Sweden’s Lutheranism is high church. When defining themselves after the Reformation, they took positions which wouldn’t alienate the Roman Catholic-sympathizers as well as keep the power away from the radical reformers. (This is my beginning and oversimplified understanding from a book I read last year.) The Church of Sweden prides itself with an historic episcopate, which means they can trace (in theory) the laying on of hands for each ordination back to St. Peter, the first pope. The Church of Sweden formalized its theology and practices in well-defined statements, and set the course for almost 500 years. Since 2000, the Church of Sweden is no longer a state church, though the king of Sweden still must be a Lutheran.
Lutherans who come from other lands are amazed how much Lutheranism here feels like Roman Catholicism. I’m fairly low church–not very formal. So, today, I had a high church experience.
One of my Swedish language learning conversation partners, Åsa (OH-sah), was ordained today as a priest in the Church of Sweden. I went to celebrate with her and her family.
As an Old Testament teacher, I’m a bit miffed that the Gospel accounts are elevated this way, almost as if the other parts of the Bible aren’t Scripture.
I was joined by two older students from Johannelund. I put my coat back on to stay warm in the cold cathedral. No wonder the priests had all those layers of insulating cloth.
The cathedral is big and beautiful. It is the central cathedral, as Uppsala is the headquarters of the church with the archbishop’s office located here. “The cathedral dates to the late 13th century and at a height of 118.7 metres (389 ft), it is the tallest church in the Nordic countries” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uppsala_Cathedral).
The afternoon was filled with friends, food, and fun. We were invited over to our German friends’ home, along with a Swedish/American couple. Steffi teaches in the engineering department at the University of Uppsala. I keep learning more about the Swedish university regulations from her. We also had fun playing games–in English! However, their daughter is tri-lingual, English, Swedish, and German, and can easily switch between the three!
With blessings,
Beth