“The time of my life!” - Eccl. 3,1-8

The bien festival 2013 is going to gather young adults from all around the Baltic Sea for an ecumenical youth meeting from July, 29 to August 2, 2013 in Swinoujscie, right at the shores of the Baltic Sea and the Polish-Germany border. The theme “The time of my life!” refers to the biblical book of the Ecclesiastics, ch. 3: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal.” What does that mean for of our personal history and the history of our countries and traditions? Do we have a choice? What is our responsibility? Can we change the world, Europe, or at least our lives? Whom can we trust? Is there something like truth in the endless stream of information? Do we have a future? How about financial crisis, jobs, environment, war and peace, revolution and suppression, inclusion and exclusion? What power has our past, how happy are we at present, where do we want to go in the future? The bien festival is approaching these questions in workshops with discussions, painting, dance, theatre and music, in excursions to people and institutions of the region and across the border, in services in Protestant, Roman-Catholic and Russian-Orthodox tradition, and in celebrating in the bien bar, on the beach, with parties and with games. If you want more information, or if you like to join the bien festival, please, contact the contact person of your country (see under www.bienweb.org), or write a mail to timeofmylife@bienweb.org. Participation fee is € 50,- for participants from Eastern Europe, € 75,- for participants from Western Europe.

“be happy - be free - belong”
mt. 5,1-10

bien festival: July 30 - August 3, 2012 in Sønderborg-region, Denmark”

From July 30 to August 3 about 120 young people from all around the Baltic Sea met for the bien festival in Mommark, close to Søndborg in South-Denmark. This was the 12th bien festival and it was very special, as it took part on the borderline between two countries. The theme was “be happy - be free - belong” with the beatitudes from the Sermon in the Mount from Matthew 5,1-10. We stayed with over 90 young people from Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Russia - St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad - Lithuania, Poland and Germany at Business College Syd (www.bcsyd.dk) just by the Baltic Sea, started our days with taking a swim in the very early morning in the Baltic Sea, delicious breakfast and morning meditation. We had great workshops: icon painting, pilgrimage, gospel-music and band, ecology and sustainability, climate sailing, interviews and documentation of the meeting, and drama. We had a skype conference to young people in the European Play and Work Association e.p.a. (www.go-epa.org) in Braga/Portugal in a youth meeting organized by Young Academy of Future Issues (jafz.org) and traveled across the border to Germany. At the border we reached out our hands to each other and made a human chain, we sang a song and made a wave as sign for peace and reconciliation among the people. We had a night service by the sea, throwing stones of hope into the waves, and we had an open air service together with the local bishop Niels Henrik Arendt at the fields of Dybbøl Mill, where the Germans defeated the Danish in 1864 in a terrible bloody war - how the world has changed, as in 2012 we were so happy and free to meet in wonderful sunshine on a field with grass, flowers, and butterflies, not as enemies, but as people, who belong to each other across all borders! We had party and music, silence and discussion and shared our visions about the theme: what does it mean to be happy, what do we need to be free, and where do we belong in this world with our history, our dreams and hopes, spirituality and doubts, in our countries, in Europe and beyond? After five amazing days we had to say goodbye! However, the bien spirit is going to carry on - and you are invited to join bien in the next festival in Poland, Juli 29-August 2, 2013. More information soon on this homepage or in the bien Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/5021689292.

Be blesses, and most of all: be happy - be free - belong!