Friends and fellow travelers,
With this Easter Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach we greet you one more time on our journey through this Holy Week. Bach has led us tenderly through deep emotions of loss, failure, fear and grief, but on Easter Sunday trumpets and timpani get their say. The Oratoria “Kommt Eilet und Laufet / Come, hurry and run” starts wit a Sinfonia (4 min), where those who know Bach will find some well known themes from his Christmas Oratoria resurfacing. But if you listen further, you will notice that Bach’s Easter joy is not all trumpet and timpani. Instead, motifs we know from the Passion revisit, reminding us that the Easter joy is not simple happiness, but a hard won calmness of heart, a joy despite our sorrows.
“Easter joy is not simple happiness, but a hard won calmness of heart, a joy despite our sorrows.”
The Netherlands Bach Society performs 'Kommt, eilet und laufet' for All of Bach.
This Oster-Oratorium (Easter oratorio) was first performed on Easter Sunday in 1725. Two days earlier, the congregation in Leipzig had listened to the St John Passion, just as in 1724. The closing chorus ‘Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine’ sent them on their way home to celebrate Holy Saturday. And then, on Sunday morning, the church resounded with the huge contrast of a Sinfonia with leading roles for three trumpets and timpani. Before the singers get going, Bach seems to recall Jesus’s death with a melancholy Adagio in B minor for solo oboe and strings. (from: https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-249/)
Rebirth
It was C.S. Lewis who once said that Jesus’ miracles should not be seen as magic tricks but rather as illustrations of the miracles which happen each day in creation. Grapes transmute water into wine, small kernels of wheat are baked into bread feeding many, and our souls, who felt dead, can awake to new life again. Seeds die in the soil, only to come to new life in spring. Such “Dying away” is also the central great spiritual practice, Kierkegaard reminds us.
For me this passion week felt like a practice in “dying away.” Dying away from my fears, and high expectations, from plans and comfort zones. Following Bach’s interpretation of Christ’s passion felt like a long process of emptying, which peaked on Good Friday. But we cannot forget that this emptying and dying away is part of a continual process of renewal whose end is new and different life. Our culture likes the short cut to Easter, leaving out the long and strenuous walk through passion ourselves. Or as Meister Eckhart reminds us: one must empty the heart, that God can write in it…
“One must empty the heart, that God can write in it.”
For this week, J.S. Bach has been the scribe and architect of our consolations. He would have considered mere aesthetic appreciation of the Passion or the Easter Oratorio an odd idea; its point was to help guide a spiritual movement in the listener. And the cycle of the seasons, their connection with these feast days, and the teaching of Jesus all agree that the central spiritual movement is the process of dying away leading to deliverance, resurrection, and renewal.
Liturgical forms are helpful. But as you might have noticed, we are not necessarily sad on Good Friday and not necessarily joyful on Easter morning. All has its time. The art is to fill these forms with life by finding our own pace and by making them our own. For instance, while writing this, snow flakes are dancing in front of our windows this Easter morning. So it might be for you that your Spring of Easter joy is still to come, just as the buds on our forsythia twigs have not sprung into flowers yet. And let us be reminded that the first reaction at the empty tomb was not joy, but confusion and disbelief. All belongs to our human condition. All is us.
And still, while needing patience with our own soul’s movement, we are invited by Bach’s gracious music, to participate in the Easter Sinfonia this morning. Let the trumpet and timpani foretell you of the new life to come. Also to you.
A Word of thanks
Thank you for having walked with us through this passion week this year, which has been and continues to be the year of the plague. Our forsythia twigs are not flowering yet, but big green buds have developed. How are your signs of hope doing?
Thank you for entrusting us with this journey. This was a journey we have not chosen. It was laid in our hearts, and made possible by kind spirits who invited other kind spirits to participate. In the end we have been a group of kindred spirits looking for consolation in Bach’s music. I have cherished sharing this journey with each of you, and each note I received from you over this week.
Some of you came with personal grief and loss, some with the burden of the whole world on your shoulders, some with the longing for healing for your soul. Some noticed over the run of the week that leaning into our sorrows not only opens the flood gates, but also offers the balm we need for healing.
Some of you came with a love of Bach, some of you discovered Bach new or anew. That is certainly true for me. I was reminded of my active time as a singer and how much I cherished singing Bach through the church seasons. So I wonder which new idea will be laid on my heart soon.
If you feel you are left with too much turmoil, or if you feel Spring might not come for you this year, do not hesitate to reach out to one of us. We would like to extend our hand and listen to your sorrows if needed.
We have given these consolations as a gift from our heart to yours. If you like to give a gift in return, please do so. Our ministry entirely depends on kindred spirits who help us give our gifts freely. Besides the monetary gifts we need to cover our costs, we appreciate also non-monetary gifts like your feedback, prayers, advice, or your help to connect this ministry with other seekers. Click here for more information about how you can help sustain this online space. If you have decided to pay a gift forward to others in need we would love to hear about that, too. Thank you so much.
Thank you, kindred souls, for having been with us this Passion week, for having shared with us Bach’s consolations, and for having shared your thoughts and gifts with us. All is deeply appreciated.
May new life fill your heart like the telling of Spring.
Yours, Almut & Chuck with little one
Finally, A recipe that brings Joy…
For Hildegard of Bingen, a healthy soul needs a healthy body. All is connected. In her texts on health and healing she describes several ordinary kitchen spices, which she calls the spices of joy. Below is a simple remedy from these spices. You can add the spice mixture to your cooking and baking, and well, also to hot wine :-)
“Take one whole nutmeg, add equal amounts of cinnamon and a pinch of clove, grind this together until it forms a fine powder; add the flower and a little water. Make small cookies and eat these often. They will reduce the bad humors, enrich the blood and fortify the nerves.” —- Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard would use spelt flower to bake, since she regarded spelt highly and wholesome. Some recipes suggest adding eggs and honey and butter, to bake Hildegard’s “cookies of joy.” You can also add the spice mixture to any cookie recipe you cherish, or sprinkle it on oatmeal, the healthier the better…
EnJoy.
This post is the 7th of our Passion Week Consolations 2020. To enter our virtual gathering space click here. To share your thoughts with us, write us here. To Offer Your Gift, click here. If you are looking for personal consultation, visit our PathFinder.
Peace and Blessings, Almut & Chuck