Artikkel om kirkelivet

A while ago I was asked by a priest to write an article for the church magazine and so here it is, my next blog post:

 My church life in New-Zealand compared to my church life in Norway.   

Norway’s centuries old, authentic church buildings themselves have captured my attention from the day I first saw one. Unlike in New Zealand where the only thing separating an ordinary building from a church is the large cross placed on the roof, Norway’s historic and traditional churches make a statement everywhere and anywhere.         Every time I see a church in Norway I picture myself taking photos of the church this way and that with the bell tower high up against the blue sky as my main objective.

Fascinatingly enough, as well as being a great photograph opportunity the bell tower is put to good use every Sunday and this is defiantly a new thing coming from the churches without bells in New Zealand. The service here start with a series of three long bells sounding loud and clear for all to here it is time for The Lord’s message. The bells that go off at the end of the service tend to leave a shiver down my spine as the message from the sermon sinks in with the loud and clear ‘Ding, ding, ding’.
 

One thing which I have discovered is a-part of Norwegian church history -and now have seen in real life- is the priests wardrobe! The first time I saw the priest holding a sermon in his long white robe with two red patterned strips along the front to break all the white, it seemed as though I had stepped into a movie. I couldn’t believe I was actually there experiencing this in person! New Zealand’s priests traditionally wear a suit whereas the congregation wear ‘more formal than usual’ clothes such as dresses and neat, clean jeans.

Along with the dress sense, the choice of praise varies a bit from my church to the Norwegian churches I have experienced. Not to mention the language side of things of course, the songs themselves vary in the way that the churches I have gone to in New Zealand play more worship songs with a band and signers from the congregation whereas here in Norway we have sung more traditional hymns to the sound of the loud ancient organ. 

Prayers and Bible reading I am glad to say is the same the whole way around the globe as the priest brings out the treasured book for all Christians, and reads a passage containing an important message for the congregation. I must admit that our priest in New Zealand tends to add more situations of real day life into his sermons which means the congregation can easily relate to the messages and apply it to their daily lives.

I have also noticed quite sadly that there are sometimes as few as 14 people in the church and that’s including about half of the congregation being our family. In the Methodist church I come from in the outskirts of the biggest city in New Zealand I am used to seeing many people in the congregation of around 60 which over the last few years they have become a big part of my life. We are like a big family. Our church often plans event such as community working days where we get together to help out members of the church with things like moving house, working bees at the church, gardening for the elder members etc. which I find to be an enjoyable time to bond with the other church members.

Commune seems to be done more regularly here as we usually have it every 4 weeks in our church in NZ and we use a bread loaf instead of the cracker circles like in Norwegian churches. It is very nice to have the same familiar Bible verse read before commune, both in Norway and New Zealand.