Sunday 19 September 2021

Inspired Sunday

 

Today elections are held in the Church of Sweden, i.e. the Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. Liturgically and theologically it is "high church". It was state church from the Reformation until 2000, and is still the largest Christian denomination in Sweden with over 5 million members. It is an open national church with a democratic organisation, including the right of members to vote in elections, which still resemble political elections. To which extent they should continue to do so is one of the questions debated in later years; but for now, that's how it is. In the church elections, candidates are listed either with a political party group, or with a 'non-political' group (there are more than one of those as well). I'll refrain from trying to explain further, as I'm rather confused about it all myself!

Back in the previous century I usually didn't bother to vote, but in later years I have. The possibility to vote in advance in this election opened two of weeks ago, and I went to do so one of the first days; in the parish house next to the church above. It is the oldest church in town, dating back to the late 1600s. In later years I've attended church services and concerts here every now and then; but not since the pandemic.

On my way back from voting, I took the opportunity to go into the church and play tourist - i.e. wander about a bit and snap some photos with my phone. (I think it is usually kept open in the daytime on workdays; but I don't normally pass by it.)


If you wish , you can light candles for prayer.


A "christening" tree - a rather modern addition .They add the names of recently baptized people on it. (I've seen similar trees in other churches visited on holidays in recent years.)



If all goes to plan, Sweden will be lifting the last of its corona restrictions at the end of September. For my own part, I'm still feeling a bit hesitant about "crowds", though. Not sure yet when I'll feel ready for a well-attended church service or choir concert...?


InSPIREd Sunday

9 comments:

  1. I have seen such trees in churches in recent years, too, and regardless of the denomination.
    Like you, I am not really comfortable about this abolishing of all pandemic-related measures. We are fast approaching the 4th wave here (some say we‘re already in it), and winter with everyone snivelling and coughing has not yet begun.

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    1. Meike, I tend to agree and I can only hope it won't turn out to be "too soon" to let go of all restrictions, even if hopefully we may soon have reached a level of vaccination that should protect most of us from serious illness. There are still some groups of people where the level of vaccination is lower than the average, though. And also questions about how long the effects of the vaccine will last, and when a third dose might be needed etc. I'm glad I'm not in charge of deciding what's best for "everyone" - but I'll probably continue to try to be rather careful myself for a while yet...

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  2. What a beautiful church! So these are church elections...what position is being voted on; the Pastor?

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    1. Ginny, no, it's on a different level, not to do with ordained ministry but with background structure resembling the political system. Like in the political system we have elections for municipalities, regions and the national parliament, in the Church of Sweden there are local parish assemblies/councils, diocese (district) assemblies, and a national church assembly.

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  3. I've never heard of church elections, do many people vote?

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    1. Amy, I'm aware that this system is unlikely to be familiar to any country where there is no dominant national church going back centuries. I'm not even sure how it compares to for example the Church of England. Compared to our national political elections, voter participation in the church elections is traditionally low. One reason probably being that most of us hardly know ourselves how it all works (like who decides what etc)!

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  4. the church is so beautiful and the lighting makes the photos magical. about opening the town, they opened everything in Florida and now we are the hotspot for the virus in all of usa... we wore masked, locked down and still got the variant

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    1. Sandra I only wished I'd brought my proper camera which is better for zooming in on details etc ;) As for the opening up I think we have more people fully vaccinated here now than you do... Hopefully that will make a difference.

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