Polka Mass: an uncommon celebration of music and worship

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

Rosebud Church invites everyone to the fifth annual Art Dahlen Memorial Polka Mass, a service of worship and communion set to polka music, Nov. 6 at 11 a.m.
Art Dahlen was a Lutheran pastor and musician who “loved God, loved his family, loved music,” said Shauna Murphy, who coordinates the annual Polka Mass.
“What was important in his life was scripture and clear-telling as a pastor, a pastoral message,” said Dahlen’s son-in-law, LaVerne Erickson.
In the late 1990s, Dahlen met Father Frankie Perkovich, who’d written the Polka Mass.
“(Art) just heard it and was totally taken by it,” Murphy said.
Dahlen and his brothers got a Polka Mass cassette and notated the music, modifying the lyrics to fit a Protestant service.
“He said to me one day, ‘Shauna, there’s this thing called the Polka Mass. I really think we should do that,’” Murphy said. “Polka Mass? I’m thinking, what? I’ve never heard those two words together. He says, yeah, I’ll give you a tape.”
“I listened to it and I thought this is crazy. Polka music. Liturgy. Polka and liturgy. It feels like opposing ideas,” she said. “But I said, ‘you are so right, Art. We should do this thing.’”
They discussed venues.
“But talk is cheap,” Murphy said. “We talked and talked and we didn’t do anything.”
Dahlen was diagnosed with cancer, and it became terminal, but the Polka Mass was still on his mind. “About a month before Dad passed away, my sister and I were with him and he talked about funeral arrangements and the Polka Mass,” said his daughter Arlene Erickson in an e-mail. “He even had suggestions for what should be served for a lunch following. He wanted to be sure that one day it would be done in Rosebud and he’d chosen Shauna Murphy to see it through.”
Dahlen passed away in 2011, and soon afterward, Arlene Erickson brought to Murphy her father’s Polka Mass cassettes and written music.
“The next fall, 2012, was our first Art Dahlen Memorial Polka Mass,” Murphy said. “I was only sad that he wasn’t with me. I had a lot of questions.”
She was surprised to discover that Scott Heatcote, a young man working in Rosebud, had played accordion in the Polka Mass when he was growing up.
“So he was my Art Dahlen,” Murphy said. “That was like a God-given gift to me. He came along and he helped lead us.”
Bill Daugherty, Connie Canfield and a band of accordionists from Three Hills joined them, along with Bill Hamm on guitar, LaVerne Erickson on tone bells and Murphy on piano. The musicians return every year, even Heatcote, who drives from Edmonton.
“(The) polka music is so infectious,” Murphy said. “Coupled with the words of faith, your basic words of faith. We sing all of that to this music that’s so uplifting. I mean, it was about the most joy-filled service I’ve ever been part of.
“I don’t think you can come out there without smiling ear to ear,” she added. “I just see a big bunch of joy in the congregation too. That’s what the music does to the words. And what a sound, that many accordions can pretty much blow the wall off the church.”
At each Polka Mass, Murphy is glad to see Arlene Erickson and her family in the congregation. “It’s just a nice tribute to their grandpa and their dad that we do it in his memory,” Murphy said.
This year’s Polka Mass will also be a memorial of another kind for Murphy, as it’s the birthday of her mother, Nomy Hite, who passed away in February.
“(Mom) opened the door for my music,” Murphy said. “She’s a very big part of me, no matter if she’s living or gone.”
Everyone is welcome at the Art Dahlen Memorial Polka Mass. The service will be followed by a meal, at which guests are also welcome.