Sameiningin - 01.10.1961, Síða 17

Sameiningin
15
The following address was delivered by Dr. Eylands:—
We are assembled here this evening in order to pay tribute
to the memory of one of the most distinguished sons of this com-
munity, the Rev. Kristinn K. Olafson, who, for twenty years,
served as president of the Icelandic Evangelical Lutheran Synod
in North America. I am glad that under the circumstances I have
the opportunity of coming here in order to assist the local pastor
in this Memorial Service, and as President of the Icelandic Synod
to speak concerning my predecessor in office and my personal
friend. This very large audience is indeed an eloquent testimony
to the esteem in which he was held in this community and also
the presence of this large and very fine choir which has come
to assist in the Service. We are grateful for this manifestation of
loyalty and esteem for our late friend. We want to thank you
all for your manifested interest. We want to bid especially wel-
come to this Service, Mrs. Ethel Olafson. I should like to make
use of this opportunity to express to her our thanks for all that
she has done for our friend in his declining years, for the love,
loyalty and the tender affection which she has bestowed upon him.
We pray God’s abundant blessing upon her and her dear ones and
the members of the family.
Your Pastor has read several portions of Scripture which are
frequently used for Services of this type and I should like to add
yet another selection to his reading, words taken from II Timothy
4:7—“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have
kept the faith.”
You will immediately recognize the author of these words—the
great missionary, the Apostle St. Paul. At the time of writing these
words, his life was drawing to a close and as he looked back upon
his career, three things loomed large before his mind’s eye—the
fight which he had fought, the course which he had almost finished,
and the faith which he defended all through the years even unto
the end. Obviously that which gave him the greatest satisfaction
was the faet that he was able to keep his faith. It was the only
thing which he had preserved. Everything else had been thrown
away. On his own free will he had abandoned everything that
was ordinarily considered precious and important to his con-
temporary country-men, and he had pressed on to obey and to
fulfill the call which God gave him at the time of his youth. There
was a time when life loomed large and beautiful, all signs and
tokens seemed to point to a brilliant future according to the stand-
ards of his age. He had everything—ability, education, family
background and prestige. All these he had brushed aside, given
himself without reserve to Christ, Who henceforth was for him
all in all. And now he stands an old man, forsaken by his friends,