Author: Yotin

Today I’d like to share with you Jochim Trede at our organ playing Johann Sebastian Bach’s Chorale Prelude “O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde groß”. Bach’s “Choralbearbeitung” takes the tune of the Lutheran hymn “O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde groß” (“O human, bewail your great sin”) and stretches it into long ornamented arcs. It is the virtue of music that the music does exactly what the words prompts us to do: The hymn says “bewail your sin – cry!” and the music bewails and cries.

In this week we’d like to share with you Dietrich Buxtehude’s “Passacaglia in D Minor” played by our organist Jochim Trede at one of the concerts celebrating our 400th anniversary in 2012.

A “passacaglia” is a musical form in which a short bass line is repeated over and over again while on top of that variations flourish.

Is there something meaningful in your life to which you keep returning to? For some it’s a book they can never get tired to read again and again. For others it’s a special place they like to visit. Maybe you discover that there’s a constant meaningful theme in your life and a lot of variations on that? You can take your time to reflect on that while listening to Buxtehude’s Passacaglia:

Today on Ash Wednesday we enter the Forty Days, the season of Lent. Some ask: “What could I do to make the weeks in which we prepare for the celebration of Easter meaningful?” But you could also put the question in another way: “What can I leave out, so that I can make space for God’s doing in and around me?”

Often it seems really hard work to limit yourself and to leave a space open. When we post something each Wednesday in Lent here we hope that we don’t feed that impulse to add more and more things to your to do list (even if that’s a spiritual to do list!). So here’s a 12 minute organ piece played by Jochim Trede, our organist: Choral III in A Minor by César Franck. If it’s hard for you to “do nothing” start with small steps and listen to a piece of music. It’ll give you a good “excuse” if people raise their eyebrows and think that you’re just sitting around idly while in fact a) you’re listening to music and b) you’re holding a space of waiting and listening (and that’s the ground for prayer!).

Last December the Diocesan Synod discussed a paper on racial justice called “Breathing Life”, one of the authors being our former chaplain, Fr. Leslie Nathaniel. In preparation to the discussion an interview with the BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) / People of Colour advisers to Bishop Robert in our diocese was published: The Revd Augustine Nwaekwe, Chaplain in Ostend-Bruges & Knokke, and The Revd Smitha Prasadam, Chaplain at St Alban’s, Copenhagen. You can find the interview here.

Since August 2020 members of our community in Hamburg have met to share and discuss their experiences, with a strong focus to “heal racism and embrace diversity”. In December we started to educate ourselves by watching a series called “Conversations on Race” offered by King’s Cross Church (KXC) in London. If you’d like to jump on board please reach out to Valerie Müller, Madeleine Herring, Monica Emilia or Yotin Tiewtrakul.

Please enjoy these offerings from three of our singing groups in our parish.

The first of these offerings is an alternative version of the English folk carol “Truth from Above”. I made an arrangement in the style of the Sacred Harp singing tradition. Only two verses are presented here and in carol services also only a selection of verses are performed. So it is worth reading through all the eleven verses here: This is the truth sent from above (lyrics).

For these sound files singers had to make a recording of their part at home. They were afterwards edited and put together. Thanks to everyone from the Anglican Choir who contributed with their part of the classic “O little town of Bethlehem”.

Thank you also to the members of the Anglican Consort who perform this lovely carol where a truly extensive list of flowers are presented.

We were told already when we were kids: You can pray anywhere. And at the same time people have their favourite spot and also their favourite time to spend some moments in prayer. 

When I had a phase where the Daily Office was very important to me I had of course a corner in my bedroom with a candle and an icon. That was my spot for Morning and Evening Prayer. Setting apart a time and a place helped me stay in a healthy rhythm. Now I am rather unstructured. I have suggested reading (or praying or singing) through the psalms. And honestly these days I would just read them lying in bed before sleep. That’s my time and place. And that’s it at the moment. 

What about you? Do you have a favourite spot for prayer? Is it at your kitchen table? Is it somewhere in a park? Or do you have a little corner for a candle, or a cross, an icon or some other symbols? Easiest way would be to send in a picture. We’d collect and share them next week!

Yotin Tiewtrakul, Choirmaster