Prayer:
The Lord be with you.
Herren være med jer!
Lad os alle bede. Let us pray:
We give thanks for this beautiful morning and for this beautiful church.
We are called to gather here this Sunday morning to give praise, sing, and rejoice.
Today we give thanks for the constitution that shaped and formed the old Kingdom of Denmark, and we give thanks for the freedom, security, justice and equality that the constitution has given us.
We pray to instill in us deep gratitude for constitutions, freedoms, and civil rights, all the pillars of a vibrant democracy, - and instill in us a profound will to defend and protect and renew and revise these rights, constitutions, and freedoms.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen
Sunday Thoughts: Celebrating Constitutions.
Today we celebrate the Danish Constitution. A Consitiutuion that has shaped the old Kingdom since 1849 to be the Society and Democracy it is today. A country and Constitution of equality and equity, of inclusion and innovation, of diversity and kindness. A country and constitution that we should be proud of and protect. Because the Constitution might be engraved in our history and written on important papers, keep safe in glass montres in the halls of power and parliament, but constitutions are as fragile as withering papers, inhumane humans and delicate democracies.
We can never take our constitution, our democracy, our civil rights and our freedoms for granted.
Constitutions are like confessions and creeds of the church. We believe in… we say. And what is written, what we believe in, what we confess or constitute has to be transformed and implemented into actions, good deeds, policies and compassion. Constitutions and Creeds are living breathing documents that shape our society, our church, our community and our world. It matters. On of the brightest and most profound young poet and prophetic voices of our days, is Amanda Gorman. In the wonderful Inauguration Poem “ The Hills we Climb” in 2020 she said:
We are striving to forge
a union with purpose,
to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man.
And so we lift our gazes
not to what stands between us,
but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know,
to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another.
We seek harm to none
and harmony for all.
For a moment reflect on the Constitution and Country. On Denmark and Democracy. On the beautiful old kingdom of Denmark, Jylland and all the Islands, Faroe Island, and Greenland.
Reading and Reflection:
Jesus Prayed:
May they be one, as we are one.
It was a prayer of unity and community that Jesus prayed with and for his beloved disciple as he was preparing them to live a life without him. Guided by his spirit and his teachings.
How to live a life in community and compassion, always being able to meet at the table.
Look at the bulletin cover this morning.
It could also have been called unity at the table, peace at the table, acceptance and harmony at the table as all at the table in all their diversity and differences, do lay down their arms so they can reach out their arms to greet and meet one another and to share a meal.
It is so important to be able to meet at a table. To share time at a table. To eat and drink and be in community. Like we do most Sunday at the altar and in the hall for lunch, as we do in our families and as we do today in the shaded tents of tables in red and white decked with care, kindness, happiness and danishness.
May they be one, as we are one.
May we be one, we pray today.
In a time of deep deep divisions and profound polarizations, let this be our creed and prayer today: that we meet and we may be one at the table.
And when we rise from the table, when we go back to our lives, we might have learned something at the table and sensed a spirit of community that builds us up instead of tearing us down or dividing us up.
May they be one, as we are one, Jesus prayed.
May we be one, we pray today.
Cause we believe in humanity and harmony.
We believe in compassion and constitutions.
We believe in diversity and democracy.
We believe in hope and humanity.
We believe in goodness, kindness and justice because we cannot believe in the opposite.
Our constitutions, creeds and confessions defines us, binds us as one.
So, with Amanda Gorman words from the poem “New day”:
Come over,
join this day just begun.
For wherever we come together,
We will forever overcome.