This past weekend I was in Port Wing, but since there isn't exactly a hotel in Port Wing, I stayed in Brule. It is about 30 miles away, and there are, of course, several ways to get back and forth between the metropolises. Of course there is the light rail shuttle or the interstate but most people travel on the beat up, hilly, deer filled Highway H. However, when you take this you have to slow down when you are going through the city of Oulu...
Well, not exactly. Once a bustling Finnish village, Oulu now is far less bustling. There is a great glass gallery, some beeves, the aforementioned deer, and a church. I have driven by this church countless times in the past 30 years but Saturday I stopped.
This is really a sketch book, as I want to and will go back. The church is a chapel supporting an Independent Apostolic Lutheran Church congregation, and to say it was charming is such an understatement. That branch of Lutheranism came to the US in the 1870s and was, considering the family names prominent in area, a Finnish congregation. Though I grew up in a largely Lutheran town, I never have heard of an Apostolic Lutheran Church.
With good reason. There are only 55 such congregations with less than 9,000 celebrants in the United States. The Apostolic Lutheran Church is similar to traditional Lutheran Doctrine but unless I remember incorrectly , there is another confession (the Augsburg Confessions), the Book of Concord, and another creed, the Athanasian Creed. It has been a few years since confirmation, so perhaps I am understanding this incorrectly. In Scandinavia, where this church is more common, they are sometimes referred to as Laestadian Movement from the minister, Lars Levi Laestadius, of course. Certainly I am not certain about all of this--Google is a wonderful thing, but I probably should have asked the churchy-type people in my life for more and perhaps better information.
But as we all know, the church is not the building or even the name but the people. What I found out about the people is that they take care of and are obviously proud of their church--it is clean, the lawn neatly mowed and it is neatly ordered inside. And it is also a bit rundown. I am guessing that church membership in Oulu is not growing, but I could also guess that its membership is getting older.
I think that the interior of the church probably reflects the order of the service. It is a simple church, with chairs worn by years of hands and butts and the floor worn by probably more than a century of services. A wood stove provides warmth beyond the fellowship, and no gilded alter dominants the sanctuary. By doctrine lay-people are the leaders of the service and you can imagine and feel that. You know, I have seen some of the great cathedrals of the world, but without a doubt this church was one of the most beautiful.
As I mentioned, this is but a sketch of a church I want to and will learn more about. As you can see, the sky was more than threatening that day, but even the outside of this little church in the woods provided shelter. I can't wait to learn more about this shelter.
