Welcome to Revd Reija Vienola

We warmly welcome Revd Reija Vienola as part of the ministerial team of St George’s Barcelona. She has been Licensed with Permission to Officiate by our Bishop. Do feel free to contact Reija, and pray for her and her family as she takes on this new role.

Here Reija introduces herself:

I was ordained as a priest in Helsinki in 2009. Since then, I have been working as a pastor in Lutheran congregations, only pausing when my daughter was born in 2012 and my son in 2016. In January 2017, I moved to Barcelona with my family. After years of adaptation, we feel at home here in Spain.

As I try to think of one verse that reveals my spiritual side, I find it difficult to choose. Matthew’s gospel has always been close to my heart. One of my favourite verses is Matthew 6:25-27, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

In these strange times, I find this verse very comforting. I hope it is comforting for you, too.

The Lutheran Bishop of Helsinki, Teemu Laajasalo, once said that there is only one worry we should carry in our hearts: that we are seeking the Kingdom of God.

Many days, I don’t find that very easy. Days pass by worrying about everything except seeking the Kingdom of God.

But the secret to keeping our sight fixed on the Kingdom is to do it together. I hope I am able to seek it with you, as a parishioner and as a priest.

Revd Reija leads a service assisted by church intern Cass.