A beautiful experience..

Yes, today I witnessed a truly beautiful thing this morning - and it was all because of random reasons. Everything happens for a cause, a good cause, they say. I believe the reason part to be true. One happening opens up for the possibility of another - but if it's always for a good reason, a good thing to happen. Hm. I don't know...

Well, to get you into the beginning of this whole story, I have to go back one month in time when international students in Joensuu could book a sea-cruise trip from Helsinki to St. Petersburg for the weekend 17th -21st March. At that time I had just paid for my Lapland trip and the Copenhagen visit, so I was running short of money and decided that I had to save a St. Petersburg visit for the future. Not a difficult decision for me to make, because I knew that a weekend off would give me time to pay a visit to my Finnish Friend Family.

But no. Thursday I got a phone call from my Finnish friend who told me they would be busy this weekend, so no visit to Kettamo this weekend.

So, here we are. It's Sunday 20th March and I am in Joensuu, "alone" in Lansikatu 18. I'm not really alone, because my Polish friend, Gosia, is here as well - both of us for the same reason. No money. What to do with no money? In Joensuu you can do almost everything with no - or very little - money. This is somehow paradise for students. Yesterday we went to two museums (I'll tell you more about that later) and today: church!

Joensuun Kirkko

Since I moved to Joensuu I've wanted to go to church, but there has always been something in the way, so this weekend I had to try it, a "normal" service in a Finnish Lutheran church. Gosia has been to church quite a few times, but to a different church, it's Lutheran as well, but slightly more carasmatic. Well, after sauna last night, Gosia sent me a link to some Finnish homepage with the timetables for service in different Lutheran churches. With my very limited proficiency in Finnish I still managed to make some sense out of the timetables and descriptions of the service-opportunities and I limited it down to the nearest Lutheran church where I saw this headline:

Konfirmaatiomessu

I flew out of my chair in excitement! A "confirmation"! A Finnish confirmation! How much more lucky can I get? The first time I go to church and I witness a confirmation!
 
I called Gosia who didn't think this was such a big deal - and I just couldn't understand why. For me, this was a huge deal! So why didn't she think this was a big deal?

Let me tell you why.

In polish, the word "confirmation" means "communion" (altergang, altargongd). A normal communion. While in Danish and Faroese it is a very different communion where kids become young adults and personally confess their belief in God.So what does it mean in Finnish?

Now I wasn't as excited as I was before, but instead I was very curious. Finland is a Scandinavian country, but Finland doesn't really have all that much in common with the other Scandinavian and Nordic countries - and especially, the language is very, very different.

We decided to have breakfast in my room before going to church Sunday morning at 10am.

Okey. So here I am - again. Today is Sunday 20th March and I just experienced something beautiful! When we entered the church, the first thing we see are around 20 teenagers wearing white gowns, the same kind of white gowns, and a cross around their neck. The one in the front of the line is carrying an additional cross, a huge, golden cross. I notice that many people (not the teenagers) have red roses and tiny, little, white flowers in their hands. Me? I have nothing. Other than my notebook and a little pocket money I have nothing.

Me and Gosia went inside and asked a man who looked like a church service-man if we could take a seat in one of the empty benches in the side of the church, facing towards the isle. It is funny how communication works just fine without words, using only body language. Well, we sat down in front of 3 "young men", probable around our age. They seemed to know exactly what to do, how to behave, so we imitated them to our best ability when it came to all the "normal church routines".
Stand-up! Sit down! Answer the priest! Don't answer the priest! Sing! Don't sing!

So no we're back to the beginning of the service. The church bell just rang for the last time and the organ tunes start. Everyone stands up, facing the Isle, where 20 teenagers - soon to become young adults - walk slowly towards the front of the church. The first person in the line is the girl holding the big, golden cross and behind her are the other teenagers who are also wearing white gowns. In the back of the line is the priest together with his 4 helpers. The young people take a seat in the two front rows of the church. Here, there is no division between the genders, as I know it from home, but they seem to sit in a random mix in the two front rows.
When they sit down, the rest of the crowd does so as well, including me.

And now the service begins.

To my surprise, I actually understood far more than I thought I would. At the same time as things were very different, I still felt at home. It was very familiar to church in my hometown on the Faroe Islands. At this time of year (the church year, that is) everything is purple. The priest is wearing purple, her main helper is wearing purple and the same goes for decorations. Today, everything is purple.

I knew the songs and various "answers to the priest", so I just sang along - but in Faroese, of course.

I'll have to make this short, because no one wants to read my extremely long blog entries. So I'll mention the most beautiful moment of this Konfirmaatiomessu, the one I will never forget.

10 minutes in to the service, the "confirmants" walk up to the round circle around the alter. For those of you who don't know what that is. It is basically a soft bench where you bow down to get God's blessing. See the picture

When the confirmants are gathered around the circle, the priest says something, and one adult pr. confirmant walks up and takes place right behind each and every one of the confirmants. The confirmants bow down on their knees and the priest gives something (I can't see what it is, but it looks like wine) to the adults, who then hand this on to their "young adult".

-I was told by the men sitting behind me that the adults are the godfathers and godmothers who in a symbolic gesture give away the responsibility they took, when the teenagers were baptised as babies.

As this whole thing was going on, I couldn't hold back my emotions, and for a little while, my eyes turned a little wet. This was a truly beautiful and sentimental moment. Not just for me. No. I noticed that one of godmothers was crying as she walked down the isle, after giving away her responsibility for one of these young adults. I noticed that she was pregnant and I wondered which  thoughts were running through her mind as she left the alter..

I could tell you about many, many more things from the confirmaatiomessu, but I'll rather just end here and hope that my blog entry will leave you with some reflective thoughts on a Sunday like this one..

Everything happens for a reason..