OUTPOST The magazine of the Anglican Chaplaincy in Norway MARCH–MAY 2017 The Senior Chaplain’s otes our efforts. Let us lay them open to God in prayer and worship. We can let God see if God works with what is not finished there are ways God can work with us to bring us Auguste Rodin is a famous sculptor with towards the new Easter life that God promises and museums dedicated to him in Copenhagen, wishes us to have. We may become a little more Paris and Philadelphia USA. If you have seen finished! The Thinker or The Burghers of Calais , you have The Ven Dr Brian Russell seen Rodin’s work. Senior Chaplain We might think Rodin worked in a tidy and planned way. An exhibition a few years ago in Copenhagen showed something very Bergen notes different. Often he formed an idea Once again our service of Nine Lessons and began to work on it but then and Carols in both Korskirken and found he could not take it any Mariakirken were beautifully done further. Many times he did not by the Christmas Choir and well know how to finish what he had begun. His attended by the community. These services studio was strewn with works just begun, half continue to be two of the most eagerly awaited completed or set aside because he thought he Christmas concerts of the season in Bergen. The would never see how to finish them. service at Korskirken also serves as an important But then someone would ask him about a new time for local mission for our congregation as the work that they wished to commission from him. collection at the service of nearly 4,000 kr. was With what they needed in his mind, he could given entirely to Bergen Bymisjon . In addition, see new ways to adapt or develop some of his Christmas gifts were again prepared by congre- unfinished pieces that he had set gants and offered to the Bymisjon at aside. New energy and the end of the service. These gifts imagination returned to him. He included various clothing and toilet- worked with what was near to ry items for people in need during hand. Even then, many of his the winter months which were then famous works are not ‘finished’, handed out at Korskirken on Christ- because he deliberately leaves some mas Eve. The carol service in Maria- of the stone uncut so that the figure kirken was exceptional and the raffle ‘emerges’ as a creation from the in Mariastuen raised over 7,000 kr. uncut stone. for our congregation. Our Christmas Day ser- God works well with what is not finished. In vice in Mariakirken proved again to be im- many of our efforts and in much of our faith portant for our members and visitors to Bergen and life, we are unfinished. Rarely do we have alike, as we had nearly 50 in attendance. the sense of having completed anything and As we look ahead to Lent, we begin our rarely do we feel that we are the preparations with The Porvoo Con- perfect finished person. The world ference on the Reformation which is around us also looks less and less being held in Bergen on 25–28 Feb- finished with more and more ruary with Mariakirken as one of places of uncertainty and the main locations for worship and injustice. But this opens the way lectures. Our congregation will be for God to be able to work through involved in various ways during the what we are and what we try to conference as well. On Sunday 26 do. God can shape and be present as Feb at 18:00 there will be a Joint we continue to develop from what we Service with the Norwegian congre- are now. God works with what is gation in Mariakirken. This will possible and near to hand and seeks to help us to serve as our main worship service for that Sun- take it further. day and also as the evening service for the This Lent and Easter let us look at all the Porvoo conference. The organizers of the con- unfinished aspects of our lives, ourselves and ference are showcasing this service as a good example of how a Joint Porvoo service can be conducted between two different congregations. of our congregation to join in. So Amanda, Our congregation will host a reception after the Juliet and Yunita have formed a social committee service with a variety of finger food in a potluck and retitled the Ladies’ study group the Ladies’ style. This is a way for our congregation to Connect Group. They have now committed to show hospitality to the conference attendees meet every second Friday and welcome other and to show gratitude for our partnership with ladies in the community to come along. the Norwegian congregation in Mariakirken. In addition they have started organising In addition, on Monday 27 February our events that other people can come along to (not congregation will hold a Choral Evensong service just the ladies). So far we have had a family (the first time in several years) in Mariakirken ‘Happy hour’ at KaffeKanna, a lovely new café at 18:00 as a part of the Porvoo conference. owned by the Gilje family. We met at 17:00 one Then, as we enter into the season of Lent, we Friday and most of us didn’t leave until after will hold the first ever Joint Ash Wednesday 19:00, making it more of a ‘Happy two hours!’ service on 1 Mar with the Norwegian congre- Then two weeks ago we had a film afternoon gation in Mariakirken at 18:00. Kirk will also after church. We all contributed to a bring and be holding a Lenten book study in Mariastuen share meal and then watched a film The Blind beginning on Monday 7 March and will contin- Side starring Sandra Bullock. It was a good ue each consecutive Monday during Lent lead- event with a positive theme of sharing and ing up to Holy Week. The study will be thinking about others. bookended with a soup and bread supper and a It seems as if God has been looking after us as compline service for participants. well. I was shocked one Thursday morning when a For Holy Week, our congregation will make a friend phoned me and said there had been an visit to the Bergen Bymisjon for a meal and arson attack on Bethel, the building we use. hand washing service for Maundy Thursday, a Someone had broken in at five o’clock in the Good Friday service at 11:00 in Mariakirken, morning and heaped furniture and books and and then our regular Joint Service with the started a fire. Fortunately the emergency services Norwegian congregation at 11:00 on Easter got there quickly, and despite thick smoke the Day in Mariakirken. Our congregation is slowly fire was quickly extinguished. I was worried beginning to feel settled and at home in Maria- that we would lose our building but it turned kirken, especially as our relationship with the out that there was little damage, with none of Bergen Cathedral Parish deepens, and we con- our equipment affected. Our service went ahead tinue to seek imaginative and faithful ways as usual on Sunday morning forward together in mission and ministry. From We move into Lent with a positive feeling that we all of us here in Bergen, we look forward to as a congregation can be an active, welcoming reading about the ways in which God is at work and vibrant community, and God has blessed us in your ministries throughout the Chaplaincy in one another. and we wish you all a blessed Lent and Easter We shall be having our usual special services season! on Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday at Revd Kirk Weisz 18:30 in the Bishop’s chapel. There will be a Bergen locum chaplain united ecumenical service of reflections on the ‘Stations of the Cross’ on Good Friday, and we hope to continue to welcome others into our community. Stavanger notes The months ahead will bring many challenges, Hello everyone – greetings from Stavanger. and we are looking forward to welcoming the Although things have been harder for us in deanery synod to Stavanger in September for Stavanger recently, with fewer expatriate workers the first time ever. living in the area, we have had much encourage- God bless you all. ment in our Church community. Recently some Revd Peter Hogarth of our ladies’ group decided that they would try Stavanger assistant chaplain and encourage our existing members to be better connected to one another and to try and organise events that would invite people not actively part Trondheim notes city walk, for which we will bake hot cross buns ☺. We will also mark Palm Sunday and He can bring thy Summer out of Winter, Easter Sunday in Vår Frue Church. though thou have no Spring. Blessings to us all as we journey together I love these words by John Donne, from his towards Easter and on to summer – Pax, 1624 Christmas day sermon at St. Paul’s. These April Almaas are times of contentious global politics; times Trondheim assistant chaplain when we daily see frightening news of war and need; times when we often feel frustrated and helpless. For me, Donne’s words are a reminder Oslo notes that even in the winters of our lives – in those A highlight of December consisted of the two dark times in which when we cannot even feel carol services which we offer.