Oslo International Church

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 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!

“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!