Zurich parish visit was really good and very informative, I stayed in an amazing penthouse flat in the centre of Zurich, home to a newly inaugurated minister, infact in was her inauguration while we were visiting. We were sent out in pairs to experience life in Switzerland and the Reformed Swiss church.
Because the church is funded by the taxes from the parishes, they have money! They don't have to find money to refurbish a church or pay for staff, which means they can focus much more on parish work.
The parish and church i went to was called Neumunster, which means New Building, although it was about 100 years old. They also have a few extra rooms in this building and a community centre which was the size of a small leisure centre, each parish have one for community use.
This parish had about 10 full time members of staff, 2.5 clergy, 3 housekeepers, 2 social deacons, a youth worker, administrators and support workers, they serve a parish of 4500 people, but on an average Sunday, only about 50 people attend the one worship service they offer.
On Saturday we were taken around the four main reformed churches of Zurich. The preachers church, this was one attached to a monastery which is now a library. We then went to St. Peter's, this is the oldest church with the biggest clock face, we think the biggest diameter in Europe, even bigger than Big Ben. It had a small part at the back of the church, under the pulpit, that may have originally been the sacristy from the church prior reformation, some of the old paintings on the wall had been recovered.
We went on to Fraumunster, lady church to Grosemunster, big church, this had a series of five stained glass windows, I need to look these up on the Internet, they were beautiful, fairly newly commissioned and we were not allowed to take photographs of them. This church also had these windows, behind the pulpit, in an area that may have been the sacristy prior to reformation. All four of these church would have been Catholic. Fraumunster was attached to a convent and the last abbess gave up the church willingly to avoid war!
Grosemunster, is also called Zwvingli's church, it has twin towers and it is easily recognisable in the city skyline. We were able to walk to the top of one of the towers, I have a panoramic view.
I think Fraumunster was my favourite.
They were all of the baroque style, often decorated ceilings and wood etc, but no icons or crosses.
We then had a chance to look around the Christmas market, to be honest, it was no different to the Christmas market Cheryl and I went to Bath last Christmas. I still bought some slippers though!
In the evening we spent the evening at Elisabeth's, Thomas' host and we watched a classic Swiss show called Bellisimo, it was the final showing of this programme, so we shared a moment of Swiss media history!,
Sunday was Stephanie's inauguration, the service was approx 1 hour long, they preached from the pulpit, the church is massive and full. These was not Eucharist and it was all in German, but other than this, it could have been England.
Stephanie chose to wear white robes, this is considered as unusual, most ministers wear black, white is considered catholic! Even the part afterwards was like our big celebrations at church. What was great was they the catholic priest also camp to the celebration and they had a good relationship with the church, you could tell they know each other well and were comfortable in each others company. We were told at the meeting on Friday night, that they have a good ecumenical relationship with their Catholic partner church, they worship together maybe 3 times a year, and at these services, they will share communion. The catholic priest is also part of a daily ecumenical prayer group that meet at the preachers church every day at midday. This is a big commitment, but it is an important area for prayer.
We went to a concert at the Catholic Church in the evening, this was a modern Catholic church, but all Catholic Churches are fairly modern, because they have only in more modern history been allowed back into the city, it wasn't that ornate, but there were crosses and icons and lots of candles, it felt more like an Anglican Church than a reformed church did. It also has a prominent permanent alter.
There are so many similarities between ourselves and the reformed tradition and if they can share communion in one parish one a catholic church, this should surely be transferable to other areas. It doesn't need to be based on theology, maybe all that is needed is respect enough for the other to enter into a relationship of trust and love. If they can do surely we all can!!
