Wednesday, June 10, 2009

This is the actual church that has the actual statue of...
Thorvaldsen's Christus. This is the statue used in many temple visitor centers.
Above is a peek at the construction of the walls.
This is the big league of hymn numbers.
The church has not only the statue of Christ but all the apostles. Above is Peter with his keys. Do you remember when President Packer told that wonderful story about President Kimball?

From President Packer's April '08 general conference talk The Twelve:

In 1976 an area general conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Following the closing session, President Spencer W. Kimball desired to visit the Vor Frue Church, where the Thorvaldsen statues of the Christus and of the Twelve Apostles stand. He had visited there some years earlier and wanted all of us to see it, to go there.

To the front of the church, behind the altar, stands the familiar statue of the Christus with His arms turned forward and somewhat outstretched, the hands showing the imprint of the nails, and the wound in His side very clearly visible. Along each side stand the statues of the Apostles, Peter at the front to the right and the other Apostles in order.

Most of our group was near the rear of the chapel with the custodian. I stood up front with President Kimball before the statue of Peter with Elder Rex D. Pinegar and Johan Helge Benthin, president of the Copenhagen stake.

In Peter’s hand, depicted in marble, is a set of heavy keys. President Kimball pointed to those keys and explained what they symbolized. Then, in an act I shall never forget, he turned to President Benthin and with unaccustomed firmness pointed his finger at him and said, “I want you to tell everyone in Denmark that I hold the keys! We hold the real keys, and we use them every day.”

I will never forget that declaration, that testimony from the prophet. The influence was spiritually powerful; the impression was physical in its impact.

We walked to the back of the chapel where the rest of the group was standing. Pointing to the statues, President Kimball said to the kind custodian, “These are the dead Apostles.” Pointing to me, he said, “Here we have the living Apostles. Elder Packer is an Apostle. Elder Thomas S. Monson and Elder L. Tom Perry are Apostles, and I am an Apostle. We are the living Apostles.

“You read about the Seventies in the New Testament, and here are two of the living Seventies, Elder Rex D. Pinegar and Elder Robert D. Hales.”

The custodian, who up to that time had shown no emotion, suddenly was in tears.

I felt I had had an experience of a lifetime.


I have found churches in Scandinavia so pleasant.
They are simple and clean.
The Domo in Milano was amazing, but a bit overwhelming. The Vor Frue church had a bright soothing spirit about it. This was one of the best sights on this trip to Europe.

2 comments:

Side of Jeffrey said...

you saw the original christus. you would.

miss lena's pie said...

but how could I have missed you in Denmark, AGAIN?? Jeff? :) Well, hi and hope youre doing well! Loved your dancing video, I mean fashion video, and I loved the dancing, the whole video was really awesome!

Post a Comment