Pastor Andreas Albers, Our Saviour, Wartburg
The 51st Song Festival of the FELSISA took place on the 1st of October 2023. The festival was capably hosted by the Salem Congregation Uelzen, in partnership with the congregations of ELC Newcastle and St. Peter’s Vryheid. The verse that gave the festival its theme came from 2 Timothy 4:18 – “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Gottfried Homilius’ (1714-1785) musical adaptation of this verse was performed by the choir after the sermon, held by local Pastor Marlon Hiestermann (Salem-Uelzen). Pastor Hiestermann began the sermon by asking how we react to bad news. What do we say when things don’t go well? One possibility is to take a page out of society’s book and respond with platitudes, such as: “Break a leg”, “Cheer up”, “Relax, take it easy.” However, when real-life suffering hits us, these platitudes all fall flat. We need something substantial. Real suffering needs a real response. And that is exactly what God gives. The people around Timothy abandoned him, but the Lord did not. And God does also not abandon us. In Jesus, God himself experienced suffering and rejection – for us. It is in his suffering for us that we find life and salvation. Christ yokes us to himself and answers our suffering with forgiveness and deliverance.
This same message of God being our rescuer and deliverer resounded through the whole musical programme. We sang of God being our shelter, our refuge, our fortress, in times of trouble. We confessed in song that our help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth, and that the Lord is our shepherd. We proclaimed with voices and instruments the comforting gospel of Jesus Christ, who takes the heavy burden of our sin on himself, and binds us to himself with his light yoke.
The synodical lead conductor, Mr. Bernhard Böhmer (Pretoria), already thanked all who made this festival possible. I will not repeat all those words of thanks here, knowing that I will forget some people. I do, however, want to say a word about our lead conductor himself, Mr. Bernhard Böhmer. His dedication, competence, patience and cheerfulness make singing in the synodical choir a true joy. What I appreciate most of all, though, is the attention and precedence which he affords to the words we sing. It is all about the words, and how they preach and teach the faith. Church music is only of any real value when it promotes and preaches Christ.
This point was also driven home by Pastor Thomas Beneke (Newcastle) in the closing devotion about 1 Samuel 16:23 – “And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.” Saul, who was troubled by a harmful Spirit, was given – at least some – temporary relief of his affliction by means of music. David was tasked to play the lyre for his troubled predecessor. Music has the ability to take us to a different place, and to lift our emotions. Pastor Beneke cited research from the combined fields of music and animal sciences, which showed that playing classical music to milking cows lowers their stress hormones. This caused the cows to produce more milk. Music has great power. Saul also got temporary relief from his stress through music. In the end, though, Saul died in sin and unbelief. Music alone was not enough. The Word of the Lord needs to accompany the music. David is a good example for us in this regard. David was no less a sinner than Saul, but David had the Word of God. David had Christ. David has faith. David would go on to write songs that we still use in our services today. His psalms fetch us where we are in life, they give us the words we need for any situation, be it words of lament, repentance, joy, thankfulness, and they lead us to Christ. That is what church music is all about, and that is what the song festival is all about.
In the end, all the hard work of the individual choirs, as well as the hard work of the local congregations, culminated into a wonderful and blessed festival. Many people commented about the lovely food, especially the Russian sausages at lunch. Those who attended the song festival made their way back home with a joyful heart, with music in their ears, and with a strengthened faith. Soli Deo Gloria!
