Almost four years ago I went to Sweden for an exposure program. I was chosen to represent our Diocese for this 90 day exposure. To learn about Sweden, the Swedish life, the Church, people, culture. It was my first time to go abroad so everything was new and everything was so amazing.
Swedish culture has been described as Lutheranism. We all know that when you say Lutheran, this identifies the theology of Martin Luther, right. I do not want to talk more about Martin Luther but how Lutheranism molded the way Swedish people live their life today. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification “by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone” contrary to the Roman’s view of “faith formed by love” or “faith and works” which, as Pinoy, we can justify it as Filipino Culture and is far way different with Lutheranism. What I like of them is their being practical. There was just a sad part of it in terms of going to Church. I was there for 3 months and I only witnessed a mass where I can see a lot of people and it was during Good Friday. Commonly during Sundays, there were only few people attending the mass, though they have a very angelic voiced choir. I asked my guide why is it like this, why are there only few people attending mass when they have this beautiful large Church building? The answer was so sad but practical. That the people are not going to church, for they already pay their obligation to the church through their tax. For them, you go to church to share your money so that the church can share it to the less privileged people, so why would they still need to go to church when they already are sharing their money through their tax. That is one of the reason why you can only see few people attending mass, usually the elderly.
First impressions…
When we arrived in Sweden at the airport, huge image of Abba will welcome you down to the hallway out to the lounge where your host is waiting. We met Wilmar (sounds as “Vilmar”) and while waiting for our taxi, we were so amazed about the snow. It feels very cold and I almost want to jump for joy. At last! I am abroad.
(to be continued)