Tuesday, April 1 at 12 noon  - Rev. Susan Tjornehoj

"What influenced three Norwegian-American women to become church leaders in Alaska and China?"

Sister Helen Frost, Sister Anna Huseth, and Arne Quello Sovik, Lutheran women born at the turn of the century, women of deep faith, who left their home and family to pursue a call to serve among the people of China and Alaska. What did these women have in common? What were the influences that led them to these ministries so far away? What can we learn from their legacy? Together we will listen for their voices, their wisdom, and take delight in their witness.

 Susan Tjornehoj has a degree from Luther College in Intercultural Education.  Susan graduated from Luther Seminary in 1983. She was married and ordained on the same day to David Wangaard, a pastor. They served together in the Inupiaq villages of Teller and Brevig Mission, Alaska .

Susan has served as pastor of the Baudette Lutheran parish in Baudette, Minnesota and most recently, as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church on Capitol Hill. For 11 years she served as an Assistant to the Bishop in the Northwestern Minnesota Synod and the Saint Paul Area Synod. Currently she is in a doctoral program at Luther Seminary. Susan and David have a 15 year old daughter, Ingrid Grace.

Tuesday, April 8 at 12 noon -- Tom Hanson

Tom Hanson, consultant and program secretary for the St. Paul-Minneapolis Committee on Foreign Relations, shares his experience as a former foreign service officer and the importance of these relations, including his experience while attached to Norway.

Thomas Hanson is a retired Foreign Service Officer, having served with the U.S. Department of State from 1973 to 1994. His foreign postings included East Germany, France, Norway, the Soviet Union, Sweden, and the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Estonia. He has also worked on the foreign relations committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Most recently he served as Director for NATO and European Affairs at the Atlantic Council of the United States in Washington, DC.

Mr. Hanson received his BA degree from the Univ. of Minnesota  and he holds graduate degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; the Institute of Advanced International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland; and the Nat’l School of Administration (ENA) in Paris, France. His Norwegian roots are in Sogn and Hallingdal.

The celtic crosses in Norway have always interested Thor Pundsnes. Many of them are carved in Hyllestad where the Pundsnes family lived for two years. The High crosses made of stone were made around the year 1000 and are among the first evidence of Christianity in Norway. They exist only on the western cost. This means that the western parts of Norway were Christianized fromà

Great Britain while the eastern part of Norway was Christianized from Europe. There are around 40 - 50 high crosses made of stone in Norway. The four Celtic crosses show influence from the Celtic parts in great Britain and from a monastery where they believe 8 Norwegian kings from the Viking period were buried. 

About Thor Pundsnes:

Sept 2007 - June 2008 Chaplain and trainee in clinical pastoral Education at United Hospital in St. Paul MN. He lives at Luther Seminary with his wife Astrid and two children Andrea and Johannes. He was Pastor in Laksevåg in Bergen since 2000, and before that a minister in Sogn og Fjordane 1998 - 1999.

Tuesday, April 22 at 12 noon  -- Curtis Dahlin, author

"The Dakota Uprising"

Curtis Dahlin has a long time interest in history.  He has researched gravestones and stories about the victims of the Dakota Uprising of 1862-1865.  During the Civil War years, settlers in southwestern Minnesota endured a violent uprising by Dakota warriors.  Approximately 600 settlers and an unknown number of Dakota died.  There are only 200 known victims who lie in marked graves.  In his book Dahlin has located the gravestones and records about the persons to tell the story of the uprising.  The narrative tells each victim's story and pictures the gravestone.  This was a turbulent time in Minnesota history and the book helps honor the victims giving insight to their experiences.

Tuesday, April 29 at 12 noon
Peggy Larson:  Kulokk

Kulokk is the ancient tradition of Norwegian herding calls. These 
calls are for all animals, but were mainly used to call the cows down from the mountains during summer farming, when young girls would be sent up to the mountains with the cattle, often staying there with them for about 3 months of the year. The calls were to call the cattle, to call to each other and to send out warnings to others in times of danger. The calls vary from abrupt sounds to long melodies, 
sometimes using psalms or other melodies to call the cattle by name.  The cattle knew their mistress' calls and would come to them!

Peggy Larson traveled to Norway to study kulokk. She will  perform kulokk and talk about the tradition and her travels. Peggy is a jazz singer, choral director and voice teacher. She teaches at McNally-Smith College of Music in St. Paul, directs the Earthtones Women's Chorus and the Portland Avenue Methodist Church Choir and gives lessons and workshops in popular and world singing.