Building Bridges.....

When I was a child we had a black and White TV, with at the time only two TV channels. I know that its hard to imagine for the younger generation, even so I'm not that old,things changes very fast. So sometimes when we saw a film it was hard to imagine what colours a dress had or so on, and I remember in 1974 for the World cup in football Germany, my parents bought our first Colour TV. WOW it felt like a new World just open up for you. I love colours, especially different combinations of colours. Many have a favourite colour and I Think so do I. But an American friend of mine said to me some years ago, "why do so many people in Sweden dress up in black?" Almost everyone wear a black jacket or coat. Yes that's true. No colours at all. No yellow, Red, Blue, Green, just black. The same thing with new movies, if not all very many of them are decolorized. Not black and white, but not any vibrant colours as well... When I walked towards my car the other day at...

Forget Jesus! That's what I read in the newspaper this morning. The article refers to whats going on at the theatres this Christmas. Tage Danielsson was a very famous comedian, who wrote a story about a a boy who is growing up in a rich family. He gets a temporary job at the post office but takes the presents from the rich and gives to the poor. That story has become a Christmas tradition in Sweden just as Dickens , Mr Scrooge in a way has been. The writer of the article says" Thank Danielsson" for the Christmas atmosphere.. More and more we can see how God, Jesus, Christianity is getting marginalised, and typical Christian celebrations are getting ignored or reformed without God. In some restaurants and shops they are told not to play Christmas songs with a Christian touch or with the name Jesus in it. The Gospels tell the story of Christ’s birth, but nowere in Scripture are we told to celebrate His birth. Thats true, But it’s part of our culture no...

Some times, at some churches, in some places it might be difficult to get people to Church. Perhaps in Sweden particularly, but I have to say the churches are not that empty and dying as some may say. Some churches just goes on like never before. Others might pray more, sharing more about the truth of Jesus Christ, as we are doing, but then some churches are trying in unorthodox ways bringing people to Church. At a Lutheran Church the other week, had a full day for kids, in a special "Harry Potter theme". In the early evening it would be music from Harry Potter as well, or at a christian scout camp where they had a special "star Wars theme. Learning kids and teens to choose the right path trough the story of Star Wars and slowly leading them in to the Bible. The Bible, with its 66 books is a story book. There is everything in it. Star Wars, Harry Potter etc they have taken stories from the Bible and turned them in to theirs. Whats wrong with the Word of God...

Some Days ago the former US president Obama made a speech in South Africa, mentioned the Power of diversity. Journalists said it was a brilliant speech. I did not hear all of his speech but I do not agree that diversity is powerful. It is easy to be diverse. My neighbourhood is very diverse. There are people from many different cultures living here. Many different backgrounds and religions. We can see that very clear on Christmas, when a Swedish tradition is to hang a star in the window. Many windows in my neighbourhood has no star in the window during Christmas. For many Swedes its not all about faith, its a tradition, a tradition many immigrants do not support. In my workplace we are very diverse. We do not have the same political view, or ideas how Sweden should be run. We cant unite around sports either since some do not support our local football club. So being diverse is easy and I do not see any Power in that, its colourful, its exciting and challenging, but not...

Rather often you hear people present themselves in the Church World as Pastors, Priests, Bishops, Church leaders, Elders, etc.I have never heard anyone present themselves as St Paul used to present himself in his letters: In Romans 1 he says: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus ( NIV) in NTE it says: Paul, a slave of King Jesus Very seldom, or should I be so bold to say never are we presenting ourselves as Slaves or Servants. The Greek Word for slave is "doulos". The new Testament is written in Greek, and almost every translation use the word servant instead of slave for "doulos". How is that? I looked at a Greek new testament and I counted that word slave is used around 150 times. Perhaps the translators didn’t really like the word “slave” because of the connotations that word brought. Slaves has no rights, they don't get paid, but on the other hand they are a part of the family. They don't have to worry about a lot of things. What to eat, when ...

Last year 2017, was a dark year concerning persecutions against Christians. We are not surprised to read in the papers about attacks against churches and Christians in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan. Iraq and North Korea, but this year we have seen this happened in many other places as well. In Egypt Christians and churches has frequently been attacked and many people have died. In Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco Christians has been attacked and killed. In India an Hindu Group has said they want to get rid of all Christians in India til the year 2020. In Bolivia they will soon have a law that forbids evangelism. If you will do so you can get 12 years behind bars. But we have seen hate crimes against Christians and their worship places even in Europe. In France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Kosovo, Switzerland, Slovenia, UK and Sweden we have seen threats against Christians, vandalism against Churches and cemeteries. Christian refugees in Sweden has been attacked by Muslim refugees. ...