Oslo International Church: Recent Episodes
OiC
Conversations, reflections and other stuff from OiC. Listen to our weekly Sunday Reflections from Oslo, Norway – from wherever you are.
What does it mean to sit at the feet of Jesus?
It's an unusual expression for our days! But when St. Luke tells us a story of a woman who sits at the feet of Jesus, and her sister who is invited to join, he is giving a clear message and an invitation. This week, Maicon Steuernagel explores their story, as well as our own and how we struggle in betwen anxiety and a need to slow down.
Welcome to the moving feet. Welcome to OiC!
Have you ever asked God for more faith? Have you ever been told that you should "grow in faith"?
Questions like that are not uncommon, and emerge from all kinds of situations. But can faith be quantified? And what do we want faith for anyway?
This week Maicon Steuernagel explores the disciples request for more faith in the Gospel of Luke, and asks if we might need to change aspirations for presence
Welcome to the daily work of faith. Welcome to embodied belief. Welcome to OiC!
Beatings, slaves and people being cut into pieces... it seems like the Autumn semester is off to a rough start!
After a long Summer break, we head back into our Sunday Reflections. Maicon Steuernagel spends time with a parable of uncomfortably violent language, asks what we might find out about the questions we bring to the story, and discovers the call for a faith embodied in the present.
Welcome to uncomfortable language we need to address. Welcome to difficult questions about ourselves. Welcome to OiC!
What's the deal with Phillip?
We know very little about him. Yet he's also all over the place. Maicon Steuernagel explores how Phillip can encourage us towards a way of being, wherever we are, that is generous and full of grace.
Welcome to the stories that challenge us. Welcome to OiC!
Titles are tricky.
They can open the reader up for what is coming, or restrain and even mislead the reading. On this year's Sunday of the Trinity, Maicon Steuernagel talks about how headings in our Bible translations can sometimes be unhelpful, and what that has to do with how we speak about God.
Welcome to the community of the divine. Welcome to OiC!
Can we own a story?
Who owns the story of the Gospel? Who get's to tell it? On Pentecost Sunday, Maicon Steuernagel reflects on our tendencies to control the story, and invites us to let go of controling the story of Jesus, and each other.
Welcome to the story. Welcome to OiC!
"We’re a little micro-cosmos of Babel. A little mess of our own."
This week, Maicon Steuernagel reflects on his odd choice of metaphor for his own families experience as a multi-cultural, multi-lingual family, and offer a different perspective on the very odd story of the tower of Babel.
Welcome to our own little mess. Welcome to the re-imagining diversity in a landscape of reconciliation. Welcome to OiC!
What is the nature of perfection and justice we aspire for?
Maicon Steuernagel shares about why he sees prayer as a holy practice of spekticism, and why revisiting prayer's power to change our selves might not be a bad idea after all.
Welcome to prayer not following our rules. Welcome to OiC!
What is the Kingdom of God like?
We might want a clear, hard answer. Jesus gives us parables. Listening to the parables, and to the story of a prophet and a widow, Maicon Steuernagel finds the counter-narratives that upset the theo-politics of our world.
Welcome to the counter-narrative. Welcome to OiC!
We like to think we know stuff. We don’t as often spend time with wondering what that knowing is for.
On this Sunday reflection, Maicon Steuernagel speaks of prophetic letters and challenges of today, and questions what is essential to know and what is most dangerous to forget.
Welcome to letting go. Letting to not forgetting. Welcome to OiC!
"And God wonders... When we’ll stop this nonsense"
This week, Maicon Steuernagel speaks of theology and poetry, kingdoms and kings, and why we might need to learn to hope for failure, if we are to have any real hope.
Welcome to death and ressurrection. Welcome to needed failure. Welcome to OiC!
Easter is over and gone. And what happened after Easter?
Beyond the "sunday school answer", Maicon Steuernagel asks what happens now? What happened to you after Easter this year? With Peter as a companion in the questioning, we explore the challenge of loving Christ when he's gone.
Welcome to the ressurrection questions. Welcome to OiC!
A change of colour in the middle of Lent, a little girl singing as she rows a wooden cannoe in the brazilian rain forest. Maicon Steuernagel ponders memories and images as he reflects on the profound meaning of incarnation.
Welcome to beauty in landscapes of struglge. Welcome to the God with us! Welcome to OiC!
Do you know why super glue is called super glue?
Maicon Steuernagel speaks on how singled out verses and simplistic readings break under the pressure of living, and why it's important to name death in order to live.
Welcome to honesty. Welcome ot the fractures. Welcome to OiC!
Little girl, let's get on with the living!
This week Maicon Steuernagel wonders by the bed a dying girl, and finds that sometimes coming back to life is the easiest part of resurrection.
Welcome to getting on with the living. Welcome to OiC!
Forgiveness is a tricky thing, and forgiveness can be really hard. And are there instances in which forgiveness ins’t the proper response?
Maicon Steuernagel talks about when forgiving doesn't seem right, and but how we might think about forgiveness as something else than giving perpetrators a pass.
Welcome to the tricky path. Welcome to forgiveness. Welcome to OiC!
This week we begin the season of Lent, and hear the reflections from our guest speaker Vidar Bakke on the story of Joseph.
Welcome to OiC!
Sometimes we get stuck in a loop..
Maicon Steuernagel shares his favourite loop from Norwegian bureaucracy, and reflects on much more consequential theological loops and why we need to get rid of a few gilded crosses in order to carry the cross of Christ.
Welcome to the loop. Welcome to OiC!
Our kids are not ours for the keeping... neither is the Gospel.
Maicon Steuernagel reflects on Mary and Joseph's process of realizing their kid would grow into much more than their baby, and on how we might need to learn a similar lesson about the Gospel.
Welcome to letting go. Welcome to letting grow. Welcome to OiC!
A bird feeder hanging under a tree. A bird feeder for messy birds.
This week Maicon Steuernagels reflects on seeds, community and the Kingdom of God. What are we hoping to see grow?
Welcome to the odd shrub where we find shelter. Welcome to OiC!
"She is the one who makes difficult questions that emerge from difficult realities..."
Maicon Steuernagel shares from a personal pilgrimage to spend time with the story of the Samaritan by the well, and reflects on a theology of encounter.
Welcome to unlikely encounters! Welcome to OiC!
Mark doesn't begin in the beginning. Or maybe he does, while it is us who tend to forget where it all starts?
This week Maicon Steuernagel jumps back on a 2020 Christmas reflection about the Gospel according to Mark, and invites us to ask about the beginnings of today.
Welcome to where it begins. Welcome to where it keeps going. Welcome to OiC!
Welcome to a new year and a new season!
On the first Sunday of 2024, Maicon Steuernagel joins Joseph, Mary and the magi from the East as they set out looking for Jesus to find that the places he might be found can challenge how we think about him and about ourselves.
Welcome to 2024! Welcome to searching! Welcome to OiC!
On this last Sunday of our Advent series, we hear the story of Christmas "One more time again". This week, it comes through the story telling of Gospel writter St. Luke, and the reflections of our guest preacher Kristine Tveit.
Welcome to holy memories. Welcome to OiC!
P.S.: We will not have regular OiC Sunday Services on the 24th and 31st of December. The Podcast will be back January 2024.
"They will call him Immanuel, God with us", says the angel. Then Matthew wakes up, surrounded by questions and decisions.
As we tell the story of Christmas one more time again, Maicon Steuernagel explores what St. Matthew tells us about Joseph's story. With very little words, he also will tell the story of Immanuel.
Welcome to embodied answers. Welcome to OiC!
Telling the story one more time, and always one more time.
On the day of OiC's Advent Celebration, Maicon Steuernagel launches our new series that will explore how the different Gospel writers tell the story of Christmas again and again, yet always new. He starts with St. John, who in his unnusual approach to Christmas tells more than one story again, and invites us into the newness of the Gospel.
Welcome to the story. Welcome to Advent at OiC!
There are the stories. There are the tellings of the stories. And there are the stories that the telling makes possible.
On our final episode on the Odinary Faith, the last act of the book of Ruth moves us into the power of how stories are told and what they make possible.
Welcome to the story. We welcome your story. Welcome to OiC!
Who are you?
We will likely answer that question differently, depending on the context: a family gathering, the workplace, a comunity of faith. It often hides another question: why are you here?
In the story of Ruth, those questions get intertwined with another question: who is God?
Welcome to the questions made in fear and longing. Welcome to OiC!
Who does that young woman belong to?
The question, perhaps awkward for us, is crucial for the very survival of Ruth. As we continue our journey into the second chapter of her story, the question invites also us into a whirlwind of questions of belonging: of stories, bodies, grain and kin.
Welcome to the unwelcome. Welcome to kindness. Welcome to OiC!
Can a happy ending make us forget the story?
As we continue our season reflecting on Ordinary Faith, we open a new book and tune in to a new story, the story of Ruth. She is such an unlikely protagonist that even in a book named after her, she runs the risk of being sidelined. What is it about Ruth, then, that we should not forget?
Welcome to the outsiders. Welcome to old enemies and negotiating identities. Welcome to OiC!
Ordinary faith for an ordinary life. Yet there is nothing unordinary about a life of struggle and difficulties. Can our faith live on and even thrive in such conditions?
As we come to the end of our time with the Letter of James, Lemma Desta reflects on hard times, perseverance, and the need for a faith that is familiar with the tough realities of life.
Welcome to the patience of faith. Welcome to OiC!
Bike thiefs, business entrepreneurs and politicians face a common dilemma. What about us?
Still in the company of James, Maicon Steuernagel reflects on greed, arrogance and our struggle with loving ourselves and those around us.
Welcome to the company of the unlikely blessed. Welcome to OiC!
"Get outta here!", shouts James from the altar...
Many Christian faith traditions are familiar with the so-called "altar call". This week, James flips it on its head and sends us away from the altar, toward the places where our repentance can change us.
Welcome to the need for repentance. Welcome to the hope of community. Welcome to OiC!
"Not many of you should become tweeters, my fellow believers..."
Maicon Steuernagel considers James' harsh words about the power and the danger of speech, and reflects if language can also be a practice of healing for the comunity of faith.
Welcome to the conversation. Welcome to OiC!
Can we just agree that child sacrifice is not ok?
We continue our series on the Letter of James, struggling with some hard things in the text and, if we dare, in our own lives and the world we live in.
Welcome the hard questions. Welcome to the table.
Welcome to OiC!
What does doubt smell like? What is the texture of doubt? What is the sound of doubt?
As we start off our series on the Letter of James, Maicon Steuernagel argues with James about the place and the shape of doubt.
Welcome to conversations that lead us to unexpected places. Welcome to the table.
Welcome to OiC!
Ruth, James and Jane walk into a pub...
It sounds like the start of a joke, but it's actually our set up for the semester ahead. The letter of James and the book of Ruth will be our companions around the table, and so will Jane. Who is Jane? Tune in to hear more.
Welcome Jane. Welcome to you, me and someone else.
Welcome to the table at OiC!
About Mary Magdalene, hobbits and stories that hold power.
This week Maicon Steuernagel reflects on the power of resurrection and of being seen, and of implications for those who choose to witness and believe in the power of life.
Welcome to the dismissed voices. Welcome to OiC in the Land of the Living!
The problem with resurrection, is that it is so hard to believe in it...
Yet despite the overwhelming evidence of death, the christian community of faith has insisted not only in believing, but in practices of resurrection! This week Maicon Steuernagel invites us into the practice of vulnerability, starting with one of the main leaders of the early church, the apostle Peter.
Welcome to the practice of vulnerability. Welcome to OiC in the Land of the Living!
The middle of the sea seems like an odd place to look for the living. But then again, where do we look for the living Christ in the land of the living?
This week, Maicon Steuernagel joins Peter and his friends as they go fishing and try to sort out this new reality in which Christ is resurrected yet seems to slip our hold. They find a miracle, but it quickly fades to the background for something more important: breakfast!
Welcome to meals with the living Christ. Welcome to OiC in the Land of the Living!
"Why do you look for the living among the dead?"
This Easter Sunday, Maicon Steuernagel follows the women to the tomb, where we go to honor the dead and tend to our grief. Yet as we are met by resurrection and life, we are left with the question: how do we seek a living Christ in the land of the Living?
Welcome to the Christ that lives. Welcome to OiC in the Land of the Living!
What does the wilderness do to us?
At the end of our "Echoes" series, we emerge from the wilderness into the celebration of Palm Sunday. But what shapes our expectations as we wave palm branches and call Jesus king?
This week, Maicon Steuernagel about paying attention to how Jesus relate to power, and paying attention to ourselve in the process.
Welcome to challenging kings and welcoming Christ. Welcome to Echoes at OiC!
What does it mean to birth Christ into reality?
On the day of the Feast of Annunciation, Maicon Steuernagel invites us to consider the wilderness Mary is thrust into with the conception and birth of Jesus, and reflects on fear and birthing grace into real lives.
Welcome to acknowledging fear and welcoming grace. Welcome to Echoes at OiC!
“Children want a future, not alms”
"Sounds good," he thought, staring at these words written on a sign by a traffic light in Brazil. "But I wonder if that future would somehow come back and feed their empty bellies this night".
This week Maicon Steuernagel listens to Jesus, John and a blind man healed of his own blindness but not free from the blindness of others. How do our communities of faith deal with the necessary discomfort of opening our eyes?
Welcome to the needed discomfourt. Welcome to Echoes at OiC!
There is a difference between no resources being available, and resources being withheld or denied. There is a difference between being alone, and being ignored. What is the difference?
This week Maicon Steuernagel speaks of ents, dogs and asking ourselves how a God who is moved migh move us.
Welcome to the invitations of grace and mercy. Welcome to Echos at OiC!
"Anybody there?"
This Lent season we venture into the wide wild empty spaces where echoes live, to ask and listen. Are there other voices there but our own?
Maicon Steuernagel follows Jesus into the wilderness to ask: why is God there anyway?
Welcome to the wilderness. Welcome to Echoes at OiC!
As we walk together into the season of Lent, out guest speaker Kristine Tveit shares about prayer, being moved, and a Christ who cries.
Welcome to feeling and walking. Welcome to OiC!
The revelation of Bread
As the season of revelation in Epiphany gives way to the season of lent, our guest speaker Solveig Vatn Weisser explores Jesus' declaration: "I am the bread of life".
Welcome to the table. Welcome to OiC!
I am the light of the world. Follow me... says Jesus. The Jesus who walks down the mountain.
This week our guest speaker Lemma Desta shares about this Jesus whom the disciples witness at the mount of transfiguration, and who says that those who follow him will have the light of life.
Welcome to the Cycles of Epiphany. Welcome to OiC!
A sower went out to sow his seed... what was it again?
As we explore these Cycles of Epiphany, Maicon Steuernagel looks at a well known parable and asks where Jesus might place himself in the middle of it all.
Welcome to being present. Welcome to OiC!
“Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Blessed Thomas shamelessly speaks his heart and interrupts our epiphany with the blessing of his awkward question. We need his question, lest we carry on thinking we know the answer. Do we know the answer?
In the middle of our Cycles of Epiphany, Maicon Steuernagel explores questions and answers given in the intimacy of Jesus' last days with his disciples.
Welcome to asking. Welcome to OiC!
Of all the miracles the gospel writers tell of when they present us Jesus, John chooses to start with a remarkably unusual one and call it a sign. A sign for what? And why start here, with this apparently unecessary and unconsequential story?
The Cycles of Epyphany continue, as Maicon Steuernagel speaks of the need to believe in grace with our whole selves.
Welcome to holding on. Welcome to following. Welcome to OiC!
An altar piece that is a window looking into a local valley. A painting of Jesus raising from the waters of baptism surrounded by local woods.
As we start a new series focusing on Christ's revelation as God – the church season of Epiphany – we are met by a question, "What are you seeking for?", and then an answer that changes everything.
Welcome to questions. Welcome to following. Welcome to OiC!
Closing the Christmas season in many christian traditions around the world, the Feast ofthe Epiphany looks at the story of the magi coming from the east to find the child that was born. This Sunday our guest preacher Knut Hallen, who is a missionary to Thailand with NMS, shares on different missional perspectives on the story.
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
Though most of us nowadays associate Christmas with a single day, traditionally it extends for a couple of weeks in the church's calendar, bringing us all the way into the new year. Which begs the question: how does God's revelation in the Christ Child go beyond the crib or manger and into this life that seems to go roling on apparently oblivious to it?
For this new year's reflection, Maicon Steuernagel revisits last year's new year reflection and invites us once more to sit down with old Simeon, a teacher in the isdom of hope when nothing seems to change.
Welcome to 2023 with OiC!
Sometimes it rains on the very day of the picnic. Remember your frustration as a kid?
Sometimes, what breaks the expectation is much more than rain, and harder to take in. This season of expectation, we join Joseph and his broken advent.
Welcome to the Cycles of Advent!
Welcome to OiC!
"Are you the one... or should we expect someone else?"
In this season where the coming of Jesus get's prime time not only in churches, but in songs and depictions and decorations all over the place, we join John the Babtist in finding room for doubt in our faiths.
Welcome to doubt! Welcome to the Cycles of Advent!
Welcome to OiC!
The second candle of advent is lit. Yet how far have we come?
Thousands of years have passed. Yet how far have we come?
This week, Maicon Steuernagel explores the long waiting and hoping of those whom Christ walks alongside, and invites into the prophetic imagination of prayer.
Welcome to the Cycles of Advent!
Welcome to OiC!
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Einstein, supposedly, said that. And we're sure he had his reasons. Yet as we start a new series, Maicon Steuernagel invites us to join Mary and Elizabeth in exploring things that are worth doing over and over again.
Welcome to the Cycles of Advent!
Welcome to OiC!
Life isn’t easy. But you probably knew that already.
So how do we deal with that as a community of faith? What are we called for? To bear each other’s burdens or to carry our own loads?
As we come to the end of Paul's letter ot the Galatians, he seems to affirm both. This week, Maicon Steuernagel explores that contradiction and allerts us to the temptation of not caring.
Welcome to Belonging!
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
This Sunday we gather with Hasle Congregation for a joined bi-lingual service! Sophie Lazar, who is a priest at Hasle, shares about fear and hope, and the call to think hope in community.
In this episode you hear Sophie's reflection in norwegian. For the english version check the episode "OiC November 13th, 2022 – OiC & Hasle Joined Service – English"
Welcome to OiC & Hasle Congregation! Welcome to Hasle Kirke!
This Sunday we gather with Hasle Congregation for a joined bi-lingual service! Sophie Lazar, who is a priest at Hasle, shares about fear and hope, and the call to think hope in community.
In this episode you hear Sophie's reflection in the voice of Maicon Steuernagel, who translated to english. For the norwegian version check the episode "OiC November 13th, 2022 – OiC & Hasle Joined Service – Norwegian"
Welcome to OiC & Hasle Congregation! Welcome to Hasle Kirke!
How does that work? It doesn't, but we do it anyway.
This week Maicon Steuernagel talks about the impossible task of OiC and about the need for hope and prophetic attempts to insist on it.
Welcome to Belonging!
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
Between the cracks in our systems and the cracks in ourselves, how can we live a life of both mercy and freedom?
Maicon Steuernagel talks about Les Misérables, Galatians, and about Paul's one thing that counts.
Welcome to Belonging!
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
What might it be?
This week Maicon Steuernagel talks about freedom, brazilian music and the need for a poetical and comunal imagination to talk about and live out freedom in Christ
Welcome to Belonging!
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
On our sixth Sunday with Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Maicon Steuernagel continues exploring the Jesus-Abraham connection, and how it invites us to explore the unfolding of God’s promise and the meaning of unity in the context of our local community.
Welcome to Belonging!
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
This week we hear from Lemma Desta, as he moves into the third chapter of Galatians and some of St. Paul's most famous arguments.
Welcome to Belonging!
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
Classrooms, churches and meals...
This week Maicon Steuernagel interweaves stories, from a classroom in Brazil, a rooftop in Israel and a dining room in Antioch, and speaks on listening to fear... and listening to the Spirit.
Welcome to Belonging!
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
How long does it take to belong?
Maicon Steuernagel takes a look at the Paul writting the letter to the Galatians, and asks questions about his process of belonging and becoming. How did his experience shape his theology and his faith, and what sort of invitation does that experience extend to us?
Welcome to Belonging!
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
"Please wait to be seated."
You have most likely seen that at the door of a restaurant, yet that is not the only place we might be kept outside. This week Maicon Steuernagel looks further into Paul's letter to the Galatians, and reflects on the dynamics at the doors of our communities of faith.
Welcome to Belonging!
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
What's in a greeting?
This week Maicon Steuernagel greets us with our new "Belonging" series, and speaks about the art of greeting in Paul's letter to the Galatians... and how he's calling us to a way of belonging to the community of faith in Christ.
Welcome to Belonging!
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
OiC is an impossible community. And yet...
This week guest preachers Valdir & Sileda Steuernagel share from 1 Peter and from their lives experience, and speak of the forming of this impossible community through Christ shaped hospitality.
Welcome to Oslo International Church!
In this world you will have trouble. But that's hardly news...
So what difference does it make when this comes from the mouth of Jesus speaking to his followers? If in this world we will have troubles, what might it look like to go trough it as a community of faith?
This week Maicon Steuernagel listens in on Psalm 126, and reflects on the invitation to live through a life invariably marked by trouble, with hope and songs in our lips and limbs.
Welcome to Summer in the Psalms!
Can we sing a way we may live by?
This week guest preacher Pr. Valdir Steuernagel tells stories and listens to the invitation of Psalm 146. An invitation to a way of living and a way of hoping: the Lord reigns forever!
Welcome to Summer in the Psalms
Songs of indignation, frustration and protest. They make us uncomfortable. They disrupt the status quo and break the flow. What place might they have in our communities of faith?
This week Maicon Steuernagel goes to Psalm 10, and asks how we might sing and how we might listen.
Welcome to Summer in the Psalms!
Where do you go to meet with God? Where does God meet with you?
As the psalmist sings of the world as a place of encounter with God, Maicon Steuernagel asks what such a spirituality of encounter might look like for us today.
Welcome to Psalm 24 and to Summer in the Psalms!
Can we sing songs of joy in the face of sorrows?
This week, Maicon Steuernagel ponders the need for prophetic joy and joining the song of the Moving Spirit.
Welcome to Psalm 96 and to Summer in the Psalms!
Is there room for rest in a collapsing world?
In the midst of the summer holidays, Maicon Steuernagel takes a look at Psalm 46's invitation to stillness, and what that might look in the middle of the chaos of living.
Welcome to Psalm 46 and to Summer in the Psalms!
What comes first, fear or forgiveness?
Maicon Steuernagel explores the spiritual traditions of Psalm 130 and of the Lord's Prayer and invites us to engage with a wider and deeper perspective on sin, and redemption.
Welcome to Psalm 130 and to Summer in the Psalms!
From oral tradition to scrolling... finding a grounding mantra in a speeding world.
This week, Maicon Steuernagel talks about adjusting the rhythm and an invitation to tune all things, including faith and hope, to the key of Christ's love.
Welcome to Psalm 136 and to Summer in the Psalms!
Is it all for nothing?
We work hard, create, build, raise children, make projects. Yet when all is said and done we have less control over the outcomes than we would like to admit. Is it all in vain?
This week Maicon Steuernagel talks about Psalm 127, and what it might look like to invite Eternity into our daily strugles and hopes.
Welcome to Sumer in the Psalms!
Can we sing as we choke?
In a week where the pain of the world is all too obvious and present in our city of Oslo, Maicon Steuernagel speaks of singing Psalm 150 as a celebratory act of hopeful defiance.
Welcome to Sumer in the Psalms!
What happens when the arid landscape of a desert well and a the poetical language of a psalm are brought together?
Maicon Steuernagel officially starts summer in OiC by contempating Psalm 84, and the remarkable claims and invitation Jesus Christs makes as he talks simmultaneously into a desert geographical landscape and the poetical landscape of the tradition of book of Psalms.
Welcome to Sumer in the Psalms!
Tongues of fire or bread on a table?
On the Sunday of Pentecost, Maicon Steuernagel looks at an alternative Pentecost story and talks about the location, temporality and presence of the Spirit of God.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
What if the end of the world is happening right now, but it's too slow for us to notice? Better yet, what if the world is being saved and transformed, if only we know how to look for it?
Jesse Ophoff discusses the appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection, the meaning of the Ascension, and what it looks like for us to live in a world that has been forever changed.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
Prayer is like a widow giving injustice a black eye.
Join Maicon Steuernagel as he explores a perplexing parable, a surprisingly specific greek term, and the challenge of sticking to a life of prayer in the midst of a broken world.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
On the 15th of May Oslo International Church celebrated a service together with Hasle Congregation (Church of Norway), who's church building we share. On this episode you get to hear in on the message for that day, reflecting on the call for unity in the prayer of Jesus in St. John's Gospel.
Note: the service was bi-lingual, including the preaching. The norwegian portion has been removed for the podcast.
Two men who lived differently, a chasm and torment. What is this parable really about?
This week Lemma Desta calls us to listen to the challenge of a well known and often misused parable of Jesus, and to let it speak into our current days.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
About a dysfunctional magic family, a corrupt manager, and betting it all on grace.
Maicon Steuernagel looks at a disruptive and disturbing parable, and talks about the power of storytelling and the (necessary) risks of listening.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
This week Therese Wagle Bazaard takes a fresh look at a beloved parable... and other stories about losts and founds.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
What do we do with Jesus?
This Easter Sunday, Maicon Steuernagel dives into the events of crucifixion, and the mystery of incarnation. On the hill of Calvary, an invitation to a much deeper question comes from an unlikely source.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
How will you react when Jesus comes to town?
This Palm Sunday Jesse Ophoff looks at Jesus' passage through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem in Luke 18:35-19:10. On a holiday all about excitement and praise, the stories of the blind beggar and the rich tax collector invite us to also consider coming to Jesus with our needs and with our shame.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
Should we really hate those we love in order to love Jesus?
This week guest preacher Po Chu Grønvold shares from a challenging text and reflects on how the love of Christ can transform our ability to love to the better.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
When is the right time to hope for freedom? And where do we look for it?
This week Jesse Ophoff looks at Luke 13:10-22, and how Jesus talks about the ordinary healing moments of his ministry compared to the "main stage" events in Jerusalem.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
This week Kristine Tveit tackles an intriguing parable, and the difficult questions of justice.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
The material world does not of itself flourish human life, and can destroy us by covetousness and anxiety. Jesus shows us God’s kingdom, where we can truly grow to our fullness.
This week we get to hear Phuong Huyng. He's been studying theology and leadership, and doing an internship with us in OiC. Check out his reflection from last Sunday!
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
Praying the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples is a formative practice that shapes the way we approach the Father. But is that all it does? Did Jesus actually mean to say that "everyone who seeks finds"? And how much do we have to "believe" it for our prayers to "work"?
This week Jesse Ophoff looks at Luke 11:1-13 and kind of faith it takes to pray the Jesus-way.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
About hidden things and heavenly fire…
This week Maicon Steuernagel reflects on some cryptic words of Jesus, and talks about the danger of keeping knowledge and power away from our hearts, and our hearts isolated.
Welcome to the Gospel of the Neighbor!
What do we do with the words of Jesus when they sound like “bad news” for us?
Brooke Ophoff looks into Luke chapter 6 at the blessings and woes described by Jesus in the Sermon on the Plain.
Welcome to "The Gospel of the Neighbor"!
What does it entail to make oneself a guest? And what when that guest is God himself?
This week Maicon Steuernagel wonders over a norwegian word in a story about death, life and compassion.
Welcome to "The Gospel of the Neighbor"!
What was so bizarre about the way Jesus called his first followers, and how has it come to seem so normal for us today?
This week Jesse Ophoff highlights a few things we can learn about what it means to be called by this fish whispering, demon slaying, party throwing rabbi.
Welcome to "The Gospel of the Neighbor"!
"... one more powerfull than I will come"
John the baptist speaks of Jesus as the chosen one of God, bearer of divine power and confirmed by divine revelation. But what does this power look like, and what will Jesus do with it?
This week Maicon Steuernagel wonders with Jesus into the wilderness, where he confronts the temptations of economical, political and religious power.
Welcome to "The Gospel of the Neighbor"!
Why did Jesus have to be baptized, and what does this have to do with the Creation story in Genesis? What was God doing before creation? And what does all of this reveal about our identity?
This week, Kristine Tveit dives with Luke into the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.
Welcome to "The Gospel of the Neighbor"!
Baby Pictures...
This week Jesse Ophoff asks what we have to learn from Jesus the 12-year-old about church, doubt, growth, and pain.
Welcome to "The Gospel of the Neighbor"!
Who do I need to love? And who is it okay to ignore? To leave out? To bypass? Who is my neighbor?
Many of us will recognize that question from the so called Parable of the Good Samaritan. The telling of this story is unique to the Gospel according to St. Luke. And Luke knows that question in this theology, and in his own experience.
This Sunday, Maicon Steuernagel launches our new semester theme, as we will look into the Gospel of Luke and how he tells the story.
Welcome to "The Gospel of the Neighbor"
With the turn of the year, we find ourselves considering the year that has past and projecting fears, hopes and plans towards the new year that starts... and maybe wonder if we can make it through another long rough year on the road.
On our fist Sunday Service in 2022, Maicon Steuernagel talks about spiritual range anxiety and wonders at the gift of old Simeon.
Welcome to 2022 with OiC!
Finally! The angels are singing it! A new star is announcing it! The Messiah is born! He’s here! Yet… a whole lot of people have no idea. In fact, virtually everyone but a few dozen people are completely oblivious to what has just happened.
This Christmas, Maicon Steuernagel talks about our tendency to clean up the nativity scene, and why that might be a bad idea.
Welcome to OiC's Christmas!
This Christmas season is not coming out as we expected. The lockdown, the restrictions and the sorrow. But then again, what happens if Christmas is nothing but what we expect?
This week Maicon Steuernagel looks at how the birth of John the Baptist helps us keep Christmas untidy... and why that's good news!
Welcome to OiC's Advent Reflections!
Mary walks into the stained glass.... and becomes part of it. When she sings, she becomes part of those who allow the light to shine through, and unto others.
On the third Sunday of Advent, Maicon Steuernagel joins Mary as she visits Elisabeth, and sings her story into a revelation plural.
Welcome to OiC's Advent Reflections!
When the light of the world shines through the glass of revelation and onto Mary's very womb, she's unprepared. But she's willing to trust the greeting: the Lord is with you!
On the day of OiC's 2021 Advent Celebration, Maicon Steuernagel reflects on the call to trust God, and trust the power of grace.
Welcome to OiC's Advent Reflections!
When we look at a stained glass window, we are mostly attentive to what it show us. But what if the light touches us?
This Sunday, Maicon Steuernagel starts out on our advent series looking at someone who was used to the stories displayed in the temple, but wasn't quite ready for the light to touch his own life.
Welcome to OiC's Advent Reflections!
This Sunday, Jesse Ophoff reflects on what it means for the Church to be a community that the gates of hell cannot overpower. How is this good news for us and for the world?
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflection!
There is a strange and peculiar dynamic in OiC. A mixture of business and quietness. A simultaneous sense of pause and of action. It's an expression of our identity as a serving community of faith, a community where that's expressed in serving each other. But why do we do it? Is it necessity or is it a choice?
This Sunday, Maicon Steuernagel looks at one of the most peculiar and remarkable acts that our Lord Jesus Christ himself chose in order to talk of himself as a servant, and call us into something…
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflection!
Walking into an OiC Sunday Service, we can hardly help but notice the kids inside. But do we pay attention to their prophetic presence? What happens when we center the kids, as Jesus did, and let them challenge our aspirations and priorities?
Welcome to an OiC Sunday Reflection, with Maicon Steuernagel.
This week's Sunday reflection comes in an unusual format, from an unusual Service: we finnaly had the opportunity to celebrate Sunday Service together with Hasle Menighet, with whom we share a Church building!
Sophie Panknin is sharing the reflection, and Maicon Steuernagel is translating.
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflections
"This is my body, which is for you."
Maicon Steuernagel reminds us that that body is plural, and explores what it means to discern the Body of Christ as we share the Eucharist as a community of faith.
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflections!
OiC has gathered many times in many places: homes, a basement, a grassy hill, a number of church buildings. In all of those, a same open book. Why do we always open it and talk about it, whenever we gather?
Maicon Steuernagel continues speaking of these Things Inside.
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflections!
Lifted arms, bended knees, hands knit together, voices speaking or whispering from mouths open under eyes shut.
Prayer may be a thing inside the soul, yet it is also a collective expression of faith, and witness. What does it mean to speak of prayer in this way?
Maicon Steuernagel continues speaking of these Things Inside.
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflections!
As we walk into this holy space colored by stories and symbols like stained glass windows, we ask ourselves: what are the meanings of these things inside?
As Maicon Steuernagel starts us off in a new series, he ponders first about the very doors, and talks about hospitaly as a sacred thing.
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflections!
Two simple phrases, packed with meaning and with challenge.
Maicon Steuernagel wraps up our series on 1 John by boiling it down to two simple phrases from the last part of the letter... and everything they lead us to.
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflections!
St. John speaks a whole lot about love in his writtings. But is there something to it? Or is it just a trite word?
This week Maicon Steuernagel goes to the Gospel according to St. John, and takes a look at St. Peter learning a hard lesson about love.
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflections!
Our journey through 1 John continues as Jesse Ophoff contrasts the Way of Cain and the Way of Christ, and asks what difference in makes in the real world that we confess Jesus Christ in the flesh.
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflections!
Does St. John need to chill a bit?
This week Maicon Steuernagel takes on a part of St. John's letter where he seems to go overboard. Children of God or children of... the serpent? What's going on John?
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflections!
When the light shines on us, as a community... how does it move us?
This week Maicon Steuernagel starts our 4 part series on 1 John, where John has a lot to say about the light, and what it means to live in it.
Welcome to OiC's Sunday Reflections!
Hope, faith and community.
It's the start of a new semester in OiC, with a new theme: "Stained Glass". As the light shines through the stained glass windows at Hasle Kirke where we meet, what does it shine on? Maicon Steuernagel kicks off our new theme reflecting on hope and the reality of our local comunity of faith.
Welcome to OiC!
Psalm 4: A Prayer Interrupted
Do you ever find it hard to pray? In this sermon, Jesse Ophoff talks about the objections, frustrations, and other distractions that can make it seem impossible to get from one end of a simple prayer to another.
Welcome to OiC's Summer in the Psalms!
Can God really spread a table in the wilderness?
The wilderness is a harsh place. On the wasteland the odds seemed stacked against life and flourishing. A long look at history and the world today can leave us wondering if there is any hope. Is there anything left besides irony and disillusionment? Maicon Steuernagel looks for signs of hope in Psalm 78, and beyond.
Welcome to OiC's Summer in the Psalms!
blessed?
Maicon Steuernagel checks Instagram and threads of biblical theology, old and new, as Psalm 67 gets him asking: What does it mean to be blessed by God?
Welcome to OiC's Summer in the Psalms!
About fear and hope
10 years after the events of 22nd July 2011, Maicon Steuernagel looks at Psalm 56, and talks about violence, fear and hope.
Welcome to OiC’s Summer in the Psalms!
In the jaws of Psalm 82
Maicon Steuernagel approaches Psalm 82 with a question, but finds himself entangled in trying to figure out divine identities. Who are these gods? And why does it matter anyway?
Welcome to OiC’s Summer in the Psalms!
Where will God pitch his tent?
It's summer in Norway, and a lot of us are taking to the woods and camping. Maicon Steuernagel starts out in the beauty of a long drawn Norwegian evening by a lake, then converses with Psalm 15 about contemplation, holiness and where we might meet the Divine Presence.
Welcome to OiC's Summer in the Psalms!
(Our podcast is now recorded live on our Sunday Service. This means our podcast will posted on Mondays, and that some cuts and background noise might make its way here. It also means you get a feel of the community gathered!)
Praying Your Anger
Jesse Ophoff consults Psalm 109- a psalm often avoided for just being too vengeful, too bitter- asking what it can teach us about coming to God when we feel we've been wronged.
Welcome to OiC's Summer with the Psalms!
(Our podcast is now recorded live on our Sunday Service. This means our podcast will posted on Mondays, and that some cuts and background noise might make its way here. It also means you get a feel of the community gathered!)
About authority, power... and being children.
Maicon Steuernagel revisits Psalm 8, and explores the unique role of humankind in creation and in relations.
Welcome to Summer in the Psalms!
(Our podcast is now recorded live on our Sunday Service. This means our podcast will posted on Mondays, and that some cuts and background noise might make its way here. It also means you get a feel of the community gathered!)
About the danger of performance, the risk of fear and cultivating a space of grace.
Maicon Steuernagel looks at the symetry between Psalm 32 and the Sermon on the Mount, and finds an invitation into the freedom of confession.
Welcome to Summer in the Psalms!
A contrast, and a silence.
On this weeks reflection, Maicon Steuernagel reflects on the artistic power of Psalm 95. It confronts us with a contrast, and a silence... a kind of striking absence. And suddenlty we find ourselves talking about the character of God and the nature of trust.
Welcome to Summer in the Psalms!
Finding a spot on the river bank... and at the table.
Summer has arrived in Norway and in OiC. And that means spending time with the Book of Psalms. But what is so special about the Psalms that we come back to it every year? Find out as Maicon explores Psalm 1 in the first Sunday Reflection of this new series.
Wecome to Summer in the Psalms!
A trash collector and the generosity of incarnation.
On our last "Letters from Lockdown" reflection, Maicon Steuernagel looks at Paul's awkward thanks for the gift of the Philippians, and finds that generosity is about more than stuff.
Welcome to "Letters from Lockdown"!
Don't worry, be happy? Bobby might have a tune, but Paul has a point.
In this Pentecost Sunday reflection, Maicon Steuernagel deals with Paul's insistent call for us to rejoice and not worry. Isn't that a bit naive Paul? And what does this have to do with Pentecost anyway?
Welcome to "Letters from Lockdown"!
What's the difference between what encourages, and what discourages you?
When we open the Bible, it often feels like it can go either way, especially dealing with the words of someone as intense as Paul. Is there any encouragement to be found in his letter to the Philippians? Maicon Steuernagel makes the question... Welcome to "Letters from Lockdown"!
Is Paul a first century hipster?! Is this Paul's Instagram feed?
This week Maicon Steuernagel takes on chapter 3 of Philippians and talks about pressing towards the goal and the things the Gospel wants to safeguards us from. It might not be what you expect...
Welcome to "Letters from Lockdown"!
In times of isolation, recognizing and being people who show love just by being around is more important than ever.
This week Jesse Ophoff is sharing about Timothy, Epaphroditus, and the ministry of showing up.
Welcome to "Letters from Lockdown"!
Joy and comfort through self-giving love.
In the third reflection in our "Letters from Lockdown" series on Philippians, Jesse Ophoff explores how Paul uses the example of Christ to show how self-giving love is a strategy for joy and comfort in times of trouble.
Welcome to "Letters from Lockdown"!
About death, joy and manioc flour
Maicon Steuernagel explores one of the scariest dimensions of lockdown, and the possibility of joy and encouragement in the face of that very reality.
Welcome to "Letters from Lockdown"!
When was the last time you wrote a letter?
Maicon Steuernagel kicks off our new series, talking about letters ancient and new, lockdowns of different kinds, and about encouragement where it seems unlikely.
Welcome to "Letters from Lockdown"!