May, 2002
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Prester will komme og prester vil gå, men
Mindekirken vil bestå April was a month of high emotions at Mindekirken. First there was the emotion filled last sermon delivered by Pastor Gillebo on April 7th. That was followed by the Farewell kirkekaffe / lunch. In the fellowship hall. Jill Nykkleby did a great job in leading the program. We all appreciated the words spoken by Arne Solbakken, Gjert Hovland , Kjetil Eiane and many other speakers that all gave the message that the Gillebo’s are loved by the congregation and that they will be sorely missed. But Life will go on. To quote word from Pastor Gillebo’s sermon. "Prester will komme og prester vil gå, men Mindekirken vil bestå". Our new pastor, Jens Arne Dale arrived on April 5th. He was "oppegående" on Sunday April 7th and assisted Pastor Gillego with the Holy Communion at both the English and the Norwegian Services. What an appropriate way to pass the torch. Sunday April 14, 2002 was the first services led by Pastor Dale. Because of prior commitments, I was unable to attend, but trusted reports tell me that it went well. As I am writing this, I am also looking forward to some special events at Mindekirken. Syttendende Mai Festivities will be celebrated on Sunday May 19 with a breakfast before the Festival Worship Service. At about 12:30 pm a "folketog" parade will take place followed by a Syttende Mai Concert featuring Elisabeth Tandberg, Soprano and Jim Reilly piano at 4pm. Before that, On April 21, 2002, we have a very special event. That will be the installation Sunday of Pastor Dale. Pastor David Wangaard from the ELCA Synod will perform the installation ceremony at both the English and Norwegian Service. The Kirkekaffe that day is sponsored by Klubb 500 and there will be special musical entertainment in honor of the day. Many of you that read this article are familiar with Klubb 500. It is a group of concerned volunteers led by Larry Hauge. The goal for this group is to raise $500,000 that will be given to Mindekirken at the end of a five year campaign. The motto of the group is: Building the future, preserving the past. This lead me to an other issue, and I hate to sound
like I am repeating an old story. Klubb 500 is good to have and Mindekirken will
benefit from that effort sometime in the future. In the meantime, we have
ongoing expenses like salaries, electricity, gas and regular office expenses
that need to be met. It is not cheep to bring pastors from Norway, but that is
exactly what make Mindekirken such a unique church. The financial guidelines
that was passed at the annual congregation meeting in February showed a healthy
increase in spending. We had to do this just to keep up with the times and the
increased salary and benefits expectations. I just want to remind everyone that
are contributing to Mindekirken to keep doing so even through the summer months.
Thanks for your continuing support and I hope to see you at a service or other
event in the near future. |
The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church · 924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 · (612)874-0716 |