On the evening of New Year’s Day, I once more visited the Frauenkirche in Dresden. However, on this occasion it wasn’t to conduct an English-language Anglican service, but to enjoy a complete performance of the oratorio ‘Messiah’, by George Frederick Handel, or Georg Friederich Händel as the German programme correctly declared.
Therefore, instead of being seated on the main dais, or standing in the forward pulpit, I was located in a balcony, high up overlooking the dais, from where in advance of the performance, I took this photograph, leaning over the balustrade. During the performance, I had to be seated and could only hear the orchestra, soloists and chorus as the said balustrade blocked my view 🙁 However, I did stand for the Hallelujah Chorus, as is the tradition, but clearly one unknown to the predominantly German audience who all remained seated 😉
I am not complaining about the view, (or lack of it), from my seat, as I got my ticket completely free. It was a Mitarbeiterkarte – one for an employee or volunteer. In contrast, a ticket for a seat in the main body of the Hauptraum cost €84.00.
Although, with one exception, (the Armenian soprano Narine Yeghiyan), all the participants were German, the oratorio was sung in English, using the libretto compiled by Charles Jennens; Handel only being responsible for the music. The text is a compilation of extracts from the Authorized or King James Version of the Bible, and when taken from the Psalms, using the Psalter translated by Myles Coverdale, which appears in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
The programme, (€3.00), as well as given short biographies of the soloists, chorus, orchestra and conductor, contained the complete text of the libretto in English, together with a translation into German. The English text did include a couple of errors, most notably, ‘His yoke is easy, and His burthen is light’ 😉 My German is unfortunately not good enough to know whether anything got ‘lost in translation’ 😉
As you can see, the programme also made another common error with regard to this oratorio. The correct title of the work is ‘Messiah’, (or ‘Messias’, auf Deutsch), without the definite article. No need for ‘The’ or ‘Der‘!
Although the oratorio is divided into three parts, it was played and sung right through, without an interval, the performance lasting about two hours and five minutes in total. I was therefore glad of the opportunity to stretch my legs by standing for the Hallelujah Chorus, which marks the conclusion of part two. After the final ‘Amen’ had been sung, the performers received a long, loud and well-deserved standing ovation.
Whilst I have a double CD of ‘Messiah’, sung by ‘The Sixteen’, directed by Harry Christophers, there is nothing better than being present at a live performance of the work, especially in such a significant venue as the Dresden Frauenkirche. It did make for an excellent beginning to 2020.
As is explained here on the Frauenkirche website, the monthly English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer for which I am responsible, is made possible because of the Meissen Agreement. This is an ecumenical agreement, made in 1988, between the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) – the main German Protestant Church, and the Church of England. The implementation of this agreement and seeking to take it to the ultimate goal of full communion between the two Churches, is overseen by a body called the Meissen Commission.
In August last year, having ascertained that Rt Rev’d Dr Jonathan Gibbs, Suffragan Bishop of Huddersfield, is the current Anglican Co-Chair of the Meissen Commission, I wrote to him asking whether there was any space in his episcopal diary when, wearing his Meissen Commission ‘hat’, he could come to Dresden and be the preacher at the English-language Anglican service. Knowing that bishops can have very full diaries, I gave him all the dates of the 2019 services to choose from. He kindly replied a few days later, saying he would be very pleased to accept my invitation and that he would confirm a date very soon, once he had reviewed his 2019 diary commitments.
Bishop Jonathan’s reply arrived the same day as I was attending a meeting of the Predigerrunde in Dresden, to plan all the Frauenkirche evening services in the first four months of 2019. So I mentioned to Frauenkirchenpfarrer Sebastian Feydt, that I had invited Bishop Jonathan to preach at one of the English-language Anglican services in 2019 and was awaiting confirmation of a suitable date. He was most pleased & asked me to let him know when I had an agreed date. If the chosen date didn’t clash with an existing booked preacher, he would then like to invite him to preach auf Deutsch at their 11.00 service that morning.
Therefore, to cut a long story short, and to ensure that this blog post does actually get published, two months ago on Sunday 17th March, I spent a long but most enjoyable day in Dresden with Bishop Jonathan and his wife Toni.
For the 11.00 Morning Service in German, I sat with Toni Gibbs in the congregation. The service was led by Sebastian Feydt and Bishop Jonathan preached. Toni had the complete English text of her husband’s sermon on her tablet so we both were able to easily follow what he was saying in German. Bishop Jonathan explained to me afterwards that he had first written the sermon in English, then translated it into German, before sending it to a German native speaker, to double-check his grammar and sentence construction 😉
The sermon was based on John 3. 14-21 including those well-known words in verse 16, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…’ He challenged the congregation as to how we show the love of God to every human being, including those who are different to us. He said, ‘As we approach 29th March, the date of Brexit, we as Christians need to be speaking up for a better way of living, one that demonstrates the love of God for every single human being, both in Europe and throughout the world. We need to lift up Jesus Christ, not as a tribal symbol of a Christian sub-culture, but as the Lord and Saviour of the whole of humanity.’
If you can read German, then the complete text of Bishop Jonathan’s sermon is currently available on the Frauenkirche website here. In the week following his Dresden visit, the ‘Yorkshire Post’ published an edited extract of the sermon in English, which can be found here.
Within his sermon, Bishop Jonathan gave an outline of his own life story, explaining that for six years (1992-98) he was priest of the Anglican Church in Basel, as well as priest of the Anglican Church in Freiburg-im-Breisgau. He then said, ‘As perhaps you can hear, it was in Basel that I first learned German!’
These words were picked up by Sebastian Feydt when giving the notices near the end of the service. He reminded the congregation of the Anglican service that evening, at which Bishop Jonathan would once again be preaching, this time in English, but with a Swiss-German accent. The whole congregation collapsed with laughter!
Following the Morning Service, Sebastian Feydt gave +Jonathan, Toni and I, a personal guided tour of the Frauenkirche. This was followed by a most enjoyable lunch in a nearby restaurant, at episcopal expense 😉 +Jonathan was also very keen to climb to the top of the Frauenkirche dome to enjoy the spectacular views across Dresden, something I had done two and a half years ago. So after lunch, that is what we did.
It is interesting to compare this photo taken by me back in August 2016……
Then after a brief break, starting at 18.00, I led the English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer at which +Jonathan preached. This service continued the theme of Versöhnung leben – Living reconciliation, which as I explained in my earlier post, has involved preaching our way through the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation. +Jonathan thus addressed the line, ‘Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee, Father, forgive.’
+Jonathan took as his main Biblical text, Matthew 25. 31-46, where Jesus describes the judgement of the nations, ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory’. Jesus describes how people will be separated just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The ‘sheep’ on the right will be invited to, ‘inherit the kingdom prepared for you’. The reason for the invitation is that when they saw the king hungry, they fed him, when they saw him thirsty, they gave him something to drink, when he was in prison, they visited him etc.
The ‘righteous’, as they are called, are surprised by this because they never saw the king in any of the situations he describes. The punchline of the story comes in the king’s reply. ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it for the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me’. In turn, those on the king’s left receive his judgement because their failure to care for the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, or those in prison.
+Jonathan went on to point out that this passage should not be used to preach a gospel of justification by works, as some people try to do. Taking note of the context of the story in the Gospel of Matthew, it is the last instructions given by Jesus to his followers, before his death on the cross. In other words, if you want to be my disciples, this is how you should live out your faith.
In the days following Sunday 17th March, I received an appreciative email of thanks from +Jonathan and was copied in on an equally appreciative email from Sebastian Feydt to +Jonathan. In his email, Sebastian Feydt expressed the hope that +Jonathan would be willing to re-visit the Frauenkirche at some future date. So I do hope to try and arrange a similar Sunday, some time in 2020.
As I have previously written, the evening services at the Frauenkirche, Dresden, follow a theme over a period of several Sundays. The monthly English-language Anglican services of Evening Prayer for which I continue to have responsibility, are not regarded as an exception, but rather as part of the agreed theme. The themes are agreed at a meeting of the Predigerrunde/Preachers round, which is attended by several German Protestant pastors and theologians who, between them, conduct and preach at the evening services; and me!
At a meeting of the Predigerrunde last Autumn, it was agreed that in the period from Sunday 10th February through to Passion Sunday (7th April) we would preach our way through the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation, stanza by stanza, with our theme being Versöhnung leben – Living reconciliation. The litany is used regularly at the Frauenkirche, in particular, at midday prayers each Friday. Its use is part of the very strong links between the Frauenkirche and Coventry Cathedral, established through the Community of the Cross of Nails.
The Coventry Litany of Reconciliation
‘All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class, Father, forgive.
The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own, Father, forgive.
The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth, Father, forgive.
Our envy of the welfare
and happiness of others, Father, forgive.
Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee, Father, forgive.
The lust which dishonours the bodies of men, women and children, Father, forgive.
The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in you, Father, forgive.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.’
Therefore, after Superintendent Christian Behr had begun the sermon series on Sunday 10th February, preaching on the opening verse of scripture, ‘Alle haben gesündigt und ermangeln des Ruhmes, den sie bei Gott haben sollten‘ / ‘All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.’ (Romans 3. 23), it fell to me last Sunday, 17th February, to preach on ‘The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class’.
In the opening part of my
sermon, I explained the origin of the litany, written in 1958 by
Canon Joseph Poole, and the thinking that lies behind it. As is
explained on the Coventry Cathedral website, ‘While framed around the
seven deadly sins, it serves as a reminder that when we pray about
the problems of the world around us, we need to begin by
acknowledging the roots of those problems in our own hearts.’
I also pointed out how appropriate it was to be reflecting on, ‘The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class’, when the previous week had seen the 74th anniversary of the bombing of Dresden which commenced on 13th February 1945 and resulted in the destruction of the Frauenkirche. But it was also the 60th anniversary of the twinning agreement, signed in 1959, between the city of Dresden and the city of Coventry, a civic move towards reconciliation which had been commemorated during the German Lutheran service that morning.
For the evening service,
I had to choose two passages of scripture. For the second reading, I
chose the familiar story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10. 25-37). I
pointed out that, whilst the expression ‘Good Samaritan’, easily
trips of our tongues, to the first century Jews listening as Jesus
told the story, it was a contradiction in terms. For first century
Jews, ‘good’ and ‘Samaritan’, did not belong in the same sentence!
Samaritans were a mixed race, they worshipped at Mount Samaria and
not in Jerusalem, and didn’t keep laws relating to ritual purity.
But for the upstanding Jewish lawyer who asked, ‘Who is my neighbour? – the one I should love as myself, Jesus told this story. ‘Loving your neighbour as yourself’, includes loving those who are different from us – not hating them because they don’t behave or conform in the way we think they should.
The other passage of
scripture I chose was Galatians 3. 23-29. I explained that in the
life of the early Christian Church, there were disputes as to whether
gentiles who had become Christians, needed to be circumcised, just
like male Jews. The Council of Jerusalem, (Acts 15. 1ff) had clearly
decided that the circumcision of gentile converts was not required.
But there remained a ‘circumcision party’ who thought they should and
it was clearly active in Galatia.
St Paul’s letter to the
Galatian Churches was written partly to rebuke the ‘circumcision
party’. He declares, using a favourite phrase of his, ‘in Christ’,
that once someone has ‘faith in Christ’, has been ‘baptised into
Christ’, has ‘put on Christ’, there should no longer be any
distinctions. No one is better than another and no one should be
shunned. ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek (gentile), there is no
longer slave or free (no class discrimination), there is no longer
male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus’.
‘Hate’ and ‘hatred’ are
strong words. Maybe we don’t necessarily hate but we do very easily
‘blame’. I reminded the congregation that Hitler and the Nazis blamed
the Jews. From various quarters these days it is ‘blame the Muslims’.
Addressing the issue that
is currently making the United Kingdom look stupid in the eyes of
most continental Europeans – Brexit – I pointed out that the vote
to leave the EU was driven by politicians blaming the country’s
problems on immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe for which,
blame the EU. This despite nearly all of them being in work, paying
taxes and often doing the jobs that British people don’t want to do.
The EU may not be perfect – it is a human institution. But it was founded in part, to prevent a repetition of the two World Wars which had laid waste the continent of Europe in the first half of the twentieth century, something which the city of Dresden and my own city of birth, Coventry, know about all too well. Seventy-five years of peace have ensued!
I ended my sermon as I end this blog post, with a challenge to those who wish to re-erect barriers that divide people and nations. As Christians, we are called to the ministry of reconciliation – Versöhnung leben – Living reconciliation. We are not to be putting up barriers of whatever form to divide groups of people, just because they are not exactly like us.
For the hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class, Father, forgive.
On the evening of Sunday 21st August, I once again officiated at the monthly English-language Anglican Service of Evening Prayer, hosted by the Frauenkirche, Dresden. But additionally, I was invited to attend a Sommerfest the following evening, being laid on as a ‘Thank you’, to everyone who helps at the Frauenkirche throughout the year, both volunteers and paid staff.
So instead of returning to Prague on the Monday morning as I normally do, I stayed on for a further day and night, in order to enjoy the Sommerfest. This in turn meant that I had several hours during the day on Monday 22nd August, to occupy myself. As the weather was fine, I decided to climb the Frauenkirche dome, in order to reach the viewing platform, 67.06 metres above ground level, to enjoy spectacular views across Dresden.
Whilst this is view looking eastwards, with the River Elbe flowing towards the centre of Dresden, having originally risen in the Krkonoše mountains in the far north of the Czech Republic.
This is the Neustadt, which can be seen in greater detail than with the naked eye, courtesy of the zoom function on my camera 🙂 , with the towering spire of the Dreikönigskirche in the centre of the photograph. Hotel Martha, where I stay overnight in Dresden, is just to the left of the Dreikönigskirche.
And here on one side of Neumarkt, the large square on the southern side of the Frauenkirche, reconstruction work following the devastation of the city in February 1945, is still continuing.
It is fascinating, some of the quirky things you can sometimes see from a vantage point such as this. I loved the way all these bicycles had been dutifully parked in neat rows. Very much, Alles in Ordnung 😀
When either ascending or descending the dome, you also get some amazing views of the Church interior. Here you can right down into the Hauptraum – the main worship space.
In the evening, I caught tram 11 out to Sommerwirtschaft Saloppe, the venue of the Sommerfest. It is an outdoor terrace with seating, and of course, a bar 😀 , situated in an attractive wooded area alongside the Elbe. Here we were treated to ein sommerliches GrillBuffet, together with a variety of drinks. It was wonderful to spend a little more time with some of the Frauenkirche people I already know, as well as to meet new people. It was also inevitably an evening for improving my limited German too 🙂
On Sunday 17th January 2016, I conducted worship in two different countries, something I shall now be doing quite regularly in 2016 on the third Sunday of each month. At 11.00, I celebrated the Eucharist and preached at St Clement’s Anglican Church in Prague. Then at 18.00, I led a service of Evening Prayer in the Frauenkirche, Dresden.
Over the weekend, we had a further serious snowfall, so this was the scene that greeted me as I arrived outside St. Clement’s, waiting for our host Czech Protestant congregation to finish their service. It was still snowing when I took the photograph.
From the second week in January, through to around the second or third week of March, Prague enters what I always refer to as the ‘non-tourist season’. It is the time when you can walk around some of the popular historic sights in Prague, without being run over by hordes of visiting tourists. However, tourists are a great boon to us as a Church as, on most Sundays, the congregation is boosted numerically by visitors. Some of them also contribute quite generously to the collection. But for the second Sunday running, we had no visitors at all in the congregation – I knew everybody by name. Clearly we are in the ‘non-tourist season’!
We were therefore, a slightly smaller congregation than usual, with the weather and winter ailments, preventing some people from attending. But nearly all those who did come were very un-Anglican – they sat together in the front pews! Being regulars, they knew where the limited under-pew heating is most effective 🙂
After warming up at Coffee Hour and enjoying post-service refreshments in the hall across the street in Klimentska 18, I then headed off on a short three-stop tram journey to Praha hlavní nádraží (Praha hl.n.) – Prague main railway station, in the company of my friend and ministerial colleague, Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz. I had invited Karen to be the preacher at the January English-language Anglican Evening Prayer service in the Frauenkirche, in advance of her leaving Prague in the next few months.
Upon arrival at Praha hl.n., I immediately checked the departures board, to see whether the platform number for our train to Dresden Haupbahnhof (Dresden Hbf), was displayed. Unfortunately there was no platform number but instead, a note that departure would be delayed by thirty minutes. The train was coming from Budapest and presumably had experienced problems with the adverse weather conditions en-route.
Sitting on the station concourse, constantly scanning the departures board, I increasingly began to panic that we wouldn’t make it to the Frauenkirche on time. Finally, we were summoned to platform six, and the train that was meant to set out at 14.27, departed just after 15.00. Fortunately, there were no further delays between Praha hl.n. and Dresden Hbf. Instead, we actually made up nearly ten minutes of the delay. Following a three-stop tram journey and then a five minute walk, we safely arrived at the Frauenkirche, just after 17.30.
Order of Service
I knew from reading the Frauenkirche website, that between Monday 11th – Saturday 16 January, the Church had been completely shut down, to allow a variety of repair and maintenance tasks to be carried out, as well as a very thorough cleaning of the interior. Apparently, this happens every year, during a quiet week in January. Having been admitted by the verger, I immediately smelt the wood stain with which the wooden floor under pews, had been treated. Sitting on the dais for the service, I noticed how bright and sparkling the rededos was, behind the altar 🙂
I had been told back in July, that numbers attending the Anglican service in winter, could be quite low, around 35-40, for exactly the same reason as in Prague – it being the ‘non-tourist season’! But when I did a rough head count, during a musical interlude within the service, I arrived at a total of just over sixty. They looked somewhat scattered, but then the main body of the Church will seat in excess of three hundred people. It made me realise that my figure of around one hundred attending the service last September, may well have been an underestimate.
I have to say that I felt a lot less nervous leading the service last Sunday evening, than I did on my first outing last September. I really felt I had begun to build a bit of a rapport with some of the regular attendees. It was also a pleasure to hear Karen preach as she spoke about ‘The Foolishness of the Cross’, based on the Biblical text from 1 Corinthians 1. 18-31. We posed for this picture, under the pulpit, following the end of the service.
After getting dis-robed, Karen and I accepted an invitation to join a few of the congregation for a drink in a nearby Bierstube, the Augustiner an der FrauenkircheI ordered ein großes Bier, assuming I would get a 0.5l glass, in contrast to ein kleines Bier, a 0.3l glass. Much to everyone’s amusement, what arrived was ein sehr großes Bier, a one litre glass 😀 Evidence in this photograph.
After staying overnight in Hotel Martha, I had hoped to get some photographs of snowy Dresden in daylight, especially as the sky cleared and the sun came out as we were finishing our breakfast. But catching the correct trams to get back to Dresden Hbf in time for our train back to Prague, took greater priority. However, we were treated to some spectacular views on our train journey home, which I was able to capture.
Soon after leaving Dresden, the railway line follows the valley of the River Elbe as it cuts through an area of sandstone mountains known as the Sächsische Schweiz – Saxon Switzerland. The mountains form the natural border between Germany and the Czech Republic. On the Czech side, the mountains are known as the Ceské Švýcarsko – Czech or Bohemian Switzerland. The name for the area was created by two Swiss artists, appointed to the Dresden Academy of Art in the second half of the eighteenth century. They believed the area to be very similar to their homeland in the Jura region of Switzerland.
Just after passing through the spa town of Bad Schandau, the train came to an unscheduled halt, which allowed me to get this photograph of the Lutheran Parish Church of St John, Bad Schandau.
When we did continue, once a long freight train had passed by in the other direction, we moved very slowly onto the other track, to pass a broken down freight train blocking our track. This is what enabled me to take the following three photographs. Whilst this caused us to be fifteen minutes late getting back to Prague, on this occasion, I wasn’t complaining 🙂
Seeing this area, covered with snow and glistening in sun, has made me add Sächsische Schweiz andCeské Švýcarsko to my ever-lengthening bucket list of places I would like to visit and explore.
