XII. “Save the Best for Sunday”
Oslo
May 25, 2008

After a rainy Saturday in Oslo when we tramped the downtown streets searching for a sweater, Sunday morning surprised us with sunshine and warmer temperatures. Marilyn, our host, left early for Holmen Church to do her duties as church organist and choir director, and by 10:00 a.m. we left the house to walk to church. What a beautiful day!
Holmen is less than 20 minutes from here. The church building is about 45 years old and in a suburban location, much different from the other churches we have visited which were either rural or urban and much, much older. Unlike the prevailing stories of the Norwegian state church this appeared to be a most vital congregation with crowds of people of varying ages and a sense of energy and vitality to the congregation’s life. There were 9 baptisms and two confirmations, so this was a youth-centered Sunday, and that brought out whole families.
The pastor was warm and engaging, and the music was superb. Marilyn is a very accomplished church musician, and she put together a young girls’ music group just for today, and she accompanied and directed them, played the piano for the hymns, and revealed her masterful skills at the organ with a difficult Bach number for the postlude. There were bunad-wearing kids and parents for this festive day, and the beauty of these traditional costumes added something special. Marilyn’s young musicians had beautiful voices, and they added the most special ingredient to the worship.
After the service we visited with many friendly folks, and I particularly enjoyed the pastor. We had to cut short our conversation when I realized we were dangerously close to missing our 2:00 p.m. appointment to meet relative Gunnar Bolstad who was to pick us up to go sailing. In a matter of minutes we were back at the house, changing clothes, meeting Gunnar, and getting in his car to drive about 15 minutes to the Oslofjord.
I can’t imagine a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon in Oslo. Gunnar is a year older than I, slight of build and athletic, an economist for an aluminum-smelting company, and a good-humored man. His grandmother was my grandfather’s sister, so we are cousins of some dimension—2nd? His boat is 32 feet long, the last of his steady progression of bigger and better boats, and it is the first sailboat we have ever been on. He laughed about the “three feet disease” suffered by many who own sailboats. It’s the desire to always own a boat that’s at least three feet longer than the one you own.
His boat is moored in a pack of boats, some rusted and small, and others mighty and beautiful. He invited us into the cabin where he treated us to a picnic lunch of long wieners boiled and topped with sweet mustard then wrapped in lefse. That seems to be the contemporary usage of lefse in Norway, more popular than the Christmas special wrapped around butter and sugar. Then he unwrapped a kringle stuffed with cinammon and raisins and covered with frosting that his wife had made for the occasion, and we were nourished for the sailing.
Up on deck he navigated us out into the water, uncovered the sail, provided us brief instructions on how to run the boat in case of an emergency, and then put the wheel in my hands. For a while we ran on the boat’s engine, and even though the wind wasn’t very strong we did sail under wind power alone for about an hour. It was a beautiful day on the water, and lots of Norwegians were enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.
We spent several hours on the water. He chose to avoid the downtown part of Oslo because there would be too many boats there, so we sailed around the number of small islands, some populated with campers and others with nice homes. The air was brisk and salty, the view was wonderful, and we were some pretty happy first time sailors. Gunnar was a great captain and warm host, and we enjoyed his company very much.
In looking back over the nearly three weeks of travel I realize that even though I have enjoyed the whole trip, Sundays have been the special days. As a retired pastor I’ve appreciated the exposure to Lutheran life in different countries, so the church experience has been informative and good. But also on each of these Sundays we have had the time to be with new people, many of them new relatives, and we have had time to explore. Gunnar brought pictures of his family, pictures that included my mother and Uncle Clyde from their visit here in 1973, and he gave me a written document prepared by an uncle of his that puts on paper the generations of his family back to the 1700’s. The combination of these ingredients have made Sundays the best.