Nine parishes started the new Christ parish with a festive service. The multimedia event also ran in Reumtengrün.
Now it’s official: Nine Evangelical Lutheran parishes between Schnarrtanne and Treuen form the Christ parish in Vogtland. The union was celebrated on Sunday with festive worship services in the churches of all parishes involved. This also includes the Reumtengrüner church. As everywhere, events were taboo in the traditional sense. In their place were videos in front of a small audience.
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50 people were able to experience the Reumtengrüner service on site. “People from a household are allowed to take a bank. Otherwise only two to three people,” said Heinz Wüst, explaining the corona-related seating arrangements. He was part of the preparation team for the video service and otherwise heads the theater group for the Rebesgrün / Reumtengrün parish. The time of the Sunday meeting also had to be within the framework: “It’s over after an hour at most. There are just as clear rules.” Singing along was not allowed, but hum.
Johannes Kaufmann, pastor of the parish, experienced even more unusual experiences. “I’m listening to my own sermon today,” he said. In his role as head of the parish in the new parish, Kaufmann led the preparation team. He was actually supposed to speak in the full Auerbach Sankt-Laurentius-Kirche. However, the major event had to be canceled. So now video. A quarter of a year passed under difficult conditions for its production. Many parishes took part in play-in elements. The sermon had to be recorded in advance as well as the act of blessing with Superintendent Ulrike Weyer. The ceremony served to appoint the new head of the rectory.
Media designer Linda Martin-König from the Helfer online team took over the video shoot and made sure that the recordings also cut a good figure on the Internet. Many of the 11,000 parish parishioners attended the service at home. People have been familiar with digital church services as a necessary addition to conventional services since Easter. “People are also accepting that,” said Heinz Wüst. Pastor Kaufmann described it as the greatest challenge currently to maintain contact with the entire community. “Not all of them can be reached via the Internet and modern media,” he said.
Heinz Wüst can also see positive sides from the additional effort: “This is a good thing for church communities. We are challenged to rethink a lot and to deal with the topic of networking,” he reported. A video from the festival service is available at www.freipresse.de/kirchspiel
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