Motstand

Jesus sa, mot slutten av åpningen av bergprekenen, at de som blir forfulgt for rettferdighetens skyld er salige, fordi de vil få del i himmelriket og få lønn der.

Det virker som Jesus selv noen ganger ble overrasket over hvor stor motstand han møtte. Dersom Det nye testamente er historien om hvordan Gud kommer til jorden, er et av poengene at han ikke blir tatt spesielt godt imot. Det ender med korsfestelse. En annen gang sier han noe slikt til disiplene: "Når det går slik som dette med det grønne treet (meg) hvordan vil det ikke da gå med det tørre (dere)."

Alt dette viser at det er umulig å bruke både motstand og oppslutning som kriterium på sannhet. Noen ganger viser stor oppslutning at man er på sporet av noe, mens andre ganger følger mengden det tradisjonelle og komfortable, eller det som blir en god fluktrute fra ubehagelige sannheter. Andre ganger begynner et lite mindretall med noe som viser seg å bli veldig bra, andre ganger igjen holder noen fast på galskapen lenge etter den er gått ut på dato.

Hva som er sant og godt kan vi bare finne ut med å tenke, føle, leve og prøve. Når vi så tror at vi har kommet fram til noe viktig og rett og møter motstand, kan det likevel være godt å tenke på det Jesus sa, at å stå for det vi tenker er rettferdig og godt ikke nødvendigvis alltid vil skaffe oss applaus, av og til blir det motsatt, men uansett loves vi altså et himmelrike der ting vil falle på plass.

Stå på, med andre ord, for det du tror på og mener er sant. Motstand verken beviser eller avkrefter at du er på rett spor, men det er uansett noe som noen ganger må tåles. Og da er vi i godt selskap, med både profeter og vanvittige fra nå og tidligere tider...

Fotball i opptak

Går an. Krever intens disiplin og sosial forutseenhet for å unngå å høre resultater på radio eller gjennom samtale.

Forutsetter også at man stiller inn videoen korrekt. For vår del må rett kanal (AUX2) på videoen være valgt og parabolmottakeren stilt inn på rett kanal.

I tillegg må man altså ha skrudd av tekst-TV på parabolmottakeren. Dermed ble det tre timer med meningsløse annonser i stedet for Nederland - Serbia og Montenegro denne gangen. Ja, ja, Nederland var visst best, som forventet.

Argentina - Elfenbenskysten

Av og til er fotball trist.

Nydelig ballkontroll og fantastiske rykk blir til ingenting. Jeg håper Elfenbenskysten neste gang stanger mot et litt mindre tett forsvar, for målt opp mot kombinasjonen av god lagdisiplin og individuelle ferdigheter hos Argentina, ble fotballkunsten fra kysten av Vest-Afrika for lett.

Sørgelig at de trakk denne gruppa! Tenk på alle middelmådighetene de ellers kunne valset rundt med...

England - Paraguay

Siden engelsk fotball flyttet over på betal-TV har jeg ikke fulgt like godt med.

Kampen mellom England og Paraguay ble en gjenoppdagelse. I de store mesterskapene har jeg fått sett England, men Joe Cole, for eksempel, var et helt ukjent fenomen. En fantastisk spiller som like gjerne kunne danset samba i gult og grønt der ute på matta.

Beckham har alltid, og er fortsatt, best i dødballsituasjoner, men denne gangen, i hvert fall i starten av kampen, så vi også at han hadde plukket opp noen detaljer i Real Madrid.

Paraguay er profilløst, foreløpig.

Jeg tror ikke England går til topps denne gang. Når de gjelder, er de best på innsats, men presisjonen er ikke på topp, alltid. De norske kommentatorene sa også noe interessant om at Gerrard og Lampard ikke helt fant det intuitive samarbeidet på midtbanen, og det var også interessant.

Poland - Ecuador

Boring game. Too many missed passes and too much possession-oriented football.

It's always fun, though, when solid European teams are beaten by non-Europeans without great footballing traditions. Ecuador were underestimated, at least by the Norwegian commentators, and it's always good when European arrogance is broken.

Not great football, however, and hopefully both teams lose to Costa Rica and Germany. Eliminate the boring games!

Germany - Costa Rica

I believe in attacking football.

Costa Rica demonstrated tonight that 10 players located in their own half don't score. Wanchope-magic can't weigh up for whole-match passivity.

Germany, though, are different from earlier editions. Good, efficient attacking football and defenders who need to redo some of their basic training, still, when the game is played in the other half, it's no wonder it turned out like it did.

And the first goal by Lahm - it's everyone's dream finding the top corner, and doing so from the corner of the 18 yard box , simply exceptional, Frings' 4-2 goals from 30 yards almost matching it. If they continue like this, I won't grudge them another victory or two. I'll need quite some more magic, though, to want them in the final.

Tidlig krøkes

Vi er i gang.

Fotball-VM er fantastisk. Siden España '82 har det vært nesten som en høytid. Blandingen av geografi, artisteri, statistikk, kunst og følelser, historie og pur moro finnes nesten ikke noen andre steder.

Kamper i Europa er fine greier. Kl. 18 er kveldsmat-tid her i huset. Kjøkkenet og barnestolen er flyttet inn på biblioteket, der TV'en står, og youghurt og brødskive med skinke blir nå servert akkompagnert av Arne Scheie og Karl Fredrik løken. Lille sønn har nå blitt introdusert for Miroslaw Klose, Paulo Wanchope og Jürgen Klinsmann. Han ler når de hopper og fikk visst med seg at det var en ball der.

Det gjelder å finne de fine kombinasjonene i livet. Bare synd at det tar litt mer enn en fotballpause å få ham i seng...

Conversations, preaching and the Da Vinci Code

Yesterday, I went with my church to watch the Da Vinci Code.

After the film, a couple in our church invited us home to talk about what we had seen. It turned out to be a very interesting evening, as we started by sharing each our thoughts and reactions to the film's message.

We found that what people have said to be true really was so, that the film works better for those who've read the book. Those of us with a hang for thrillers, suspense and adventure enjoyed it more.

As a preacher, I have an imagined congregation in my head. I think this congregation usually can be divided into two groups, those with much and those with less church experience. I think I have a fairly precise notion of how both those who are outside the church think, and of the background of those belonging to the mainstream evangelical conservative Norwegian tradition.

When in conversations, however, I sometimes find this image in need of correction. The latest decades there has developed in the church a more open-minded, independent attitude to traditional beliefs, which, though it certainly defines itself within the church's creeds and dogmas, still does not keep from asking questions and experimenting and being in dialogue with other views.

For instance, we started out discussing the implications of the film: What if Jesus actually was married to Mary Magdalene? Most people agreed that this wouldn't change their image of him as the son of God. Also, some of us found that the Da Vinci code was something to be taken seriously, and that its views of church history at least had to be considered and tested.

What we find when we do so, is of course that the story is what we in Norwegian would call a soup cooked on a pin - an expression stemming from a fairy tale where someone makes a soup with just water and a nail as ingredients, using his verbal skills to convince his co-diners that this is an amazing soup. Behind the Da Vinci code, there is a startling mixture of hoaxes and poor historical judgement, but still, though this is a challenge it is very easy to deal with, it deserves to be taken seriously as long as it lasts.

And I always find myself enjoying conversations about such things just as much as I enjoy preaching, because hearing what different people think is often superior to stating what I think myself. My image of what is going on in my congregation's heads & hearts is continually in need of adjustment.

A fairy tale

There once was a small people who lived close to the sea, along roads where many traders and emmisaries passed from one nation to another.

They were proud of their culture, which included moral ideals and spiritual insights which the world would benifit greatly from learning. They were also fiercely nationalistic and replaced the earlier inhabitants of the land by brutal warfare and sometimes also murdering children, women and livestock.

There is always a stronger tiger. A people far larger and stronger cast their eyes on their land, and they were killed, deported or made secondary citizens of their homeland. Many fled, and as a politicial nation they were broken, never to rise again.

Time passed. Almost all of them were exiled. But the memory of beautiful orchards, the formerly magnificent buildings of their capital and the dream of once again shaping a nation after their ideals never faded. There has never been exiles who so faithfully have let their hearts remain in their homeland. For thousands of years they never forgot.

This also made them different. And since men are never purely good, but sometimes aggresive, fearful and blatantly unfair, hatred often rose against them, finding in them a ready scapegoat and an easy target for violence, mockery or exploitation. They bore this graciously, but there came a time when the always unfounded hatred rose to heights unheard of, they were chased from their new places of living or exterminated. And when their hosts again came to their senses, guilt and disbelief at the sufferings they had endured, also rose to heights unheard of.

For many years, they had dreamt of a return to where they once lived. And since they no longer wished to stay where they had been so mistreated, they started to emigrate and return to their homeland, which again was under the dominion of a foreign power, one which had been on their side during the persecutions, but also shared the horror at what had happened.

People were quick to look for solutions, and the dream of returning these people to their homeland took root among leaders, thinkers and ordinary people alike. There was just one thing, those who shared the dream never asked those now living in the country where these people came from thousands of years ago, whether they were willing to give their land away.

And those who returned didn't come as guests or people who bless those they come to. They were unwelcome and were attacked, and of course they defended themselves, but they also conquered because they were stronger. The story repeated itself and this time it was another small people, living by the sea, who were displaced and conquered by someone who 2500 years ago had experienced the same, without learning the lesson.