Pastor Norm Retires from Our Savior’s

At Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Westby on Sunday, June 26, 2011 Pastor Norm Rose conducted his last service before retiring. And so for the second time in three weeks, the congregation of OS said goodbye to a well-loved pastor, since Pastor Gary Daines retired three weeks ago. And as is proper for a good Lutheran church, the farewell for Pastor Norm was marked with good music and good food.

Pastor Norm Rose

The worship service was interwoven with music. Bach, Handel, and a lovely rendition of “Beautiful Savior” were contributed by the organ. As opening hymn the congregation surprised Pastor Norm with his favorite hymn, “I Love to Tell the Story.” It made a very special moment for a man who has been “telling the story” for forty-four years. In fact, it was such a moving moment that it took Pastor Norm some time to recover his composure.  

On behalf of WELCA, Lynette Johnson presented the pastor with a lovely wooden plate painted by Karen Hankee. The center of the plate depicted Our Savior’s Church. Lynette thanked Pastor Norm for his years of service at Our Savior’s. This thank you echoed the sentiments of many in the congregation.

The sermon for Pastor Rose’s final service was built on thoughts triggered by the reading in Genesis 22 of the story of Abraham and his son, Isaac. The pastor told the congregation that when he felt the call of God forty-four years ago to “Feed My sheep,” he first answered, in that succinct way of his, “Lord, You really blew it this time! I have no gift for such a calling.” But though our God is a demanding God, He is also an all-seeing and all-knowing one who provides us with our needs, just as He provided Abraham with a ram to replace Isaac as an offering.  And so He provided Pastor Norm the guidance he needed along the path to his long years of service in the ministry. As a fitting conclusion to the sermon, Ron Evenstad sang “How Great Thou Art.”

After closing prayers the congregation repeated the hymn “I Love to Tell the Story” and succeeded again in nearly overwhelming Pastor Norm. And they joined the organ in an anthem postlude of the same hymn, making it three for three and surely a memorable service for the retiring pastor.

A potluck followed the worship service, with a large spread of dishes designed to please the eye and the palate. The great number of hot dishes reminded this writer that “hot dish” and “Lutheran” have been closely linked for a long time.