CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Public television stations are beginning to schedule broadcast times for a one-hour documentary on the demise of a rural Minnesota congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). "Delafield" is also producer Mark Brodin's examination of American farming communities.
Founded in the 1870s by Norwegian settlers of southwestern Minnesota, Delafield Evangelical Lutheran Church. The congregation grew to epitomize family farming in the United States. It dealt with all matters of life and faith for 125 years. It struggled to retain its younger generations and finally disbanded in 1998. The church building was loaded on a truck and taken away.
"One aspect of rural churches that I didn't understand until I left was connectedness," Brodin said in an interview. He traced five generations of Brodins, who founded and worshiped at Delafield Evangelical Lutheran Church. "What heritage does in a communal sense, is connect people to place and each other," he said.
"Connectedness centered on the church because of its manifest identity to order, community and faith," said Brodin. "Looking around at society today, I don't see where those relationships can be as relevant, given the transient nature of people's lives and occupations. I wonder at how that will affect the future of communities and connectedness," he said.
"As a child at Delafield Evangelical Lutheran Church, I remember Sunday school and related Christmas and Vacation Bible School programs. I remember the heat of my confirmation day and the importance placed on that event," said Brodin.
"I remember the tactile imagery -- the feel of the wind as it swept across open fields and buffeted the church walls, the damp smell of the basement where people met for fellowship after the service, the feel of the curved altar railing during Communion distribution," he said. "On hot summer days, the ushers would leave the front doors open to let the soothing wind circulate."
Some memories take on deeper meaning, said Brodin. "The pews had a cross-like design etched into them on the aisle end. I remember running my finger around and around that design, during the long services. It was one way to be active and yet not cause a distraction," he said.
"Tracing the cross takes on a new meaning as I think back now and imagine my father doing it, his mother and her mother -- all at that stage in life when the meaning of the words may not have had a big impact (especially in the early part of the century when the services were in Norwegian), but the repetition of tracing the cross could. It seems a significant continuity -- tracing the cross," said Brodin.
Now Brodin lives in Minneapolis, occupying himself with a series of jobs related to his role as an independent television producer. Sunday mornings find him running sound equipment for congregations televising their worship services. "I'm making a living, but I wonder at my own connectedness," he said.
Brodin said he relishes the multicultural environment of Minneapolis, interacting and working with people of other races, ethnicities and religions. "I think about the deep rich heritage their cultures bring them," he said, while feeling "plain and ordinary for growing up middle class, Midwest and White."
Producing "Delafield" helped Brodin recognize that he does have a heritage worth celebrating, he said. "It is the same story I hear time after time as people talk to me after screenings of 'Delafield.'"
"The common experience of rural life -- connected to church, connected to community -- is an identity that we can share," said Brodin. "In a society that is diversifying, it's an experience that is unique. -- -- --
Information about "Delafield" is available at http://www.delafieldchurch.com/ on the Web.
Broadcast schedules and other information about the "Delafield"
documentary are available at http://www.itvs.org/ on the Web site of the
Independent Television Service.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
