BackPack Blessing

 

  “It’s in my backpack.” How many times have you heard that or have said it yourself? Backpacks carry homework, lunches, hand sanitizer, pens, pencils, snacks, phone chargers and Kleenex. Occasionally they carry stinky socks, rotten bananas and missing permission slips. Backpacks are handy, accessible and often reflect our personalities with the latest cartoon characters and favorite colors, or they may reflect our professional side with the standard black backpack.  Backpacks have become part of our “uniform”. They go with us everywhere – school, work, practice, camp and the car, which brings us to the point --- a backpack is a blessing. 

  Many congregations offer backpack blessings inviting students, teachers, school nurses, bus drivers, professors and school staff to come forward with their packs. The litany of prayer often asks God to bless the packs and those who carry them. We ask God to open our eyes to new adventures, help us use our gifts, be good listeners, extend welcome to newcomers and help us enjoy a sense of accomplishment as we learn and grow each day. Many congregations tap it off with a gift for participants such as a keychain, Jesus loves you pencil or tag to add to the pack. This is an important annual faith-filled tradition in many congregations. Thank you. 

  The Backpack Blessing is a good tradition, but many miss a teachable moment by just focusing on the start of the school year and academics. What if you would take your annual backpack blessing a step further? What if the backpacks you have up front include a couple of backpacks filled by a local food pantry. Many programs addressing food insecurity are school year programs which means backpacks filled with food will be going home with many children. Take advantage of this time in your worship service to turn your attention to those receiving Food Bank and Food Panty backpacks that nourish children and their families. Use the children’s message time to talk about food insecurity, who and how hunger needs are addressed in the community and how your congregation can walk with the students, families and agencies. Unfortunately, some children are bullied because they carry a backpack of food home with them. Being a good friend means having empathy, learning about differences and finding common links. Talk accompaniment and equip your kids to be allies. 

  Blessings on the school year. Have fun and be ready to listen to some great stories from teachers, staff and students of all ages. 

  Prayer: Gracious God, we ask that you be with the students, teachers and staff as they start a new school year. In the midst of the many voices that will fill their days, help them to listen most carefully for your voice. May they feel your presence, know they are loved, forgiven and never alone. Watch over them all and keep them safe. Amen. 

150 Years as the Nebraska Synod: Built of Living Stones, A (very) Short History

 

  The very first Lutherans in the Territory of Nebraska were among the waves of homesteaders of the 1840s and 50s who the U.S. government settled here on indigenous land.  But these lay Lutherans preceded the church; no Lutheran churches or pastors were here in Nebraska until the missionary Pastor Henry Kuhns arrived in the late 1850s to organize the Lutheran settlers he found already living here.  Preaching points slowly became congregations and the church members eventually constructed their own church buildings.  

  The Nebraska Synod as a governing body was first established in 1871 as a conference of the larger General Synod, the Lutheran denomination on the east coast dating back to the colonial period.  However, throughout the 19th and 20th century, there were many different and evolving denominations of Lutherans in America (many represented within the Nebraska state border), divided along lines of national origin and language.  In addition, these Lutherans held different convictions on doctrine, worship practices, and spirituality which resulted in yet more denominational splits.  The congregations of the Nebraska Synod, ELCA today are descended from many of these antecedent Lutheran bodies.

  Beginning in the late 19th century, the various ethnic Lutheran denominations established academic and social welfare institutions here in Nebraska.  The (English and German speaking) General Synod founded Midland College and Western Theological Seminary which eventually located to Fremont.  The (German speaking) Midwest Synod (formerly German Nebraska Conference) founded Martin Luther Seminary in Lincoln.    The Swedish Augustana Synod founded Luther College in Wahoo and the Immanuel Deaconess Institute in Omaha as well as Bethphage Mission in Axtell.  The “Inner Mission” Danes founded Trinity Seminary/Dana College as well as a Danish language printing press in Blair Nebraska.  This is by no means an exhaustive list of Lutheran institutions; but these historic examples of Lutheran energy for education and social services are still in evidence today in our ongoing support for the Nebraska Synod serving arms and the larger work of the ELCA.  

  The early 20th century for Lutherans in Nebraska proved to be a deeply painful and challenging time.  When the United States entered WWI, the government launched an anti-German propaganda campaign.  As a result, German-speaking people, and indeed, many other non-English speaking people, were persecuted by the government as well as harassed by their neighbors.  This pressured Lutheran congregations in Nebraska to quickly move towards English-only worship services and religious education.  In addition, as younger generations of Lutherans became “Americanized” the previous divisions between Lutheran bodies seemed less formidable by degrees.  As a result, Lutheran denominations started merging.  

  By the 1970s the three Lutheran bodies that would eventually join together to form the ELCA were the Lutheran Church in America, The American Lutheran Church, and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (having separated earlier from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod).  The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was born in 1988. At that time, there were about 276 congregations in the new Nebraska Synod, ELCA. Its first bishop was Dennis Anderson.  

-written by Rev. Kristen Van Stee, Assistant to the Bishop

Footnote:

• The term “Synod” was used (very confusingly) by different Lutheran bodies in different ways at different times: a synod might refer to a separate denomination and sometimes to refer to a subsidiary body within a denomination.  This remains true today as the ELCA calls the subsidiary bodies within it “synods” while the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is its own separate denomination.  

Sources for Further Reading:

“Story of the Midwest Synod: U.L.C.A 1890-1950”

“Partners in Mission: The Lutheran Church in American in Nebraska 1962-1987”

“Nebraska Conference History (1931)”

“The Lutherans: Student Edition” by L. DeAne Lagerquist

“Lutherans in America: A New History” Mark Granquist