Lutheranism the key to happiness?

[Donald_Kirchner]

Dave Benke writes:
In the US every child is mentored to believe they can one day be President.
I comment:
And we recently learned that this is not necessarily a good thing.

Now, Pr. Austin, I didn’t think President Obama was THAT bad.

I was ready to agree with Charles again. "Recently" would refer to Biden.

[Dave Benke]

Between  1820 and 1925 about 860,000 Norwegians emigrated to the United States.
They settled primarily in the Midwest in states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and
Illinois.

The Swedes and Finns acted similarly. They were coming from countries with awful weather and arriving in a country that was so huge that it included vast swaths of places with more pleasant climates.

Yet they went to places that replicated the cold, hard winters they came from.

What were they thinking?

Home.  This reminds me of home. 

I spent a morning with the Bishop of Helsinki, and at the end invited him to stop by the next time he was in New York.  His response:  "Oh, we fly directly to Marquette from Helsinki on Finnair."   

Wait - what?  A direct flight to Marquette International Airport?  Yes.  Home in Finland to home in the Upper Peninsula.

Dave Benke

[Michael Slusser]

Between  1820 and 1925 about 860,000 Norwegians emigrated to the United States.
They settled primarily in the Midwest in states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and
Illinois.

The Swedes and Finns acted similarly. They were coming from countries with awful weather and arriving in a country that was so huge that it included vast swaths of places with more pleasant climates.

Yet they went to places that replicated the cold, hard winters they came from.

What were they thinking?

Home.  This reminds me of home. 

I spent a morning with the Bishop of Helsinki, and at the end invited him to stop by the next time he was in New York.  His response:  "Oh, we fly directly to Marquette from Helsinki on Finnair."   

Wait - what?  A direct flight to Marquette International Airport?  Yes.  Home in Finland to home in the Upper Peninsula.

Dave Benke

Put me down as a doubter on that, Pr. Benke. My nephew is the Emergency Rescue/Fire Suppression person on the airport there, and has been for twenty years or more. He has driven me down the main runway (which is long enough to handle loaded B-52s), and over the years has told me about the flight schedules there. The current schedule https://sawyerairport.com/airline-flight-information/flight-schedule/. No Finnair.

Finlandia University (formerly Suomi College) in Hancock, Michigan, would be an appropriate destination for your bishop, but I think he'd have to change planes between Helsinki and Marquette.

Peace,
Michael

[Dave Benke]

Between  1820 and 1925 about 860,000 Norwegians emigrated to the United States.
They settled primarily in the Midwest in states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and
Illinois.

The Swedes and Finns acted similarly. They were coming from countries with awful weather and arriving in a country that was so huge that it included vast swaths of places with more pleasant climates.

Yet they went to places that replicated the cold, hard winters they came from.

What were they thinking?

Home.  This reminds me of home. 

I spent a morning with the Bishop of Helsinki, and at the end invited him to stop by the next time he was in New York.  His response:  "Oh, we fly directly to Marquette from Helsinki on Finnair."   

Wait - what?  A direct flight to Marquette International Airport?  Yes.  Home in Finland to home in the Upper Peninsula.

Dave Benke

Put me down as a doubter on that, Pr. Benke. My nephew is the Emergency Rescue/Fire Suppression person on the airport there, and has been for twenty years or more. He has driven me down the main runway (which is long enough to handle loaded B-52s), and over the years has told me about the flight schedules there. The current schedule https://sawyerairport.com/airline-flight-information/flight-schedule/. No Finnair.

Finlandia University (formerly Suomi College) in Hancock, Michigan, would be an appropriate destination for your bishop, but I think he'd have to change planes between Helsinki and Marquette.

Peace,
Michael

Interesting - maybe he was joking then.  Or maybe he was referring to Escanaba, which has a direct flight, and then driving north across the peninsula to Marquette (which in my limited knowledge is the UP "big city").  What was on my mind was an experience I had at the end of September, 2001, speaking a a church in Marquette, and then "going to camp" with some folks, which means going to a cottage at the edge of Lake Superior, having lots of beer and then heading into the sauna before running out and hopping into the big and very cold lake.  And lots of those folks were Finns, who seemed happiest in the coldest of cold water.  So I knew there were plenty of Finns in the UP, and that it looks pretty much like Finland.  Forest, cold, snow, sauna. 

In the world of who goes to church with whom, the church I attended was integrated, so there were both Germans and Finns and they were sitting together.  I was told that's not normally the way it works.  And on our trip to Finland, we learned there wasn't a lot of love for Germans in Finland, WWII stuff.  On a side note, I did play a round of golf way up north in which I teed off at 11 PM, and then, since a slice of the course was in Sweden, played a hole on the preceding day, there being a one hour time difference, before completing the round at 3 AM.  No flashlight needed, but it took two days to play the round.

Dave Benke

[Rebekah Curtis]

You know what a lot of those UP Finns drive is Transits. Captain Helminen, our go-to charter fisherman in the Keweenaw, has 15 kids.

[Robert Johnson]

Many, I believe, weren’t that bothered by the winters. There simply wasn’t enough land to go around. The immigrants found in North America what they wanted but could not have at home. No other part of the country matched their experience and farming skills as well as the land they chose.

I suppose you are right. But I remember as a child watching college football and Bowl games on tv where the sun was shining and people were wearing short sleeves in November, December or January.

Then I would look out our living room window at cold rain, sleet, or snow and I wondered how my ancestors could have made such a bad choice.

[Dave Benke]

You know what a lot of those UP Finns drive is Transits. Captain Helminen, our go-to charter fisherman in the Keweenaw, has 15 kids.

That's a great image - "the family's coming along; we're going to need a bigger boat." 

I had a good day yesterday because I got a phone call from one of our parish matriarchs who just returned from Guyana and COVID quarantine in time for Mother's Day.  Every year as we honor moms, grandmas, great-grandmas we lift up those families to the level of the mom with the most kids, grandma with most grand, etc.  And the winner almost every year is the same person, who has come back in time to claim the prize.  14 children, 60some grandchildren and a whole village full of great-grand.  And - she can (and will, upon request) name each one all the way through to the great-grands.  Amazing blessings.   

So if Cpt. Helminen is Lutheran, which he must be, it's great for the congregational roster, and provides in one family the Sunday School.

Dave Benke

[Rebekah Curtis]

You know what a lot of those UP Finns drive is Transits. Captain Helminen, our go-to charter fisherman in the Keweenaw, has 15 kids.

That's a great image - "the family's coming along; we're going to need a bigger boat." 

I had a good day yesterday because I got a phone call from one of our parish matriarchs who just returned from Guyana and COVID quarantine in time for Mother's Day.  Every year as we honor moms, grandmas, great-grandmas we lift up those families to the level of the mom with the most kids, grandma with most grand, etc.  And the winner almost every year is the same person, who has come back in time to claim the prize.  14 children, 60some grandchildren and a whole village full of great-grand.  And - she can (and will, upon request) name each one all the way through to the great-grands.  Amazing blessings.   

So if Cpt. Helminen is Lutheran, which he must be, it's great for the congregational roster, and provides in one family the Sunday School.

Dave Benke

They do need a bigger boat. Even our paltry lot no longer fits. I can't remember what specific brand of Lutheran they are, other than Other. The Lutheran parish:general population ratio of Laurium/Calumet is notable.

A lovely tale of your honored matriarch. Midwest Nice has a camp that frowns upon church-sponsored Mothers' Day recognitions. Too much sadness for the already sad. It's hard to know.