Back to Turku…

26 Monday Oct 2015

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Cathedral, Christmas peace, school, Sweden, Turku

In May, I went back to Turku for a day long visit to talk with a professor and see a few more sites.

First stop – the cathedral. It’s pretty much obligatory. It’s the biggest thing in Turku and just always impressive to see.

Then it was across the street to see the traditional location of where the archbishop of Finland announces the Christmas peace.

The story is that the archbishop announces the Christmas peace at noon on Christmas Eve from the balcony of this building. Many, many people travel from around Finland to be here for the occasion and it is televised and draws a huge audience.

Next up was the Cathedral School, which is next door to the Christmas Peace announcement building (sorry, I don’t know what it’s called).

It’s one of the oldest schools in Finland.

One of the neatest things is the city seal:

It shows up all around Turku. It goes back to the Swedish name for the city – Åbo. It’s a shield dedicated to the Virgin Mary – hence the blue.

Farewell Stockholm

22 Thursday Oct 2015

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church, ferry, Stockholm, Sweden

At the end of our trip, we took the ferry back to Helsinki.

The wonderful thing about taking the ferry is the beautiful views that you get from on the ferry.

Views that you can’t get anywhere else.

When you look at the same thing from a different perspective, you learn something new.

I wonder what would happen if we did this in the church…

Interior of German Church, Stockholm

21 Wednesday Oct 2015

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church, German, king, Stockholm, Sweden, wealth

We ventured into the old German Church in Stockholm. It was beautiful, of course – full of white and gold and dark wood. All very elegant.

The windows alone are amazing works of art.

So lifelike and real, you can almost reach out and be a part of the scene.

The organ in the back is of course amazing.

As well as the side organ with the gold front to it.

And when you look at the front, well…

What you see if the altar, the kings box and the pulpit. Yes, the king had his own box seating. I guess church was the precursor to professional sporting events. Wouldn’t want the royalty to have to mix with the commoners you know.

And then there was this:

I don’t know what it is. However, it looks like something at the beginning of a PBS series – something like Sherlock Holmes or Piorot. You know, the person is there introducing the episode in a very stately manner.

Lots of gold, lots of wealth, lots of structure in this church. I’m willing to bet there aren’t many people attending on Sundays too. Wouldn’t want to many people to come in and mess things up now, would we?

Exterior of German Church, Stockholm

20 Tuesday Oct 2015

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German Church, Stockholm, Sweden

The next stop on our whirlwind tour of Stockholm – the German Church.

I find it so interesting that people felt the need to have their own ethnic-style worship space. Yet, we are still pretty far from the ideal that we are all part of one body, aren’t we? It’s been said that in the US, Sunday morning is the most segregated time in the country. When will we learn?

When in Sweden….

19 Monday Oct 2015

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art, statue, Stockholm, Sweden

…Do as the Swedish do.

Kings and Preachers

16 Friday Oct 2015

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Cathedral, preaching, royalty, Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm Cathedral, as I’ve said many times, is very pleasing to the eye. It is full of amazing art, impressive statues, and a plethora of gold.

One only has to look at the King or Queen’s seat to understand.

And it goes from there. What does a king get for his favorite preacher?

A nice gold pulpit.

Impressive isn’t it. Who wouldn’t want to preach from that right?

Of course, there is a price to pay for this. It’s not paid in currency or gold. The cost is the Gospel which preaches good news to the poor, the outcast, and the outsider. In a church like this, and in any society where the ruling and governing class have sway over the church, what ends up being preached is a different gospel – one that preaches comfort to the comfortable.

Bells, Columns and Altars…Oh My!

15 Thursday Oct 2015

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Cathedral, church, Stockholm, Sweden

The Stockholm Cathedral is full of lots of stuff. Really pretty stuff.

And really heavy stuff – both literally and metaphorically.

The stuff is made from really solid stuff.

It gives the feeling that the church is really solid and has a solid foundation.

And yet, it also presents challenges. Challenges like – who is the church built for?

Not something most people or rulers want to think about, but we should.

Priceless Works of Art

13 Tuesday Oct 2015

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Cathedral, church, dragon, mural, painting, St. George, state, statue, Stockholm, Sweden

The Stockholm Cathedral is an amazing place. If you’ve been following my last few posts, you will see what I mean. It’s not just that there is a ton of art work. It’s that the art work is so diverse in the sense that there is a wide variety of types of art.

There are paintings…

And by that, I mean large murals.

And there are statues…

And by that, I mean large statues. This is the famous statue of St. George and the dragon. It’s huge and in full color. St. George is probably at least six-foot tall, if you could stand him up on his own. This is an incredible piece of art. It’s also very fitting in a state-run church that at one time the state was an empire. One can almost see the argument being made that Christ will come in on a horse and with a sword and vanquish all enemies of the church and state. This is an image of Christ that Jesus himself pushed back against time and time again. His disciples at the time didn’t get it and subsequent followers haven’t gotten it right very often either. We’re always looking for a military leader to conquer and kill our foes. Christ conquers through love. The theology is in stark contrast.

Back to the cathedral. There are also small statues…

I don’t remember the full details, but I believe this is a statue of a saint standing guard over the city. I honestly can’t remember much about the statue except that it is beautiful.

Interior of Stockholm Cathedral – Part II

09 Friday Oct 2015

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Cathedral, Jesus, life, Stockholm, Sweden

I have to say that one of the neatest things in the cathedral are these claymation-like scenes of Jesus life. I haven’t seen them anywhere else. They are simple, yet elegant. They teach adults and children. They are big enough to make sense of what’s going on, not overwhelming in size. I really like them.

First up – the last supper. It’s kind of minimalist – but you get the idea of what is going to happen momentarily.

Next comes the upcoming crucifixion. Again, we see the scene just before it happens. It gives things a different perspective that we aren’t used to seeing.

Third, the resurrection.

Lastly, the appearances of Christ.

Cathedral in Stockholm

07 Wednesday Oct 2015

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Cathedral, religion, Stockholm, Sweden

The cathedral in Stockholm, like so many other stately buildings is beautiful. In a way, it’s kind of like the Tardis – it doesn’t look very big on the outside, but feels bigger on the insides.

I’ll spend the next few travel posts taking you on a tour of the interior of the cathedral. There are some splendid things in this church. And it’s also symbolic of the link between the church and empire at the same time – something I’m not a big fan of and have written about previously. When the church is an instrument of the state, then it answers to the state and stately rulers – not to Jesus, who is supposed to be the king of the Universe. At any rate, here’s a quick preview of the next few posts.

I found this picture to be a little humorous actually. The painting is full of symbolism, some the artist intended and a big thing that was added later. This is Jesus rising up above all the toils of humanity. And an exit sign right below Jesus. Does anyone else see the irony of this?

This is a beautiful piece of the Last Supper in 3D relief. But I have to wonder, in all of these Last Supper pictures, where did they get a table that size? And why are they never making full use of the table. It’s like they are sitting on each others laps on one side of the table because there isn’t enough room, yet the other side of the table is completely empty. Again, the irony strikes me that this is often how humanity deals with so many things.