Author: Velkommen

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

Greetings from Bellevue, WA. We flew into Sea-Tac airport late on the 26th. Anya was picked up by her friend, Annaliese, and I was picked up by my friend, Janet.

Annaliese and Anya have been friends since before kindergarten. For most of their lives, they shared school, neighborhood, and church–the only friend to do so. Janet and I have known each other since 1988, when I returned to Lutheran Bible Institute to work. We have worked together, shared a house (with Diane and 2 cats), and so much of life together (including a lot of hiking, basketball, badminton, tennis, and even a round of golf, which is not my thing). She visited us in Tanzania and is planning to visit us in Sweden in the spring. After Eric died, Janet was the one who frequently moved into our house to take care of Anya when she was younger and I had to travel for my PhD. Janet is one of those dear friends who helped me learn that “hospitality” was not women in the church basement–making coffee and cleaning up after coffee hour–but rather, hospitality is the gift of letting someone be their true, unpolished selves in your presence. No wonder that after about 25 years of youth ministry, Janet honed her people-caring skills and is now a licensed therapist.

Janet had offered to loan us an extra car, but it was hit just a few days ago. While Janet has some minor to moderate head, back, and neck pain, she is otherwise fine and receiving treatments. However, her car is totaled. So, other mutual friends, Pam and Tom (Pam was the woman who intentionally put Eric and me in the same community group in the fall of 1993 at Lutheran Bible Institute!), were out of town during my visit and left their car with Janet for me. This is the tangible blessing of friendship, but I’m also savoring the intangible aspects.

I stayed with Janet that night to avoid driving after midnight while still jet lagged. With a good night’s sleep in a cozy bed, I was off to Everett to meet a friend–after changing my planned route up I-5 due to a complete closure of all lanes after a crane fell off a truck. (If you’d like to see the carnage, here’s the news story link.) I was later than planned to visit my friend, Jill, but we had a good amount of time to catch up. Then, I was off to visit another friend, Pam, who is doing her year of internship in a North Seattle Lutheran church. We had time for lunch and a good long chat, before heading off to visit 3 more friends, Pam, Charlie, and Beth. (Yes, this is the 3rd Pam in this posting! I am blessed by Pams.) Charlie and Pam, husband and wife, are Fuller Seminary professors that ended up becoming mentors and now friends. I doubt that I would have pursued a PhD without their encouragement, wisdom, and guidance. Charlie invited me to be a reading partner through most of a 2 volume series on theological anthropology by David Kelsey.

This journey helped me read very challenging texts and prepared me for my PhD engagement of portions of the hermeneutical philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer. These session with Charlie were, however, more than a theological conversations. I will be forever grateful for Charlie’s pastoral care through Eric’s cancer and death, as well as my grieving.

Pam also invested a huge amount of time and care with advising and tutorials in Hebrew. Another pre-PhD hopeful, Amy, and I met with Pam and worked through the translation of most of the Hebrew portions of the Book of Daniel. (For those who might not know, there are also a few chapters in Aramaic, which I have never studied.) Pam was writing a commentary on the book (yes, she is that level of a scholar), and she was willing to work with Amy and me in order to develop our Hebrew skills.

I headed to Kristi and Peter’s for the evening–Annaliese’s parents. This is where Anya and I are staying while in Bellevue. Four teenagers arrived shortly after I drove up. They were at the Seattle Art Museum and Seattle for the day, and then they had a fun evening together.

How renewing it is to be with wonderful friends.

With blessings,

Beth

Catching up

Again I awoke at 3:45 am here in Cupertino, California (next to San Jose), still in jetlag mode. Anya and I celebrated Christmas with my in-laws—her dad’s side of the family, with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and even a second cousin.

Here are a few of the significant highlights—and lowlights—from the past several days.

Departure from Sweden crisis

Friday morning, I arranged for a taxi to take us to the airport at 4:00 am. We don’t own a car, and with our big suitcases, it would be bad to try to get them on our bicycles to head to the bus station a whole hour earlier. We also don’t want to leave our bikes at the station for 2.5 weeks.

The taxi was ready, parked right outside our entrance, so because I helped carry Anya’s bag down two flights of stairs, I thought I would just help her carry it out to the taxi. However, the entrance door closed behind us. Typically that is not a problem, as it is unlocked most of the time—but not at 4:00 am. Typically, I would have my keys in my pocket, Anya too, but I only had the spare key connected to my bag. Yes, it was still in our apartment, and we were locked out with a flight to catch in 2.5 hours!

I have talked with one neighbor, Lars, but I don’t know his phone number. He used to study at JTH, so I called my colleague, Jim (fortunately, he usually gets up at 4:00 am), and Jim was able to find Lars’ phone number. I called Lars, but his phone was off. Ugh!

I searched the Internet with my phone (fortunately, Anya and I both had our phones) and found the student apartment number and was able to reach an emergency person. She said that she would send someone out, but it would take 30 minutes! Ack!

In the meantime, Anya was figuring things out. She knew the name of one of the women, Ida, who lived a floor below. While we don’t know our neighbors—this is Sweden—all the basic contact information of every resident in Sweden is on the internet: name, address, birthdate (yes, with the year). Fortunately, Ida’s phone number was on this registry. Anya called 3 times, which were all declined. So, Anya sent a text explaining that we were locked out, and could she open the entrance door? Ida was not in the apartment, but she woke up her flatmate, who came down to let us in. We were effusively thankful to this woman that we have never met before, and now we meet while she is in her pajamas. Then, I cancelled the apartment guy to come and unlock the door.

Anya saved the morning! Only 20 minutes late, we were off. The taxi driver was kind, even inviting us to sit inside while we were waiting, and he gave us a reasonable rate for the delay.

It took me half a day to calm down. Perhaps the movies during the flight from Amsterdam to San Francisco were a blessed distraction.

In the Bay Area

I was glad to have an opportunity to visit my aunt in San Jose for dinner on Saturday evening. Often, we go out to the Monterrey Bay while my aunt travels, so we miss each other. This time, my father-in-law sold the beach condo this past year and my aunt was leaving after Christmas, so we had this window of opportunity. She is a wonderful, retired elementary school principal who relentlessly cared for and advocated for her late husband for 10 years after a huge stroke. She inspired me along that long journey.

I am here for the Christmas celebrations with extended family from St. Louis and Boston.

Tonight, we fly to the Seattle area for time with friends there.

With blessings,

Beth

 

I’ve been quite busy lately, so I haven’t been posting. I’m still busy, but I’m needing a break. This week I have 6 hours of new course prep for mission history: 500 years on Africa in 90 minutes, 500 years on Asia in 90 minutes, and 500 years in Asia, but I get 3 hours for all of Asia.

So my days have been full with memories of my church history prof at Fuller Seminary. Charlie later became a mentor, while his wife, Pam mentored me in biblical Hebrew. Today, I taught both Hebrew and mission history, but not nearly as polished as I’d like this first time through regarding the latter (Hebrew will always leave me humble as a life-long student, and it is more complex teaching it to Swedish speakers. Pam, there is no Hebrew-Swedish lexicon!).

I integrated Charlie’s use of primary source documents to supplement the textbook readings. However, as students are not native English speakers and some are less comfortable in English, I haven’t quite figured out how to optimize them yet. So, a couple I just read with a couple guided questions for discussion.

I think my theme for today was “be wary of reductionism.” Oversimplified characterizations of denominations, movements, people, and such are often dangerous. I think,  inspired by Charlie, I was able to graciously challenge some presuppositions in a way that encouraged pondering more authentically on a few key issues. For example, I had the privilege of introducing the class to Bishop Romero, a martyr for the people suffering injustice in El Salvador. From clips of a biopic, his life helped some think differently of views of liberation that are not simply Marxist ideology, but rather connected to Jesus’ holistic ministry.

So, most of my weekend was preparing for these lessons. New course preparations are time consuming. However, I did go to Stockholm with Anya for Sunday worship. While I was away, she visited an international church that is part of a collaboration between the Mission Covenant, Evangelical Free, and some other flavor. She’s been there a couple times, and has started to get to know some people. One guy is from Mexico and doesn’t speak Swedish or really any English, so Anya with her fluency in Spanish is a good one for him to talk with and to help engage him in our conversation through some translation.

Last Wednesday evening, I was invited to the Bible school’s pre-Nobel dinner. I even wore a dress. While I usually wear skirts in Africa, I don’t like wearing skirts or dresses, but I did for the students. They didn’t realize that was the first time in probably 10 years I wore a dress outside of Africa! I did look weird biking

The other festive highlight was on Dec. 2, when Anya and I went to Donna and Lennart’s home for their “Light Party.” Outdoor Christmas lights are not a big thing in Sweden, but American Donna has brought this tradition to her home. They gather about a dozen friends for a few hours of controlled chaos of stringing lights. They have a nice fika with homemade cheesecake, and after the last tradition of stringing lights from the flagpole, it is dinner time. However, I went of to the First of Advent concert at our church.

For Christmas music, I recommend this wonderful and worshipful instrumental piano music by Tim Oladeru.

So, off to 500 years of mission history in Asia!

With blessings,

Beth

Is it that the intense days have forced me to live in the present, and I have lost track of time? It seems a short while ago that I gave my final exam for Into to the Old Testament. Actually, it is this benchmark that makes me realize how much time has passed, because I only submitted my grades today, almost 4 weeks later (we are allowed 3 weeks for grading as there is no break between the blocks or terms). I did communicate to my students prior to the end of the standard grading time and explain that my designated time for grading was lost due to my mother’s death. A few students responded with compassionate words.

Now, I am tired. While I have a lighter teaching load this block (second half of fall semester), it includes a new course prep (mission history) and adapting my Hebrew course for Swedish terms and less instruction time (and my Hebrew is a bit rusty after focusing on Swedish). There is still the Bible school and 2 other reading courses that will be mostly guiding students with developing their papers and grading.

Since I left, there have been 3 other colleagues who have had in-law parents or grandparents die. So, quite a bit of loss for a small school.

I returned to a lot of chaos and change. The chaos is partly due to the demolition of the basement after the sewage back up last month. There was jackhammering to remove the concrete floor most of the time I was away, but it continued through today. I hope they are done soon. Some of the other chaos and change is due to the end of the remodeling and moving in of the EFS staff. The EFS owns Johannelund, and for a cost savings measure, they moved into our campus: no more food service, the library moved (and has a smaller footprint), many colleagues moved offices, etc. I came back to a new network printing system (instructions in Swedish, but fortunately Elin gave me an English tutorial); a new mail room; new staff kitchen (no signs yet, except for garbage, recycle, and compost). I feel a bit like a guest in my home. I don’t know all these people, and right now while tired and grieving, I’m not really up for meeting new colleagues in Swedish. With all of this magnified by the cold and the dark, I’m trying to avoid a funk by being intentionally grateful. Sometimes, I manage.

So, I am grateful for you, my family and friends, who keep in touch. I am grateful for water, drinkable from the tap and warm within a few seconds. I am grateful that my needs are met with plenty more. We don’t have Thanksgiving here, and Anya has been too stressed to repeat her Thanksgiving dinner on the ping pong table this year, however, I will practice being thankful.

With blessings,

Beth

I arrived safely home without any flight problems. I have things to reflect upon and pictures to share, but because I am behind in grading, they will have to wait.

Please remember to keep my Dad in prayer, as we continue to grieve the loss of my mother. And then, perhaps add a word for my grading in Swedish while jet-lagged!

With blessings,

Beth