Excerpts From: The Messenger |
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"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit ? fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name."
When it comes right down to it, everything we do hinges on one simple yet complex, six-letter word. If you had to guess what this word might be, what would you say? Wealth? Health? Esteem? Dreams? Chance? No, I would have to say the word is ?choice?. Knowing how to make good choices determines a lot in life. When to go, when to stay?when to stop, when to start?when to push, when to pull back? when to rush, when to slow down? when to say yes, when to say no?when to believe, when to doubt?when to spend, when to save?when to fly high, when to stay low?these are a gift and a curse all wrapped up in one.
I say that God is the author of choice. The Bible makes it clear that we love Him only because He chose to love us first, and we choose to know Him personally because He chose to reveal Himself to us first (Matthew 11:27).Is it not a beautiful thing God gave us in the ability to choose.? It makes our choice to love Him true, genuine, and eternally significant.
But at the same time, it can be a tragedy. It was Adam?s wrong choice to sin that caused a separation from God that only the death of His son, Jesus, could repair. But I trust our all-knowing and all powerful God, and take this gift of choice with a prayerful and sometimes trembling heart.
I know my own propensity toward bad choices and have made my fair share of them. The sad part is, I usually know when I?m making a bad choice, yet my self-centered flesh forges ahead past all the warning signals flashing through my mind. Oh I do fine with the 'rules of life' type choices. I am a rule follower by nature. But the choice that I struggle with is letting the spirit of Christ, my first love, have full reign in me. I want to model a gentle, quiet spirit but what a struggle it is at times! I have to consciously return to my first love every day. In big ways and small, I have to make the choice to reveal the reality of Jesus in my life.
This happens only when I remember that it is because of God?s grace that He chose me first. And then I must accept the mission that I've been 'appointed to bear fruit, fruit that will last.' The reality of Jesus in my life is manifested through the fruit-bearing process.
But I must make the choice to be 'pruned' for it to be possible. I must choose to have deliberate sin pruned from my life and then choose to make Him a priority ' my first love ' which waters the soul and fills me completely. Only when I bear fruit in this way, can I genuinely praise Him and feel those tugs toward eternity that make having a personal relationship with Him complete.
I leave you with this prayer and thoughts for further reflection:
Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for choosing me to be Your child from the beginning of time. Only because of this choice do I have the ability to know you personally and experience the reality of who You are in my life. Give me the wisdom to make good choices that bring about the reality of You in my life, and grace when I fall flat on my face. Amen!
May God bless you,
Your friend and pastor,
Samuel King-Kabu.
Bjernede Church is the only round church on the Island of Zealand. It was build around 1170 by a local nobleman by the name of Ebbe Sunesen. He built it on the site of a wooden church erected by his parents, Ebbe and Ragnhild Skjalmsen. This church is unique in that it is the only one which has a sort of birth certificate. A stone near the entrance bears the following inscription in Latin: 'Ebbe Skjalmsen and his wife Ragnhild built here a church, which his son later built of stone to honour God, the virgin Mary and Saint Lawrence'.
Sune Ebbesen was not just anybody; he was probably the mightiest magnate and owner of land in the country at that time, a member of the Hvide clan. It was during Knud's and Svend's united kingdom that Sune first was a supporter for Svend (Grathe), but left Svend in 1153 or 1154 and joined Knud and Valdemar. Svend had asked his men for an oath of allegiance, and Sune simply walked out.
The young members of the Hvide-family were after this on the side of the allied. The only with a connection to the Hvide-family who stayed by Svend, was Peder Torstensen, who was married to Cæcilie Skjalmsdatter - in spite of that Valdemar had made him fosterfather of his illegitimate son Kristoffer.
When the young Valdemar became an important part of Denmark's history Sune was like Esbern Snare and Absalon one of the three men closest to the king. A full Hvide-team. Valdemar listened to his advice and Sune was with Valdemar at a meeting in Dole by the German emperor, where he in 1162 gave fief's oath. Sune and Valdemar were about the same age, Valdemar grew up by Asser Rig, and most probably he knew Absalon and Esbern's cousins.
Sune Ebbesen was like many of his relatives installed in Skåne as feudal overlord after Absalon became archbishop in Lund. After Valdemar's death he was also one of the men around the young Knud 6. and he participated in advising Knud to refuse giving oath to the German emperor like his father had done 20 years earlier. Sune was also on several expeditions to the Wends together with the other well known members of the war tours.
This church is one of Denmark`s seven remaining round churches, the most elaborately built and the only round church left on the island of Sjælland (Zealand). The lower part of the church was built of granite (ashlars) blocks (from 1.5 to 1.7 metres thick). In the 1160?ies, builders began to build with baked bricks, and so the church was finished with bricks.
West of the entrance you can find a staircase in brick leading to the upper level. Some sources believe that the upper levels had a defensive role to play in dangerous times.
In the centre of the sanctuary there are 4 great pillars (unlike the one pillar that you will find in the round churches of Bornholm) that carry the upper levels. Even the bases of the pillars were of granite and the upper parts of baked brickwork. The ceiling is high and arched.
A number of renovations and restorations have taken place over the years. The one undertaken by H. B. Storck (1890-92) brought the church back to be more in line with its original state.
The pulpit is from about 1600 and has 4 panels with depictions of the evangelists. On the stairs there are depictions of Moses and Aron. The font is granite and from about 1170. The roof and small octagonal tower were added in the course of restoration in 1890-2.
The sanctuary itself is only 11 ? 12 metres in diameter and the massive pillars take up a lot of space. There is evidence that the altar was originally placed in the middle of these pillars. One might wonder why the seating was such that one could hardly see the preacher at the altar and pulpit. But a Catholic church in the Middle Ages was built for the glory of God? and not for the form of church services that occur today. There was no seating ? the congregation stood. The Mass was short and the sermon was not long. One would place oneself so that one could see the altar or baptismal font, or even one of the side altars. The church was not just for Sunday service ? one could come and go in God?s house ? for a brief prayer and silence or when the church bells called to service on any day of the week or holiday.
The original altar piece dates back to 1615, a superlative example of the type of altar pieces you rarely see in contemporary times in Denmark. For a hundred years it hung in obscurity until the National museum discovered that it was a national treasure. Under the watchful eye of Ole Dufours in Roskilde, an exciting text was uncovered. It told of 'Magister (Master of Arts) Johannes Stephanius, the Royal School Sorana?s sixth prefect, who ensured that this altar piece was executed at the expense of the church in the year of the Lord 1615 by deacons Jørgen Larsen and Mikkel Hansen, protectors of the church. By John, Peter and Jacob he prays imploringly. Amen.'
Stephanius had been a student of Tycho Brahe. He studied in Wittenberg, became a university professor, later came to Sorø and later became biographer of the King. His days ended in Roskilde.
The baptismal font is made of granite and is surely as old as the church itself. It has a solid foot in the shape of a capital turned upside down. The font is in the shape of four leaves. According to ancient custom, it is located on the very lowest level of the church.
In the next instalment, we will head westward and explore the two remaining round churches in Denmark.
Web Page prepared by:
Roger Kenner
& Jette Blair.
Content-New Topics Last Updated: 2011/09/07
St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church - Montreal