What’s new
Get a handle on Christmas. Book now. De-stress in Úbeda and shop for Christmas gifts in Málaga
We need to be present where we are, but sometimes we need to spend some time organizing the best places and times to be who we are, right where we should be. With these GaJol words of wisdom, I encourage you to think about Christmas and Christmas presents and Christmas stress now and get it all together.
Book the little journey here, where you first follow me into an immersion of yourself in the (my) breathtaking city, Úbeda, in the Andalusian mountains. You'll be pampered with good food and enjoy the self-absorption to the fullest, because afterwards you'll not only get the Christmas spirit going so you can share it at home, you'll also have time to buy Christmas presents in Málaga - one of Europe's most beautiful Christmas cities.
The trip is on the first Sunday of Advent - a wonderful start to Christmas.
Calendar
See all events
Opening speech: Kirsten Klein shows us that we are bound to the landscape.
When I first met Kirsten Klein, we talked about where her pictures come from."They probably come from somewhere where it hurts," she replied. I didn't know then, but I know now. That's where the recognition takes hold. From that place where life is not only good, but also painful. Back then, I hadn't lost my youngest boy, the pain of my life was milder then, but some was there, and we talked about children coming or not, about being a child myself. About longing and being rootless, being moved around, the roots that were not allowed to take hold. You went out. Out into the wind. Nature became your "ally" you said. Out there you could grow. "I don't pray," she said."It's not like that. My spirituality is tied to the landscape."
Chronicle in Kristeligt Dagblad: The church must talk about experiences
Without having any church background or the slightest bit of spiritual longing, years ago I suddenly had to learn to live with, among other things, two visions of Jesus standing upside down in front of me and talking to me, as I recount in "I met Jesus". Up to every other of us have experiences, I documented in the sequel "We met Jesus - And what does it matter to others", but it is still not a field that has been researched much in how we as a society or church should live with.
10 years later: Most people were afraid I was stoned
The only two people who thought it was a good idea to publish my first book were my husband and my editor. Everyone else advised me to keep quiet. They predicted scorn and stoning, or at the very least silence and backs turned. One boss thought I could not continue in my job as a journalist. She got another job before publication, I continued in my position, but why all the anxiety? What was so transgressive in my debut book that it could have cost me my job, my reputation, my family, my friends? And did that happen?
When is Jesus actually born?
The fine Swedish Christian weekly newspaper, Sändaren, is now closing for the New Year. Hurry up and read it at www.sandaren.se/
It's a loss for freedom of expression because the opportunity to express oneself will once again be reduced. I've been writing columns in the paper for a few years and reading it even longer. I will miss it.
I have just handed in the last column. It asks a crucial question.
Let’s talk about faith – naturally
Ever since I launched this website five years ago, it has had the same headline. Let's talk about faith, it says, but soon it will say something else. Because I have donated the five fine words to a project I have been deeply involved in. The project is simply called "Let's talk about faith" and has its very own website: www.ladostaleomtro.dk. The purpose is, as it has been in my work for many years, to get people talking about faith.
Catechism for Cultural Christians: Want to join us?
I've embarked on a wild project.
One I can't and won't do alone.
I want to write a book with words that can create conversations about what the Christian faith is in our lives now and in the future.
You could call it a kind of catechism for cultural Christians.
What should it say?
I would like you to help decide.
What body makes us human? Cat Bohannon’s explanation became a bestseller
RESEARCH & THE FUTURE // INTERVIEW - Making milk makes us mammals. Carrying and giving birth to vulnerable babies makes us dependent on others than ourselves. It is the female body that makes us human and creates society, says researcher Cat Bohannon in her international bestseller about 200 million years of bodily (r)evolution.
For over 10 years, she has immersed herself in not only her own history, but 200 million years of female body history. So now she sees a better future for both of her children's genders "and all other genders", she emphasizes.
Take the best home with you – 11 tips
It's good to be away, to travel, to immerse yourself, to be on retreats and courses. But what happens when you come home? Will it just be good memories and no life changes? I find it easier to make something stick if I write and read about it. That's why I've made a list of the 11 things I want to educate myself to change in my life at home this summer. Sign up for my newsletter inside the text (click "Read more") and get inspired to make your own travels live longer.
Column: The raven from the future
Every morning we go for a walk in the woods behind our house. As soon as we've climbed the hill, I'm struck with amazement that wild life extends all the way into the city. Here I walk under majestic beech trees as a guest in the wonder of nature. The birds welcome me. A graceful choir. Delightful. Sweet. Beautiful. Until it is suddenly interrupted by a sound that scratches my ear canals. I stand still and listen to the strange sound as I ponder how, in 1898, far-sighted merchants planted a forest on this piece of land and gave it as a gift to the city of Aalborg...
August days: Writing school in Copenhagen
When they have taken their own life. Writing school for bereaved colleagues, peers and relatives. "It's different how we react and when, but there is great help to be found in others' experiences of living as a bereaved person." So says journalist and author Charlotte Rørth, who is holding an intensive four-day writing school for a maximum of 12 participants in Copenhagen in August from Thursday to Sunday, August 22-25, every day 9.30-15. The course is organized in collaboration with the Night Church, Vor Frue Church.
Guide: What do you say when someone has felt God?
After I had given a lecture in the Church of Our Lady in Svendborg the other evening, one of the pastors, Gitte Meyer Jørgensen, pulled me aside and told me that many people have come to her after having had encounters with angels, seen a vision with Jesus, heard the voice of God, sensed a divine presence, felt surrounded by desire and much more.
Now she wanted to talk to me about what she should say to them?
Do we understand what he is showing us: Not just gender roles, but gender roles.
"You know the stories. Time and time again Jesus defends a single woman, often a sinner, against a group of men. Why?"
I asked this question last Sunday when I preached in Oslo, and it has been asked everywhere since the Gospels were published. Even before that. "The stories must have happened as they were written, because it was completely incomprehensible and revolutionary for a man to defend a sinful woman back then," I said from the pulpit in the Mission Church. Read the full sermon here - or stream it via the link in the text.
Newsletter about old shirts
If you want to start your mornings well, turn on Swedish Radio. They speak beautifully and singing and sometimes some of my favorite people speak. Like this morning, when Tomas Sjödin, priest in Gothenburg and author of several books, was on.
He and Lotta have three sons. Two of them are dead, but as I talked to him about in my podcast, Berørth, they live with them in their daily lives, as we do with our son. Swedish as they are, they have rag rugs in their house. We have that in the kitchen too...
From one king to the next
When we got a new king in Denmark on January 14, we not only got a man on the throne for the first time in 52 years. It was also only the fourth time since 1523 that we had a ruler who did not proclaim to rule with God by his side.
Almost since Frederik I came with his "Nihil sine numine", "Nothing without God", the monarch has included the Lord himself. Margrethe II said directly as the first Frederik: "God's help, the people's love, Denmark's strength".
The latest Frederik says nothing about God.
Does it matter?
Writing school for suicide survivors
Every year, 30,000 Danes lose a loved one to suicide, many thousands more are affected as friends, work or schoolmates and more.
It's been nine years since our youngest son took his life. Since then, everything has changed. For me, my family, so many around us.
We react differently in grief both immediately after and many years later. That's why I believe it's good that we can talk to each other and read about other people's experiences.
That's why I'm holding a writing school this fall for those who have lost to suicide.
Try it: Encounter laughter, great nature and life-giving calm on my retreats
Join one of my retreats where there are quiet moments along the way. Whether you go to Sweden, Spain or Norway, you'll find great nature, peace and quiet, good conversation and wonderful people. It is not required that you consider yourself a believer or call yourself a Christian or want to become one. My retreats are exploratory and curious, not preachy and lecturing. Together and mostly separately, we effectively tap into the hidden knowledge in all of us and in our society through the Christianity that has dominated the country and laid the foundation for our behavior, organization of workplaces, families and the entire welfare society. That knowledge is full of resources. Knowing it provides clearer analysis of not only yourself but also others, and it enables you to articulate the community you want to create as a leader, colleague, friend or family member. Hidden knowledge works whether we want it to or not. If you want it to work with you, you have to know it. Find the retreats right here: www.charlotteroerth.dk/kalender/
The UN chief was a mystic: New series of podcasts
There's a lot to celebrate and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas. My gift to you is a new series of podcasts where you get close to some of the people who mean a lot to many: The Mystics. Many people know them, many don't, and there are many misunderstandings and perhaps even confusion about why they are called what they are. Because they are not really mystical at all, but they are. They carry a mystery. Whatever their beliefs, it is so ingrained in them that they live it every second, whether it hurts or brings joy, they are in relationship with God. Mystics have been around for millennia and have become increasingly relevant in recent years, perhaps because they are often so concrete in their thinking: What can faith do in the life we are living right now? At the same time, they take an eternal look at the fact that we live here on earth for such a short time. And they manage to communicate about it. You'll meet some of the most famous ones, such as the Spanish monk and poet John of the Cross, the German medicine and music expert Hildegard of Bingen and the controversial Simone Weil. The first one you'll meet is Swedish: Dag Hammarskjöld. Listen to my conversation with Peter Franklin Højlund right here on my website or wherever you find podcasts.
