May 16, 2004

Mindekirken May 16, 2004
Pastor Jens Arne Dale

Phil 4.8-9

We who are gathered here at Mindekirken today have one thing in common. We share the interest in the long, country up in the chilly far north of Europe. Why do so many of us have a life-long love for a place which mainly consists of mountains and fjords?

The answer is easy. For most of us, it’s the land of our ancestors. We came ourselves or we are descendants of people who sailed over the ocean to seek a new future for themselves and their families in the new world. One of Mindekirken’s tasks is to remind us of our country of origin. Let me ask now, by showing of hands, how many of you were actually born in Norway? How many of you are of Norwegian descent? And the rest of you, how many would have liked to be Norwegian?

In today’s text Paul talks about what is true, honorable, just… and worthy of praise. I’m pretty sure that if Paul had continued listing beautiful things, he would have mentioned my home town Gjøvik. How many of you have been there?

Gjøvik is the white town on Mjøsa, the lake which meanders like a blue ribbon in some of the most beautiful farmland of Norway. The farmland is surrounded by dark green forest higher up on the slopes around the lake. At this time of the year, white anemones cover the ground in the forest like a white carpet. If you look north, you will see the white snow cap of the mountains in silhouette to the bright blue sky.

I wish I could have invited all of you to celebrate Syttende mai in Gjøvik. I couldn’t have guaranteed the weather though. My youngest daughter, Maria, remembers the year all the tulips in our garden were crushed by the snow the night before Syttende mai. Our neighbor built a 10-foot tall snowman in his yard. We have a nice picture of Maria with her flag, looking up into the face of the snowman, who was leaning towards her with a flag in his hand.

The apostle Paul talks about what is pleasing and commendable. Seeing the scouts raising the red, white and blue flag outside our school would have been among such things. There are a lot of flags on Syttende mai. One particular flag looked worn out and old. I once asked Dag Wesenberg why he hadn’t bought a new flag.

"Oh, this flag", he said, "we kept in a secret place in our attic during the five years of Nazi occupation. On May 8, 1945, we raised it as a symbol of our victory and freedom." No wonder he has a special love for this flag.

My mother visited us one Syttende mai. "I have nowhere seen as many beautiful bunads as in Gjøvik," she said. Most women and some men wear their national costumes on Syttende mai. Downtown Gjøvik would be packed with people and high anticipation along the route where the children’s parade will go. And there they come, the police chief and the Syttende mai committee in front, marching bands and all the school classes, children dressed in their nicest clothes, waving their flags, shouting "Hurrah for Syttende mai."

We’re grateful to celebrate our national day with a children’s parade rather than a military parade. After the parade, the school children would entertain with songs and poems for the day. There would be plenty of ice cream and pop, and maybe hotdogs on a cold day.

If you joined me at the YMCA Syttende mai fest in the evening, you might get to hear church leader and Union leader Thor Wang’s speech for the day. He would tell the story of Syttende mai. Denmark/Norway was on the losing side in the Napoleonic war. Therefore Norway was ceded by Denmark to Sweden in 1814. But since the Swedish army was still fighting further south in Europe, Norwegians took the opportunity to elect a National Assembly, which met at Eidsvoll outside of Oslo.

On the 17^th of May 1814 the Assembly approved the new constitution, and elected the Danish Prince Christian Fredrik as Norway’s new king. However, after a short war in June, Norway was forced into a union with Sweden under King Carl 13^th. Thor would tell how the Norwegians armed themselves in the late 1800’s. Thor has been a Union leader at the Raufoss ammunition factory. It was built close to Gjøvik because it would take the Swedes at least a couple of days to get there in case of a war.

When Norway declared its independence in 1905, it almost came to war with Sweden. The story says that when the Swedes heard the pace of the machine guns, they found it wise not to wage war. As a church leader, Thor would certainly also have expressed our gratitude to God, for all the good things our people have achieved. In one sense, Syttende mai is the closest we come to a Thanksgiving Day in Norway.

Syttende mai would also include the singing of "Ja, vi elsker", Norway’s national anthem. In one of the stanzas, we sing: " også vi når det blir krevet, for dets fred, dets fred slå leir". Leir means military camp. "Also we, when it is demanded, for its peace, its peace, wage war…" Norwegians have their war memories from 1905 and 1945.

And if the apostle Paul were the one delivering the Syttende mai speech, I guess he would have mentioned those who gave their lives for our freedom, and he might have called it honorable and worthy of praise. How would this look in a post-9/11 world? Norwegians have contributed to the UN’s peace-keeping forces. I myself have served in Lebanon. Did you know that Norway is a US ally in the war on terror? Norwegian F-16 fighter planes have been in combat in Afghanistan.

Did you know that Norway has soldiers in Iraq? They are 200 engineers who help rebuilding bridges and oil pipelines. They arrived after major combat was over. Having said this, I have to admit that a lot of my friends in Gjøvik are critical of the war. They had a big anti-war demonstration also in our small town before the war in Iraq. A lot of people simply did not believe what our president said when he talked about the reasons for going to war.

The extent to which the US has been alienated in Europe now is a serious consern. Is this an occupation or a liberation? That’s the question that has been raised, not only in the Arab world, but also in Europe. The crisis with the abuse in the Abu Ghraid prison hasn’t made it any better. When we have a text today praising what is true, honorable and pure, there could hardly be a worse contradiction to that than what has now been revealed from Bagdad.

We celebrate the Norwegian constitution today. But also the Norwegian constitution of 1814 had its stains of shame. It said that Jews and Jesuits were not allowed to enter Norway. It took almost 40 years to get rid of the paragraph about the Jews and 150 years to erase the discrimination of the Jesuits.

Today there are people in Norway who claim that paragraph 2, which says that the evangelical Lutheran religion is the official religion of the state, is in conflict with human rights. I don’t share that view, but a separation between state and church may be overdue.

When we celebrate Syttende mai, we should do it proudly, but not without self-criticism. We celebrate democratic rights, and one of the most important rights is the freedom of speech. In a society like ours, we all have the right to express what we find true, honorable and pleasing. Ultimately, the people are in charge in a democracy. They rule through the democratic institutions. But none of them are perfect.

Therefore the power is shared between the legislative, judicial and executive branches. The three institutions correct each other. That’s also the case with what we often call the fourth state power; the free press. Considering for instance the release of the Abu Ghraid pictures, we see what enormous impact TV has. In the process of judging what is true and what is not true, we need the critical voice of the media.

What about the international stage? Nations may need correction as well. In a political sense, every nation should have its voice, and it should not be for one nation alone to judge what is true, honorable and just. We need institutions like the UN as a tool for international communication.

It’s very appropriate for the Minnesota Syttende mai committee to invite Norway’s UN ambassador as our special guest this year. In a post 9/11 world it more important than ever to listen to the different voices in the international community. The nations have to co-operate to find the right tools to work for justice, peace, freedom and prosperity. Syttende mai should not only be a celebration of the history of the constitution, but a challenge to apply this heritage to the burning issues of today’s world.

The text we have today is used in churches all over Norway on Syttende mai. What is true, honorable and just are important in our society. But this text may also be read as a description of Jesus Christ himself. He represents what is true, honorable, just, pure and pleasing. He is worthy to be praised because he has given his life for all people. He has shown the ultimate love by being the victim of human evilness. By his resurrection he has overcome death. And by his grace we are all offered an open door to forgiveness and new life. We are living in a rapidly-changing world, a world with a lot of uncertainty. But there is one thing that never changes; the love of God through Jesus Christ. Trust him.

Glory be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one true God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716