Oslo International Church

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....

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 i...

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 t...

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 practic...

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...

"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....

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...

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 might 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!