Give the church a chance

This article refers to those who have left the church, those who consider leaving the church and those who want to be members, but have problems with the traditional belief, so that they are hard to wholeheartedly join in the church.

The Church of Sweden loses members - almost 90,000 people left the church in 2016. The most common reasons for leaving the church are faith (40%), non-relevant (18%) and economics (17%). Many people feel they cannot afford it. Perhaps they think the church costs too much or is not worth the money they pay in taxes for it. Others have problems with the dogmas, in other words, beliefs that are regarded as indisputable truths.

What must be believed in order to be called Christians? Do you have to literally believe that the Bible is the word of God? Do you have to believe in virgin birth? Do you have to believe that Jesus was the Son of God? Do you have to believe in miracles and that Jesus had supernatural powers? Do you have to believe in the resurrection and the heavenly journey of Jesus? In short, do you have to believe in the content of the creed?

Room for discussion

The church today has a great deal of room for discussion

and different perceptions. There is, for example, a hymn with this text:

I often have questions, Lord, but 

so rarely do I have answers.

I often stand at a junction, and I hesitate to choose.

Often, I am lonely, my 

questions lack words.

I often have questions, Lord, but 

so rarely do I have answers.

A large part of the traditional church's dogmas, beliefs, do not conform to the rules governing everything we know about the universe today. In addition, the church reflects values and perceptions that existed during the first century when dogmas were the case – a time when facts and myth were impossible to distinguish from each other. The church today is not what it was at that time.

Jesus Christ as a model

Jesus Christ revealed in the Gospels is a model to make the world a better and safer place to live. In my opinion, the Church can offer a more accessible, more realistic and human Jesus as the key to a new life and a new humanity without old-fashioned creeds and dogmas. The church today does not have to be seen in the same way as it was seen a long time ago.

In his book, The Great Spiritual Migration, Brian D. McLaren summarizes Jesus as follows: "Through his life and his teaching, in compassionate interaction with individuals and groups, with convincing non-violence, even to the extent that he endured a violent death, Jesus shows us a generous God, a God in deep solidarity with all creation, a God whose power is manifest in mildness, kindness and love."

McLaren calls for a loving way of life – a Jesus way of life. Love, he says, is a word that easily turns into a cliché. Together with grace and mercy, he speaks of non-violence, kindness, fellowship, solidarity, friendship and humanity, as examples of synonymous with love. He expresses this as follows: "Whatever of these words we use, we see love in all that Jesus says and does."

Focus on the relevant

There are many problems in the world. The ecological crisis, as if left uncontrolled, will lead to environmental collapse. The economic crisis, which increases inequalities, and which exploits or excludes the world's poor. The social and political crisis of race, ethnicity, class, religious, political conflicts. The list can be made almost endless. Nuclear war, war in general, all forms of discrimination, overpopulation, drug abuse, government-level corruption.

The church is not without problems. The church is not led by untouchables. Perhaps we should ignore some of what the church does wrong and concentrate on what's right: the church supports open immigration, welcomes refugees, provides housing to the homeless, provides hungry with food, helps sick, elderly and lonely. See Svenskakyrkan.se to get an idea of what the Church of Sweden does to make the world a better and fairer place to live in.

Jesus said, "Indeed, what you have not done for any of these least, you have not done for me either." The Swedish Church is working to eliminate these problems. Hopefully, this work will help to promote the common good.

Trying to save the world is something Swedish Church and other religious institutions already do with other organizations such as the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, MSF, and other organizations that help in various crises that threaten our existence. Without a doubt, all these organizations work for a common goodness.

Does the church have a future?

The church doesn’t have to die. It can work for a better future for everyone and not least for the church itself.

The church today isn’t as dogmatic or doctrinaire as it was many years ago. Today the church is a relevant participant in society. You who have left the church, you who are considering leaving the church and you who want to be members, but have problems with the traditional beliefs, to the point that you have a hard time wholeheartedly being a member of the church, reconsider.

Give the church a chance!

Stone walls as artistry

Many times, I have stopped and admired the stone walls around the cemetery at By church. Stop when you’re there. Take a look. I’m sure that you’ll agree with me that they are a work of art. Stone blocks that weigh between 150 and 1500 kg, carefully laid on top of each other so they look like – you guessed it – a puzzle.

To find out about how these phenomena were created I went direct to the source, Lars-Erik Bäckman at Bäckmans Stenhuggeri in Karlstad. According to him, behind these walls there is a production process, which I will relate here from start to finish.

Handmade from Bohus granite

The specific wall that fascinated me is alongside the main entrance to the new kyrkogård at By kyrka. According to Lars-Erik it is handmade from Bohus granite. He adds that this type of wall is called a blocksten mur. In other words, it’s a wall consisting of rectangular, square and triangular and other shaped blocks. See the accompanying picture.

After the church ordered the wall, first step in the produktionsprocess was when people from the quarry in Bohusland visited where the wall was to be built to determine how long and high it would be. With this information, they returned to the quarry. There they selected the granite that they would shape by hand to form the puzzle-like wall. Each block was numbered to eliminate any guesswork when it came to assembling the wall at the cemetery.

Next the blocks are transported to the cemetery Where they are assembled by following the numbered scheme. The puzzle-like wall that can be seen from outside the cemetery is matched by another puzzle-like wall that can be seen from inside the cemetery. The two walls are separated by about a half a meter. This space is filled with small pieces of granite that were chipped away from the blocks that were finally put in place with the help of machinery. 

Vegetation can be seen between the two walls in the accompanying picture. Lars-Erik points out that this vegetation decomposes to soil and this can cause problems. If this space fills completely with soil and then freezes and expands during the winter, this can damage the wall. To prevent this from happening, a fiber cloth is laid over the stones about 20 centimeters below the top of the wall. 

Other kinds of walls

Blocksten murar aren’t the only kind of walls that appear in cemeteries. Nor is granite the kind of material used to build them. In fact, there are examples of two other kinds of walls built from different materials in the Säfflepastorat. 

The wall at the cemetery at Tveta church is made of rounded gnejs blocks stacked on top of each other. See the accompanying pictures. This wall also features the space between two walls as described above. The gnejs in this wall is probably from a local source, which means it was built with lower transportation costs.

Recently a slantstabilisering wall was installed at Bro kyrka. See the accompanying pictures. A kallmursblock wall made of skiffer from Norge is what is seen when you first look at the wall. If you could look behind this façade, you would see two-meter long by one-meter wide back and one-meter high nätlådar placed end-to-end and filled with stones to hold the earth from sliding downhill.

As was said at the end of each Looney Tunes cartoon, “That’s all folks!” The produktionsprocess behind these walls is deceptively simple. Nonetheless, they demand a lot of hard work and, clearly, skilled artisans.

Stenmurar är som konstverk

Många gånger har jag stannat för att beundra stenmurarna kring kyrkogårdarna vid By kyrka. Stanna till när du är där. Titta på dem. Jag är säker på att du kommer att hålla med mig om att de är ett konstverk. Stenblock som väger mellan 150 och 1500 kilo, prydligt lagda på varandra för att sedan se ut som – du gissade det – ett pussel. 

För att ta reda på hur dessa fenomen skapades gick jag direkt till källan, Lars-Erik Bäckman på Bäckmans Stenhuggeri i Karlstad. Enligt honom finns bakom dessa murar en tillverkningsprocess, vilken jag kommer att berätta om från början till slut.

Handgjord av Bohusgranit

Den specifika mur som fascinerade mig är bredvid huvudingången till den nya kyrkogården vid By kyrka. Lars-Erik talade om är den handgjord av Bohusgranit. Han tillade att denna typ av mur kallas för en blockstenmur. Med andra ord, det är en mur som består av rektangulära, fyrkantiga och triangulära och även stenblock i andra udda former.

Efter att kyrkan beställt muren, var första steget i tillverkningsprocessen att personal från stenbrottet i Bohuslän besökte platsen där muren skulle byggas, för att bestämma hur lång och hög muren skulle vara. Med denna information återvände de till stenbrottet. Där valde de ut graniten som de skulle forma, för att bilda den pusselliknande muren. Varje block numrerades för att eliminera gissningar när muren skulle monteras vid kyrkogården.

Monteras enligt det numrerade schemat 

Därefter transporterades blocken till kyrkogården där de monterades genom att följa det numrerade schemat. Muren sattes slutligen på plats med hjälp av maskiner. Den pusselliknande mur som kan ses utanför kyrkogården matchas av baksidan, som kan ses från kyrkogården. Framsidan och baksidan är separerade med ungefär en halv meter. Detta utrymme är fyllt med de småbitar av granit som flisades bort från blocken.

Växtlighet uppepå muren och nedfall från träd kan skada muren. Lars-Erik påpekade att om utrymmet mellan bak-och framsidan fylls på med växtdelar som sedan fryser och expanderar under vintern kan det skada muren. För att förhindra detta läggs en fiberduk över fyllningsmaterialet ungefär 20 centimeter från toppen av muren.

Andra slags murar

Blockstensmurar är inte den enda typ av murar som finns på kyrkogårdar. Det finns i Säfflepastorat andra typer av murar. Följande är exempel på murar som byggts av andra material.

Kullerstenmururen vid Tveta kyrkogård är gjord av rundade gnejsblock staplade ovanpå varandra. Denna mur har också ett utrymme mellan bak-och framsidan som hanteras på samma sätt som muren vid By kyrka. Gnejs i denna mur är förmodligen från ett lokalt brott.

Nyligen installerades vid Bro kyrka en släntstabiliseringsmur och en kallmursblockmur. En kallmursblockmur av skiffer från Norge är vad man ser när man tittar på muren. Detta är en fasad som döljer vad som ligger bakom den. Bakom fasaden finns en rad av två meter långa, en meter breda och en meter höga nätlådor. Dessa är placerade ände mot ände och fyllda med stenar för att förhindra att jorden i slänten glider.

Tillverkningsprocessen bakom dessa murar är egentligen ganska enkel. Men det krävs mycket hårt arbete och självklart skickliga hantverkare – eller skall man kanske säga konstnärer.

Vad är mer relevant än ett barns oskuld i handling?

Vad är mer charmigt än ett barns oskuld i handling. Vi upplevde det här för tillfället medan vårt barnbarn Elna såg en levande passionsprocession på Josef och Anns kyrka.

Vi stod i kyrkogården framför kyrkan medan processionen inklusive Jesus på en åsna och hans anhängare som bär palmfransar rörde sig mot oss. När de kom närmare blev processionen mer våldsam när folkmassan vände sig mot Jesus. När soldaterna tog Jesus började den fyraåriga Elna gråta. Och när Jesus var monterad på korset blev hon hysterisk, snyftande och gråtande, i den mån Ann kände att hon var tvungen att gå iväg från de andra för att lugna Elna.

Sedan flyttade gruppen till graven vid nästa station, Elna och Ann stannade bakom. Josef gick med i gruppen. När Elna såg Jesus gå från korset, började hon springa mot gruppen vid graven och ropade mycket högt när hon såg Josef – om och om igen – "Pappa, pappa, Jesus lever. Papa, pappa, Jesus lever." Gruppen kunde inte sluta skratta eller överväga betydelsen av lilla Elnas ord.

Vad är mer charmigt än ett barns oskuld i handling.

Childhood innocence

What’s more charming than the innocence of a child in action. We experienced this the other day while our grandchild Elna viewed a live passion procession at Josef and Ann’s church.

We stood in the graveyard in front of the church while the procession including Jesus on a donkey and his followers bearing palm fronds moved toward us. As they came closer, the procession became more violent as the crowd turned against Jesus. When the soldiers took Jesus, four-year old Elna started crying. And when Jesus was mounted on the cross, she became hysterical, sobbing and crying, to the extent that Ann felt she had to step away from the others to calm Elna.

Then the group moved on to the grave at the next station, Elna and Ann stayed behind. Josef joined the group. When Elna saw Jesus walk away from the cross, she started running toward the group at the grave and when she spotted Josef she started shouting very loudly – over and over again –. “Papa, papa, Jesus lives. Papa, papa, Jesus lives.” The group couldn’t stop laughing or contemplating the significance of little Elna’s words. 

What’s more charming than the innocence of a child in action.