Jeg har tiltro til Gud :)

I dag hadde vi den norske kappel. Det var veldig fint. Men du kan ikke forstå meg, så jeg skal skrive engelsk nå.

Today we had the Norwegian chapel service. It was very nice. It all started with some traditional Norwegian Christmas carols being played by the accordions, and between that and the few bunads I saw I was put into the Norwegian Christmas mood. We then sang Christmas carols in Norwegian, "Å jul med din glede," "Du grønne, glitrende tre," and "Jeg er så glad," between different readings and reflections.

This entire experience brought me back to last January, close to the end, when I read the following passage in Norwegian and something clicked...
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Vet du det ikke, eller har du ikke hørt det?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Herren er en evig Gud, den som har skapt jordens ender.
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
Han blir ikke trett, og han blir ikke mødig; hans forstand er uransakelig.
He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

Han gir den trette kraft, og den som ingen krefter har, gir han stor styrke.
He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.

Gutter blir trette og mødige, og unge menn snubler;
Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;

Men de som venter på Herren, får ny kraft, løfter vingene som ørner;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
de løper og blir ikke trette, de går og blir ikke mødige.
they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31
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Something about the Norwegian language touches my faith in a way that is otherwise inaccessible to me. The Gospel reading today, the typical Luke 2 Christmas story, came alive for me as I listened and read the story that I know so well yet never really hear.

Med ett var engelen omgitt av en himmelsk hærskare, som lovpriste Gud og sang:

"Ære nære Gud i det høyeste og fred på jorden blant mennesker som har Guds valbehag!"

Lukas 2:13-14

At the end of the service, we linked arms in a giant ring around the Chapel and sang "Glade jul" (Silent Night). I was close to tears as we finished singing. I know this is where I belong.

Herren velsigne deg og bevare deg. Herren la sitt ansikt lyse over deg og være deg nådig. Herren løfte sitt åsyn på deg og gi deg fred. Amen.

The overwhelming Peace and Presence of God

Out of the chaos rises a single English horn; everything else backs away. In a matter of seconds, all that remains is the solo English horn. As the soloist pours out her soul through her instrument, the Holy Presence of God seems to enter, and God's Presence is made known to her. Hearing a solo English horn in that place is gorgeous and amazing, but playing English horn in a silent Boe is powerful beyond words for the girl. All else goes away - the band, the conductor, the audience - and all that is left is God. The experience overwhelms the English horn player, and she is filled with the overwhelming peace of God which passes all understanding and keeps our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, to the glory of God the Father. The experience is completely overwhelming, exhilarating, and the girl finishes her solo in awe of God's glory. God's presence lingers as the world returns - first the band, then the conductor, then finally the audience - and His indescribable Peace remains.

Paul

Paul is frustrating me a lot recently. Have you ever read 1 and 2 Corinthians? I read through a chapter of the Bible every night before bed, and last night I read the last chapter in 2 Corinthians, and thus I have completed reading all the way through those two letters. Throughout both books, it seems to me as though Paul is very boastful and proud, stuck-up and pushing himself higher, and that confuses me. What about humility and placing others before yourself? What is Paul trying to say? I feel like I'm missing something, since it seems to be more letters praising himself than praising God or guiding the church.

Thanksgiving Chapel

In this season of Thanksgiving, it is easy to remember to be thankful for all we have. I could easily list off many things that I am thankful for: my parents, my brothers, my friends, my education; but I think that we need to take time to look deeper at this idea of thankfulness.

At large family gatherings on my mom's side, which always occur around Christmas, my uncle reminds us of the need to be thankful throughout the year, and has our family go around the table and say what we are thankful for in the past year. Even only a month after Thanksgiving, finding things to be thankful for seems out of the ordinary. Veggietales has an entire episode about thankfulness, "Madame Blueberry," and Junior Asparagus and his dad sing: "For a God who really cares, And He listens to our prayers, that's why we say thanks everyday!" It's important to be thankful every day, both during Thanksgiving and throughout the year.

Think with me for a second of three things you're thankful for. Your list is probably similar to your neighbor's or to mine: friends, family, school. What's missing? During the service on Thanksgiving Eve at my home church, our pastors ask the congregation what they're thankful for. Forcing us to step out of the stereotypical Norwegian Lutheran heritage that our church functions under, microphones are passed around the congregation and various people stand up and say what they're thankful for. Grandmothers are thankful for new grandchildren, men and women are thankful for their job or their spouse, and three-year-olds are thankful for their mommy and daddy, for ice cream, and for Santa Claus. Although our thanks is in the context of "I thank God for this", and thanks is always expressed for our church and our pastors, never do we hear anyone say "I am thankful for God" or "I thank God for His Grace, for salvation". The only mention of our thankfulness for God and His saving Grace is during the liturgy and prayers. Although I do believe that it is important to express our thanks to God through prayer, I also think that He should be among our list of things we are thankful for, first on that list even.

So both in this season of Thanksgiving and throughout the year, I urge you to take the time to thank God. Thank Him for your schooling, for your friends and family, but also thank Him for His Presence, thank God for God, thank God for Jesus.

Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, we thank you for all you have given us, for our families, our friends, and the opportunity we have to be here today. Lord, thank you also for Your presence, for your Grace and peace in our lives.In your name we pray, Amen.

Could this be what I'm searching for?

Windchimes

As I pass under the windchimes, I pause and take a breath.
The wind begins to stir, and I am soon immersed in a wave of melodies, a cacophony of sound,
and God is there.
He is in the sound,
He is in the wind,
He is in the chimes.
A calming peace washes over me as I stand there, centering my heart and mind in Him,
filling me with faith, with hope, with love.
With peace.
As I stand there, I pray. Everything is restored to order, everything has its place.
And I am immersed in His glory, overwhelmed by His presence.

As I begin to feel the chill of the night's air, the wind begins to settle.
The chimes turn to silence.
I regain my senses.
And as I step out from under the windchimes, all of life bombards me.
I try to carry the windchimes with me, to keep that peace inside of me,
but the peace remains in the windchimes, the glory belonging to God.

Change

Awhile ago, I decided that I needed to read the Bible more. A week or so ago, I decided I should start with the Gospels. However, I was still putting it off, not actually starting. Two days ago, talking with one of my coworkers, he suggested the book of John and told me to start. That night. I read John 1 that night, and John 2 last night, but already on day 2 I almost forgot. This is important, though, I need to keep at it. Ironically enough, just now as I'm reading my book, the author is talking about reading the Bible, immersing yourself in it. I'm not quite to that point, but I'm working up to it I guess. I feel almost half-hearted, working my way up to it, making excuses. I probably need to change this, but I don't know how. I really should turn over a new leaf, start living the life that I claim to live, truly embrace my faith and immerse myself in God's presence and the hope of the Gospel. The problem is, I don't know where to start, what to do, what to change. As a result, I just keep putting it off. I keep saying in there, "this needs to change." You know what? That is not entirely true. What is true is that I need to change. But how to start? And, when? "I can't start this week, I'm too busy." Etc etc etc! It's like cleaning my room; I keep putting it off. I need to change. I don't need to change who I am, but rather in whom I am. I need to focus my life more on Him. But how? When?

Talking about God

Why is it so difficult to talk about God? I can so easily say that "I'm a Lutheran; we believe in the Trinity and infant baptism," but it is incredibly difficult if not impossible for me to say "I believe in God," "I believe in Jesus Christ," or even "I believe" anything. When talking about the Bible, I can talk about the biblical characters all I want, even Jesus as a character, as long as it's in the context of a specific story. However, as soon as I start talking about Jesus as a person or as God, I freeze up. In the same way, it's easy enough to ask people if they go to church and where, and also to answer that question, but is an altogether different situation trying to ask someone what they believe, and even worse to answer that. I can tell people where I go to church and all about what I'm involved in, but I am unable to answer the simple question of "what do you believe?" This needs to change, this needs to be fixed. After all, Jesus saved me. He has given me life, both in this world and forever. I shouldn't be ashamed to talk about it, I should stand certain about the Truth that I believe in.

What is faith to me?

Through the past year or so here at St. Olaf, my experiences and the amazing people around me have gotten me to think about faith. “What is faith to you?” I have asked this question of many of my friends, and countless hours have been spent talking about it, yet I have not reached any definite conclusion. Rather, I’ve found multiple partial-answers and the question seems to generate a certain sense of confusion and even panic that I’ve only ever seen in certain math courses, in physics freshman year, or in the eyes of the music majors in the library the day before their Alice papers are due. It seems to be a question that no one really knows how to answer, and very few seem comfortable even discussing. That aside, faith is an important issue in everyone’s lives, and I think it should be talked about more; it should become a part of the person, a way of life, even the very core of a person’s being.

But in answer to the actual question, what is faith? What is faith to me? I wouldn’t be fair to my roots without a few memorable quotes. Faith is the belief that “God made you special, and He loves you very much,” as the awesome little vegetables tell me every time I watch some Veggietales. Even just that, the simple knowledge that we are His and He loves us, is a lot to live off of. Knowing that we are loved, one of the simplest yet most complex of needs, is so important in one’s life. Just knowing that God loves me no matter what can overwhelm me at times. Who am I, that deserves to be loved? For that matter, who are any of us? But you know what? “God made you special, and He loves you very much!”

Faith isn’t “just” love, either. Faith gives you something to follow. God is there, with you. Talking with my pastor about faith at one point, he compared faith to dancing with God. God is the lead and we are the follows. I’ve always heard that faith is walking with God, but through trusting in Him we can not only walk through life, but dance through life with Him. The music might change, but even if you’re not dancing a quick Lindy Hop or Cha-Cha that day, even if it might be a slow, sad song, He’s still dancing with you and the day will come when you’ll be back to some East Coast or Charleston. "So keep on dancing kid! Jesus is leading!"

As I’ve asked various friends of mine what faith is to them, one of the best answers I’ve received has been from my friend Aaron. As he put it, “faith is an ultimate trust, a trust in something eternal and therefore impossible to fully understand in a human’s lifetime.” I think he’s absolutely right. Even Martin Luther said, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.” In all reality, we do stake our lives on our faith; our salvation depends on it. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). If I trust God with everything, the troubles of this world seem manageable. This total trust gives me freedom, the freedom to let go of having to figure everything out, the freedom from having to know all the answers.

I’ve quoted all the necessary things: Veggietales, Martin Luther, the Bible, and of course I needed to quote at least one pastor and at least one good friend. Yet I’ve failed to mention one important thing. Faith is love. Faith is trust. And, through these, faith is also hope. Faith is hope for the future, both in this life and forever. This hope provides such joy in my life. As Martin Luther said, “Faith is permitting ourselves to be seized by the things we do not see.” Faith in Christ Jesus has seized me, and I am all the happier for it.

Faith is love, faith is trust, faith is hope, and faith is more than you or I or anyone else could ever hope to describe.