Now What?

Sitting in a nice but hot office in the sun with no air-con, I realise it’s been three months since we returned to Denmark. Spring has turned to summer, much has fallen into place, and my life is arguably as stable as never before.

Just a few weeks ago, the combined efforts of ourselves and family and friends resulted in the perfect wedding day. We’re settling into our first house together, and the future looks fairly bright.

Planning the wedding has been an almost year-long endeavour, surpassed only in scale by writing my MA thesis last year. So after pulling off two such projects, what is going to be the next one? Where do I focus my energy from now on? There are several possible answers.

Obviously, building a good home and marriage needs energy and devotion. On the horizon looms writing that first book, but probably not in the very near future. My best guess is that any big projects will be within the scope of my (still) new job.

Also three months now I have been working for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Denmark, in a newly created position of “concept developer and information officer”. This entails many interesting projects, but also hatching and nurturing a grander strategy for the church’s media work here. Strategy work takes time and though, and over the next months I hope to be able to think creatively and listen to the needs and opportunities in, especially, new media. I look forward to this challenge.

Where does that leave this blog? It is evident that it has grown a bit stale recently. Is it worthwhile to resurrect it in its current state? Is a refocus necessary? Is it best shut down altogether and launch something more focused, perhaps in Danish? Or has the time of blogging come and gone already? If so, then I should move on to other ventures.

Whatever the outcome, I think that my online presence – especially within the fields of church, communication and media – should grow, not diminish. Finding the right outlet(s) to join the discussion should be a focus in the time to come. Stay tuned.

So Far Away

Once again, I must say: what a difference a year makes.

One year ago today is when I left Denmark to go to Australia. Countless experiences and 10½ months later, I returned to my native country on April 1st. Denmark looks the same, but everything is different:

• I am engaged to be married in less than a month. This will change my life forever – for the better.
• I have finished my education.
• I have a job – working for the Adventist Church in Denmark. The position is a new one, emphasising new initiatives in communication.
• I live near Copenhagen again, not in the West.
• We will be living in a house, provided by my employer.

… to name a few.

But a more subtle difference is that my bond with Australia has been further deepened. The experience of an everyday life in Sydney, working for an aussie employer, developing and deepening friendships there has been truly life-altering.

I have seen good and bad sides of Australia, but even after such a long period the good by far outweigh the bad. The main problem is that Australia is just too far away – but then again, that’s also part of the attraction.

Good things are definitely happening in my life. But it is sad that the Australian adventure is over – for now, at least.

Happy Birthday, Dear Darwin

Today we celebrate the 200^th birthday of a man who changed the world. When Charles Darwin proposed the idea of evolution, biology was changed forever, and modern science today would not be the same without the foundations laid out by him. Not everything was correct, of course, but not everything was incorrect either.

I am a Christian. I believe God made this world and that he should be worshiped as supreme Creator. Tradition has it, then, that I should be bashing Darwin with all my might and exorcise the apostate teaching of evolution. But I will do no such thing. The war between creationists and evolutionists is clearly self-defeating, and I don’t want to represent either side.

Darwin’s bicentenary should be the occasion where Christians realised that Darwin is not the Antichrist, and evolution is not an enemy of the state. 2009 could be the year when relations between science and religion finally thawed, after too many centuries of misunderstanding each other. I doesn’t matter who cast the first stone. Someone should be the first to let down, and it might as well be the Christians.

Am I saying that creation is untrue? No. Am I saying that evolution is untrue? No. But they can’t both be true, can they? Yes, this is the path I would like to explore. In our postmodern world, different vantage points for viewing the world don’t have to be contradictory. Creation is religion, not science. Evolution is science, not religion. The two operate in different domains, and neither should try to be what it is not. But both should admit that the other may have some valid points from another view. Neither can claim to present a completely accurate picture of all of reality.

There are still issues to deal with, of course. How old is the Earth (but does it really matter)? Was there a literal six-day creation week, as told in Genesis? If so, there are conflicts with palaeontology. If not, what does it mean for, i.e. the teaching of the Sabbath?

Others have made similar calls. In Brian McLaren’s The Story We Find Ourselves In, the sequel to A New Kind of Christian, he explores finding faith in God through the marvels of evolution (and creation). And this post on The Spectrum Blog gives some good starting points for further reading. I will try to follow some of these, if I can find the time.

The Gospel of God’s love does not have to be in conflict with evolution. And telling the world about that love is more important than fighting a seemingly endless war against a perceived threat. It’s time to bury the hatchet. Happy Birthday.

Highlights of 2008

For the last three years on this blog (2007, 2006, 2005), the turning of the year has been occasion for looking back at the events that made up the year. 2008 has been different in many senses, and instead of writing one long list as before, I have decided on a more sectional approach, with a few headlines.

Australia

One of the big changes has been the move to Sydney, where I have now spent more than seven months. A couple months are left before Katrine and I return to Denmark in April next year. Highlights of the time spent around here include:

• Attending Fox Valley Community Church
• Passion World Tour in Sydney
• Meeting C and D, and many others
• Preaching in English for the first time

Travels

No new countries this year, but several new places, and still lots of travelling and great fun, especially in Australia. Here’s a list of noteworthy destinations and experiences:

• Paris, with the Jutland Academic Choir
• Alice Springs and Uluru
• Darwin and Kakadu
• Cairns
• Brisbane
• Hervey Bay and Fraser Island
• Mackay region
• Whitsunday Islands
• Northern New South Wales
• Blue Mountains
• And of course lots of stuff in Sydney

Graduating

Another highlight of the year has been writing my MA thesis, which was a very good experience. I really enjoyed the studying and writing process, and I enjoyed working with LEGO Australia. Of course, I was happy that Aarhus University subsidised my travel expenses to Australia, and also thrilled with my final grade of 10 (next to highest) on the Danish scale.

Other highlights

Include:

• Singing in the choir for the Passion of St John in Aarhus, in March
• Playing worship music for National Youth Day in Nærum
• Couple training weekend
• Camp meeting in Denmark
• Talking about Aarhus Cafe Church at Vejlefjord

The future

While New Year is a time for looking back, looking back is also looking forward. The most important event and decision of 2008 has by far been my engagement to Katrine. And although the main event is still to come, a highlight also of this year has been that decision, that relationship, and the first steps of planning next year’s wedding. If any of my readers are around Nærum (Copenhagen) on June 13, you’re welcome to drop by at our wedding ceremony.

2008 has been an important year, but 2009 promises to be just as eventful, and hopefully just as joyous. I look forward to seeing you. Happy New Year!

Where Are You From?

It is a most fundamental question, and one of the first questions we ask when meeting someone new. (Second only to: what do you do?) But recently I have come to see that question as somewhat of a challenge. For some people it’s easy. They grew up in one spot, their family probably still lives there, and they call it home, even though they have since moved away. For others, like me, the world is not nearly as simple as that.

Born in Denmark with a Danish father and Norwegian mother, I usually felt mostly Danish. The four childhood years spent in the U.S., and subsequent moving around within Denmark didn’t inflict on my nationality, but I still never had one place to call home. The city of Aarhus was my home for nine years, but whenever people would ask me: where are you from? I would reply with a lengthy explanation, almost an excuse.

When my parents moved to Australia, Sydney became another home, as impossible as that may sound to people who have never lived in more than one country. I visited once each year and took pride whenever someone mistook me for being a ‘real’ Aussie. Never mind that this is a country of immigrants, and a lot of people here weren’t actually born here. But now, having been here for seven consecutive months, I still struggle with answering the question.

I live in Sydney, but I’m from Denmark. I’m here on a holiday, but I also have work and a home. I have a Danish passport and student ID card, but an Australian bank account and mobile phone number. When I try to get a student discount, I answer that I’m from Denmark. When clerks ask for my postcode, I reply 2076. So where am I from? Sydney? Denmark? Previously, one of my favourite answers has been: “Well, my passport says Denmark.” But while here, I’d rather be a Sydneysider, and while in Europe, I’ll settle for being a Dane.

What am I trying to say here? That geography isn’t everything. Where I am from does not answer the question of who I am. Identity is a whole lot more than that.

It’s Beginning to Look… a Tiny Bit Like Christmas

It’s the second day of December. And it’s the second day of summer. And here in Australia, the latter is more evident. I am approaching my 7^th holiday season in Sydney, and while this is now the single location in which I have celebrated Christmas the most often, this year is not quite the same.

Usually, I have been in Denmark for the build-up period, experiencing autumn and winter and rueing the dark and rain. The joys of travelling to the middle of summer at an instant (if 24 hours of flying time qualifies as an instant) are obvious: no more cold, getting wet not from incessant rain but from gentle waves at a sunny beach.

This time, though, I have been in Australia all through winter and spring, and summer feels quite in place. Christmas, however, does not. Sure, Christmas trees are up, both in our home and on streets and plazas. Holiday shopping is well underway for a lot of people. On Sunday, we’ll be going the Messiah at the Sydney Opera House. Things are gearing up for the festive season, but it does seem a bit awkward in the heat.

Which once again highlights the brilliance of early church fathers when they chose to merge the pagan midwinter’s feast with celebrating the birth of Jesus. Light is best appreciated in light of darkness. Grace is best appreciated in light of condemnation. It’s easier to see a great light if you’re walking in darkness.

I will enjoy a long and warm summer. And don’t get me wrong, I am looking forward to Christmas. But I’m finally beginning to see that more distinct seasons have at least one advantage: it gives you something to look forward to. For now, living in the moment seems almost too easy.

A Whole New World

This weekend, world leaders will convene in Washington for a global summit, with the primary agenda of fixing the financial system of the world, no less. If the right people show leadership, that might actually happen, but why stop there?

Britain’s PM, Gordon Brown, ambitiously envisioned a “new world order” this Monday, calling upon Europe and America to be “internationalist not protectionist, interventionist not neutral, progressive not reactive and forward-looking not frozen by events.” This echoes this article in Newsweek on November 3, calling for an actual world bank to replace the IMF. In times of crisis, the status quo is questioned, creating a window for change. Now is a time of crisis, but also a time of change.

Our current world order was in large part forged on the ruins of World War II. Most global or regional institutions that we take for granted today had their foundations laid in the aftermath of the war: the UN, IMF, WTO, EU, NATO, OECD. Not merely acronyms, but the framework of the world as we know it.

Changing these things is difficult. Once something is institutionalised, a certain inertia becomes ingrained, and changes are mostly incremental, bogged down by endless debate and compromise. The UN reform process or recent years’ failed attempts at modernising the EU are cases in point.

The problem is it’s a new world out there. Neither WWII nor the Cold War defines the challenges facing the world today. As Fareed Zakaria has repeatedly pointed out, power centres are shifting; globalisation is changing the face of the world, threatening to render the current world order obsolete if it’s not adapted to suit the 21^st century. In order to maintain and spread peace and prosperity globally, we need strong and functioning global institutions. And they need to be geared to the challenges of today, not those of 60 years ago.

Brown states that “uniquely in this global age, it is now in our power to come together so that 2008 is remembered not just for the failure of a financial crash that engulfed the world but for the resilience and optimism with which we faced the storm, endured it and prevailed.” It just might work. The election of Barack Obama in the U.S. is a sign that the world is ready for change. Obama cannot and will not change the world alone. But the momentum is there. This may be the time when world leaders finally step up the challenge of securing the future of the world.

Speaking in Tongues

Despite the title, I’m not about to embark on a thorough account of the different theologies of spiritual gifts. I do not deny a more supernatural meaning, but I also believe that a spiritual gift can be when God chooses to use a seemingly simple personal skill to the benefit of his church.

In this understanding, I have come to see excelling in translation or understanding different human languages to be an aspect of “the gift of tongues”; the gift of languages. Calling this a gift is not trying to make myself sound better. It is saying that, while I would certainly call myself proficient in English, using it for the glory of God is only possible through his power. As is the case with any type of work for the kingdom.

So yesterday I preached in English for the first time in my life. I accepted the invitation to stand in for someone who wasn’t able to make it, and delivered a sermon in Fox Valley Community Church’s “Opal Room service” (the more traditional-style worship service). From the ensuing remarks, I think it went pretty well – language was never an issue, and more importantly I believe the message was well received. If anybody is interested (which I’m doubting ) they do put recordings of all sermons on the website.

United States of the World

Congratulations, Mr Obama. You have earned perhaps the hardest job in world at the moment, and you have a healthy majority of people believing you are up for it. I am one of them.

After the Cold War, the U.S. emerged as the world’s only superpower; the single most powerful force (in any respect) in the world. That this situation is gradually giving way to a multi-polar world with American influence waning is true to a degree. The rest of the world is rapidly catching up and increasingly playing along the rules which America invented. But the recent financial crisis has showed us that the need for a strong USA is as great as ever.

What the world needs is leadership from the leader of the world. Not callously wielded military might and arrogant attitudes. No, real leadership that reaches out and inspires. In John McCain’s loser speech he was very gracious and noble toward his opponent, but Obama obviously steals the show with his performance.

Obama’s victory speech nourishes the hope of many that he in fact can and will reach out. Toward the many different people that he mentions in his speech: “young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled”. He promises to enforce the ideal of America as a land of equal opportunities, regardless of race, colour, religion or sexuality.

Just as importantly, Obama reaches out to the world. A special mention of those in “forgotten corners of our world” (Australia might be one of them) is sympathetic, but also telling of the foreign policy to come. Of an American president who might finally realise that in order to win friends and influence people, it’s not a smart policy to be the class bully. Obama eloquently stated that “the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.”

What both the U.S. and the world needs now is a new vision and real change. No single person can do this alone. But Barack Obama might just be the man who can get the wheels into motion and help set the course for the world in this century.

Pluralism or Non-conformity?

A remark in a letter to the editor in a Danish newspaper caught my attention. The letter itself was fairly irrelevant in the global scheme of things, and it could easily be dismissed as yet another rant against change, playing on not-so-subtle xenophobic trends. But just shrugging off people’s ignorance makes little difference. Instead, I savour one remark as central for a greater struggle between ideologies.

The debater is arguing against building a mosque, and arguing that Islam is a threat to the Danish way of life. Consider this quote:

“I don’t believe in a multicultural society, I believe in a cultural society where the end result is that way in which we live here in Denmark.” (in JP-Århus, my translation)

Behind this statement lies a belief that there is one way of life in Denmark; that there is a single culture supposedly encompassing all people and streams of thought in this country.

It may have been like this earlier. At least until religious freedom was guaranteed in 1849, but also far into the 20^th century. Traditionally, Denmark has been influenced by a culture of fellowship and public service. Tellingly, the state church is actually the People’s Church, public school is the People’s School, and so on. This is not exactly socialism, although it may sound like it. But it is an idea that everyone, no matter their ideas and beliefs, can fit into one single, common system. This may work well, but for the obvious flaw: what if your belief is that you want to be a part of something else?

Postmodern people choose their own allegiances and connections. We don’t want to be forced into a certain way of doing things, and we don’t someone telling us what is normal, or what is Danish. Anyone holding a Danish passport and abiding by the law is leading a Danish way of life. There are some 5 million of us – that’s a lot of different people, and a lot of different opinions. I don’t mind letting people have other opinions, but they shouldn’t tell me what is Danish and what is not; what is true and what is false.

The larger issue here is (yet again) the clash between postmodernity and modernity. The quoted debater might as well have said, “I don’t believe in postmodernity, I believe in a society where one thing is true, and the rest is false.” Tough luck – the world’s not like that anymore, and it’s not for you to decide. Open your eyes to the 21^st century, and try embracing it instead. It’s not as bad as it looks.