Northern Michigan Author Joy Ibsen’s second book Unafraid released in time to honor her dad on Father’s Day 2009; First book Songs of Denmark presented to Danish Royalty during March 2009 U.S. visit
Official Website of Author Joy Ibsen
“Unafraid” page on website of Pubisher Wipf and Stock
(Trout Creek, Michigan)- While going through an old oak file cabinet in her mother’s Nebraska home, Upper Peninsula Author Joy Ibsen of Trout Creek, Michigan rescued her late dad’s sermon notes and that led to one of the nicest gifts a daughter could give for Father’s Day.
Danish-American pastor Rev. Harald Ibsen is the lead co-author of his daughter’s second book Unafraid that was just released in paperback just before Father’s Day 2009 by Wipf and Stock Publishers of Eugene, Oregon.
Rev. Harald Ibsen died in 1972 at age of 74.
Each of the 36 chapters in the 225-page book Unafraid starts with one of her father’s sermons written during the 1940s, 50s and 60s followed by autobiographical and fictional account of what many pastors wonder the thoughts of parishioners listening and what is going on in their lives.
A Lutheran pastor, Harald Ibsen had rural, small town churches in Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska.
On Fathers Day I think about how lucky I was to have a dad like mine, said Ibsen, a writer, piano teacher, musician, lay minister.
Ibsen rescued the sermon notes that had Danish symbols and letters because her father used an old Danish typewriter.
A wild blue jay seems at home as it lands on the hand of the late Rev. Harald Ibsen. Calling the blue jay a “friend,” Ibsen led an unusual and unafraid life and is now co-author of the book “Unafraid” nearly four decades after his death.
Author Joy Ibsen’s grandparents Lars and Mathilda Ibsen are pictured above in a 1902 photo. Joy’s father Harald Ibsen (far right), is shown at age 4 in South Dakota. His parents are holding sister Ingeborg. Harald Ibsen was born in the United States in 1898 but returned to Denmark with his mother in 1904 following the death of his father in 1903. Harald and Ingeborg had two brothers: Lars died as an infant before photo and Ernst was born after the photo.
Unafraid co-author Rev. Harald Ibsen (left) wears his Danish Royal Guard uniform and bear hat in 1919. Ibsen served in the Danish Royal Guard at Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen. Meanwhile a more modern photo on the right by photographer Sisse Brimberg shows the uniform has changed little in a century including the bear skin hat.
From protecting a castle as a member of the Danish Royal Guard to being a construction worker at Yellowstone National Park, Rev. Ibsen’s career was as unusual as his parenting style.
The mother of three grown children and two grandchildren, Ibsen say her parents have been models for my own parenting.
The Ibsen children were anything but the traditional preacher’s kids due to the unconventional child-rearing views her dad held in the conventional 1940s and 1950s.
Rev. Harald Ibsen and Asta Juhl get married on September 8, 1935. Ibsen officially became a pastor on his wedding day. Ibsen would later show his unique fatherly view of the world during the weddings of his daughters, Joy and Karma.
Her dad’s view of the world was different from many fathers as shown in his comments at the weddings of Ibsen and her sister.
We always enjoyed having Joy as a guest in our home, said Harald Ibsen, a 1933 graduate of Grand View College Seminary.
Joy Ibsen said, dad believed children are ‘guests’ who during their growing up years, lived with parents, who help and guide them but we were not expected to fulfill the dreams of our parents.
Of course, we had to comply with house rules because ‘guests’ dont track in mud or stay out unreasonable hours, Ibsen said of her upbringing. Welcome ‘guests’ always lend a hand, help out, and they certainly dont get spanked.
Dr. Walter Brueggemann
Well-known Christian author Dr. Walter Brueggemann described Ibsen’s father as fresh in his thought, puckish in his style and grounded in faith during his endorsement of Unafraid.
We may thank the daughter for letting us know her remarkable father, Brueggemann wrote. Harald was unafraid as an immigrant who lived in a venturesome way.
Brueggemann and others have said the book is relevant today because some of the same issues discussed by Ibsen’s congregation members are the same today including the bad economy, war, child-rearing difficulties, terminal illness, death of spouse, career choice, marital problems and loss of faith.
L. DeAne Lagerquist Rev. Harry Andersen
Endorsements of Unafraid were also written by St. Olaf College religion professor L. DeAne Lagerquist and and retired Lutheran Bishop Emeritus Harry Andersen of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Northern Great Lakes Synod.
Langerquist wrote that the sermons by late Rev. Ibsen “demonstrate that Grundtvigian happiness was not blind to sorrow or suffering or social ills, but neither was it defeated by such trials. Reflections from his hearers bring the gospel into the realities of farm life, child rearing, marriage, and disease.”
Anderson stated he is “mightily moved and impacted by the insightful sermons and the stories that follow.”
Unafraid doesn’t mean a person is problem-free and it surely doesn’t mean to be reckless, said Ibsen, who is vice president of the Pine Mountain Music Festival board of directors.
Several titles for her second book were mulled over but Ibsen named it after the Danish hymn Unafraid from her first book Songs of Denmark that has 48 songs in both Danish and English.
Published in July 2005, Songs of Denmark was presented to Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary by Grand View University President Kent Henning during a March 2009 ceremony, according to an article in the Des Moines Register.
The hymn Unafraid was sung by the Danish Resistance during World War Two a time of terrible danger, said Ibsen.
Joy Ibsen lived in Davenport, IA for 11 years (1967 to 1978), Milwaukee for four years (1978-1982), and in the Chicago suburbs of Oak Park and Evanston, IL for 18 years (1982 to 2000). She has since lived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the town of trout Creek.
Nevertheless one can live with confidence, and hope. Today’s society is bombarded by all kinds of fears and we need to learn to live unafraid.
Ibsen said her father did not require his children to practice his religion and encouraged them to seek their own spirituality.
Because my Dad was a Lutheran minister, we went to church every Sunday, but when I went away to college, to my surprise he suggested that I attend other churches so that I would be exposed to different faiths, said Ibsen, who holds arts and humanities degrees from Grand View College in Des Moines and Shimer College in Chicago.
He wanted his children to have a religion that was chosen, real and meaningful to them because that was much more important than appearances, said Ibsen, who did graduate work in religion and literature at the University of Chicago and completed the theological education program in Episcopal lay ministry at the University of the South school of theology in Sewanee, TN.
In one of his sermons, Harald Ibsen said the primary task of parents is to help their children understand the purpose of their lives.
That sermon says it all about her father’s view of parenting, Joy Ibsen said. Fathers and mothers are not to mold their children, but rather to listen to them, be attune to their strengths, respect them, help them realize their God-given purpose in life, allow them to make mistakes, Ibsen said. How else do we learn lifes hard lessons and walk a different path than what the parents might have chosen?
While his parenting was untypical, Harald Ibsen was an athletic, outdoor person who loved to hunt, fish, hike, play golf, and always had an amazing garden, Joy Ibsen said.
These are important values for me, Ibsen said. Every time I play golf I still think of my Dad, although he was much better at it than I am.
By his not asking me to be like him, I am more able to understand and honor who he was apart from me, and to celebrate differences between other people in my world, Ibsen said.
In many ways, I try to be like him. On the other hand, I honor our differences.
Ibsen is currently working on two other books including Hatchings that describes experiences of death and how it is similar to birthing.
Trout Creek Library (left) in Trout Creek, Michigan. Author Joy Ibsen (far right) signs “Unafraid” for Joyce Game on June 7, 2009 at the Trout Creek Library during the kick-off of her Midwest book signing events. (Photos by Don Lenef)
Ibsen has book signings scheduled through August in several towns near where she grew up and held her first public appearance on June 7 in her hometown Trout Creek Library.
In the summer of 2009, Ibsen will appear in her hometown of Viborg, SD on July 18 (She graduated from Viborg High School in 1958), at North Wind Books in Hancock, MI at 4 p.m. on Thurs., July 30 and the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, IA on August 17.
Ibsen will be presenting a paper on Danish ingenuity as expressed in the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen at the Danish-American Heritage Society conference on October 3 in Minneapolis.
Unafraid can be purchased from the publisher at the $29 normal retail price. The book is briefly on sale for $25 from the author and will be in U.P. bookstores including North Wind Books in Hancock and the Ontonagon Herald offices.
Ibsen is the editor and columnist for Church and Life, a publication of the Danish Interest Conference through the ELCA.
An original member of the interfaith U.P. EarthKeeper environment group, Ibsen is a lay minister with the AELC Lutheran Church and an organist at Trinity Lutheran Church in Trout Creek, MI. She served as president of the Danish Immigrant Museum and is a participant at the Danebod Folk School.
Collage of the Harald Ibsen Family through the years in several Midwest states including (top left) Rev. Harald Ibsen and Asta Juhl on their Wedding Day September 8, 1935; (top right) Ibsen Family in Diamond Lake, MN in 1942; (bottom left) Ibsens in Kimballton, Iowa in 1947 and (bottom right) Ibsens in Viborg, SD in 1957
Sermons used in Unafraid are from Christmas, New Year, Epiphany, Lent, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost, Trinity, and Advent. The sermons were given by Rev. Harald Ibsen at six churches in four states: The Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in Lake Benton, MN; Hope Lutheran Church, Ruthton, MN; Immanuel Lutheran Church, Kimballton, IA; Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Viborg, SD; Trinity Lutheran Church, Gayville, SD and St. John Lutheran Church, Marquette, NE.
Our Savior’s Lutheran Church (left) and the Danish Gynamsium Hall (right) in Viborg, SD. The churches in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s used to include gymnastics as an important part of the church life.
Immanuel Lutheran Church (left) in Kimballton, IA and the St. John’s Lutheran Church (right) is located in the Danish village of Kronborg, NE (no post office) and is located three miles east of Marquette, NE, the closest town and the official address for the church.
Rev. Ibsen belonged to the American Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC), formerly the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church, that merged into the Lutheran Church in Amerca (LCA) in 1962 that merged into the ELCA in 1987.
Ibsen manages Danamerica, a Danish-American website about her first book Songs of Denmark.
Photographs in Songs of Denmark are by National Geographic photographer Sisse Brimberg and a 70-minute CD of the songs was produced by the Grand View College Kantorei.
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Joy Ibsen contact info:
Joy Marie Ibsen
P O Box 43
Trout Creek, MI
49967
Call:
906-852-3479
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Author Joy Ibsen official website
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Joy Ibsen social and photograph websites:
Author Joy Ibsen on Word Press blog
Author Joy Ibsen on Photobucket
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Wipf & Stock Publishing: Unafraid by Joy Ibsen and Rev. Harald Ibsen
Wipf and Stock: Author Joy Ibsen bio
Wipf and Stock: Harald Ibsen bio
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Joy Ibsen, Editor of “Church and Life”
Joy Ibsen bio on “Church and Life“
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Danamerica is the official website of Ibsen’s first book Songs of Denmark: Songs to Live By with color photographs by National Geographic photographer Sisse Brimberg. Produced 70 minute CD by the Grand View College Kantorei
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Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig:
Joy Ibsen writes about four principles of Grundtvigianism
Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig aka N.F.S. Grundtvig, Danish bishop and poet info on Wikipedia and Britannica websites:
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Pine Mountain Music Festival:
Joy Ibsen serves as vice president of the Pine Mountain Music Festival board of directors
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Media coverage 2006-2010:
Superior Chronicle story on Unafraid on 6-18-09
Iron Mountain Daily News brief on upcoming book signing at Finn Fest 2009 in Covington, MI
Joy Ibsen honored in her childhood home newspaper Yankton Press-Dakotan in July 2008 during annual Danish Days festival for first book Songs of Denmark“
Joy Ibsen first book Songs of Denmark is mentioned in story by Des Moines Register because book was presented to Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary by Grand View University President Kent Henning during a March 2009 ceremony. The story “Danish royalty pay visit to Grand View” by Cynthia Reynaud appeared on 3-25-09 (requires subscription to read)
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The book Unafraid is sold online by publisher and numerous Windows Booksellers website and other sites:
Amazon.com UK: Harald Ibsen listing
Amazon.com UK: Joy Ibsen listing
Amazon.com UK: “Unafraid” listing
New & Used copies of the book “Unafraid“ on Amazon.com
Other websites related to Denmark, Author Joy Ibsen or information in the story:
Danebod Family Camps & Folk School
Danish American Heritage Society publication “The Bridge”
Danish Royal Family on Wikipedia
Danish Royal Family on Danish Royal Watchers blog
Grand View University, (formerly Grand View College) a four-year, liberal-arts college affiliated with the ELCA in Des Moines
Grand View University on Wikipedia
Paul Tillich, German-American theologian, Christian existentialist philosopher on Wikipedia
Paul Tillich on theology website
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
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Friends of Author Joy Ibsen:
Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard and Rev. Dr. George Cairns founded the nonprofit Turtle Island Project in 2007 to foster respect for indigenous people and cultures and to promote what they can teach us about caring and repairing the environment.
Rev. Hubbard is the executive director of the ELCA-related Navajo Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona. Rev. Cairns is a Chicago Theological Seminary professor who founded the nonprofit Celtic Christianity Today.
Read the Spirit, an online spiritual magazine with inspirational stories and book reviews created by David Crumm, the longtime religion editor for the Detroit Free Press. Crumm established ten pinciples for his work that all people with a religion should read.
The many interfaith and youth-related environment projects founded by Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, MI under the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute.
Magnuson’s CTI co-founded the EarthKeeper Initiative, and founded the Earth Healing Initiative, Manoomin Project and the Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project.
Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project – Native American and Marquette area teens protecting pollinators project:
Zaagkii Project Story Part 1 Indian Country Today newspaper
Zaagkii Project Story Part 2 Indian Country Today newspaper
Zaagkii Project hailed as success by U.S. Forest Service
Zaagkii Project blog on wordpress
Non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative: Numerous environment projects across the Great Lakes Basin in cooperation with the EPA, American Indian Tribes and local governments
Earth Healing Initiative was part of the first EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge with youtube and bliptv videos.
EarthKeeper TV on youtube has EarthKeeper and Manoomin Project videos including stories and a Manoomin Project music video & more
Manoomin Project story in Indian Country Today
Manoomin Project Story in World Magazine
Author Joy Ibsen encourages everyone to live their life “Unafraid”
Books by northern Michigan author Joy Ibsen 
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