I want to recommend a new website www.vineyardwomen.com, an inspiring forum for women in the Nordic Vineyards. I just found out that this website links to my blog, and am honoured! And challenged to update it more regularly. And prompted to change my blogging language into English so my dear Finnish friends can understand too.

If any non-Nordics are reading along, let me explain: Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are very similar languages, with only a few different words. Sort of like Portuguese, Italian and Spanish. At first you may not understand your new friends from the neighbouring countries at all, but after listening for a while your ears get attuned and you understand more and more. It actually is a lot of fun and provides some good laughs. A few days ago I was translating the word "rattle snake" from a stage and all the Swedes were laughing like crazy when I translated the word into "klapperslange" (Danish and Norwegian term). Then I learned the Swedish word and mentioned that from the stage also, and it turns out that the Swedish word is "skallerorm". Well, then all the Danes and Norwegians were roaring with laughter for the next few minutes. If we talk slowly together, refrain from slang and dialect and use some sign language, we can actually have meaningful conversations, and it is especially easy to read each other's languages.

Not so with the Finns. They are very similar culturally and politically, but their language has absolutely no similarity to either Danish, Norwegian or Swedish. The lovely Finns are totally unique, so all our communication with them has to be in English. So hence my sudden switch into English in my blog, which a few Brits and Yankees might appreciate also.

Every year I attend a Christian summer camp in Sweden with attendees from all four countries. Many years of attending this week surrounded by blueberries and mosquitoes in a beautiful lakeside setting has increased my understanding of my neighbour languages (except of course Finnish which I will probably never decode!) and I have made some great friendships over the years. Facebook helps cultivate them throughout the year. Every summer I return from camp thankful and inspired by the faith we share and by awesome stories I hear of how churches around our countries live out their faith in their communities. We worship together singing in Norwegian, English, Danish and Swedish, and I must admit that Norwegian and Swedish are better song languages than Danish, it just sounds so beautiful and I love to add their twang to the songs we usually sing in flat Danish at home. It adds new perspective. And when almost 1000 people sing accompanied by great bands and wonderful worship leaders, the songs just soar and connect us with the Most High God. I feel so privileged to have Finns, Norwegians and Swedes as precious friends because of these camps and other conference encounters throughout the year. It actually makes me want to rewind history thirty years and join Denmark to a Nordic Union instead of to the EU, which is a mixed blessing with much fewer cultural similarities, not to mention the Greek, Irish and Portuguese national debts which we have now been forced to share. But that is a different story.

The worship service Friday night at this year's summer camp started like any other. But after a couple of worship songs the Norwegian pastors solemnly informed us of the terrible incident in Oslo, where a bomb had exploded downtown a few hours earlier. "This is a terrible day for Norway, probably the worst since WW II, but we refuse to be gripped by fear" said the Pastor of Oslo Vineyard. "There are rumors that right now there are also some shootings at a small island near Oslo" he continued. "Let us pray for Norway". And scattered in the rows of the audience shocked Norwegians stood up among us. We joined in small groups around them and prayed for them and their country. That God would protect their friends and give them peace at this difficult time. It was so good to share that moment with them. Good also to be able to lay my hand on a shoulder in front of me a few minutes later, when we had started singing and a lady from Oslo started crying quietly as the gravity of the situation hit her.

The news Saturday morning was even more devastating. The bomb that had shaken Oslo that day was only the prelude of a sick symphony composed by a warped mind. Over 80 young people had been shot and killed that late afternoon on the idyllic island in the Oslo Fiord. Almost unfathomable in our usually so tranquil and peaceloving countries.

These days we are all Norwegians. Our hearts go out to our Norwegian friends and the many families who have lost a loved one. And the bond formed through the years together at Vineyard Summer Camp seems even stronger and more meaningful at a time like this. They are just like us! It could have happened to us! And we must continue to lift them up in prayer and ask God that this terrible deed would draw Norwegians together in the faith their country is founded on. That democracy would continue to be what characterises our countries and that respect and peace would rule. That fear would not overwhelm any of us, but that the godly values of peace, respect and forgiveness deep at our roots would again be held up, binding us together.

As the news keep coming of yet another young person succumbing to injuries and passing away in the hospital in Oslo, let us remember what one of the young people who escaped said after her terrible ordeal: "When one man can show that much hate, just think how much love all of us can show together". And let us also remember God's promise to that mountainous nation: "The mountains might shake. The hills might be removed. But my faithful love for you will never be shaken. And my covenant that promises peace to you will never be broken," says the Lord. (Is. 54:10).