Saturday the 23rd of November, on the Vigil of Christ the King Feast Day, held St. Johan-nes Parish an Ecumenical Love Song Even-ing where both priests and laymen from the Pentecostal and the Norwegian Church par-ticipated. It was an evening of praise, remembrance of our baptismal promise with holy water, prayers of petition, and incense towards the end of the evening, thus, an interesting cross-over between the Catholic tradition and Norwegian charismatic worship.
Lars Berg fra Filadelfia organized the music for the evening, playing the obo along with his colleagues from the Norwegian Opera and the Church was filled with beautiful instrumental tones and song. Reverend Karen Onshuus held a short speech, and Fa-ther Haavar portrayed how we can meet in prayer across religious affiliations, creating unity and seeing each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
In additon to worship, it was also polyphonic Gregorian tones, folk with lovely string arrangement. The Vietnamese candidates from the Elisabeth sisters from Nordstrand clarified that worship and praise of God finds many different expressions.
It would be nice to have more of these evenings at St. Johannes. It is a courtesy that attracts attention in both Catholic circles and in other denominations