One of the odd little aspects of writing these monthly columns is the necessity to think ahead in ways that I don’t have to do in the rest of my life. This column, which I’m sitting down to write on December 16^th, is for the January Communicator, which most of you will get in early January. So not only am I writing three weeks ahead (which happens every month), but in this case I’m actually writing a year ahead! It leaves me wondering whether I’m coming or going, ending or beginning. Do I focus on the year that for me is not yet ended, or on the one that has probably already started by the time all of you are sitting down to read it? The answer will probably be my usual one, which is "some of each". So much for a decisive decision!

In this case, though, it’s easy for me to begin by looking towards the future. As you have doubtless all read, we not long ago offered a Call to a prospective new pastor, Jens Arne Dale. Pastor Dale and his wife Trude visited us for a week in early December, and when they returned to Norway we felt very hopeful about their response. Our hopes were justified just a couple of days ago when Pastor Dale sent an email accepting our Call. He hopes to arrive in early April of 2002, with Trude and their three daughters to come after the end of the school year in Norway. Their plan is to stay for at least three years, and possibly for four.

This is wonderful news for Mindekirken, because the pastor is the soul of any church, and we had already been disappointed once in our search this fall. I do not think that we will be disappointed with Pastor Dale, who seems to me to be an intelligent, hard-working, humorous and very well rounded person. He and his family are very eager to live in America at this time, and it is my sense that he will approach his new position with energy and enthusiasm. We will all have the duty to make him and his family as welcome and as comfortable in their new home as we can, keeping in mind that they will find many differences, both large and small, between life here and in Norway. I think, however, that we and the Dales can all have a lot of fun together as they come to understand and experience life in America.

We also look ahead to our Annual Congregational Meeting, which will take place on Sunday, February 3^rd, 2002. Many of us will be spending a lot of time during the month of January preparing for that meeting. There are reports to write, a budget to prepare, and nominations to secure. Kaia Knutson, our wonderful Church Secretary, will have the job of assembling all the words and numbers into the booklet that those of you who attend the meeting receive. It’s a big job for many of us, but crucial to the ongoing life and health of Mindekirken as a functioning church.

So, one year ends and another begins. This year brought some changes, and next year will bring more. Some of them, such as our new pastor, we know about now. Others will doubtless surprise us, some in pleasant ways and some not. Life is always a mix of old and new, of continuation and of change. We at Mindekirken, like all churches, try to strike a balance between tradition and innovation, and that is one of the challenges that make life so interesting.

John Casey,

President