FINNS: An Oral History- Keeping Services
Keeping Services - Interview with Martin Seppala
FINNS: An Oral History of Finnish-Americans in New Hampshire’s Monadnock Region
Excerpted from FINNS: An Oral History... by Patricia Kangas Ktistes, 1997, all rights reserved.
Keeping Services - Martin Seppala
One of the few things I remember about my grandparents is when my mother’s father Leander Somero went to some kind of a function in town that he was invited to and it was the first time he had ever seen ice cream. And naturally he was going to bring some home to his wife. But by the time he got there, there wasn’t any ice cream left. It melted.
I think they had 13 children, but I guess a lot of love in that family. They were Laestadians and, boy, does that make a huge difference. The Laestadians are one big family, really. We go to Finland—we go to church services or visit people—and every time they’ll invite you into their home to stay there; you’re welcome. Brothers and sisters in faith; that’s how we consider it. In our church, we do not have even one percent of divorce. The incidence of domestic violence also is extremely low. It’s the teaching of the church; an honest belief that this world’s going to end and the only thing in all of life that has any value is to be a child of God with the hope of eternal life.
I think it’s a huge blessing to have continuity in the family. Because love is a decision, an absolute commitment that I’m going to love my wife and she’s going to love her husband, and we do. And Jesus teaches even, “Husbands, love your wives.” It’s something you can choose to do or choose not to do. Love is ambitious and has joy in work; joy in serving others.
The Granforses were a big family and lived in New Ipswich. The old man, the dad, was a legend. He worked in the Worcester wire mill and they claim he was such a big, strong man that they made special wheelbarrows for him to push around. They say that they’re still in the museum. In the beginning, he was an alcoholic and the police were actually afraid of the man when he’d get under the influence. But later on, and this is the part I remember about him, he was preaching. So he repented and became an Apostolic Lutheran and tender-hearted as could be.
I remember going to the first little Apostolic Lutheran church on Poor Farm Road up in Finn Country. I can especially remember it because Apostolics from what we call the ‘Pollari’ group [Independent Apostolic Lutherans]—the Eino Someros and Kangases—were all there, too. That was before the breakup: the split between the Pollaris and Apostolics in the 1930s. In religion, I think that generally it’s the preacher that causes these types of divisions. He wants the group for himself. But I don’t know; that’s my own theory. And splitting off into two groups may be one way to resolve unavoidable differences, but often it’s just broken love that separates two groups of people. The group that most recently has broken off from the main Apostolic Lutheran church wanted to change it into a charismatic church, actually Pentecostal. The biggest movement now in the whole nation is toward the Pentecostal, where physical healing is the big thing. And slaying in the spirit. I’ve seen slaying in the spirit done on TV. On the other hand, all of the outward things that Apostolics call ‘living faith’ are reasonable; things that are sin should really be sin. And the Bible speaks of these things, which are sin and lead to moral decay. But when it comes to slaying in the spirit, I think it’s a matter of the mind.
I’ve pondered human nature. If you lay down an absolute rule for something that somebody wants, such as saying you’ve got to see a vision of the Savior or otherwise you can’t get to heaven, then everybody’s going to see a vision. And two of the requirements among Pentecostals are speaking in tongues and slaying in the spirit.
Science will tell you that the power of positive thinking can cure people. That’s the same thing Pentecostals are saying with faith healing. If you believe it enough, you will be cured. But if Pentecostals were right, nobody would ever have to die; they could just keep healing. The only absolute truth to my understanding is the Bible, and I feel that these practices are contrary to the Bible. These practices seem to me more like men receiving honor unto themselves.