I grew up in a good Lutheran Christian home. My heritage was Norwegian, typical of the western Wisconsin area where I grew up. The towns closest to our farm had populations of 410 and 1100.
My knowledge of the churches in the area is limited to the churches my classmates attended. I remember "our" Lutheran Church in the country. It was a traditional steepled white frame structure in a rural pastoral setting - the kind that you find pictured on Christmas cards. About a half mile away there was "the other" Lutheran Church - same synod but separate building , separate pastor and separate cemetery. And then there was the Dutch Reformed element - "Hollanders", some of the old Norwegians called them. They also had a couple of congregations ; whether they were the same flavor or different, I don't remember. Both Lutheran pastors had been there long enough to marry most of the parents of my generation. I never knew much about the other pastors in the area.
I was pretty loyal to my church. After all, a good many of my ancestors are buried in "our" church yard. I had an uncle who was buried at the "other" church. But, I thought, that was OK because he was "just" an uncle by marriage, and he died before I was born anyway.
The two churches split sometime in the 1800's, I guess. I never knew why the split occurred. I knew plenty of "old timers" but none of them knew either. But by the late 50's new pastors arrived and there was a sharing of facilities and manpower, but there was always some polarization.
Confirmation class was interesting when our pastor would tell stories of his experiences. But before the course was finished that pastor left for another post and was replaced by an elderly interim pastor. In those days, the "assessment" (an educational term) for the class consisted of writing portions of the Catechism from memory. The interim pastor had an honor system for doing the writing, which we totally abused. We just opened the book and copied when he walked out of the room.
So confirmation came and went. I was kind of disappointed that the confirmation service took place in the "other" church.
In school I was a mechanical "hands-on" type of person. I was good in math but found it boring unless I could apply it. I liked science if I was doing it and I was bored if I was just watching it or writing answers to chapter questions. I had talents in those areas; I liked knowing the answers.
By the time I graduated from high school, I had decided I would major in physics education.
I had also decided that the religion of my youth didn't offer me much. All I saw was church buildings that housed people with problems for an hour once a week. But I still "surfed" the radio bands and listened to various preachers. The ones who were positive and not weird or syrupy tended to hold my attention. I liked Norman Vincent Peale's gospel of positiveness; Billy Graham seemed genuine.
Anyone who listened to radio preachers much in the 60's and 70's would have come across the World Tomorrow sponsored by the Worldwide Church of God. The degree of coverage would have made initial contact inevitable. Herbert W. Armstrong and Garner Ted Armstrong gave me what I wanted at the time; their every syllable shouted glib positiveness, confidence, and special truth. The Worldwide Church of God at that time offered positive answers to everything from world peace to how to cure a cold.
I was off on a 30 year leg of my Christian journey by late 1964.
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Epilogue
April 1, 1999
Thirty-five years have passed since the last of the events related above. Last summer after attending a teacher's training class in Nebraska, I took a swing up north through my home town of Baldwin, Wisconsin to attend services at the Church of my youth. People still call it by its old name - Woodside. That Church building is no longer used for regular services except for the first two Sundays in August. The "other" church was chosen to be official meeting place when the congregations merged.
It was a pleasant experience. I recalled a time when I was so steeped in the "old" WCG being the only true church that I had a nightmare about being in this Church for a regular Sunday service. I am happy that those days are past.
I happened to attend Woodside at the first Sunday of the month, which was their Sunday for communion, and I partook of communion as well. No one in the congregation could know how significant this communion was for me. It was like a school commencement service - representing both a milestone reached and miles yet to travel. I long for the day when all Christians will commune together. |
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