Prompt: If you could invite ANY person over for Christmas Dinner this year, who would that person be and why would you invite them?
I can almost smell the Swedish Rye Bread now… My maternal grandmother, Gerda Nelson, a 16-year-old immigrant who paid her passage from Sweden by serving for two years as a household helper in rural Nebraska, made lasting memories for me with her delicious recipes, honed on farms and eventually in her own restaurant, The Royal Cafe, in Oakland, Nebraska.
My paternal grandmother, Anna Woerman, with her third-grade education and beautiful cursive, wrote letters, cards, and Scriptures to me which I treasure to this day. Both grandmothers were women of faith through both World Wars. How could it be that both sides of our family were church planters within miles of each other and had never met?
Because I long to glean their wisdom, hear their stories, bake their bread, and re-read their letters, for Christmas dinner, my heart would burst with joy to host these humble, hard-working farm wives who raised my mother and father in faith, one mile from each other. They finally met when siblings’ 4-H projects brought the families together. A century later, their faith in Christ lives on in their children, grandchildren, and now their great-grandchildren.
Our fellowship would be deep and wide, centered in our faithful God Who sent Jesus, the Bread of Life and the Living Word. What a feast it would be! Emmanuel! God with us! “God’s faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 119:90).
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