Today’s Word from Pastor Kat
“I am the way, the Truth and the Life.” – John 14:6
As Deacon Amy, 4H-ers, animals, artists, performers, and participants were all winding down from Whidbey Island Fair festivities on Whidbey, other festivities were just beginning to get underway across the globe in Norway.
July 29th is in our church calendar as a festival day for Olaf, King of Norway. Per wikipedia, July 29 is the date of King Olaf II Haraldsson’s death at the Battle of Stiklestad, north of Trondheim, in 1030. King Olaf’s martyrdom marked the establishment of Christianity throughout Norway. Norwegians celebrate through religious services, historical plays, and cultural festivals.
Every year in Trondheim, the festival for King Olaf, OLAVSFEST, spans an entire week from July 28th to August 3rd. The focus is “culture, human rights, concerts, and free family events rooted in the Saint Olaf tradition” and this year’s theme is TRUTH. Themes in previous years have included power, trust, body, and wealth, to name a few. A quick look at the 2026 program on the OLAVSFEST website makes me want to dig up my passport and head over there for the festival! Let’s explore some of the program…
A significant part of the festivities in Trondheim includes THIRTY different church services offered throughout the week! Some include “drop-in weddings” and “drop-in baptisms,” a service for healing and comfort, a walking service, and vigil service that “invites us all to be pilgrims and life-walkers at Olav’s grave.” In addition to church services, there are lectures that explore the theme of truth.
Other parts of the program are maybe a bit more familiar to festivals: markets with food and art for sale, concerts, art exhibits, a film festival, and theatrical performances. One art piece is a light display in Nidaros Cathedral by artist Lars Ramberg. In the piece, the word TRU:TH “does not appear as a statement, but as something that must constantly be read, experienced and understood anew… the work explores how language, light and architecture produce our experience of place… Ramberg has developed site-specific works where language, light and architecture activate historically significant places.” The particular placement of this piece is in Nidaros Cathedral– the burial site of St. Olaf.
One sold-out performance is by Norwegian organist Victoria Ulriksen who asks “What is truth– and how does it sound?” Through music, Ulriksen explores “Shades of Truth: inner emotional truth; theological truth; the honest struggle between resistance and fate; the truth that death is inevitable; the truth about inner conflict, contradictions and contrasts.”
In learning about our church’s festival day for St. Olaf, and Norway’s present celebrations that explore the theme of truth, I’m grateful for the words about Lars Ramberg’s piece, TRU:TH and how much it reminds me of faith– something that must constantly be “read, experienced and understood anew.” I’m also grateful for the reminders to pay attention when truth sometimes feel uncomfortable and vulnerable. What does truth sound like/ look like/ feel like to you? I wonder what the Olavsfest theme will be NEXT YEAR?!
With love,
Your Norwegian and Filipina Pastor Katrina
Painting citation:
By Peter Nicolai Arbo – Painted as a sketch for a print for the book Billeder af Norges Historie tegnede af P.N. Arbo og ledsaget af en kort opplysende Text efter P.A. Munch, published by Christian Tønsberg 1860., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12534176
