FINNS: An Oral History- Keeping Services - Earl Somero
New Ipswich Historical Society
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.
Earl Somero
That story Ralph Kangas recalls about someone being injured by a tractor could have been about my brother Arthur. Though Arthur’s deaf, he’s very talented in a mechanical way. We had a Model A tractor on the farm. That spring my brothers Glen and Arthur were working to get the equipment running again. The tractor had a dead battery and Glen put the rear axle up on blocks. Arthur put the throttle on full, and when Glen turned the back wheel, it shook loose. Once the engine began to fire, Arthur tried to get onto the seat. The tractor threw him to the ground. I remember seeing the tire tread mark on his stomach and I think he broke his pelvis. He was laid up over summer. And it must have been Arthur that was brought down in a bed to attend a church service in our living room.
The Independent Apostolic church services were held in members’ homes when we were kids. Church was fun when we held services at the farm and families gathered and it still is fun. We built a building in 1976 and services are as they were when we were kids. It has to be that way: the Word of God doesn’t change. We go to have fellowship with other believers and strengthen our faith. We gather around the Word of God, preached and revealed by the Holy Spirit. And we get comfort to hear again that we’re children of God and our sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ and we’re acceptable to God the Father. One day we’ll be home in heaven. What else can anyone ask for?
We have a smaller congregation compared to other areas in the country. We don’t keep track of numbers but fit comfortably in our church. We hold services twice a month and try to have visiting ministers four times a year. It’s up to the congregation to ask ministers to preach: agreeing that a person has been given the gift. The church service begins with hymns and prayers. Then the minister chooses a Bible text, which is read to everyone, and a sermon is given. Then we have closing hymns and prayers. None of our ministers prepares before a sermon and I don’t either. We believe it would be wrong. Even the Apostle Paul didn’t prepare. And the reason it can’t be that way is, if we take it upon ourselves to prepare, then is that really of God? I would think that it would be of Man. We do not have seminary-trained ministers. And for us, that’s exactly the reason: if you premeditate what you’re going to say, then we don’t believe what is said is of God.
Within our Independent congregations, sermons years ago were delivered in Finnish. I have heard Biblical sermons were descriptive and colorful in Finnish, although we rarely preach in Finnish now. Generally, of all speakers we have now, only two or three can speak in Finn. We’ve gone through a transition; when we were kids, only Finn was spoken. That’s because it was the language of the time for preaching God’s Word. We went from using all Finn, to half-Finnish and half-English, and eventually Finn phased out. Every once in awhile, we’ll sing a Finnish hymn. We have people who serve in the role of lukkari, or song starters. My cousin reminded me that at her mother’s funeral, the song starters began a hymn so low that no one could carry the tune; that’s called taking the song “under the bench.” If this happens, the lukkaris might stop the hymn and begin again.
I understand other Apostolic Lutheran churches are federated with like congregations having a central, national board. We’re not federated. There are congregations like ours in Minneapolis, northern Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin and scattered throughout the country. But we’re not affiliated in a formal structure. We believe Jesus Christ is the head of our church; the only reason we organize is to comply with state laws. In order to have ownership in a building, we need to be incorporated and recognized by the state. I guess “autonomous” would be the best word to describe the Independents; they’re organized at a local level to maintain their church buildings.
Once, the Apostolics (‘Laestadians’) in this area were all of one group: the division came before my time, in the 1930s. Our group assumed the name Pollari after a minister. I think there were actually three preachers after which different Apostolic groups were named: (1) Michaelson [main Apostolic Lutherans in New Ipswich], (2) Heideman, Senior and Junior [also split from the main Apostolic—Michaelson—group], and (3) the Pollari group.
My mother said the Heidemans, or perhaps Michaelson, went to Finland and attended seminary school. When they came back, they tended to preach what is termed The Law: I do believe those who stayed with the other Apostolic groups adhered to what is called the legalistic approach, which involves preaching of sin and the act of repentance being necessary to have sins remitted. Pollaris believe in salvation through grace; the way we looked at it was that there were those who went with The Law and we who stayed under grace. Actually there were quite a few that disagreed with what was happening in the main Apostolic church. My parents were involved in the split; my father also talked about what they went through in determining right or wrong for them. Eventually they came to the realization that they had to separate. I don’t know who separated from who: obviously we’d say the other group separated from us.
I remember when I was growing up; we Finn kids from the two Apostolic churches in town had a lot of discussions about religion. And the sense I got from the kids in the other church was you had ask forgiveness for sins you committed that bothered your conscience. However, Jesus said even if you think of committing adultery, you’ve already committed it in your heart; there’s no way you can put all sin away. As soon as you’ve repented of one sin, another has taken its place. That is our human nature and God does not require that of us once we’re in faith.
There’s no public confession in the Independent Church. It doesn’t mean people aren’t sorry for wrong they’ve done, but there’s no requirement of repentance because we believe, like Martin Luther, that we’re justified through faith. Yet, in obedience to God, we avoid willful sin and pray Jesus will give us the strength to believe in Him day by day. Rejoicing is still active in our church. It doesn’t mean every Sunday somebody’s going to rejoice because that’s something that isn’t controlled. Many times we are in what we call ‘cold’ feelings. I know that when my mother used to rejoice, afterwards she would be embarrassed saying, “Well, why did I have to do that now?” And yet, it was actually the Holy Spirit moving within; there was so much happiness. As far as rejoicing goes, I don’t think it’s intentional or rational: it’s a joyous, peaceful feeling that overcomes a person.