By the Rev. Todd Walsh, For the Tribune

One of the people attending Ash Wednesday services at Grace Lutheran came almost 5,000 miles to get to church.

The Rev. Rudolf Blumcke is rector of the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary Novosaratovka near St. Petersburg, Russia.

He made a brief stop in Albert Lea as part of his tour of the United States to report to and build relations with supporters of the seminary in Russia.

Blumcke shared a greeting with the congregation and thanked Grace Lutheran for its support over the years.

He also shared his reflections on spiritual life in Russia.

&uot;When I saw you just receiving your crosses on the forehead, I thought, ‘What is going on in these heads being marked and told that you are dust?’

You are a proud nation.

You are a proud people.

You have dignity and freedom.

In Russia, sometimes it is my impression that we have to clean off the dust of the foreheads and tell the people that they have dignity, that they are made in the image of God, that somebody loves them, and that they should be proud of this.

It’s totally different and I am still learning what that means, what that does to a person because I am also from a proud country (Germany).&uot;

He also talked about the task of being a missionary in a foreign country.

&uot;And so working in Russia and living there is a whole process of learning who these people are.

It is also a little bit like Paul said, ‘becoming a Jew to the Jews.’ It’s becoming a Russian to the Russians.

&uot;But a good friend of mine said, ‘When people come to Russia for two weeks, they write books about it.

When they come for two months, they write letters home.

When they stay for two years, they become very quiet.’

And it’s kind of hard to say something then because you more and more understand that you don’t understand.

&uot;But nevertheless it is our task to spread the news, to tell the people, yes, that they are dust but at the same time that Jesus died at the cross for our sins.

And that they are dust, they can relate to that.

That somebody died for them, that is something brand new in Russia for a lot of people.&uot;

Blumcke arrived in Albert Lea just 10 minutes before Ash Wednesday services began and stayed long enough to visit a Thursday morning Bible study.

He said he wanted to meet the people who would get up for a Bible study at 6 a.m.

He also spent some time with the pastors of Grace Lutheran to update them on seminary and church life in Russia.

Grace Lutheran has supported the Novosaratovka Seminary in St. Petersburg since its opened in April of 1997.

Grace began supporting the Lutheran church in the Soviet Union in the last 1980s at the inspiration and encouragement of a Latvian immigrant named John Polis.

When Latvia declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Lutherans formed their own church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia and Other States.

Grace continues to support a congregation in Latvia and the Lutheran seminary in St. Petersburg.

Lutherans have lived in Russia since the 1500s.

Russian Emperor Ivan the Great invited Germans to settle the fringes of Russia and to teach trades.

Empress Catherine the Great’s invitation in the 1700s triggered another surge of immigration.

Communism destroyed the Lutheran church in Russia beginning in 1917.

The last of the 1,500 Lutheran churches in Russia closed in 1938.

The last of the 183 pastors serving in 1917 was arrested in 1937.

The pastors were either deported, executed or exiled to forced labor in Siberia.

Russians of German heritage suffered the same fate during World War II.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States is headquartered in St. Petersburg and has about 500 churches.

Its Novosaratovka seminary is a 40- minute drive from the center of the city.

Blumcke began serving as rector of the seminary in December of 2003.

Like many pastors serving in Russia, he is a German.

Before coming to Novosaratovka, he served as the pastor of a church on Krasnojarsk in Siberia for eight years.

He and his wife, Kirsten, are the parents of three children and live on the seminary campus with the students and faculty.

There are 15 students at the Novosaratovka seminary this year.

Ten are in the first-year classes and five are in third year classes.

An additional four students are presently on one-year internships in congregations around Russia under the supervision of a pastor.

Once the interns finish, they can be called by a congregation and ordained a pastor.

Seminary students are not able to pay for their education.

So members of Grace Lutheran along with other supporters around the United States and Germany provide full scholarships for students.

Fund-raising has also begun to give a $100 a month stipend for new pastors.

A group from the Grace Lutheran is scheduled to visit the seminary in the summer of 2005.

The Rev. Todd Walsh is a pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.