MarCH 2022 Cover & Higlights

Highlights for March 2022 Issue
In tribute to the Ukrainian people resisting the Russian military invasion, the cover graphic features the words of the song of the Danish resistance against Nazi Germany “Altid frejdig når du går” set inside a heart. Though resisters, both now and then, could be of any religion, the cross and anchor behind the heart reflect the Christian faith of most. Such melding of words and shapes is the speciality of Danish designer Jane Rødde, whose work can be viewed and ordered at her website https://songshape.dk.

In North America, the song has a life of its own, sometimes sung to a different melody than the one common in Denmark and with more than one translation into English. Ed Madsen offers another translation and shares both personal connections to the song and Biblical references that inspired him.

Drawing on the gospel reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for this year’s third Sunday in Lent,  Rev. Michael Marsh offers his sermon “Opening to Life,” which has quite a Grundtvigian tone for an Episcopalian priest. In other sermons on his blog, “Interrupting the Silence,” he references Dr. John Caputo, one of the scholars who presented at the 2019 Farstrup-Mortensen lecture series, a reminder of the impactful and thoughtful people that the series brought for so many years.

“Opening to Life” could well be the subtitle for the final installment of “A Millennium Christmas Story,’ the email exchange between Joy Ibsen and Ann Becker to arrange for a Norwegian man to have surgery  in Chicago for his aneurysm.

Paul Petersen reflects on the varied lives of people buried in the cemetery of West Denmark Lutheran Church, organized in Polk County, WI, over 148 years ago.
​
Michael Faval Goldman, a presenter at last year’s Danebod Folk Meeting, was gracious to allow the use of his shape poem “G,” a nice way to introduce Gifts and complement the cover songshape.

---