Archives For Nathan Aaberg

Salvation is Bigger Than You and Me

Nathan Aaberg —  May 3, 2021 — Leave a comment

There was much that surprised me in N.T. Wright’s book Surprised by Hope.

In the book, the New Testament Scholar and Anglican bishop explains what, in his view, the ultimate future of life will be from a Christian understanding. This includes what our futures will be after we each die. It also includes what God’s ultimate intentions are for this world. And, counterintuitively, he details what response that understanding should prompt in us in our daily lives and in our churches.

I was surprised by, among other things, how strong of a case Wright made for a literal bodily resurrection as our future destiny. This comes from Wright close reading of the Bible. Here, as in other cases, he finds threads that are both conservative and radical at the same time.

But nothing surprised me more than several paragraphs at the end of the chapter that concludes Part II (“Future Plan”). In these paragraphs, Wright forcefully questions our traditional understanding of what salvation is all about.

These paragraphs are so significant that I have shared them below and urge you to read them.

But the most important thing to say at the end of this discussion, and of this section of the book, is that heaven and hell are not, so to speak, what the whole game is about. This is one of the central surprises in the Christian hope. The whole point of my argument so far is that the question of what happens to me after death is not the major, central, framing questions that centuries of theological traditions have supposed. The New Testament, true to its Old Testament roots, regularly insists that the major, central, framing question is that of God’s purpose of rescue and recreation for the whole world, the entire cosmos. The destiny of individual human beings must be understood within that context – not simply in the sense that we are only part of a much larger picture but also in the sense that part of the whole point of being saved in the present is so that we can play a vital role (Paul speaks of this role in the shocking terms of being “fellow workers with God”) within that larger picture and purpose.

The paragraph does not actually end here but, in my humble opinion, it should have. So I encourage you to read that first section again before going on to the second half of the paragraph below.

And that in turn makes us realize that the question of our own destiny, in terms of the alterantives of joy or woe, is probably the wrong way of looking at the whole question. The question ought to be, How will God’s new creation come? and then, How will we humans contribute to that renewal of creation and to the fresh projects that the creator God will launch in his new world? The choice before humans would then be framed differently: are you going to worship the creator God and discover whereby what it means to become fully and gloriously human, reflecting his powerful, healing, transformative love into the world? Or are you going to worship the world as it is, boosting your corruptible humanness by gaining power or pleasure from forces within the world but merely contributing thereby to your own dehumanization and the further corruption of the world?

Below you will find most of the next paragraph. I end my quoting of the paragraph at a natural stopping point.

This reflection leads to a further, and sobering, thought. If what I have suggested is anywhere near the mark, then to insist on heaven and hell as the ultimate question – to insist, in other words, that what happens eventually to individual humans is the most important thing in the world – may be to make a mistake similar to the one made by Jewish people in the first century, the mistake that both Jesus and Paul addressed. Israel believed (so Paul tells us, and he should know) that the purposes of the creator God all came down to this question: how is God going to rescure Israel? What the gospel of Jesus revealed, however, was that the purposes of God were reaching out to a different question: how is God going to rescue the world through Israel and thereby rescue Israel itself as part of the process but not as the point of it all? Maybe what we are faced with in our own day is a similar challenge: to focus not on the question of which human beings God is going to take to heaven and how he is going to do it but on the question of how God is going to redeem and renew his creation through human beings and how he is going to rescue those humans themselves as part of the process but not as the point of it all. 

There is so much power in how we frame things.

If the point of Christianity is understood to be the preservation of our individual souls in a heaven that is beyond a earth that is just a temporary place that does not matter to God, then it’s not surprising that Christians ignore or even willingly deplete God’s earth.

But what if the point is, as Wright expressed it above, to be part of God’s desire and purpose to bring everythig God made into peace and harmony?

How different our treatment of God’s earth would be. How different our evangelism would be.

This also puts human exceptionalism into its proper perspective. As I wrote here, “The point of the God-given exceptional role (of humans) is serving God’s purposes.”

We are uniquely gifted in order to uniquely serve.

I find Wright’s framing to ring true in a compelling way.

How about you?

 

I consistently find N.T. Wright’s insights to be both affirming of the coherence of the Bible itself in ways that inspire me and challenging to the ways so many Christians have come to understand God and Jesus. I highly recommend that you read his books and listen to lectures by him. 

 

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Before You Hit Play: Tips for Hosting a Climate Change Documentary Screening for Your Faith Community (Guest Post)

Nathan Aaberg —  April 25, 2021 — Leave a comment

In February I shared a blog post by my friend Ryan O’Connor that reviewed several climate change documentaries for sharing with your church or other faith community. When Ryan was first working on the post, I asked him to also share insights he’s gained by organizing documentary showings himself. You can find those wise insights below.

I highly recommend that you take to heart the wisdom he offers. Group dynamics, especially around topics that have become politically polarized, can be hard to handle. Combining your good intentions with thoughtful preparation gives you a much better chance of having a successful event. Thanks again, Ryan, for sharing your insights.

 

On a dark evening in November, I briefly addressed a small crowd gathered in our church’s auditorium. I nervously smiled, realizing I didn’t recognize many of the faces in the crowd. I thanked them for coming.  Then I dimmed the lights.

As the documentary began, I futilely tried to scan my speaking notes in the dark. Had I mentioned my purpose and goals as intended? Was I ready for tough questions? And most importantly, was our planning sufficient, or were there things I glossed over in my eagerness to gather people and hit “play”?

Hosting a movie screening can be an effective, low-barrier way to attract a crowd. It will only be effective, however, to the extent you plan from the big picture to the little details. So, using a Q & A format, I will share what I’ve learned about good planning for these kinds of events.

What are your goals?

If you are planning on screening a movie, or hosting any type of event, I strongly encourage you to work through the following questions oriented around the goals for your event. Be as specific as you can and write you answers down on paper so you can refer back them throughout your planning. Let your goals inform your selection of a film, and be sure to watch the movie yourself prior to settling on it.

What outcome are you trying to achieve in hosting a movie screening?

While a desire to educate others may be the initial goal, the desired outcome is usually something more than deeper knowledge. Be transparent with attendees and state your hopes at the start of your meeting. In addition, recognize that your desired outcome may require more than just a one-time event, and think about how you will follow up.

What actions do you want attendees to take afterwards?

Again, knowledge itself is usually not the goal. In addition, merely giving people knowledge doesn’t necessarily lead to action. What would you like people to do, either corporately or privately, during or after attending your event?

What are barriers to action?

Try to think like a participant, perhaps discouraged by the enormity of the problem and unsure what actions to take, wondering if their actions matter, confused by climate science misinformation, or just busy with life and other important issues. Think through who you’re most trying to reach and how you can reduce barriers for them. Be prepared to address feelings of discouragement or skepticism about pie-in-the-sky solutions.

How can you set up the meeting timing, duration, and physical space to achieve your outcome, desired actions, and reduce barriers?

Think about the things like what day of the week and time of day to host your event, as well as whether you want to provide childcare or perhaps a virtual option so parents of young children can attend. Little things like snacks and room set-up matter too. Rows of long tables are great if you want people to take lots of notes, but if you want to include a small group discussion, round tables or no tables at all might be a better choice.

Who is your intended audience, and how will you advertise your event?

If you want more than your usual attendees to come, you’ll probably have to do more than just put it in the church bulletin. Would the pastor be willing to make an announcement from the pulpit an encourage people to come? Maybe even preach a sermon on the topic? Personal invitations are the best way to get people to come. For my event, my preschool-aged daughter and I handed out small flyers at a different church social event a few weeks prior, and several people came solely from the personal invitation.

How will you respond if there are tough questions?

You don’t have to be a climate expert to start a conversation. In large part, that’s why you’re screening the movie rather than speaking yourself. As a facilitator, it’s not your job convince skeptics in the moment. Resist the temptation to get into debates with people. It is okay if not everyone agrees.

While it is important to refute obvious falsehoods, it is equally or more important to treat others with respect and charity. However, it will give you more confidence if you have a plan for how you will respond to difficult questions. Often, the best answer is to state that you’re not a climate scientist, reiterate that we’re united around common goals like caring for God’s earth and all people, and that you’d be happy to follow up afterwards.

That being said, if you’re looking to moderate a session and want to brush up on climate science, excellent resources are the state-level climate summaries from NOAA, which cover both changes observed to date as well as major impacts expected by mid to end of century, tailored to each state in the U.S.

If you’re concerned about how to respond to specific questions, like the reliability of climate models or “Hasn’t the climate always changed?”, the website SkepticalScience.com, has numerous rebuttal articles that correct misinformation. While an excellent resource, the sheer volume of articles and technical details can be a rabbit hole. I keep it bookmarked to respond to follow-up questions, if needed, rather than to prep myself for hypothetical boogeymen.

If you’re looking a good hard copy resource, a book on climate science specifically written for people of faith is A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions by renowned climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe and her husband and evangelical pastor Andrew Farley. Published in 2009, the book provides an excellent summary of climate science along with discussion of how Christians should respond. The book and its faith-based commentary makes it an excellent companion to the websites above, which are regularly updated with climate impacts observed to date and the latest future projections.

Another good resource is A Catholic Response to Global Warming, by Steven Coleman. While written for a Catholic audience, it contains an excellent summary of both the moral and scientific urgency for people of all faiths and is very accessible at only 24 pages.

A practical example: my story of screening The Human Element

Back to my screening of The Human Element. As the stories on the screen unfolded in the darkened room, my nerves settled down. I went through the mental checklist of my goals, the schedule for the evening, and the big-picture outcomes and actions around which I had planned the event.

My primary goal was to educate others and spur a conversation with church members about observed climate impacts and personal concerns about future changes. Secondary goals included recruiting new members to our care of creation team and getting feedback on other topics attendees would like to learn about in the future.

With those goals in mind, I made sure to have each person sign in as they arrived and included a check box for them to indicate if they were interested in joining the team.  I also provided a handout for each person that included the discussion questions and a list of potential future topics, along with instructions for them to check off their top three.

Because part of my goal was in part to foster discussion and sharing, I had set the room up without tables, and following the movie I had people circle their chairs into small groups of 4-5 and discuss the following questions:

Which stories in the film resonated with you most?

How has climate change impacted you and your community, or those close to you?

What are common values you share with those suffering the impacts of climate change, either in the film or in our local community?

What is the role of us as individuals and collectively as a church in helping to address climate change?

Following the small group discussion, we reconvened for a short large group report-out so that everyone, including myself, could hear a summary of the discussion.

There was a challenging reaction immediately after the film. Before we broke up into small groups, I asked the group for one or two people to share their immediate reactions.

An older gentleman from the back of the room blurted out gruffly, “Depressing!”

As the movie had ended on a positive note, it wasn’t what I was expecting. I didn’t try to argue with him. I just acknowledged that yes, climate change can be a depressing topic, but that there are also reasons to have hope, both from common ground solutions and from our faith.

And then I simply introduced the small group discussion and moved on to the next thing as planned.

I also wanted peopled to commit to an action–one new thing they could do in their personal lives to care for the Earth and for the poor suffering from environmental degradation. Recognizing that one barrier is not knowing what to do, I provided a handout of potential, high impact actions for consideration, such as signing up for a green power program through their utility, eating less meat, buying locally grown food, and changing commuting and driving habits.

At the end of the meeting, I asked everyone to take five minutes to write down their personal action commitment. I suspected that for some people, a secondary barrier might be a feeling that the issue was so big their actions wouldn’t matter and that they might be in the minority in trying to change their habitats. With this in mind, I ended on a hopeful and encouraging note. Quoting St. Paul, I noted that we are mutually encouraged by each other’s faith (Romans 1:12). By sharing our intentions, we can support each other in what we plan to do and be inspired and encouraged at the same time.

In the end our team felt the event was a success.

We had a good turnout, including many people who responded to personal invitations—we weren’t just preaching to the choir. We doubled the membership of our creation care team. We got several ideas for future topics.

But most importantly, we brought members of our community together for a conversation, started breaking down barriers to action, and planted the seeds for bigger personal and collective steps down the road.

 

Have you hosted an event for your church or other community of faith about climate change? How did it go? What did you learn? Have you found other resources that are especially effective? Feel free to email me at wholefaithlivingearth@gmail.com.

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The Fat of the Land is Real (and Good)

Nathan Aaberg —  March 31, 2021 — 2 Comments

There are several references to the “fat of the land” or “fatness of the land” in the Old Testament.

Genesis 27:28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: (KJV)

Genesis 27:39: And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. (KJV)

Genesis 45:18: And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. (KJV)

I don’t know about you, but I had long assumed the term was only metaphorical. In fact, many translations now have changed the phrase to “earth’s richness” or “richness of the earth.”

And then I listened to an interview with John Kempf by the hosts of the Back to the Roots podcast.

John, a great podcaster himself, is one of the leading voice of regenerative agriculture in the United States.  You can find the interview here, and I’d encourage you to listen to it. John is brilliant, humble, and gifted in all that he discusses.

Around the 13:00 minute mark you can hear John bring up the Biblical phrase “fat of the land.” This is not unusual. John frequently brings up Biblical references and concepts in his podcasts and interviews. You can tell he has been steeped in the Bible.

John proceeds to explain the literal truth of that phrase.

Here’s one key quote: “Stable organic matter (in the soil), stable humic substances, are about 40 percent lipids. (In other words) 40 percent fats. So I believe that when we talk about the fat of the land, we’re really having a conversation about carbon storage, organic matter building in soil as a result of microbial activity and accumulating fats in organic matter.”

In other words, land can literally have fat. And healthy land does have fats.

I was driving as I listened to the interview and feel fortunate to not have had an accident.

First, how fascinating is it that something we take as a metaphor in the Bible has actual agronomic truth?

Along these lines, check out this link to a description of a scientiifc finding from University of Colorado Boulder researchers. They’ve found a fatty acid in a soil-based bacterium that appears to have anti-inflammatory properties.

Second, let’s unpack the larger meaning behind what John says.

A farmer only has stable organic matter in the soil if the farming being done mimics the workings of God’s earth in nature. Nature, for example, almost always covers its ground with diverse plants that, through their living roots, feed carbon that feeds life in the soil. Nature also integrates animals into any natural system, and they also add nutrients to the living soil system. Nature does not disturb these processes through plowing and tillage. Nor fungicides and herbicides and insecticides.

Farmers can imitate those same principles and approaches. And some are, as you can see in the video below. Applying those principles and approaches to the specific context of a specific place is called regenerative agriculture.

And much of the focus of regenerative ariculture is building the biological life of the soil. That rich life, including diverse bacteria and fungi, provides the plants with easy-to-absorb nutrients and phytonutrients to the plant. In other words, plants feed the soil, and the soil feeds the plants.

That rich soil life also builds stable humic substances where we find the real fat of the land that John mentioned.

We shouldn’t be surprised then that when we eat plants and animals from land that has that abundant soil life, we get healthier food which gives us healthier bodies.

A number of years back, Jim, a Christian friend of mine, and his wife Joelle had gotten married and were hoping to have children. That wasn’t happening. They turned to doctors for ideas and help. Nothing they heard made sense. They were frustrated and not sure what to do.

Then Joelle’s sister asked about their diet. They described a standard diet of processed foods from conventionally-farmed plants and animals. Joelle’s sister urged them to look into more natural and organic options. They were desperate. So they went all in. They competely changed to a diet of natural and organic foods, largely home cooked.

And before long they became pregnant. In fact, they just had their third child earlier this year. This experience completely changed the direction of their lives (they are now homesteading, among other things). It’s even given them new insights into their Christian faith and what it means for us to be stewards of God’s earth.

Jim and Joelle shifted to a natural diet from a processed, conventional diet when they had trouble having children. They now have three children, including Eloise and Abram (Gus was just born recently) – abundant life from abundantly alive farms and foods.

We now know that we have stripped away that life-giving richness of the land with an industrial, extractive approach to farming. But people like John Kempf, many of whom are Christian, are showing how it is possible to restore and rejuvenate God’s good earth.

By having loving hearts, creative and dynamic minds, and attentiveness to the beautiful systems of God’s earth, we can honor God and provide life-giving food to our neighbors.

Maybe we’re supposed to take Jesus’ words in John 10:10 – “..I came that they have life and have it abundantly” – literally as well?

By making God’s life abundant on God’s earth and in God’s soil, we give others and ourselves abundant life.

Here and now.

 

P.S. Here’s a blog post by a regenerative farmer – Will Harris – about the fat of the land concept and artificial meats.

P.P.S. Here’s a blog post by Rabbi Daniel Lapin about the two different Hebrew words interpreted as “fat of the land” by English translators. While the rabbi explains both words can be translated as “fat” in a general way, one has the meaning of milk included in it, and the other can mean fat or oil. In his blog post, you can read Rabbi Lapin’s idea of what he believes the deeper difference is between the words and what larger message that has for us. It occurs to me, however, that he may be missing a more obvious difference betweent the two words – one word refers to animal-generated fat and the other refers to fat coming from plants. Both animals and plant life are needed for living soil. But I realize it’s more than a little presumptuous of me to question a rabbi about a Hebrew question! So I’ve sent a message to him asking for his feedback on my perspective.

 

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Reviews of 3 Climate Change Documentaries for Sharing in Your Church (Guest Post by Ryan O’Connor)

Nathan Aaberg —  February 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

I am happy to share another guest post by Ryan O’Connor. Ryan and his wife, Kara, live out Christian lives of love and compassion towards their neighbors and Creation in Wisconsin. It’s a blessing to know them. Ryan clearly has a calling for working within his church (and perhaps someday within other churches as well) to encourage believers to work together to cherish God’s earth. I’m grateful to him for this article and the one that will follow with tips on facilitating events in your church.

Several months ago, Nathan invited me to write a guest post for his blog about what I’ve learned about promoting creation care. One item that piqued the interest of readers was the idea of hosting a movie or documentary about specific issues. A movie or video showing is an easy, low-barrier event to host. They can also be great conversation starters, spark renewed interest in an adult education group, and educate others about your topic of choice. With this post, we begin an occasional series of reviews of videos and documentaries on specific topics.

Let’s start with documentaries on climate change: As the defining moral environmental issue of our time, there is no shortage of climate change documentaries to choose from. I have seen each of the three that I describe in this post used in public settings, including in churches. One (The Human Element) I used at my own church, and I attended a screening and discussion of another (Paris to Pittsburgh) at another church.

Below I provide a short review of their major themes. I also attempt to highlight their strengths, weaknesses, and ideas for best potential uses as a creation care teaching tool.

As with any event, set specific goals for what you want to accomplish through your film screening. Plan for a discussion immediately afterwards using questions carefully tailored to your goals.

A word of caution and of hope: Climate change has unfortunately been highly politized, sometimes with rhetoric echoing the increasing divisiveness of our country. It doesn’t have to be that way. It shouldn’t be that way, particularly among people of faith who believe in a good creator who made the world and put it under our care. As Pope Francis stated, being “protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.” (Laudato Si, paragraph 216).

Anyone planning to host an event should first watch or listen to Katharine Hayhoe’s excellent TED talk, “The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it” (17 minutes), in which she emphasizes the idea of connecting over shared values: children or grandchildren, caring for the poor in developing countries, fishing, or even snow sports like ice fishing, downhill skiing, or sledding.

If we start with common values, we’ll set the stage for common ground solutions: Don’t skip this step of preparation. It’s the most important thing you can do. If you’re thinking about hosting a movie screening, be sure to start first by thinking about your goals within the context of the common values you and your fellow believers share.

As you read through the following summaries, keep those goals in mind as you work to select a film that right for your audience and objectives.

 

From Paris to Pittsburgh 

Summary: This documentary celebrates how Americans are demanding and developing real solutions in the face of climate change (released in 2018, 1 hour 17 minutes).

Strengths: The documentary provides a brief background of impacts, blending science with personal stories and compelling visualizations. It conveys the urgency of taking action now while also featuring a hopeful tone spotlighting local examples of energy efficiency and renewable energy from a rage of locales. In addition to highlighting Pittsburgh, the film takes viewers to America’s heartland, Puerto Rico, California, Florida, and New Jersey, spotlighting the cities, states, businesses and citizens taking action. The film conveys a sense of urgency without being alarmist and features both pragmatic action and common ground policy solutions.

Weaknesses: The film is highly critical of former President Trump’s decision to leave the Paris Climate Agreement and may not be well-received by people whose political leanings are right of center. The film takes its name from Trump’s statement in 2017 “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris”. As the film shows, however, many Americans are supportive of efforts to address climate change.

Best use: A church with a progressive-leaning membership could use the film as a springboard to think about their own ways to reduce their carbon footprint. This is especially important given the need to reduce emissions by 45% by 2030 in order to meet the Paris Agreement goal of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees C.

 

The Human Element

Summary: This documentary showcases the lives of everyday Americans on the front lines of climate change impacts. With rare compassion and heart, the film inspires us to reevaluate our relationship with the natural world (released in 2018, 1 hour 16 minutes).

Strengths: The film highlights the struggles of ordinary people in the U.S. struggling with current impacts of climate change, through the lens of the four traditional elements of nature. This includes fishermen on an island in Chesapeake Bay being lost to sea level rise (water), kids struggling with asthma due to pollution (air), communities in California dealing with wildfires (fire), and coal mining communities in Appalachia facing the collapse of their livelihood (earth). The film concludes with an inspiring message that we, as a new element of nature, have the power to create change. The filmmaker also has made available a discussion guide for use, and strongly encourages hosts to tailor questions towards your own goals.

Weaknesses: The film is strong on impacts but stops short regarding solutions. This enables the film to be used in for variety of purposes, including examining impacts in your own community. However, with all the focus on negative impacts, the tone can be a bit depressing at times. If you’re looking for examples of what you can do to help solve the problem, you’ll need to pair this film with other resources.

Best use: Communities of all stripes will find it a perfect introduction to climate impacts already being experienced right here in the U.S. The movie could also be used for initiating a discussion on how climate is impacting people in your own community. I like the fact that it is accessible to a broad background of regions, cultural backgrounds, and political stripes. It could also be used as a springboard for reinvigorating a creation care team and inspire your group to think about its next steps.

 

2040

Summary: The documentary 2040 envisions what life could be like 20 years in the future if we embraced creative solutions to environmental problems. Inspired by imagining the future for the filmmaker’s 4-year old daughter as well as her peers around the world, the film takes viewers on a global journey to examine the possibilities in energy, food, agriculture, aquaculture and education. Special effects are used to envision the transformation to a more just, environmentally thriving future (released in 2020, 1 hour 32 minutes).

Strengths: The film features a very hopeful tone and focuses on creative solutions, emphasizing we already have all of the technology and tools we need to solve ecological problems. The filmmaker also deftly weaves together interconnected problems like poverty and environmental degradation. According to social science research, people are more likely to take action when inspired by a positive message, rather than cajoled with a negative one. The film is built solidly on this premise, a rarity for climate change documentaries. The film has also received a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes as well as an endorsement by the popular parental movie guide Common Sense Media.

Weaknesses: The film’s optimistic views can sometimes feel futuristic and pie-in-the-sky, lacking a dose of reality. While some impacts and root causes of climate change are discussed, the film lacks the sense of urgency of other documentaries, in part because special effects make the impacts seem far-off and hypothetical. In addition, many of the solutions don’t feel like they are very actionable at a personal level, at least in 2021. However, that shouldn’t stop viewers from imagining how life could be different if we all made deliberate choices.

Best use: Congregations and community groups of any political persuasion will find 2040 refreshing for imaging a better future. The film could be used to jump start a discussion on shared values and a shared vision, as well as action steps for how to get there together. The broad age ranges of interviewees—including numerous children—as well as those from various cultural backgrounds and ethnicities make it very well-suited to younger generations, groups with a diverse audience, or those motivated by a concern for others around the world. There are also numerous resources available on the film’s website for follow-up education and action.

 

Interested in additional options? Check out short reviews of some of best documentaries featured in recent film festivals in this post by Yale Climate Connections. A nice summary of additional traditional documentaries has also been compiled by the sustainability-focused site YouMatter.

Does this post pique your curiosity or get your wheels turning about hosting an event for your group–virtual or otherwise? Stay tuned for an upcoming post on tips for hosting an event, including my own story of screening one of the films at my church.

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Interview with the Riemer Family: A Farming Odyssey Guided by Faith

Nathan Aaberg —  January 31, 2021 — 4 Comments

This interview with the Riemer family (from left to right: Elli, Jen, Caroline, Bryce, and Kalena) is something I’ve wanted to do for some time. We connected some time ago around faith and farming, and that connection has been a great blessing to my family and me. They hosted the first gathering I wanted to organize of Christians who care about God’s earth. They’ve been good friends. They even hosted our younger son for several days of farm work that I “voluntold” him for. I don’t know if he was initially thrilled about the idea but he came to enjoy the work, their family, and their hearty cooking. 

It’s a bit easy for a person like me to be convinced in theory that a whole Christian faith-life can’t help but include a commitment to doing all that is possible to enable God’s earth to thrive. That’s because I’m not a farmer. Farmers are working squarely at the intersection of the human economy and God’s earth. Their ability to make a living, to put food on the plates of their children, depends on their success at producing food that people will buy.  When farmers like the Riemers decide to honor God in how they raise food, even if that means not following the mainstream food system, they are testing their faith in the real world. 

But that is what the Riemers have been doing. So I wanted to share their experiences and insights of what that is like. This interview is about God-honoring farming. And it’s much more. It’s also about the courage of a family to live out their faith. It’s about glimpses of the abundant life that this world can sustain when people truly reflect God’s image. it’s about being pushed to the limit by the forces of the market that often drive us away from God’s ways. And there’s that empty, lonely feeling that you probably know, too, of being aware that many Christians don’t seem to care about Creation.

I hope you’ll take the time to read this. I also hope you’ll pray for their ongoing success. You can learn more about Riemer Family Farm in Brodhead, Wiscsonsin, here. 

(By the way, you can learn much more about their farm business history and how exactly they farm by listening to this edition of the Edible-Alpha podcast. I’m also embarrassed to admit that this interview took place in 2020 during the fall. It’s taken some time for me to complete the transcription and condense it down a bit. So, here in the middle of winter, you will read of sheep, cows, pigs, and monarchs all thriving on a farm. I appreciated, too, that Bryce and Jen wantd thier three daughters to be part of the interview. And one last thing – we are grateful to Anastasia Wolf-Flasch for allowing us to use all of the images she took of the Riemer family and their farm.)

 

Nathan: In the Edible-Alpha podcast that you did with Tera Johnson, you shared a great deal about the growth and evolution of your business from a sustainable farming and entrepreneurial perspectives. Can you talk more about what role your faith had in how your business has evolved? How has it shaped your decisions and helped get you through tough times?

Bryce: Our faith shapes our business, because it shapes who we are in our business. Our business is kind of an outflow of who we are as people. Jen and I, as a married couple, just keep looking at the gifts he’s given us and the resources he’s given us and just keep asking, “What do we do with our lives? What direction is Jesus taking us together?” And that whole thought process is the process that got us to where we are today.

This business is the best way that Jen and I believe we can use all of our, the gifts, the resources that God gave us to make a big impact on people that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do.

Kalena: I probably wouldn’t be able to have the same mindset going out every day and doing the work without faith.

Jen: Well, I think faith was a big part in us getting started with our philosophy of farming with the very deep need to care for Creation and not just grow a commodity, which is not environmentally sound nor very profitable nor very fun. I think that God puts us here to enjoy our work. It’s not supposed to be a slog, although it’s hard work. We set out with the holistic point of view that if we’re going to do this, it’s going to honor God. And it’s going to be something that honors Creation, because that’s what we’re all about.

I think that’s the filter through which we make decisions. Obviously from a marketing perspective, that’s what our customers expect from us. But, we continue to uphold that integrity because we’re Christians and because we’re not going to say something and do something different. That’s our ethics.

Nathan: I know as part of your transition, you were farming Bryce’s parents’ land that had been in more conventional production. Did your faith also help shape how you communicated with your parents and did that transition?

Bryce: Well, obviously, we started with the concept of honoring your parents. There were times early on where there was a lot of tension, because we were changing stuff and Dad wasn’t comfortable with that. So it took patience and valuing relationships over the work or over things. That’s why it’s so hard for a lot of farms to transition to the next generation – they fight about stuff and forget about the relationship.

Jen: And then they lose their relationship with their parents.

Nathan: Can you briefly describe what it is about your farming that benefits or sustains creation?

Elli: When God created the world, he had the cattle grazing. There were no commodity crops and that’s what He wanted it to be. And that’s what He wants it to be still. So we try and mimic the best practices that we could be using while trying to respect the nature of the animal. If the pig is able to root, it is obviously more happy. We don’t humanize our animals. We don’t give them all names and all that, but if they get to express their innate nature, then I feel like that’s honoring God, honoring the pigness of the pig.

Caroline: Except when they get out!

Jen: It’s a lot harder to deal with animals when you’re grazing them. There have been moments where I thought, “Oh, this is why people have CAFOs and feedlots, because the farmer’s day is easy. You just run your machine and feed them and you’re done.”

Bryce: Moving the cattle is very peaceful. We had hundreds and hundreds of monarch butterflies come through here again this year. Even after the cattle graze – they don’t eat it all – there’s still clover there for the monarchs. It’s just the interrelatedness of everything. It just feels like a spiritual experience. And it’s way more a spiritual experience than you would get trying to get the animals to do something that they weren’t supposed to do in the first place.

Monarch butterflies find sanctuary at the Riemers farm – trees for resting in and clover for energy.

Nathan: This is going to sound like a weird question. Do the animals seem happy? Or is that completely anthropomorphic?

Jen: I think they’re happy. The sheep, when they get led into a new paddock, they’ll like literally leap, even big nine-, ten-month old lambs. They’ll still do that. They’re happy.

Bryce: Our cattle especially are. They’re happy now because they’re healthy. They’re happy. They stay healthy. They’re shiny. They’re gaining weight and they don’t beller. Cattle beller when they’re hungry. They’ll complain.

Nathan: “Beller?”

Jen: It’s not like a moo. It’s like a scream. Turkeys will make noise when they’re happy, but generally a quiet animal is a happy animal. If you have a bunch of noisy animals, they’re upset about something.

Nathan: So speaking of the livestock being happy, are they healthy? I’ve heard that with rotational grazing animals stay healthier. Is the case for your cattle?

Bryce: Absolutely. My dad used to have a regular vet who would always come. We had to have the vet this year twice because of some pink eye. Everybody struggled with that this year, but it was only 20% of the herd. Other than that, we have not had any vet issues in the last year.

Jen: Sheep tends to get parasites. We have breeds that are pretty parasite-resistant, so we don’t have to deal with that as much. We move them every three days, especially when it’s hot and humid in the summer, because that’s the parasite cycle. Otherwise they could go back into the same grass and ingest the same parasite that they’ve pooped out. We are very good about keeping them ahead of the parasite cycle so they’re not going to reinfect themselves. Every sheep or goat carries a small load of parasites pretty much no matter what. So movement is key to animal health. And that’s why we were a little late to this interview – we were moving sheep.

Nathan: You have been living on the edge, trying new things, transitioning the farm, raising kids all at the same time. Have you learned things about the faith and has your faith grown because of the way you farmed?

Jen: Well, honestly, part of what I’ve learned, and I’m not going to articulate this well, has been endurance. It’s been a long stretch. There’s been a lot of blessings and a lot of moments where it’s like, “Yeah, God, this is what we are meant to do, and this is what we need to do.” And other times I have literally said, “I really don’t like farming today. Like today really sucks. Things are not going right.”

I say it to myself usually or out loud if I’m alone. It’s Murphy’s Law. It seems like when there’s a rough stretch, it is like all at the same time and it’s hard. But there’s not ever a thought of “I’m done” or “We need to do something else. I give up.” That’s kind of from faith. I’ve struggled at times recently. It’s like, “This is hard. I’m not feeling it.” But we keep moving and keep doing. We move forward because that’s what I want to do and what I know to do. That’s not profound.

Bryce: Being on the edge can be lonely. There’s not a lot of fellowship out here on the edge, which makes us feel like pulling everybody else closer to the edge and saying, “Why aren’t you out here taking more chances?” You know we’re dealing with people that most Christians don’t deal with, whether it’s a business or neighborhood or in town hall meetings and with customers. So we have connections to so many people. It’s a big opportunity to influence, whether it’s our social media followers or through our newsletters.

As far as the faith, there’s a chance to demonstrate it every day. Before we were doing this, when we had regular jobs and went to regular church, we would hear stuff in church and wonder if we’d ever get an opportunity to do that with somebody. Now, there are situations with people in our lives where we can demonstrate what we believe.

One of the ways God’s love has been expressed through the Riemer family has been the way they have made Anastasia (on the left) part of their family when she needed both work and a place to know love and family connection.

Nathan: Psalm 23 talks about the Lord being our shepherd, and Jesus referred to himself as the good shepherd. You have sheep. Does raising sheep make you think differently about when God compares us to sheep?

Kalena: When the Bible talks about how the sheep follow the shepherd, it really is true. And it’s kind of cool to be able to compare that to what we see every day.

Jen: Well, Ellie is really the shepherd of our sheep, and they will respond to her differently than they will to anyone else. We don’t even call them, because if she calls them in a loud voice, they will be like, “Oh, that’s where we go!” It’s just pretty cool. They know her differently from the rest of us.

The Riemers sort sheep as a family.

Nathan: One of my favorite Christian authors is Dallas Willard. In The Divine Conspiracy, he talks about why the early Christians called themselves the Way and what Jesus was about in his life. He was trying to help us understand how the universe really works. God put certain things in place and certain ways of living. And if we’re in alignment with God, even in a broken world, that will bring greater harmony than if we go against God’s pattern, the framework he’s put into the universe. And so one of the things that it’s occurred to me is that with rotational grazing you’re essentially mimicking the pattern of how the natural world works and when you do that, you get healthy animals and healthy food. We don’t have to fight against the universe. We can work with it, if we’re creative and we’re willing to put in some extra effort.

Bryce: Yes, the spiritual and the natural can all line up. You don’t have to fight the system, but the system we do have to fight is the economic system. If it just paid a farmer well enough to be able to go do it (the sustainable way), then everyone would do it the way it’s designed to be done. But right now it’s just hard to do that.

Nathan: What temptations do the conventional farming system offer that make it hard to go the way you’re going?

Jen: Crop insurance – guaranteed prices for things. You can grow a losing crop year after year after year and still make money from the government. It’s mind-blowing really. It’s easier. You buy your seeds from the feed guy. You buy your fertilizer from the fertilizer guy, and you take everybody’s recommendations. You can even hire somebody else to drive the tractor to plant it.

But we’re making hard decisions most days on either production or financials or just when to make hay and bale it. It’s constant, which is not the case with the commodity farm.

Bryce: It’s not farming anymore. Creating jobs and creating work – no, you’ve got to have more technology and bigger machines, so you don’t have to have more jobs. And now it’s CBF – corn, beans, Florida. You don’t want to have to be tied down to all these animals and the old ways of doing stuff.

The temptation used on me to do conventional farming came from the Confined Animal Feed Operation (CAFO) people. When they first were getting to know us and first made their pitch they said, “Why don’t you just sell us your corn silage (that gets harvested a lot earlier than fuel corn)? And then you’re done for the year and you can go buy your Corvette.”

How could I refuse the allure of being done early and Corvette shopping, instead of doing all this other work?

Jen: Which also implies that they had all the answers and they were actually going to pay a fair wage, which we all know is not really the case.

Nathan: So since you mentioned the CAFO, can you share how the struggle against the CAFO operation that has ultimately been built just down the road has challenged your faith? (By way of context, the Riemers, with Jen taking the lead, were part of a years-long community effort to try to stop a dairy factory farm from being built less than a mile from their farm. They were ultimately unsuccessful. Sadly, our government tends to serve business interests far more than long-term community interests. Here is an article that explains more about the issues surrounding diary CAFOs in Wisconsin.)

Bryce: The CAFO is a chapter of our lives that that changed our lives in big ways. It impacted our faith. We were here farming, and, at least in our opinion, we were Christians. And when they came in, it actually rattled us to the point where we thought that somebody else’s bad decisions might prevent us from being able to always be here farming and just be Christians farming.

That’s when the faith became real, the Bible came alive. Because the ideas of going through these tribulations and being that affected by other people’s negativity/stupidity made us have to face the fact that we were holding onto this farm too tightly. It was maybe before God. And then we realized that if this is God’s, he can take it from us, just like he gave it to us, then we need to give it up to God, consecrate it, and say, “It’s yours. If you want us to farm here, we will. We will do it in a way that follows your calling and gives you the glory. And if not, we’ll go do something else.”

This is an aerial photo of Pinnacle Dairy, the dairy CAFO right down the road from the Riemer Family Farm. Six thousands cows will ultimately be housed inside the long buildings. The rectange at the top left is a manure pit which government authorities are allowing to be uncovered.

Nathan: So you had that peace of mind even as you, especially Jen, were leading the community fight against it.

Bryce: Well, it took me a little while to get there. We really had anguish.

Jen: It took me a longer while. It was pretty annoying, actually, when Bryce got the vision a lot earlier than I did. It felt like giving up in that I’m holding so tightly to this thing that I must keep holding tightly to. And it just got to the point of exhaustion. And I finally it was like, “Ok. Well, I’m obviously not in charge here, so this needs to be held loosely, and we’ll move on from here.”

Bryce: It’s kind of confusing at times about how to know how hard to fight for something that you believe is right versus God’s will is going to come through in the end no matter what. It was hard because Jen was the leader of this group. So she had people out there, and so she felt pressure to be that leader and keep going. Yet we knew that God was in control, but the people that she was leading didn’t really know that or believe that. So it was really hard.

Jen: Especially at the end when the greater tension ended up being between our people and what the next steps ought to be. That was the hardest part. It was infighting. People had really good intentions. But they just disagreed about when to say enough is enough and we need to move on or when to bet the house and get a second mortgage and hire a bigwig lawyer and take the CAFO owners to court.

There was a lot that went into that decision, but that was the hard part at the end. Logically, taking it to court didn’t make a lot of sense. Honesty, we were two, three years in (I don’t even know – it was all a blur), and at that point I just saw that we were not going to win. And I was like, “I cannot do this for the next five years.” Because that’s what it would have been. My family came first. My faith came first. I would have lost the farm by doing that for five more years.

Bryce: I was trying to encourage her by saying that it’s a victory if we stay true to Jesus and have a good witness to people and make people wonder why we’re not upset no matter what, whether the CAFO farm comes in or not. The farm coming is not a defeat. The victory is staying true to what we believe in and not losing our integrity. And Jesus is in control of the ultimate destiny of that farm.

Nathan: At the same time, it’s a fact that the laws and economic system of our country enable that CAFO and other CAFOs to do what they do to communities, animals, and God’s earth. That’s just one thing that make me question whether we are truly a Christian country. The prophets in the Old Testament talked a lot about how the rich and powerful did awful things. The CAFO and the law system that enable CAFOs to go in are examples of our society being run by the rich and powerful against the interests of the vulnerable who God really cares about.

Jen: Absolutely. And it’s done under the guise of them being the good guys doing the right thing. The ones that write the statutes are the staff of the Department of Natural Resources. They hand CAFO owners everything that they need to get these things built. And it’s like, “Wait a second! You’re the guys that are supposed to be protecting rivers and my drinking water, but you’re not.” I don’t say that to diminish all of the DNR staff and all of the things that they do. That’s the reality – the job of the DNR is to permit CAFOs. Who decided that?

Pigs on pasture at the Riemer Family Farm. Pigs, which are highly intelligent animals, do not get the opportunity to enjoy fresh air and to express their “pigness” in factory farm buildings of CAFOs.

Nathan: I’ve heard a number of people call farming a calling like some people feel called to be pastors. Do you feel like farming is a calling for all of you as a family?

Kalena: I, at this point, feel very called to mission in the future. Maybe I could help people farm this way in other countries and still be a missionary.

Bryce: Well, I’m third generation so it’s not like I heard a calling and went to be a farmer. I would have to hear a pretty strong calling not to be a farmer.

Elli: You did not want the farm in college. It was a calling when you woke up to it.

Bryce: Yes. But ultimately selling the farm and letting it go would have been a tough decision. I do feel it’s where I’m supposed to be. I feel more in God’s plan and will now than I ever have. This opportunity to farm is the culmination of all the other things I’ve been doing.

Jen: Well, I think it’s a calling that’s developed. I don’t think one of us could say there has been a strong moment. It’s been a road. It’s been a journey. We’ve kind of planted these seeds. We can’t go back and flick them out of the ground.

Elli: I feel called to protect the environment, probably due to this farm, but it wouldn’t have to be through farming.

Nathan: Have you had spiritual experiences while farming?

Jen: I’d say the roosting of monarchs is pretty spiritual, actually.

Elli: And there’s like hundreds of finches across our road right now because of the sunflowers we planted. It’s crazy to see them all fly.

Bryce: Since school has started this year, we’re all homeschooling. We’re farming together every morning, and we go out as a team and a family and do all the work and then school the rest of the day on good days. My point is that we start the day together for the first time as a whole family. We have a meeting every morning, and we plan the day. We also do devotions, read, and pray together. It’s been really a great opportunity for our family to stay together. I guess that’s not technically while we’re farming, but it’s because of farming

Kalena: It’s happened a couple of times where it’s cloudy but then there’s an opening, and it seems like the sun is showering down right on our farm. And that’s really cool. I kind of think of it like God is just looking down on our farm. And just to look out over the pasture sometimes – it’s like, “Wow! It’s beautiful to see what God meant the land to look like.”

Jen: For me, too, it is energizing to be with the life, the fundamentals of life. And I think that’s the thing with the butterflies and the finches. It’s like the wholeness of the system and the vibrancy. Especially in contrast to our neighbors’ fields right now that are totally bare, because they’ve got corn silage. So it’s bare dirt when everything could be bright green. It’s just this contrast.

I’m an emotive person, so I see that and I’m just like, “Oh, this is horrible!” And then I got into my field and it’s like, “Butterflies! This is nice.” It’s energizing. A creation worshiper would worship that scene, but we worship because it’s a gift from God.

Nathan: Could you give me a brief overview of how the land has been transformed over time through your farming?

Elli: I remember when it was corn and beans. The field would be barren for like half the year. Now there’s always something green or very colorful on it. We never have bare soil anymore. We make hay off of it and that’s pretty much the only thing we do. So we’re not planting or harvesting anything really either. We’re always covering the ground.

We’re surrounded by bare fields (their neighbors’ fields) right now. Dust is flying off of it. There’s no more top soil all around us.

Bryce: My dad had beef cattle, and so he grazed them. He had a cow-calf herd and finished out some cattle on grain. But he didn’t rotationally graze. So the pasture was really short in a lot of areas and really tall and weedy in the others. It was 55 acres, so the cows and calves would walk from one end of the field to the other and back to the water and leave these paths everywhere. So there were ruts and whatnot from which the water would run off.

And so that was the pasture. And now there are no cow paths. There’s no weeds. And the tussocks are only where we want them to be in the old waterways and are providing frog habitat

And the whole farm now looks like that. My dad used to have corn and beans, which he would no-till, so there was no tillage going on, but it would involve spraying weeds. And then there were the alfalfa fields, the hay fields. There was always a constant battle with weeds.

And that’s one of the biggest transformations we noticed this year. Where are all of the weeds? Where are the thistles? Struggles we’ve had in the past just weren’t there this year.

Jen: And we’re running the cattle on another 129 acres. There’s no weeds. We do have some up north where the pigs are, because they’re pigs. But it (the lack of weeds in cattle pastures) is amazing.

Elli preparing to move cattle herd from one paddock to another. By rotationally grazing cattle on a regular basis, the cattle get a heathier diet and the vegetation has a chance to recover while also providing habitat for other living things of God’s earth.

Nathan:, I’ve often felt alone in my conviction that Creation matters, that it is part of the overall story told in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Have you felt alone at times in that conviction as well?

Elli: No church people helped in the CAFO fight. There are environmental people and church people, and the church people don’t really care. Our pastor is kind of getting there a little bit.

Kalena: And during the CAFO fight, there were other people you could talk to who shared the passion for the land, but for me it was mainly because of faith why I didn’t like the CAFO coming in, which I couldn’t really talk to with those people without being weird or being shut out again.

Jen: It was definitely two groups of people. I often get frustrated with every church potluck being full of really horrible food raised in really horrible ways. And the kids get all sorts of little plastic toys made in China by other kids. How can we be so passionate about our faith and not see this whole piece of discipleship?

Bryce: Well, I think this year it’s very clear that it’s political. You didn’t really think about it as much before, but everything is drawn as a line in the sand. Christian churchgoers have to be Republicans, and Republicans are supposed to not be environmentalist. So we have to close our eyes to that whole part of it.

Nathan: What advice do you have for Christians who aren’t farmers in terms of food and farming. What should they think about the food that they eat?

Kalena: They should think about what they’re buying. If they really want to live out their faith in every aspect, they have to think about every aspect.

Elli: Just start thinking about it. That will get you a whole lot farther than you are now.

Jen: I think the word I was looking for before was integrity. If I proclaim Christ, but I do these other things that are not Christ-like then I think we need to think about that more. I think that there are, like Bryce is saying, certain issues that have this elevated priority over the big picture of whole planet health because that’s not what we’re supposed to talk about. But I think that we neglect and we leave off the table this whole depth of what we can be as Christians when we limit our issues that we’re going to care about to abortion and welfare or whatever.

We need holistic management in our hearts.

Bryce: Everything that people eat was alive. And so people need to think about what their food came from. Did it live in a way that it was created to? If they can just start asking that question, they can decide for themselves where to come up with budget changes to find the money to pay for food that is God-honoring.

During the pandemic, many people have had new appreciation for the value of healthy food that is also good for God’s earth. Demand has been strong for the Riemer’s meat. They’ve made available online ordering and on-farm pickups.

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