March 1, 2010 issue
Swiss Reformed choir to tour in April
By Peter SchmidPage:
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A Reformed Church choir from Switzerland will travel to the United States and Ontario in April, seeking to build relationships with Amish and Mennonites of Swiss heritage.
Many Mennonites have visited the Täuferhöhle, or Anabaptist cave, high in the forested mountain above Bäretswil. In the late 1500s and 1600s Anabaptists would gather secretly in the Täuferhöhle to worship God out of sight and hearing of the government and the state church. — Photo by Dale D. Gehman
The 52-voice Bäretswil Church Choir from the Canton of Zurich will visit four communities and nearby locations: Souderton, Pa., Lancaster Pa., Walnut Creek, Ohio, and Kitchener, Ont.
By expressing God’s grace and faithfulness in hymns reflecting Swiss folk traditions, history and spiritual treasures, the choir hopes to bridge a historical gap and deepen mutual understanding.
Eight instrumentalists will accompany the singers.
Americans who have visited Switzerland may know the town of Bäretswil best for the nearby Täuferhöhle, or Anabaptist cave, which housed secret gatherings of Anabaptists. The remote hiding place allowed safety for preaching and singing during the decades of governmental oppression that followed the 1525 beginning of the Anabaptist movement in Zurich.
After centuries of contempt and indifference, appreciation of a common heritage among Swiss churches has grown in the past decade.
In 2003, Swiss Reformed and Mennonites celebrated reconciliation at the Bäretswil Reformed Church as part of a “Heal Our Land” conference. In 2004, Ruedi Reich, head of the Zurich Reformed Church, publicly honored the “radical approach of the Anabaptist movement to be the salt of the Earth,” acknowledging “the faithful of the Anabaptist tradition as our sisters and brothers.”
The Täuferhöhle has seen more visitors from overseas in the wake of this reconciliation. Bäretswil has twice hosted the Midwest Mennonite Choir led by Lloyd Kauffman.
The choir’s tour schedule:
- 3 p.m. April 18, Zion Mennonite Church, Souderton, Pa.
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