Sámi National Day

Yesterday the Sámi National Day (Sámi Álbmoga Beaivi) was celebrated. In Kiruna, it was organised by the Sámi Association and the Sámi Parliament. There was an official meeting at the town hall in the afternoon, with talks and music. In the evening there was a Sámi service at the Kiruna Church, organised by the churches in Kiruna together. In my sermon based on Acts 17:22 ff I stressed the appropriateness of celebrating a day like this in church. Different peoples are all Gods creation, all cultures and languages are created by God as Paul stresses. God is a God of diversity. Diversity in unity.

Becoming a follower of Christ does not imply, to abandon your ethnic identidy and culture, as some have understood it (but no westerner does that, and in missions leaving the supposed pagan culture hase mostly ment to become part of western culture - as a Native American friend put it: why should I leave my own sinful culture just to become part of another sinful culture, i.e. the western culture?). It means becoming a Sámi (or whatever is your culture) follower of Christ. To become a Christian as a Sámi. That is important. The church incarnating in your own culture, rather than make people turn their back on their heritages. Of course God has always been present in Sámi and any other culture, even if He has not always been recognized. Paul says that in the text. Sámi have felt the holiness of Creation, the spiritual dimension of nature - somehing western tehology often has missed. Then of course Paul talks about Christ making the Creator known in a new way, and calls upon the Athenians and upon the Sami and all others to become followers of Christ.

When the Sámi - as Sámi, with the whole of their culture - take their place in the circle, together with all other peoples, and Christ is in the centre of that circle the circle becomes whole, as it was meant to be by the Creator in the beginnings of time.

If anyone would care to read the sermon (I warn you it is in Sámi) i will happily email it to you.