BEGINNING OF MY MINISTRY IN 1968

Before I talk about the happenings of 1968, I wanted to back up to add an experience from 1965 that I just recalled:

When Pam and I moved to Elgin, IL for my intern year as a chaplain at the state hospital there, our friends Bob and Sue Okerstrom kindly helped us pack up our relatively meager belongings. Everything fit into a small Econoline van we rented, except for our mattress and box spring. We very carefully tied one on top of the van and the other on our car and left for IL about 12:30 AM. At about 2 AM, somewhere in WI, the ropes let go and we saw the box spring fell off! We were blessed that it fell to the side of the highway, bounced and came to rest (appropriate for a mattress!) Amazingly there was only a small scrape on the corner of the box spring and no other damage, so we tied it back on the top of the van again and drove the rest of the way!

Now 1968. My senior year of seminary flew by as there were so many exciting things going on!

On January 21, I began preaching at Epiphany Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis after our friend Pastor Ralph Kempski resigned to begin serving a church in Fern Creek, Kentucky (that sounded like the end of the world but was actually a growing suburb of Louisville). A few weeks later the Synod President asked me not to consider a Call to the church, since he had a different plan for me (he didn’t say what at the time!)

On the 25th I picked out and bought the items I would need to wear to lead worship – a long black cassock, a shorter white surplice and a series of stoles (bands of green, red, purple and white cloth draped around the neck) at Lohman's, a Catholic church supply store in St. Paul. My folks kindly bought all these as a graduation gift. I thought I looked pretty spiffy!

In February Pam and I bought new living room furniture in anticipation of moving into our 1st parsonage after graduation. Almost all of that furniture is still in our living room today (we bought some pretty solid stuff!)

On the evening of February 17th Dr. Melvin Hammarberg, Minnesota Synod President, and his wife took Pam and me out to supper at the Normandy Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. During dessert Dr. Hammarberg introduced us to the location of our first Call by asking me, “Do you like to hunt and fish?” I answered honestly, “Not really!” But he then told us that we were assigned to go to the Grace and Emmanuel parish in Sandstone (90 miles north of the Twin Cities on the way to Duluth). I had really been hoping to stay in the Twin Cities “where the action was.” Remember that this was 1968 – the Vietnam War was bitterly dividing the country, civil rights were being debated and fought over, and I was on the Social Action Committee of the Synod. A parish in a small town and conservative part of MN would not have been my 1st choice!
Pam and I drove up and spent an enjoyable evening getting to meet the Grace and Emmanuel members on March 10th. They seemed very nice and anxious for me to come to be their new pastor. With the brashness and foolish confidence that only a 25-year-old can exhibit, I soon began looking forward to the opportunity of shaping them all into fellow social activists!

I took time out of my studies, and on March 27th spent the day in River Falls, WI campaigned for Senator Eugene McCarthy (who was running for the Democratic Party nomination against Lyndon Johnson). While there I met actor Paul Newman who stopped during the day (I led him through the crowd when he was going to give a speech) and afterward told people that I was his body guard)!

On March 31st Grace and Emmanuel Churches voted to officially call me as their pastor.
Four days later, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN, the day after giving his “I've Been to the Mountaintop” speech. The country was thrown into grief, anger and confusion.

From April 25th-28th Pam was hospitalized after an early miscarriage. We were very grieved with the loss, but knew that it was not the end of the possibilities for us to have a healthy child.

May 9th was the last day of classes at Northwestern Seminary, and graduation was held at Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church in St. Paul on May 17th.

On May 21st we spent the day at Sandstone to meet with the Property Committee chairman, Sig Swanson, about painting the parsonage interior (he had one shade of blue and one of green for us to choose from!). He later relented and allowed us to select from a wider array.

May 28th was my Day of Ordination at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter during the Minnesota Synod Convention! I was honored that Pastor Ralph Kempski came up from Kentucky to be my sponsor.

The following Sunday, June 2nd, a “Recognition Sunday” was held at my home church (Trinity in Stillwater) with Dr. Hammarberg “re-enacting” the Ordination of Ray Larson, Gary Langness and myself, unique in that all 3of us were from that congregation and had graduated together.

June 5th was another devastating day when Democratic Presidential candidate, Senator Robert Kennedy, was shot in Los Angeles and died the next day! Again, chaos broke out all across the US.

My first baptism was my niece, Amy Dollerschell, at First Presbyterian Church in Rochester, MN on June 9th. The Stillwater Gazette described the event as “the Rev.’s 1st baptism”!

On June 25th Pam and I moved into the parsonage at Sandstone, where my installation service was held on Friday, June 28th at Grace Church. My folks, Pam's folks, Grandma Knudson, and Norm and Margaret Knudson from Arizona were with us.

My first Sunday preaching and leading worship at Grace and Emmanuel was on June 30th. The only glitch was that I forgot to bring the bulletins with me to Emmanuel when I came out to the country for the 10:45 service!

The next day I toured the community with retired pastor, P. G. Carlstedt. He was a wise and kind old man who wanted me to “get off on the right foot”.

On Sunday evening, July 14th, Emmanuel Church held its monthly “Family Night” and we were welcomed with a corsage for Pam and a cake with our names on it!

On July 20th I officiated at my first wedding – Danny Laun and Bonnie Jorivac at Grace Church! Before the wedding, I met with them 3 times for pre-marital counseling, probably more for my sake than theirs!

From July 22nd-28th Pam’s nieces, Lori and Kim Bents (ages 8 and 6), stayed with us. We had a lot of fun with them!

My first baptisms in the parish were Carol Ann Lundorff (from Grace) and Kari Gustafson (from Emmanuel).

We held an “Open House” at the parsonage from 2-5 PM on August 4th. Many of the members from both congregations attended, and again we were made to feel very welcome and appreciated.

My first funeral since the summer of 1965 was on August 6th for Marvin Anderson, a 21-year-old member of Grace who was killed in a car accident just before he was to leave for Vietnam! It was extremely traumatic for all of us.

On August 25th we received 14 adults and 7 children as new members at Grace, including Pam and me. I was pleased that the church was already growing!

The Democratic National Convention convened from August 26th-29th in Chicago, IL and was the scene of massive demonstrations protesting the Vietnam War which was at its height. 1000’s of people showed up with signs and banners, music, dancing and poetry. Initially, there was a “carnival” atmosphere, but the police were edgy. Some people responded to a night-time curfew announcement with rock-throwing. Police used tear gas and beat people with batons, and arrests were made. In the aftermath of what was later characterized as a “police riot”, a grand jury indicted 8 demonstrators and 8 police officers. 7 of the demonstrators became known as the “Chicago 7” and were charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot and other charges. They included Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden and Bobby Seale (a “Black Panther”).

At Emmanuel’s “Family Night” on September 1st Dr. Richard Reusch was the guest speaker. He was a former missionary in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), East Africa, was my college advisor for one year at Gustavus Adolphus, and was now serving at St. John's in Stacy. He was a fascinating old man in his late 70’s with whom I shared a wonderful adventure during the coming year!

On September 17th I had 2 funerals – one was for Wade Grundmeier, a 9-month-old member and the other an 80-year-old non-member! The service for Wade was very difficult for me as well as for everyone else who knew him and his family.

I officiated at the wedding of Karl Olesen and Patricia Anderson on October 5th (she was the sister of Marvin who was killed in August).

During the late summer Pam and I, together with several other church and community members, had begun volunteering our time at a delinquent boys' camp east of town. One of the volunteers was a wonderful 50-year-old Catholic priest named Father Lutar. He and I worked together very well and bonded quickly, and I was devastated when he died suddenly. Pam and I attended his funeral on October 21st.

On November 5th Richard Nixon was elected US President by a very narrow margin over Minnesota Senator, Hubert Humphrey, as he promised to end the war in Vietnam. That day Shirley Chisholm of New York became the first African-American woman elected to the US Congress.

Pam and I attended the funeral of Maurice Del Mas in Stillwater on November 9th (he and his wife Hazel had hired me to cut their grass, one of my 1st part-time jobs).

On December 2nd Pam took the train into Minneapolis with members, Zelda Sandwick (our Grace organist) and Shirley Peterson (our church secretary).

On slow nights, we would go down to the depot and watch one of the trains arrive. Remember, Sandstone was listed as having only 2,500 residents, and it didn’t really look that big. We found out that that number included 1,000 inmates at the local Federal Correctional Institution (a minimum-security facility where many of our members worked).

From December 21st-22nd Nathaniel Inyama from Biafra/Nigeria who was studying at the seminary in St. Paul was with us for a caroling party to raise money for his war-torn country and to preach. We had a very heavy snowfall overnight, and barely made it out to Emmanuel where very few members were in attendance. He was very upset when we couldn’t get him back to the Twin Cities after the services, so to try to vent his anger, we arranged for him to ride a snowmobile for the 1st time, and he also played my drum set with great vigor!

After the services on December 24-25 (Grace’s was at 11 PM on Christmas Eve and Emmanuel’s was at 6 AM Christmas Day, I was very moved when members presented us with many bags of groceries, canned goods and fresh meat! Unfortunately, Pam was sick and unable to attend.

We ended the year with a Holy Communion service on New Year’s Eve. Pam’s folks were with us as we also celebrated their wedding anniversary.

It had been a very eventful year for us as well as for the country and the world. Our journey in ministry had begun!