Church of Sweden A Dying Church

The Burden of Tradition (4): Church of Sweden, a dying church

(Se den svenska versionen publicerad den 21 juni 2012)
Did you know that the Church of Sweden is a dying church? With some 70 000 members leaving annually one could argue that this is not an exaggeration, it seems to be a church in free fall. When the ties with the state were severed at the beginning of the year 2000 it was said in the leadership that nothing much would change. This is apparently not the case.

One qualification is however needed. When talking about Church of Sweden as a dying church I clearly am referring to the church as institution. The church as for example the people of God is not going to die. I also write this, not out of malice, but out of great concern and love. The Church of Sweden is also my church, on which my whole life has depended, and for which I thank God.

However I am of the conviction that something could be done about this church in free-fall. One could only guess the amount of anxiety and worry among Church of Sweden employees regarding the future. This comes as an additional burden to a task that is geared towards the vast majority of the Swedish population; after all my church has carried on its mission as an authentic church of the people (the Swedish term ‘folkkyrka’ does not equal to ‘folk church’ unfortunately) as it literally was the whole people’s church until sometime in later 20^th century. 

Priests of my church have become true masters in the art of preaching intelligibly to people (typically at a baptism) who have a very minor insight and commitment to the Christian faith. However admirable this art is from some perspectives, there are signs that this kind of proclamation is about to backfire. Three priest friends, who all happen to be women, retired or not working in the church anymore, have independently told me quite recently roughly the following: “I don’t see myself going to church, and I am at a loss what to do, for either it is a theme service about something that I cannot be motivated for or it is a sermon that is either totally unprepared or addressed to people who have very little clue about what Christian faith is all about.”

The Church of Sweden is not, and never has been, a church for all people in the land of Sweden. And one should admit that we have become trapped by our own good and well-argued theology of grace. Vi dignar under oket att vara folkkyrka i Sverige. We are indeed suffering under the burden of tradition. It is as if we are blessing and dishing out forgiveness to those who are no longer asking for it. It has perhaps worked until fairly recently in some parts of our country, especially in some of the more rural congregations, but no longer.

We have come to a point where honest questions have to be asked. Many may secretly pronounce skadeglädje/Schadenfreude at a church that has been a real colossus, and an institution that had many privileges, not least in material terms. Let us leave such exercises to others but for us who love our church being both Evangelical Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran.

We may get some assistance by our Master, Jesus Christ. In John 6 there is an exposition of Jesus and who he is, i.e. I am the bread of life. There is quite some consensus today about this chapter being thoroughly sacramental, in that Jesus’ words about him being the bread of life refer to the Eucharist, and apparently, not only to the immediate hearers of Jesus, but also most probably to people in Ephesus, the congregation from which the gospel of John probably originates. To many of these people Jesus’ words were too much so they decided to leave concluding, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (v. 60)

As crowds of people were leaving Jesus at an alarming rate, and it was a kind of free fall situation, he took courage and asked his closest circle of disciples whether they also were leaving. The encouraging words of Simon Peter could also be ours: “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (v. 68)

We should not allow ourselves to remain in this great uncertainty regarding what is to come, allowing others to speculate about our fate. Let’s rather take our fate in our own hands, all those of us who still are members.

Archbishop Anders Wejryd in Uppsala could here take the lead, who I mean has the capacity and integrity to influence the Church Assembly, even though this assembly lives under a party-political captivity that has to be broken radically.

All members of the Church of Sweden should be asked three questions:
       

            DO you want to remain a member of the Church of Sweden?

-          What do you expect from the Church of Sweden?

-          What can the Church of Sweden expect from you?

A theology of grace would always claim that God comes first and it is due to God that we exist at all; but time has also come to respond to God’s grace, simply and honestly. Maybe we are not only talking about a dying church but also about a church coming back to life; after all we are called to be a community of the resurrection.