How does that Psalm go? I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the House of the Lord. And now my feet are standing within your gates Jerusalem (Psalm 122 I believe). Now I'm not equating Singelkerk with the Temple in Jerusalem but I was kinda feeling like we were going to a very special worship space. I believe Singelkerk is the oldest church in continuous worship services, starting in 1607. Now I could be wrong (some historian can correct me) but it has a rich history.
This Sunday was even more special. A choir from 1st Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada was in attendance and singing both in the service and later with their own program. There were a few observations I made.
The wooden sanctuary had the weight of the ages oozing out from all directions. The wooden floor even looks old, having not been refurbished. The leather coverings of the benches in the 2nd and 3rd floors were starting to crack and tear. The acoustics were very nice.
The organist was very good. The organ may have been controversial when it was first installed (in the 1700's) but it clearly was a good choice in this space. Wonderful sound, wonderfully played.
The congregation was small in size and old in age. The guests from Winnipeg and those of us who were guests that Sunday out numbered the members. The pastor said that the numbers were down because it was summer and that is surely true.
I was surprised there was no provision by the church for translation. It was a Sunday they knew they would have a large presence of visitors with their guest choir (they didn't know the rest of us were coming) so it would have made sense for the pastor to shorten his sermon and ask for a translator into English. Not very visitor friendly, service-wise.
The choir was good, really good. And that was with people missing their flight out of Munich and not arriving until late Saturday night. Their diction was spot on, the pitch and the life in the music was all quite sharp. I enjoyed the selections very much, mostly European classical composers (nothing wrong with that) but 3 African American spirituals that were done well at the end. The soloists were obviously trained. I couldn't get over how much talent there was in one congregation, they obviously are a magnet for good singers because of their program.
We met some of the people in the choir and even someone not in the choir but traveling with the choir. He was someone I knew from the Niagara area. People talked to us about our plans, where we came from and where we are going. It was nice to know where we are landing.
After the afternoon service we went out to eat. The girls had remembered a Subway restaurant so we made our way there and ate. After that we came back to Almere and started repacking. The Womens' World Cup was on TV, featuring USA and Brazil, what a game that was! We watched in amazement as Team USA tied the game with only seconds left in overtime, then won in a shoot out. Exciting.
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