Happy birthday to me!

Well, I'm 29 now, which seems to be a bigger deal to everyone besides myself. I had a nice, quiet day. Kristina had breakfast in bed for me and sang a nice Swedish hymn about something (I was half-awake) that was very sweet.

For lunch, we split a Korv Görans kebab...one of my favorites:

Kristina made one of my new favorite desserts, strawberry tort:

This is my "I'm old" face:

Kristina and I then went to the cabin for a relaxing evening, which included a Dinkle from Malmgård Brewery, one of the few microbreweries in Finland. It was really delicious:

Corpus Christi - The entertaining Swedes!

Corpus Christi 2011 - Swedes entertain! from W Odom on Vimeo.

Corpus Christi - singing the Venite

Corpus Christi 2011 - Singing the liturgy from W Odom on Vimeo.

Corpus Christi - Party!

The last evening of Corpus Christ, a Compline service was held in the park with a picnic and party following. It was a great ending to a wonderful couple of days.

The Appells, Esko, Timo enjoy the entertainment:

A pastor from Etheopia lead us in a couple of hymns:

A fun game was played with the different countries represented including Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Romania, Etheopia, and the United States:

The woman in the hammock is Milka, who was the main organizer for the Finland group. This was her thank you gift from the staff:

Bengt Birgersson preaches on the second coming of Christ during the final Compline service:

Here are two of Kristina's former students/good friends, Niina and Tiia. They're single and looking for good Lutheran men!

Corpus Christi 2011

One of the great benefits of Corpus Christi is the oppurtunity to meet many confessional Lutherans from around the world. This is a picture of the "going deeper" session I (Weslie) attended, which was for theological students and pastors. The topic was on the future of the church and was lead by Timo Laato (clerical collar), who invited Bishop Matti Väisänen to join the discussion.

Corpus Christi - Scandinavia House edition!

Dr. Chris Barnekov has, over the years, opened his home to students from Scandinavia studying at Concordia Theological Seminary. He also hosts many great gatherings there, so that the Scandinavia House, through Dr. Barnekov, has become an important artery for communication between confessional Lutheranism in Scandinavia and America. Kristina and I are happy to call Chris a friend. We think he'll be proud of some of his former tenants!

Markus Pöyry preaching while Jacob Corzine (CTS alumni currently working on PhD at Humbolt University in Berlin) translates:

Jakob Appell leads the liturgy while Daniel Brandt (currently studying for a STM at CTS and staying at Scandinavia House) waits to preach:

Daniel Brandt preaches a great sermon I Pet. 2:

Timo Laato preaches while Esko Murto, acting Theological Secretary of the Luther Foundation, translates from Finnish:

Markus leading the liturgy:

Corpus Christi 2011

This is the interior of the new church, which was packed for the first service:

Peter Bender was the plenary speaker, and he was really amazing to watch and learn from:

Here is a picture to get an idea of the scale of the place: