For the fifth decade of my life, and beyond, I plan to major in adventure travel, meaning that when there's an opportunity to fly somewhere distant to attend a celebration, I will call Northwest Airlines and find a way to get there, even if it's a last minute deal.
After church on Sunday, June 24, I asked Linda J. if she was planning to attend the ordination service for the new pastor coming to serve our churches--Our Savior's Lutheran and Faith Lutheran. Since she is the chairman of the call committee, I thought she would attend. On that morning she didn't have plans, but by Sunday evening, we both had airline tickets and a plan for Thursday, June 28.
We flew from Duluth to JFK in New York and Sara Neddig, a member of Ascension Lutheran Church, found us in the baggage claim department. Linda told her we were two old Finnish ladies and that she'd be wearing an aqua t-shirt. Sara is the custodian of the church and was excited about setting up for the ordination service on Sunday.
We stayed at a Hampton Inn in Comack, NY. It's in the central part of Long Island. On Thursday evening we had dinner at the home of our new pastor, Donna Olsen. Her husband John and daughters Meghan and Molly were there also. We learned that Donna would like to be called Pastor Olsen and that John had made all the stained glass windows at Ascension Lutheran. Meghan is a graduate student planning to enroll in a social work program and Molly is a political science student in Binghampton, NY.John and Meghan took us out to tour on Friday. We visited Sagamore Hill, Teddy Roosevelt's home on Oyster Bay, ate lunch at a diner, and walked on Jones Beach. We had dinner at the Olsen home and then found an Italian restaurant for a glass of wine before bed.
On Saturday we found our way on the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station in NYC. We met a mother and daughter on the train who gave us clear instructions for how to get on the correct train for our ride back to Long Island. We walked along Seventh Avenue from 34th to 50th Street. I couldn't resist buying a little silk dupioni and twill tape for apron strings at a fabric shop along the way. It was a sunny, breezy day in NYC and people watching was excellent. We saw the musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" and enjoyed that very much. Dinner was at Ellen's Stardust Diner where the wait staff sings between waiting on tables. When you aren't accustomed to using public transportation, it feels like a real accomplishment to figure it out, and then arrive back at "home", the Deer Park train station, safely.
We set the alarm for early Sunday morning so there would be time for breakfast and for attending church. Before the 10:45 a.m. service at Ascension we took pictures for the photo display Poster we planned to set up at both our churches. Ascension has about 1800 members, three pastors, and numerous deacons. Spanish language church services are held twice a week and many community groups use the church as a meeting place. Pastor Ryan who preached at the church service was a former intern and our pastor's mentor. He came from his church in Michigan to attend and participate in the ordination. At 1 p.m. the church sanctuary was full and the ordination service began with torch, cross, and Bible bearers, many pastors, and about 15 deacons. The music and lessons had all been chosen by Pastor Olsen and her husband and daughters read the lessons. Bishop Peter Strommen from our district here in Minnesota was there for the ordination and he told the congregation about Minnesota and the area where Donna was going to be the pastor. We found that not many people on Long Island know where Minnesota is, so the information he gave was interesting. The people attending the ordination were very impressed by him and that he would would interrupt his family vacation to come to ordain Donna....oops--Pastor Olsen.
Afterwards, the reception was held in the back yard at the Olsen home in Babylon, NY. A large canopy tent had been set up on Saturday and the caterers had another area for serving the food. About 200 guests were expected. The weather was perfect. Everyone we met welcomed us and told us how fortunate we are to get Pastor Olsen for our churches. It's very easy to agree with them from just the short time we spent with her in NY. She and her husband and daughters are a wonderful family. They are excited about coming to Minnesota, to living a less-hectic lifestyle here and getting involved in the communities.
Our return flights to Duluth went smoothly and we experienced none of the Northwest Airlines traffic delays and cancellations from earlier in the week. Our quickly planned trip was a great success and we were glad we made the effort to attend the ordination.
I arrived home to jump right into the Northern Lights Music Festival concerts and a marathon sewing session for costumes for "Carmina Burana" on Saturday. This festival celebration doesn't require an airline ticket!
