Month: January 2018

On Saturday, Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA died. He became one of the richest persons in the world by selling cheap stuff–lots of it. According to my American colleague, the IKEA marketing also fostered a throw away culture in Sweden. Recently I posted about a solid oak shelf that my colleague rescued from the dumpster and now stands in my office. Recently, I went dumpster diving when I brought my trash to our apartment complex garbage collection room. I discovered that someone moving out had dumped their whole kitchen and more. I found some things to salvage. The kitchen wares are on a nice yoga mat. I finally have a larger bowl that fits in the microwave!

Life has been busy with grading. Only one course left to grade, which I’m hoping to finish tonight. Still, the teaching continues. I taught a inductive Bible study method on asking questions. I preface it with a conversation about the pre-understandings we bring to the text. We all have contextual glasses that influence what we see in the text or how we view it. So, we need to intentionally develop our understanding of the original context and try to view through their eyes a bit more. So, here’s my fun experience to illustrate this–the red lens decoder glasses to represent a cultural view. When they are on, the red dots covering the light blue text disappear to reveal a message on the PowerPoint slide. Such simple technology (not even 3-D) is quite cool for those who haven’t experienced it before.

I heard from a student who isn’t in this class that the students appreciated Monday’s lessons on Hebrew poetry and the lament Psalms. Beyond the illustrations from Pink Floyd (a lyric with assonance), a video clip with Bono from U2 talking about how the Psalms allow us to be honest with God, and a music video from the Hasidic hip hop artist, Matisyahu, with his interpretation of the lament in Psalm 137–I ended the academic portion of class and had 10 minutes for reflection in order to have a conversation that can integrate the day’s themes into life, faith, and ministry. We discussed how to nurture a safe place for lament in ministry, in the midst of a dominant reserved and stoic culture. Good stuff–better than what you can buy at IKEA.

With blessings,

Beth

 

Today, I went for a time to talk Swedish with my language tutor, Lennart. Things have been quite busy at the end of one term crashing into the next term with only a weekend in between, so I have not seen Lennart since November. After I got back from the USA in November, he was off to India. Then I was back in the USA for Christmas and New Years.

I wanted to hear about his trip to India, the land of his birth, his formative years growing up, and many years as a teacher of Greek and the New Testament. (He has taught Greek in 4 languages other than Swedish!) He had been invited to be the commencement speaker at Serampore College, the second oldest college and the oldest university in India. It was founded in 1818 by William Carey and a couple other missionaries. All 56 theological institutions are under the academic degree-granting charter of this institution. This year’s class included 1020 Bachelor of Divinity graduates!

Then there was a surprise! Lennart was given an honorary doctorate in acknowledgement of his 50 years of theological education in at least 4 countries: India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Sweden. I’ve seen at least 2 of the books he authored, one in Thai and one in Hindi. Wow!

I was so excited for him, which was a little gift from an American. The Swedes have the cultural practice of jantelagen. On Wikipedia, it is defined as:

Used generally in colloquial speech in the Nordic countries as a sociological term to describe a condescending attitude towards individuality and success, the term refers to a mentality that diminishes individual effort and places all emphasis on the collective, while simultaneously denigrating those who try to stand out as individual achievers.

So,  Swedes often don’t know how to congratulate people, especially for academic achievement. There is no commencement-like ceremony at JTH, just a special chapel service for those who are completing their pastoral training. There is nothing for those completing a bachelor’s degree! There are no caps and gowns, as they would be too pretentious.

Last year, I initiated the first award in exegetical theology (biblical studies) for the outstanding bachelor’s thesis for the year–if one is of excellent quality. I explained to the faculty that without honors awards (all those cum lauds), it is hard to distinguish students for applications to graduate programs outside of Sweden. This was one award to put on an application.

Now, if it is sports or pop culture, especially music, there are prizes and glory in Sweden–in addition to the grand Nobel Prizes.

Today, I got to celebrate Lennart.

With blessings,

Beth

Today, I rode with two colleagues from JTH to Väterås, about an hour’s drive west of Uppsala.

The trip was for an ordination of one of our JTH students, Asita. The ordination service is presided over by the bishop in the cathedral.

We then went to Asita’s home church, the smaller congregation I visited twice in September last year for some lessons in the Old Testament for lay preachers. It is a wonderfully vibrant, multi-cultural, and intergenerational church. In the fellowship hall, we ate wonderful Persian food.

Asia was born in Iran. She shared with me last spring how she came to trust Jesus through a miraculous healing. Now, she brings joy with every interaction. So, I wanted to be there and encourage her on her ministry’s journey.

One of the highlights for me was to see Asita’s husband, who is also a convert. He shared his deep love for his wife, who he described so beautifully as a wonderful wife, mother, a strong woman, and the best part of his life. He expressed his love and encouraged her in her ministry in such a beautiful way that there were many brought to tears.

Asita will be working 50% at this church, which has a significant Persian-speaking group, and 50% at Santa Klara church in downtown Stockholm. I’m eager to keep in touch as see how God continues to work through her.

She will be one of others who have amazing ministries to the refugees and immigrants. This week, a Christian newspaper article printed a story saying that at least 700 people from Muslim backgrounds were baptized last year.

Keep Asita in your prayers, along with all those who are caring for the refugees.

With blessings,

Beth

With the moving in of the EFS administration to the formerly Johannelund-only campus, there has been much change, including a major renovation of the facility. Much is settled, but quite a bit still is not settled. For example, there have been 2 empty tall file cabinets in the hallway outside my office for several months. It seems that someone moved them there and doesn’t feel he/she is the one to find a home for them now. Perhaps they will be thrown out if no one claims them. According to my American born colleague, the Swedes tend to throw things out. This week, he actually rescued a nice bookshelf from the dumpster this week. It has solid oak on top, sides, and shelves. It is now in my office. However, the bookshelf caused a little emotional reflection.

It seems that I am a pilgrim now. (Sigh.) I had a sense of call from God to be here. However, it meant giving up living in my cozy home with my recently remodeled kitchen with custom cabinets and new stainless steel appliances, including a wonderful induction stove. I loved my neighborhood, especially because of my community of friends. I was driving the only car I bought new, which was still only 4 years old. My move to Sweden meant that I was giving away books, furniture, a living room rug, and more–so many things–that prompted thousands of little losses in the days of preparing to leave for Sweden. (And I am so grateful for those friends who so generously helped me!)

As I was with my Dad in January, he is now in the process of downsizing and the thousand little losses each of those cleaning days. He will be moving in with my sister in Michigan, hopefully this summer. Some of the heirloom things and furnishings connect me with my family story and especially my mom.

The beautiful rosewood furniture from Hong Kong will need a home, BUT I am now a pilgrim. It seems that pilgrims can’t have nice things. I live now in student housing with hand-me-down furniture. The only furnishing I bought is a ping-pong table. Eventually, I will be moving out of the student apartments after Anya goes off to university. The destination is unknown. So, I don’t want to be collecting a lot of furnishings and things that I can’t move by myself. And then what? I’m trying to learn to walk by faith and not by sight.

On to finish the documentation for the Norwegian Research Council. I have to report that all my field research recordings are deleted and any other residual information is anonymized. I’ve been working on it this afternoon.

With blessings,

Beth

I have not written in a while. I’ve been busy or tired. The two terms here are back to back. I gave my last exam of the fall semester on Friday, and on Monday, I taught the first lesson of the spring semester. Yes, the grading is not done.

Today, I taught three, 90-minute lessons for the first day of the 202 Old Testament course. I also lead the chapel time, because when I signed up for it 5.5 months ago the spring teaching schedule wasn’t out, so I had no idea that I would be teaching all day! The fika/coffee break and lunch on Wednesdays are staff times, so only after the long day, was there time for more than a bathroom break.

There were some good responses from the students about the lessons, despite it being a long day. I do mix things up, and we had an (abridged) Readers’ Theatre on the Book of Job. The chapel had the warmest response with a big hug from a student who said, “I needed this today.” We teachers take turns on Wednesdays to speak in chapel. We were given the assignment of speaking on one of Luther’s commentaries in honor of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. I ditched the commentary assigned to me, and I used this opportunity to do share my story of the peace of God I have received through Luther’s “theology of the cross,” which he wrote about in his 1520 Treatise on Christian Liberty. So, the chapel homily was my understanding of Luther’s theology of the cross and the peace with God that holds me now. The theology of the cross is written up in a powerful article by Robert Kolb. If you have time, I highly recommend it.

I thought you might enjoy a picture of my visit with two of my jr. and sr. high friends that I met at the beginning of this month in Duluth.

Cheryl, on the right, found the picture from 1978 just before we had plans to get together. I loved that red shirt, but the memories with these friends are even better. Cheryl and I went through confirmation and youth group together. I played volleyball, basketball, and softball on the high school teams with Sue (on the left), as well as a zillion hours of summer tennis–and never won a full match!

Other highlights of the past 1.5 weeks back in Uppsala:

• I was part of the JTH staff at an Ethiopian dinner to celebrate my colleague, Staffan’s, retirement. He was the one who hosted me in Ethiopia last February. His 10 years living there and fluent Amharic were blessings for an enriching introduction–and hopefully not the only visit–to Ethiopia. (Biking there and back during a snowfall is pretty cool too!)
• Sunday, I co-facilitated the English speaking Alpha conversation at our church during an after worship fika. The connections with Germans, Americans, and Swedes was rich and inspiring as people told stories of amazing transformation and true forgiveness by the power of the Holy Spirit. I have goosebumps now remembering the stories. God is good!
• Last week, there was a dinner and closing chapel service for students who completed the 4.5 year training to be a pastor in the EFS church. There are some really wonderful people. On Sunday, I’ll attend the ordination of a beautiful woman who is originally from Iran.

  

• I have 2 colleagues whose families have each taken in a young, male refugee. One woman told the story that she was very hesitant to open her home, because her home is her place of restoration and calm. She was afraid to give that up. But just a few weeks into this journey, she feels so blessed by the young Afghan man. Instead of her being the one to bless him, she feels that she is receiving more from him. He became a Christian over a year ago as a result of all the Christians who so lovingly cared for him during his refugee journey to Sweden. The stories are so beautiful, but not without challenges; Both young man may face deportation.

I close with pictures of the most amazing hoarfrost I have seen.

With blessings,

Beth