St. Francis celebrates the 100th anniversary of its building

This fall, St. Francis is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its building.

On the first Sunday in December in 1906, a hearty group of survivors of that year's Great Earthquake and Fire gathered on Church Street to dedicate their finally completed church building, Ansgar Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church. The dedication had been planned for early May, but the April 18, 1906 earthquake and fire changed all that. The nearly-completed church served as a feeding station and hospital for the injured.

On December 3, 2006, the members, friends, former members, former pastors and their descendants will gather again to relive that day. The liturgy for the day will include elements from the 1906 Danish Service and the luncheon that follows will feature some foods of the time. The luncheon program will recall memories of the last 100 years. On display will be artifacts and newspapers recovered from the recently opened foundation stone which was laid on September 17, 1905.

Ansgar congregation is now St. Francis Lutheran Church, so named in 1964 after merging with another Lutheran congregation. Begun as a church to serve Danish speaking immigrants, the congregation has seen many changes through the years and now serves a diverse population, many who are sexual minority people.

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Pr. James Lokken, 73

Jim Lokken, former Assistant Pastor of St. Francis and a founding member of Lutherans Concerned/North America (LC/NA), counselor and mentor, inveterate story teller, music lover, and patient advocate for full-inclusion, died on Friday, Sept 22 of a heart attack at age 73.

Funeral services for Jim will be held at St. Francis at 11:00 AM on October 14th.

His pastoral roots go back to the old Evangelical Lutheran Church. Jim graduated from Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, and then Luther Seminary in St. Paul and was ordained in 1959.

After serving parishes in Minnesota and South Dakota, Jim went to New York City to serve as Assistant Editor of Lutheran Forum magazine. He continued his editing and writing ministry as part of the editorial staff of The Liturgical Conference, Wash-ington, D.C., 1968-1972; in the Information Department, American Bible Society, New York, 1973-1975; as Editor of The Lutheran New Yorker, 1975-1976; and as Production Director for The Liturgical Conference, Washington, D.C. in 1976-1978. In 1974, he responded to an invitation from the Rev. Jim Siefkes to gather in Minneapolis with a handful of other gay and lesbian Lutherans. At that meeting Jim became one of the founding members of Lutherans Concerned. He wrote and edited "Now The Silence Breaks," a study book and materials published by the National Lutheran Campus Ministry in 1980; the book was the first appearance of a gay positive message in a publication sponsored by national Lutheran church bodies.

Late in the 1970s, Jim moved to California, joining St. Francis when John Rollefson was pastor. In 1982, when James DeLange was pastor, Jim Lokken was called as an assistant pastor, a position he held until his retirement in 1996. After his retirement, Jim continued to be active especially in music-related ministries, with special attention to the church organ. He was a member of the choir for many years, and was one of the driving forces in this year's campaign to establish a plan for and raise money to refurbish the 50-year-old instrument.

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last updated May 5 08 by DW