Adam Lidman (1849-1933)
On one occasion while pastoring in Princeton, Illinois, Lidman was up on the parsonage roof installing new shingles to help lower repair costs for the church. While doing so, in his Oshkosh overalls, a couple from the local Lutheran church came by, then without a pastor, inquiring if he would marry them. “Do your love Jesus?” Lidman asked. (That was pastoral counseling in those days!) “Of course,” they responded. “Well, then, I’ll be happy to do so,” Lidman answered. Coming down from the roof, he excused himself a moment to fetch his Prince Albert pastor’s frock in the house, and after donning that over his carpenter’s garb performed their marriage.
When it was over the young man asked what he owed Lidman, to which he replied, “Well, why don’t you pay me what you think it was worth?” The young husband brought out 50 cents, which no doubt seemed a lot to him then. It wasn’t much, of course, but Lidman, not to be outdone, gave him 25 cents change!
Shortly after arriving in America, several local Lutheran pastors were going together on a day-trip down the Mississippi River, and feeling somewhat sorry for Lidman, a young “greenhorn” as they thought of him—no doubt a bit intellectually deprived as well—invited him to come along. For most of that day he sat somewhat aside from their sharing, largely in theological discourse. Feeling sorry for Lidman and wanting to include him somehow, unlettered and awkward as he seemed to them, they decided as evening began to fall to invite him to offer a benediction before leaving the boat and heading home. “I was grateful for their invitation and concern for me,” Lidman said, “and to make that clear I showed my gratitude by offering multiple benedictions--in Hebrew, Greek, German, Swedish, and English!” Once, during a funeral message, Lidman, looking down from his pulpit on the casket of the departed, said, “Here lies Minnie! I buried Minnie’s grandma; I buried Minnie’s mama. And now I am burying Minnie. To tell you the truth, I don’t feel so hot myself!” On the occasion of another funeral, mixing his metaphors, whether consciously or unconsciously, Lidman declared while looking down on the departed, “Here lies only the shell. The nut has gone to heaven!” 
