by Geoff Burger

‘I come for the music. I love playing … [but] I’m not sure about some of the God stuff.’

Thomas is a young apprentice builder and drummer, and we were chatting after the morning service at St Paul’s in Wellington, New Zealand.

I was a bit surprised to see Thomas there again in the evening when a small chamber group and two soloists presented a Bach cantata (BWV54) as part of a vespers service. The accepted wisdom in many congregations is that to communicate musically you need to steer clear of any musical styles people don’t hear on their iPods.

For Bach cantatas are not easy-going at first hearing. For one thing they are in German, so people have to follow a translation and then concentrate pretty hard to understand how Bach used music to express things like sin’s poisoning and how trust in Jesus does away with it.

But Thomas was there. And I shouldn’t have been surprised. Excellence always connects and communicates, whether it is extreme sport or design or music.

In a miraculous burst of creative genius over a number of years, Bach composed a 20-minute cantata every week for Lutheran worship in Leipzig. The 200 that survived fill 60 CDs. Somewhat incongruously, they are now usually presented in a concert context.

In 2007 the Wellington congregation, led by Pastor Mark Whitfield, made a decision to change this and focus on the richness of the Lutheran musical tradition in their worship. This was to become their major mission connection with the community. A key emphasis was to bring Bach back to church and let his music sing the gospel to Wellington. This was very exciting for one of the musicians, who said, ‘Thanks so much for having us at St Paul’s. We were all marvelling at the fact we are able to play a real Bach cantata in a real Lutheran church service. Have to pinch ourselves to believe it sometimes!’

From the beginning Lutheran spirituality has always been expressed in robust congregational singing rather than passive listening. Luther played the lute and flute and sang loudly. He once commented in his typically blunt way, ‘Next to the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world … A person who … does not regard music as a marvellous creation of God must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.’

He also composed ballads and hymns — dozens of them. Dense and relentless hymns with complex rhythms and packed with theology. Generations of Lutherans expressed and absorbed the faith from his hymns — twelve verses to cover the Ten Commandments, 15 verses telling the Christmas story ‘From heaven above’.

Like Luther, Pastor Mark sings loudly and beautifully. In his spare time he is a member of the world-travelling Wellington Cathedral Choir. He also composes and arranges hymns and psalm settings. And, of course he leads creative and dynamic liturgies growing from traditional forms, as well as playing the church’s stunning Flentrop organ.

And the congregation and community have been inspired by the liturgies and music at St Paul’s.

’It was very special to sing in one of your Bach cantatas’, commented Rowena, one of the soloists. ‘Church music is what got me hooked on singing and it’s good to give back to the church in such a way.’

Another guest commented, ‘It occurs to me that the musical environment you have established in the sacred space at St Paul’s is a mission in itself in that when one thinks about it, it has brought me — and many others like me — into your church, where, without the music, we would never have been likely to visit.’

’I love the fact that the Bach cantata vespers have opened the doors of St Paul’s to the world’, Wivian told me. ’We welcome people in to experience our church in general, meet our people and enjoy the Bach cantata vespers in particular.’

Petrus, a member of the congregation’s leadership team, summed up the mission direction of the congregation very well. ‘Although St Paul’s has tried over the years to reach out to the people of Wellington with the gospel, it has never been on any large scale. We have been seen by most as a small ethnic group tucked away in Newtown. The music ministry has changed this. Many people have come to St Paul’s church who otherwise would never have done so. They come to hear good music, and the Bach cantata vespers services give them a lot more than simply good music.’

Pastor Geoff Burger is a retired pastor of the LCA and former president of the Western Australia District. He lives in Adelaide with his wife Audrey.