Sunday service

A couple of months ago I was asked if I wanted to sing and play guitar during a Sunday service in easter. Naturally I said yes because I like the challenge of finding suitable songs with a message that appeals to my humanistic ideals and also fitting into the ceremony of a service. Quite a lot of thinking plus creating an arrangement for church organ and guitar resulted into four songs and an instrumental piece.

It was two services actually, one in church at ten in the morning and the other in the chapel at four. Sunday service in Sweden has changed a lot over the years. When I was little, sixty years ago, the service was well attended, at least by the elders in the congregation. With growing secularisation and that many people has their own homemade religion, the churches are nearly empty when it comes to religious rituals. One way the congregations tries to turn this trend is to invite musicians into the ritual. Concerts in the church room can fill the benches to the last seat but getting people to come on a regular Sunday, especially a beautiful spring morning takes an artist far more known than me. In all we were about fifteen people at both services, priest and officiants included. The music was very appreciated and it lead to interesting conversations afterwards. I won't go into detail about possible solutions och changes, the debate is rather lively but it feels strange that the obvious place for discussions on humanism, moral and religion is abandoned. Instead that debate has moved to media where most of the people living close by the churches are not active. Sad.