The Wake

You grew up with Olsons and Nelsons, but now the newest members of your congregation are just as likely to be named Thao or Xiong. In the photographs of “A Mighty Fortress: Far From Lake Wobegon: 21st Century Lutherans at the Confluence of Religion and Ethnicity,” worshippers from around the world bringing new languages, new music, and in many cases, new life to old churches in the Twin Cities.

The exhibit in the atrium of the Elmer S. Anderson Library, now through December 20, features 46 photographs of immigrant Lutheran congregations and musicians as well as examples of hymnals printed in Chinese, Hmong, and Sudanese. At center is a television playing short video clips of singing from various churches of both traditional and contemporary songs in English and other languages.

Photographer Wing Young Huie worked with Allison Adrian, a graduate student in ethnomusicology at the University, to create the exhibit. Adrian’s dissertation uses music as a lens through which to analyze recent changes in the ethnicity of Lutheran parishioners in the Twin Cities.

Lutheran churches in America, both the mainline Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the smaller, more conservative Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod, have been traditionally white and increasingly middle class. Minnesota Lutherans in particular came from German and Scandinavian backgrounds, and immigrants established hundreds of churches in the state. Many congregations are over 100 years old.

But as traditional membership declines, forcing churches to consolidate or close, some congregations are reaching out to immigrant populations. Between 1990 and 2000 the foreign born population of Minnesota increased by 130 percent to over 260,000 people, including immigrants from Mexico, Central America, Africa, China and Southeast Asia. Minnesota currently ranks highest in the nation for its proportion of refugees to residents and second in the number of refugee arrivals.

Several Lutheran churches have opened their doors to immigrant congregations. In some cases the church will share its facilities with a Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Latvian, Sudanese or Liberian congregation, offering support and space while the immigrant congregation keeps its own ministers. In other cases, churches are attempting to merge, as in the case of El Milagro, “The Miracle Church,” a combination of a Spanish speaking congregation and 110-year old St. Luke’s Lutheran Church.

Such combinations present both joys and challenges musically as people try to sing old favorites and learn new songs in different languages. The videotape points out a stark contrast of styles. A clip from the Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Church shows the rhythmic dancing and clapping of African worshippers in colorful robes followed by a shot of older, seated Lutherans singing a traditional hymn at Norwegian Memorial Lutheran Church. The video is not intentionally humorous, but that segment shows the changing look of the church. Particularly sweet is a photograph and video of a tiny choir of five elderly white people and two smiling Hmong teenagers.

A good place to hear this music and see the new faces of the Lutheran Church is the “Christmas of Nations” service, sponsored by AGORA, an ELCA organization working to match Lutheran host churches with immigrant congregations in the metro area. The Christmas of Nations service includes singing, readings, and prayers in several languages, from Spanish to Sudanese, and is a colorful, moving experience, particularly when the African choirs take the stage.

View A Mighty Fortress: Far From Lake Wobegon: 21st Century Lutherans at the Confluence of Religion and Ethnicity” on campus at the Elmer S. Anderson Library, now through December 20. Christmas of Nations will be held Saturday, December 9, at 4 p.m. at Woodlake Lutheran Church, 7525 Oliver Avenue South in Richfield.