Author: Velkommen

Swedes do Fat Tuesday with style! Semla (singular), semlor (plural). This is whipped cream on a almond paste base within a fluffy sweet bun.

While these technically are a Fat Tuesday specialty, they start showing up many weeks in advance. And, they continue to be available, even during the Lenten season. That’s fine for me, as I’m not an ascetic.

However, I will be reflecting on being attuned to the Spirit during Lent. (Two passives in one sentence! Does that make it active, like a double negative makes a positive?!?) And I sense this may mean breathing gratitude. Today, I’m grateful for semlor!

With blessings,

Beth

This week included some firsts:

My first honor at Johannelund was the prize for the best mask for the Bible school’s community gathering that had a masquerade theme that encouraged DIY masks. Mine was a pizza box left over from my last weekend’s guest and the battery-operated lights that I put on Anya’s graduation sign last spring (reuse, recycle)! My prize was a home made candy cactus, where gum drops were skewered by toothpicks into a cucumber core and held in a terracotta flower pot with chocolate-covered marshmallow candies. Here’s the photo of my mask posted on Instagram.

I actually left the gathering early and missed the awarding of the prize, but it was given to me the next day. I left early because my deadline for getting a co-edited book project to the printer was the next day, and my co-editor submitted his chapter for me to proof for the first time that morning–and it was the longest chapter. (And I was the only native English speaker of the 10 authors.) We had lots to do in about 36 hours. But the other first is that my first role as an editor on a book project was done and sent to the press on Thursday night at 11:00 pm. Fortunately, we are ahead of New York City by 6 hours!

The publisher for this project happens to be the publisher that printed my PhD dissertation, which made it strategic for me to be the one to format and prepare the content for delivery. The other first is that this week I was notified of my first royalty earnings of $154.08, with $141.48 coming from the sale of 59 books, and the balance coming form E-book sales. Wow! I didn’t think anyone would really buy the book! Most of the people who would be interested got one from me! I have been notified about half-a-dozen times that I have been quoted somewhere, but the details are behind the Academia.edu paywall. I do hope that the citations continue the conversation of intercultural hermeneutics (the philosophy of interpretation), so I am a bit curious, but paying to see this seems like the vanity of Googling yourself–on steroids.

The first meeting of the women’s lunch met this week. As one who does not have fluency in Swedish, I haven’t initiated this, but I encourage this development. (Initiating things that are English medium does not seem very hospitable, so I don’t do it. I’m still ponder about this, as in an English-speaking context, I would naturally initiate or get connected with other avocational ministry aspects.) Curiously (Providentially?), the day that there was a 3.5 hour faculty meeting–which always puts me into a funk–the text discussed at the women’s lunch was from Esther 4, which includes the phrase, “for such a time as this…” This is not the first time that when confronted with the challenges of being here–especially learning Swedish–this text comes to encourage me on. I realize that my circumstances aren’t as horrific as Esther’s were, but there is a similar message to trust God with a faithful living out of one’s calling.

My sister, Elenn, has faithfully served her calling as a missionary doctor for a total of 19 years in Pakistan. She’s been there for 2 months again, as she tries to go every year for at least one month, and–if they extend the visa–then stay for two months. (Last year she chose to use the time to be with my dad after my mom’s death.) On 27 February, Elenn was scheduled to fly out of Islamabad. Three hours prior to her flight’s departure, Pakistan closed their airspace. She is grounded in Islamabad, staying at a guest house. The latest word is that her rescheduled flight was on, then off, and now on again. So, join us in prayer for a safe return home soon, and in the meantime, that she is able to rest well.

Anya is off at a weekend retreat with some from her university-age Alpha group. I hear it was on the coast somewhere, so I’m hoping for beautiful pictures. I also pray that this is a meaningful time for her, as faith formation was not very opportune for her during her time in Sweden. I also pray for the deepening of friendships and a joy of making new ones.

While you’re praying, I have a friend here with two older daughters who are struggling with loneliness.

So, we keep on walking by faith.

With blessings,

Beth

I believe that cats typically do not like vacuum cleaners. In my context, they are not related. Perhaps I should write “Vacuuming. Herding Cats.”

Vacuuming: With just me here, I clean before guest arrive. On Friday, Emily arrived. Her grandmother is a good friend of my Aunt Donna (by marriage). Emily is a junior at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota and spending a year in Mora, Sweden, as part of a study abroad program. Emily fell in love with Swedish through her Kirsten, American Girl doll, and spent 10 summers at the Swedish language camp in Bemidji, Minnesota. Last fall, I let Emily know that she would be welcome here if she was out and about in Sweden. So, she joined stayed here for the weekend.

I arranged for Emily to hang out with some Bible school students on Friday night, as I had been invited over to a women’s tea at the home of my friend, Donna. On Saturday, she met a Swedish friend from the language camp who studies at Uppsala University. They explored the city together. This morning, Emily took of for the next leg of her journey toward Gothenberg.

Because of a bit of helping Emily out last minute, I missed morning church. I figured that I could head to the afternoon service at the English-speaking international congregation. I’ve always wanted to visit, and now I had a reason to.

The church has a good fellowship for English-speakers, but I’m not sure it will be a regular place for me.

I’m really encouraged that Anya has found good place for Christian community at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), the epicenter of the Alpha Movement. Providentially, HTB in pretty close to her housing facility. This next weekend, she joins a HTB college group for a weekend retreat on the coast somewhere. It sounds like a great opportunity to nurture some community connections.

This past week, Anya shared that good news that her calculus exam went really well. She earned a strong A. So, her diligent study and hard work is seeing results.

The herding cats metaphor is used in academia. Academic deans usually describe their job as herding cats, as all the members of the faculty seem to have independent thinking and ways of doing things. For me, the metaphor is for my co-editing role for a book project. The deadline is Thursday. This is an extended deadline, due to some of the cats missing the first deadline. I still have 2 chapters from 2 authors that I haven’t seen yet! I’m in waiting mode. So, I’m not looking forward to the next 4 days.

The other project that is due on or before Thursday is a book review for the Swedish Exegetical Yearbook. I hope to finish it up tonight. The 406 page book, The Decalogue and its Cultural Influence, is quite interesting. However, with 22 chapters by different authors, there will be no way to present this book review well. I wonder if I got the leftover book, because no one wanted to write a review for 400 pages and 22 chapters! At least, I’m enjoying the book and learning aspects of the Decalogue (The 10 Commandments) that are related to it history of interpretation and use, such as in Anglo Saxon literature, in catechisms, pre-1501 woodcuts, an award winning 1980s Polish TV series, Dekalog, and more, much more! I’m really fascinated with the TV series, and I hope to find these in some streaming form to view.

In other news, I submitted my written notification that I will be ending my renting here. I have to give 3 months notice. I am planning to buy a condo from German friends who are moving back to Germany. Curiously, the loan amount requested was not approved with my Johannelund salary. So, I added my USA rental home income, and it was approved. However, there was no requirement of validating my additional source of income. There is a Swedish sense that most people do the right thing. So, things that need documentation in the USA don’t need that scrutiny here–I guess.

With blessings

Beth

Most things are aligning to affirm that I am to continue on here at Johannelund. I did have a bit of a discernment journey after a colleague recruited me to consider a position back in the USA. And indeed, there are some other places–even Lutheran higher ed positions–that are specifically looking for Old Testament/Bible with an intercultural perspective. If I pursued one and was hired, it would pay more and reduce my taxes, but the greatest enticement would be freeing me from the burden and frustration of language learning. However, most things are aligning to affirm a sense of call and the opportunity to make a significant contribution here as well as continue with opportunities in East Africa.

The one thing that isn’t so strongly aligned–to be honest–is my heart. I know that there are opportunities to grow in wilderness experiences, so I walk by faith and not by sight.

One next step in this journey of faith is buying a condo. My German friends are returning to Germany, and their condo is a Providential match of what I had hoped for. It is only .4 miles or 600 meters from work and a ground-level unit with a large patio that was built in 1966 but remodeled just a handful of years ago. It also includes a rental unit, so it is one of the best values in the neighborhood. A friend from church will help me navigate the paperwork and banking things.

So, I continue to walk by faith–and keep on keeping on with language learning. Oh, I’ll have room for visitors!

With blessings,

Beth

Whoever blesses a neighbor with a loud voice,
rising early in the morning,
will be counted as cursing.  Proverbs 27.14 (ESV)

I can manage the rustic guest house (though it does have hot water for warm showers);
I can manage boiling or filtering all drinking water;
I can manage doing dishes by hand in a dim corner of a not-Beth-clean kitchen;
but I can’t manage the calls to prayer at the wee hours of the morning!

My morning haiku are:

Roused by calls to prayer
Praying for power outage
5:20 a.m.

The problem of prayer
How to be still before God
When loudspeakers blare

A few more glimses of life in Addis:

At the local grocery store, we can’t find white or brown sugar! Johanna even asked. There is powdered sugar, but my few small sugar packets—that I picked up from airline food trays, fast food joints, and who knows where else—have been tiding us over. As we realized we were running low, we figured it was time to have a dinner at the Coffee Garden restaurant close to EGST. We each nabbed a few sugar packets from the table’s container. We’ll make it to the end of our stay.

Johanna is a wife and mother of 3 girls ranging from 3 to 7. This is the longest she’s been away from them. To help the girls process their mother’s absence, they have a special calendar that numbers the days until Johanna’s return. Each night, they cross off one day for a countdown until mamma comes home. Fortunately, Johanna can call home over the Internet every evening when we are at EGST, which has a reasonable WIFI connection most of the time. Last night, Johanna’s husband relayed that their 5-year-old crossed off a couple extra days—thinking that it would mean that mamma would be home sooner!

Johanna has been a wonderful travel partner. We figured that we’d be OK traveling together on this trip after she joined Anya and me last August for the SBL conference in Helsinki, Finland. (Well, Anya came along to explore Helsinki’s vintage shopping and not to join in on the adult nerd conference.) Johanna is a great conversationalist. We have numerous bouts of laughter, including the doubling-over-wheezing-breath kind. Amazingly, in our untold hours of biblical and theological discussions, we haven’t found an issue where we fundamentally disagree! We’ve even started trying to search for issues to debate. We have found some, but not with regard to biblical and theological topics—yet! Our contentious points are the Eurovision song contest, coffee, and chocolate. At least this means that I don’t have to share my Toblerone chocolate—though I still offer—just to be hospitable.

 At the time of this writing (7:51), the Orthodox prayers have continued non-stop since I woke up (note 5:20 am above). At times, the mosque added their voice, which clearly was not a harmony. The morning traffic noise floats down the lane, with horn honks punctuating the prayers.

This is not a city for light sleepers! I will need a nap later!

Greetings from Ethiopia! I have been here for a week with a student from Johannelund. She was my former student who wrote her bachelor’s thesis and did an excellent job. She joined me for the Society of Biblical Literature conference in Helsinki in August, and that didn’t scare her away from traveling with me to Ethiopia. Actually, we are rather good travel partners, and she is a good conversationalist, with plenty of laughter to help us cope with the ambiguities of international travel.

I am teaching a 2-week intensive course on the Pentateuch at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST). She is also taking a Pentateuch course at Johannelund that engages the lessons with the 5 other students at EGST.

We are staying in the former Norwegian Lutheran Mission guesthouse close to Mekane Yesus Seminary about 1.7 miles away. It is a simple guesthouse with touches of rustic cabin. However, we do have electricity most of the time, and therefore, both hot and cold water. The best part is a patio that looks out to a small river. Only flowering plants and a few rusting clothesline racks stand between us and the river. The mornings have consisted of reading for the course in the sun or shade on the patio. There are quite a few birds to distract us, and fortunately I brought along some travel binoculars, and there is an East African bird book in the guesthouse.

There is no WIFI at the guesthouse, so we only have Internet access when we are on the EGST campus.

The weather reaches to the high 70s with a relentless sun during the afternoons. At 7,700 foot elevations, the evening temperatures dip into the 40s, which is chilly without any central heating—or any heating! However, the altitude means that there is little risk of malaria.

The lessons have been good with some engaging discussions, but I am having to ramp up my undergraduate Pentateuch material to a graduate level, with enough content for 3 hours of lessons each night. I’m also reading a new textbook for the course, so that is taking time (but fortunately, a lot of the reading is done on the porch in lovely weather.) After being in Sweden where academic lessons are required by law to be non-confessional and “scientific,” here the lessons are wonderfully holistic and clearly geared to equip leaders for ministry in the church. (Mekane Yesus is the largest Lutheran church in the world, but not the largest Protestant denomination in Ethiopia!)

Ethiopia is not only the origin of coffee, it has one of the oldest Christian churches in the world, with the Ethiopian Orthodox church beginning in the 400s AD. Today, we were able to observe an amazing parade to celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the Orthodox calendar. According to one of my students, this celebration is considered a UNESCO World Heritage cultural event. (We hope to confirm this, but we don’t have WIFI. It is really strange to see how we have become so adapted to having information available in our hands whenever we want to ask a question.)

We knew that the parade would be today, but we didn’t know when. We started the day doing our laundry by hand, and after a simple lunch, we started walking. Last Sunday, a former student colleague from my PhD program in Norway (now the General Secretary of the Mekane Yesus church) gave us a tour around and said that the parade would come down a street by our house, but we didn’t know when. So, we started out and decided to follow the people walking who were dressed up in traditional Ethiopian clothing. We got to an area not too far from the EGST campus and realized that we were providentially in the right place! We saw perhaps a couple thousand singing and dancing in front of and after a rolling “tabernacle” or canopy, under which walked what must be the patriarchs of the Orthodox church. There were amazing embroidered vestments, clothes, umbrellas, and draperies. The singing was filled with energy, punctuated by the booming beats of huge drums. We were fortunate to have moved to a place that ended up to be in the front row of the parade. Some special aspects were that the marchers all walked over long red carpet pieces. When they passed, a team of young men would roll up the carpet, and two would carry it on their shoulder, jogging to the front of the parade in the high 70s heat. The red carpet pieces leap frogged ahead of the rolling canopy.

As the canopy passed, a few women would bow down and kiss the ground, or they would kiss their fingers and then press their fingers to the ground. The parade had a sense of celebration, but also a sense of peaceful gathering. It seemed that there was awareness of us white people, and a few gave us greetings, but I never sensed that we were in a crowd where we would have to be diligent to avoid pickpockets or other opportunistic malfeasance.

From my previous trip, I knew of a restaurant close by, so as the parade passed, we had an early dinner. We were amazed how providential our timing was, and how the little things—like knowing where a good restaurant was and which was not so busy in spite of a parade close by—came together so beautifully for the day. I’m sensing that my dad’s prayers are availing much!

With blessings,

Beth

Anya is in the air right now, flying back to Sweden. Sigh!

It will be good to have her here for a few days before heading to the Bay Area for Christmas. I’m so glad that her first term is going so well. She has a calculus exam on 7 January after the holidays. I know she’s on top of things, but I do wish that the exam was before Christmas in order to not have that exam in the back of her mind all break.

The work Christmas party was last Tuesday evening. Our school personnel now has a gathering with the EFS staff who moved into our building to save money. I won’t belabor this dynamic. There are many issues, but personally for me it means going to a Christmas party with people I don’t know and hoping I can manage not feeling so awkward with bad Swedish. Fortunately, I was able to sit next to one of my former students who has lived in the USA and is very comfortable speaking English. I was able to encourage her on in her vocational calling, which made the evening worth it.

Last Wednesday, the Bible school had their annual “After Nobel Party,” which is their version of getting dressed up and giving their own humorous versions of Nobel prizes. It is a nice meal where everyone has contributed, but it is a long evening where I try to track Swedish and not feel too awkward. I got home at 9:30 and baked a cake for the next morning. It would be the last session I have  with the Bible school before Christmas break.

The Bible school has no exams or papers. (I call it Bible camp on steroids.) I arrange the last session before break to be about the Book of Esther. I previously arranged random pairs (who can enlist other help) to prepare and creatively tell one chapter of the book. However, I make it a competitive storytelling exercise, where everyone votes. The little competition draws out some better engagement and creativity.

Also on this day was the Santa Lucia festival, where the Bible school sings Lucia songs and has a Lucia Tåg (train).

The Book of Esther starts with partying for 180 days. With the Nobel party, Lucia, and our Pseudo Purim festival, we celebrated for perhaps 18 hours!?! (I don’t make Purim tarts, but I do make a great chocolate cake, with a end for lactose/milk free frosting.)

The forced upgrade for my website and blog now forces me to learn a new interface to post a blog. So, I’m figuring this new system out.

Blessed Advent,

Beth

On December 1, I was invited to Donna and Lennart’s home for their annual “Light Party.” Donna’s American heritage is seen in her warm, friendly, and chatty personality, as well as American style Christmas lights. The Swedes typically have either one large lighted star or an electric candle with about 7 candles in pyramid-shaped holder.

Here’s the American version at Donna and Lennart’s.

They have Christmas traditional treats (pictured below) with Donna’s famous cheesecake.

This year, I stayed at the party and did not head to church for the First of Advent concert, which is always packed. I thought that interaction with friends was probably better for my spirit.

The next day, I went to Stockholm, where my colleague invited me to join him and his wife for worship at the Evangelical Free Church. It was a festive service with their annual Advent Choir with a small orchestra. It was very worshipful, and I–as a low-church Lutheran–have a lot of appreciation for their style of vibrant worship. I realize that this was one of the most festive services of the year, so not the typical worship Sunday. I joked with Lars-Göran that it was so kind of him to coordinate a choir for my visit!

I had dinner with them in their home, where I learned that his wife is a wonderful watercolor artist. I was enamored with her work and took joy in seeing some of her paintings in their home.

I am teaching a course on “Gender and Equality” though it only has about 8 hours of lessons in 3 sessions. That gets divided into 1) Intro and Old Testament; 2) New Testament; 3) paper presentations, ministry aspects, and cultural issues (like #MeToo). For the New Testament portion, I invited 2 short presentations (15 minutes each) from other NT perspectives. Our NT teacher/rektor and a student each gave a guest presentation. The student is the one who came with me to the conference in Denver last month. She did her bachelor’s thesis on the difficult 1 Timothy 2 text, and her advisor was the NT teacher. She wrote very well and earned the annual prize in exegetical theology. So, I asked her to present the summary of her paper, which she also did well.

On Friday, I went to a PhD “disputation” at the University. My PhD adviser (doctor father), Knut Holter, was the “opponent.” It was on theological education at Makumira Seminary in Tanzania. Knut did well as opponent. The process isn’t as rigorous or as long as the Norwegian PhD disputations.

The disputation was packed! I was sitting in a row with a bunch of Johannelund personnel (the PhD student did his bachelor’s degree at Johannelund). I said to a former rektor how amazed I was at the packed room of perhaps 200 people. I commented that mine didn’t have so many. He said that his PhD defense had a good turnout like this. So, then I started to feel like dogmeat! I said that perhaps being an American in Norway results in less of a network. Then, he replied that there usually is good turn out (reinforcing the dogmeat theory), but then he tried to dig himself out of the hole and made a comment about perhaps depending upon the discipline. I’m not really believing the dogmeat theory; I was an American in Norway with limited connections at a smaller institution.

I arranged for my boss, the rektor, and me to have breakfast with Knut on Saturday morning before he flew back to Norway. It was good to see Knut, but it would have been wonderful to have had an hour just with him to catch up. We did have some conversations in Denver last month, but there is never enough time.

After breakfast, I walked Knut to the train station to get to the airport. Then back to my bike, pick up some fika treats, and head to my Swedish conversation partner, Lennart (a different Lennart). I stopped by my favorite fika place, Güntherska, and bought two smårknut (butter knot) pastries.

After fika and 1.5 hours of Swedish conversation (mostly in Swedish with a handful of clarifying word definitions in English), Lennart invited me to stay for lunch. He made a quiche that he was going to use at a church event, but that didn’t happen. So, I was blessed with a home cooked meal!

As yesterday was a Sabbath through Sunday morning worship this morning, I planned to read some student papers this afternoon after a fika at my colleague’s apartment. (She and her husband have 2 special needs kids, so it is easier to meet at their home). I just couldn’t muster the energy after returning home, so my Sabbath is extending. I will have to tackle them tomorrow!

With blessings,

Beth

The Swedes have a saying:

Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder.

Translation: There is no bad weather, just bad clothes. (It rhymes too.) It is rain gear weather today. I decided–while biking to my Swedish conversation time–that the rain is less annoying than the wind.

I left work early after a Hebrew lunch (keeping Hebrew alive for interested students and me), and I stopped off at the vaccination clinic. I am preparing for going to Ethiopia in January, so I need some shots and added in a flu shot. (Flu shots are free for those in high risk groups. For me it was $55. Last time, I got one in the USA at Christmas time and figured it would have been less expensive in Sweden. The prices have changed!) I walked out with 3 vaccinations and an oral cholera treatment–and a new yellow immunization card, as my pages are deteriorating. The old pages are now tucked into a new crisp yellow card.

On the way to my Swedish conversation, I took a short cut. The Swedes have another saying (also rhyming):

Genvägar är ofta senvägar.

Translation: Shortcuts are often “longcuts.” Yes, the bike trail ended in a dead end. I backtracked in order to not make it a longer shortcut.

In addition to my formal Swedish conversation partner, Lennart, I’ve been trying to talk more with the students at fika. It is good to practice, and they are kind to engage me. I’m trying to figure out if my presence takes over more when everyone switches to English for me, or if it is more of a “burden” to listen to my bad Swedish and muster the patience to help me understand. I’ll ask a couple of the students that I know a bit better and see what their response is.

I did make a special survey for my Into to the Old Testament campus students to ask them specific questions about language issues in listening, reading, and use of bi-lingual PowerPoint slides in the classroom. Recently, I have had two colleagues pepper me with their thoughts and ideas about my teaching methods because of my lack of functional fluency in Swedish. However, neither has sat in on one of my teaching lessons, only short chapel sessions and non-academic things. Both are exceptionally fluent in English and Swedish, so they don’t have the perspective of a student who is not confident in English. So, I will have student data soon to shape my pedagogical decisions and have a rationale for my colleagues in any further discussions. My INFJ intuition has sensed that some colleagues are a bit disappointed with my lack of Swedish fluency. Sigh. I keep on keeping on.

Lots to read this weekend with a new course prep.

With blessings,

Beth

 

It seems like I just flipped the calendar to November, and now the month ends tomorrow. I have things that I was going to finish before the end of the month! Perhaps in December?

This morning, I was with the Bible school teaching 1-2 Chronicles. I think each time through I strengthen my engagement with students, but there is so much more that could be done.

After lunch, there was a research seminar, where colleagues share their research projects. One new NT teacher recently had his dissertation published (in English). (He is filling in this year at 60%, since our NT teacher is now the rektor [principal].) His dissertation (Cambridge) was on the apology of Justin Martyr, and he discussed it (in Swedish). I could track some of it, because I read some of the chapter he distributed.

The other one was a review (in Swedish) of an article (in Swedish) before it will go to print (in Norway). It was on the EFS efforts for new mission starts in the past 2 decades. The summary is that the growing edge is the international outreaches. For 2 years, I’ve been lobbying for a global and multicultural approach in our curricula and pedagogy, leveraging the 150+ years of JTH history and current global and multi-cultural relationships. The rektor is attuned, but the investment of time and capacity building is beyond the resources we have currently for a major step forward. But we continue with little steps.

During the research seminar, I looked around and realized that I was the only woman there. And since the one woman has limited Swedish, there was no woman’s voice heard today with comments or questions.

With blessings,

Beth