Finding common ground in difficult times
by Rev. Greg Allen-Pickett
In November 2016, the puddle-jumper airplane touched down at the Central Nebraska Regional Airport in the booming metropolis of Grand Island. If you’ve never heard of Grand Island, don’t worry, neither had I until I booked the ticket. I got off the plane and set foot in Nebraska for the first time in my life. Members of the pastoral nominating committee of First Presbyterian Church of Hastings picked me up and drove me 45 minutes through cornfields to the city of Hastings, population 25,000, where I would interview to become their senior pastor. Not only was this a new state and a new cultural context for me, I was also a bit naïve and wet behind the ears, this would be my first time serving in a senior pastor role.
Something else happened in November 2016. There was an election and the country was divided into red and blue states, like an awkward jigsaw puzzle. The state of Nebraska was crimson red, but I was told that the church was diverse theologically and politically, so the red and the blue came together in the church to make an interesting shade of purple.
My interview went well and the church extended a call to me. Our family moved to Hastings in March of 2017 to begin a new adventure in Nebraska as our country became further and further polarized.
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