"laestadian, apostolic, gay, lgbtq, ex-oalc, ex-llc, llc, oalc, bunner" LEARNING TO LIVE FREE: FinnFest, August 10-14, Marquette, MI

Thursday, June 09, 2005

FinnFest, August 10-14, Marquette, MI

I've never wanted to go to a FinnFest before (click on title above to go to their website). I figured it would be similar to other ethnic festivals: fried food, folk music, crappy crafts -- all of which can be had locally, any day of the week. However, I checked out this year's offerings and discovered that "the foremost" (how many can there be?) Laestadius scholar, Dr. Juha Pentikäinen, of the University of Helsinki, will be lecturing. He edited, and wrote the introduction to, LLL's "Fragments of Lappish Mythology." There will also be two Apostolic Lutheran pastors talking about the history of Laestadianism in America.

Hmmm . . . all that might be interesting. Maybe one of you Michigan readers could go and take notes? It would save me a plane ticket. On the other hand, the UP must be lovely in August. On the third hand, there are mosquitos.
Dr. Juha Pentikäinen
Dr. Juha Pentikäinen

14 comments:

  1. For your third hand......August is the lovliest month to visit the UP. The MI airforce has died down to a soft hum that is only bad at sundown. If you can swing the trip you won't be disappointed. My relatives are coming from Phoenix just for the FinnFest. As an added bonus, the wild blueberries and thimbleberries are usually at their peak during the first 2 weeks of August. Thats worth a side trip into the wilds of the Keeweenaw Peninsula!

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  2. Give us the date and location.

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  3. This is from the pdf flyer you can download from the website:
    The FGF 2005 Worship Committee is planning a “Day of Theology” for Wednesday, August 10. There will be lectures from visiting theologians and scholars focusing on the history of Laestadianism and Finnish insights into Luther. Among the speakers will be Dr. Juha Pentikäinen of the University of Helsinki and Dr. C. Raymond Holmes of Andrews University. Carl Kulla and Elmer Yliniemi will speak on the history of Laestadianism in America. The Worship Committee is planning Sunday services to include the Rev. Paavo Kortekangas, retired Bishop of Tampere.

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  4. On a VERY light note, that Juha is as cute as a button!!! Just an old gal's observation.

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  5. D--n him and D--n his good hair. Just an envious, old guy's observation!

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  6. LOL. That's probably a publicity photo from twenty years/twenty pounds ago.

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  7. Juha has been one of my teachers. He knows a lot about laestadianism - listen to him, if you have possibilities!

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  8. I wonder if someone would take on the "assignment" of reporting to this site on his talk? I sure would be interested in hearing what he has to say.

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  9. Looks like a little lull here in postings. Here is a project for someone--calculate the percentage of the world population that is saved according to the OALC.

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  10. "calculate the percentage of the world population that is saved..."

    Heaven knows the percentages, I cant calculate.

    7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
    7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

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  11. Here an interesting tidbit... I did a search (google and yahoo) on Old Apostolic Lutheran and Apostolic Lutheran . It's amazing how much info there is out there. One thing I noted was how several (not all) of the different branches (splits) declared how they were the "true" faith while the others were straying. I wonder if they ever stop to think about that?! They are all so sure that they're right.
    Anyway I found it interesting and thought others might too.

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  12. Calculating saved vs. unsaved shouldn't be that hard. How many OALC members are there in Washington, Montana, North & South Dakota, Michigan, New York, Finland, Sweden, and anywhere else there are sorrowful ones? Someone should be able to give at least a ball park figure. Now, how many people are there in the world right now? Someone must have an idea of how many sorrowless souls the world holds now in 2005. Then you just subtract the sorrowful from the sorrowless and and you have it. Would somebody please do this? Thanks, I just want to get it into perspective.

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  13. Okay, okay, I'll do the dirty job... ;)

    As far as I know the total population of the whole world at the moment is 6.2 billion = 6 200 000 000.

    The number of OALC members in the different countries:

    Finland: 10 000 - 15 000
    US & Canada: 10 000 - 15 000
    Norway: 5 000
    Sweden: 1 000
    Other countries: 1 000
    Total: 27 000 - 38 000

    According to my calculations the percentage would be 0.0004% -0.0006%. Not much, huh?

    As for the other Laestadian groups, the percentage would be pretty much the same for ALC, while for Laestadian Lutheran Church (SRK in Finland), the percentage would be 0.0015% - 0.002% because there are more of them, about 100 000 - 120 000.

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  14. Looks like Yliniemi has put out a book of English language sources on the history of the Laestadian movement:

    http://imageevent.com/sprucegrovechurch/churchhistorybook?p=0&n=1&m=24&c=4&l=0&w=4&s=0&z=2

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