Blessings of Boundaries

 Young people these days struggle with high expectations. I read about this in the newspaper. I hear talk of it among colleagues. I meet many young people in my profession. I have pondered for some time what it is that creates such anxiety, such stress at a young age. Who expects too much? Why are high expectations hard to handle?

            A few days ago I sat in a festive gathering of alumni from a school I attended in my youth. Different age groups of alumni entered the stage to share a memory or two from the time they were students. I noticed the older generation, as they told about the strict rules, the scare of being called in to the principal’s office. I noticed the charm and wit as they recalled the strict division of the genders. They were allowed to fall in love, to hold hands, but never to be in the dark and shady places alone.

It struck me, as I enjoyed their humorous musings, that the strictness, the standard, the boundaries set before them, was a liberating blessing. They were safe within the boundaries. Someone else was responsible for them. They did not have to define their limits; they simply adhered to them. Breaking them was exhilarating, but they all knew there would be consequences, and they needed to be kept in check, and they wanted that.

It is hard to be strict. To be like a Tante Sofie, a strict spinster from our children’s literature, is to assume rather unpopular role, often criticized and ridiculed. I wonder about the adult responsibility, as a parent, as a teacher, as a fellow citizen. What is our role, and how could it better aid the new generations?

Do we have laws to limit harm? Yes, we do. We have laws to regulate both actions and intent.  Do we have norms and standards to limit harm? Now, that is question, because the norms are in flux, they are changing – and I question the value of those that burden the young.

Today’s youth play. Today’s youth work. They go to school, and some have expectations of doing a little better than their abilities; others are happy with passing.  Whether I am right or not, will be for others to judge, but I think today’s youth struggle more because they have less boundaries set for them, they have to create their own norms and standards. They are left to themselves to administer them, to be their own authority. In relationships the young man or the young woman has to set the rule for acceptable behavior and has to be the one to enforce it. There is no societal norm, which they both can refer to. They have to define this themselves. There are no adults responsible for the administration of reprimands; they themselves have to be that authority.

I believe this is a major source of stress and fear of failure, and I feel it is unfair to put this sort of responsibility on young shoulders. This is an area where adults have shrunk back in their will and ability to take on responsibility. We, the adult generation have a mandate to be and become the ones to define where boundaries lie, and we are responsible for administering them.

It is not the school requirements, the chase for good grades or the struggle to get ahead which creates the unbearable demands on young people. Such demands have always been there. People have answered these challenges for generations. It does not help to be lenient on those demands, be they ever so hard. No, if the young people feel secure in their environment, if they can refer to a standard norm, a mom or dad who prohibits certain type of behavior – then they have their backs covered. They are not creating the norm, but simply adhering to it.  If they are breaking it, mind you, then it is a willful act. A breach has consequences, and these will be administered by the ones who have the responsibility for and the authority to do so.

Is it true, then that a certain laziness in us adults leads children to despair?

Are we really unpopular with the young if we truly fulfill our role as responsible authority figures? I think not. I think many will love us more in the long run. But we are in deep trouble if we do not know the norms and standards, if we have never thought about what is truly valuable and important in life.

As a Christian, how do I see morality and what is preserving life for the next generations? How do the biblical teachings guarding us in our society? As adults, we are also under authority, the authority of Jesus Christ. Without this foundation, we would be lost. Without this anchor, we would be adrift. So, as we see our own place, our won responsibility, we realize the each generation needs the fundament and anchor in Jesus Christ.

Augo

Stirande
mot inga særskild

Speglar
av di indre sjel

Stoggar brått
og skodar røynda

Stjerner stilt
som gjev og stel

Saknar somme tider solgløtt
sovnar seint i sumarkveld

Will You Harness a Creative Soul?

I am a creative soul, and from time to time I need to express myself. These days I have an outlet through words, through thinking and writing. Other times I have had my medium in music, and other times again, in drawing. I like crafts, but any sort of technique is like a tool for potential outlets of my inner need to turn inside out.

I get responses, and they vary, but always there are some that see opportunities in harnessing my creative energy, to make it into a business, to steer it to be productive in our common field of life. I am nice. I listen to the suggestions. Sometimes I may even be flattered, but in the end, I feel the strong urge to resist any such limitation to my expressions. It feels a bit naughty, but it is not. I have not given any promises, not asked to be a pool of potential energy for a system or any social machinery.

As a creative soul, I must be free, and my freedom is the choice not to be bound by others’ formative urge. In a sense, if they see potentials in making a business out of my drawings, recordings of my music, they are imposing their own practical creativity on me. If they want my writing to serve their politics, it is an expression of their own creative zeal. Additionally, if they see my creative edge and hope to see all that energy poured into something else – since I have so much energy – they impose their own creative administration on me.

Some times I follow the lead; and invariably I regret it. Still, I will do my duty until the task is completed. It leaves me singed. It burns me out. Do not harness a creative soul.

The creativity in us is a God-given feature; it is part of being created by the Creator as creative beings. I am redeemed; I am set free to live in communion with God. I am a Christian. Yes, in this relationship I am bound, blissfully so. In Christ I live; I am a new being, and I dwell by the source of everlasting love. Naturally, in this sense my creativity is reflective; I do not want to express destructive thoughts.

 In this field there has also been a request, perhaps not clearly spoken, but a request nonetheless, to always, in all I do, relate to God and his world.  So, if I say something else, I disappoint. I disappoint the expectation that I, with my energy for writing, always should shout from the rooftops, like a prophet. I understand the urgency, the zeal, the sense of necessity in always pointing out the truth of God’s Word. But I cannot be harnessed by others to say, to think, to express what they feel should be said by my voice.

I have no objection to business, to drawings being made into something we buy and sell. I have no objections to the industry around recording music production. I have no objections to contributing to the common good, using my abilities. I have no qualms about expressing life-sustaining truths found in interactions with God in his Word. I have no objections to proclaiming Christ as Lord and Saviour.

Still, the expressions are mine, and mine to give. They must have the freedom to well up in me as a creative soul. I will not harness it; for by self-imposed structures, I hold it down, and it benefits no one. It may simply lead me into depression. A creative soul must have freedom of expression; but this freedom is never unharnessed in itself. It meets the good intentions in ethical charges; for the One who created me, also created you, and He loves us both.

Kjønn og Definisjon

Det finnes bare to kjønn blant mennesker, han og hun.

Det har de aller fleste av oss forstått intuitivt. De fleste av oss har også  en forståelse av at seksualitet har med forplantning å gjøre. Poenget er å få avkom og bringee slekta videre. ”Vær fruktbare og fyll jorden”, oppfordrer Gud oss til i skapelsesberetningen.

Nina Karin Monsen kjempet en iherdig kamp mot lovendring i norsk lov som nå definerer ekteskap uten begrunnelse i kjønn. Hun var fortvilet over tregheten, over mangel på forståelse for hvor ødeleggende en slik kjønnsnøytral ekteskapslov er. Noen forsto, som Benestad og organisasjonen Mor-Far-Barn, men de fleste reagerte med et: Hæ?

Nå begynner vi å se konsekvenser av den lovendringen.

Fordi det i norsk lov er kjønnsnøytralitet i ekteskapet, har kirken tatt det til følge og legger til rette for enhver som vil, kan vie seg til enhver – eller ethvert.

I første rekke dreier det seg om to av samme kjønn. Debatten har rast, og vil rase om en kristen kirke har mandat til å gi sin tilslutning til dette – siden det strider i mot grunnleggende skapeleseteologi og bibelsk moral – men i utgangspunktet vil kirkens ledere bifalle slik praksis, og i tillegg lyse en velsignelse over det.

Definisjonen av kjønn er ikke kjønnspolaritet lenger, ikke slik du er født, ikke definert av genitalier. Som en konsekvens av det, vil ledere i det politiske Norge i dag åpne for en enkel mulighet for å endre sitt kjønn. Det som definerer om du er mann eller kvinne, en hann elle hunn, er en subjektiv selvforståelse. Om man føler det slik, har lyst til å skifte kjønn fra tid til annen, er det tilsynelatende greit. Kjønn og seksualitet mister sin begrunnelse forplantning og intensjonen i å bringe slekta videre.

Kanskje den kyniske sex-industrien allerede har fanget dette, for det er lyst, kjemi, rus og egentilfredsstillelse som er drivkreftene i den industrien. Ethvert avkom er utilsiktet; enhver graviditet er problem.

Det er ikke noe nytt, i og for seg, at kjønn defineres av egne subjektive følelser. I henhold til homofili ligger definisjonen ikke i biologiske begrunnelser, men i egenerklæring. Her i Norge har folk flest tatt det for god fisk at enhver som definerer seg som homofil, ikke kan annet enn å være det. Det finnes ikke noen klar definisjon utover selverklæringen. Det er utrolig liten debatt om homofil livsstil som etisk valg.

 Når definisjonen av kjønn,  og når valg av livspartner, ikke er begrunnet i seksuell polaritet mellom en hunn og hann,  med det ultimate formål i å få avkom, da ser jeg ikke annet enn egoistisk hedonisme som begrunnelse.

Naturligvis kan dette få videre konsekvenser: Kommer en dame i hvit brudekjole opp kirkegulvet med sin kjære skilpadde i armene og vil inngå vielse, vil intet kunne være til hinder for det. Om skilpadden ikke vil? Nei, det er et definisjonsspørsmål; og man kan definere dyret slik at det gir sin fulle tilslutning til det.

Om Russland og kristne

Jeg leste en artikkel i Dagen, 2.mai, med tittelen ”Kaster ut vestlige misjonærer”.

Ja, var det egentlig det det dreide seg om?

Sitter vi fast i gamle holdninger fra den kalde krigen?

Kan vi våge å tro at det kan komme noe godt fra østfronten?

Er et ikke slik, som vi har hørt i alle år, at samme hva ledelsen i Russland gjør, så må det være mistenkelig? Ja, det må være fordekt gammel-kommunisme!

Og den russisk-ortodokse kirken, kan den ha noe  genuint kristelig ved seg?

I ingressen i innlegget i avisen kunne vi lese at russiske myndigheter  vil begrense vestlig innflytelse, og at de får støtte fra den russisk-ortodokse kirken.  Om det i den sammenheng også blir et ’nei-takk’ til kristen virksomhet med vest-europeisk kulturell bagasje, er det ikke så underlig.

            Det har vært en god del skriving her i avisene i det siste om oppgjør med usunne kristne grupper med karismatiske makt-personer; den norsk folkekirken har nylig avgjort å bryte med de store, gamle kirkesamfunn og deres tradisjon i og med at det legges til rette for enkjønns-vigsel. I vesten har de protestantiske kirkene produsert et stort mangfold av varianter av kirkesamfunn, mer eller mindre bevisste i sin Gudstro.

            Tror vi, kan hende, at vi vet mer om hva sann kristendom egentlig er fordi vi er vestlige – at vi vet bedre enn det eldste kirkesamfunn i verden? Har vi hørt Kirill, Patriarken av Moskva og hele Russland preke? Jeg leste påskebudskapet hans for de tre-fire siste årene, og jeg ble glad. Jeg fikk nytt mot. Her var det sann og ekte kristendom. Jeg frydet meg over den stillingen han har i Russland og i forhold til styresmaktene.

           

Jeg leser en bok, ”The Holy Place, Architecture, Ideology and History in Russia” om katedralen i Moskva som kalles Frelseren Kristus-katedralen. Der kommer mye av Russlands forhold til Europa og de vestlige ideologier fram. Det er med utgangspunkt opplysningstidens anti-kristelige sentiment at de ser forfallet i moderniteten. I Russland  var det en selvforståelse blant kirkens menn at de var bærere av sann kristen tradisjon og de var Europas vei til nytt håp. Mye av dette ble overkjørt i kommunismes tid – men nå har kirken fått et mye større fotfeste blant folk flest enn før kommunismen.

            I en artikkel jeg leste i Aftenposten for noen dager siden, gikk det fram at økningen i dem av befolkningen som definerte seg som kristne i Russland har gått opp fra 30% til 72%.

Jeg har vært nysgjerrig på den ortodokse kirke og gikk på et ”Orthodoxy 101’-kurs i den gresk-ortodokse kirken nær der jeg bodde for noen år siden. Jeg har lest igjennom introduksjonsbøker av Kallistos Ware og fr Calton. Jeg har lest igjennom liturgien flere ganger og bruker en liten ortodoks bønnebok i andaktslivet. Jeg møter en levende tro i det jeg leser, og en verden som åpner for Guds virkelighet i mange aspekter av livet. Det er rom for undring, tvil, glede, tillit. Det er rom for det vakre, for kontemplasjon over Kristus og hans Ord. Det er rom for å være et menneske i Guds rike.

Kanskje det er på tide å vende blikket østover, et forventningsfullt blikk. Kanskje finner vi fram til hverandre som brødre og søstre i Ånden. Den kalde krigen er over; den ateistiske kommunismen er død. Gud er Gud; Kristus lever.

Time to Pray; Time to Nag

There are days I sit and catch up with myself, in a way. I am concerned with many things and with people, and I forget to listen to my own heartbeat. It is not important for this world that I have an opinion to share  - but it maybe important for me to share it. Very quickly it may become a request for more, but I am not an entertainer. I have participated a little in the public eye, and may do so again. Still, I feel like the Lord reminds me, ever so gently, that I should come to Him, be in His presence, rest by his feet and take shelter under his wings. I speak in images, and hopefully you sense what I say with these words.

            So, He calls me to come before Him, to pray. I have a small prayer book. It is so good to have; it helps me get started. I have the Bible open. Presently I am reading in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome.

            In the moments of prayer, I can be totally honest with God. He knows all my thoughts and feelings, all my opining, disagreements; all the people I wish could stop menacing  - he hears about them. I am not a lady full of sainthood when I pray. I don’t think I look anything like Mama…whats-her-name, with the mild, saint-like gleam in her eyes. No, I am sadly honest about my own shortcomings, but the Lord knows…and I am forever urging God to reveal himself to people who are just so blind!

            I don’t want to nag, really; but I think I nag, nonetheless.

I have heard, read, and learnt much about prayer. At times I was almost like a pro, and it was blissful as long as it lasted. But then again, I forgot about the whole thing. Well, that’s how I am:  like a lightning bug on fire, buzzing about, and then settling down in the shadows, only to become an ordinary bug in the daytime. But God is God; He is in charge, and I am happy. He calls me in for refills, for a nice cup of tea in His tent. I rest my weary mind; I rest and know that His will be done, in His time.

            And still, he is ok with the fact that I nag.