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Krefeld. “Music reaches people very close to their souls”
Pastor Volker Schran was bid farewell in a festive church service full of music last Sunday in the old church. Superintendent Dr. Barbara Schwahn released from her duties.
“It is difficult to think through 33 years in fast motion,” says Pastor Volker Schran, who was retired from active service on Sunday in the old church. For him, who was born in Gelsenkirchen, it was not a matter of course to go to grammar school and do the Abitur. As the first in his family. He came to study theology through the suggestions of his religion teacher, a Protestant pastor from the Hunsrück, Karl-August Dahl. Schran went to a Catholic high school in Essen. “There were seven of us from the whole school in religion class,” says Schran. “Pastor Dahl made an incredible impression on me, he was my caregiver. I was also enthusiastic about how he conveyed questions of faith. ” Dahl considered his pupil suitable for the pastor’s profession and recommended Schran to the regional church. Schran studied theology in Bochum and Wuppertal, completed his vicariate and his time as a pastor in the auxiliary service in Essen-Schonnebeck. He then worked as a pastor in the special service at the Catholic Adolf Kolping Vocational Training Center in Essen-Frillendorf. “By studying theology I was exempted from military service,” says Schran, “but I would also have liked to do alternative service. I’ve always been interested in a job in which I can work for and with people. ” That is exactly what he has done in his 33 years as a pastor.
“I leave my active service with a smile and a hopeful look to the future,” says Schran. “The last two years have cost me a lot of strength.” There were personnel bottlenecks in the entire community. “It is important to have someone in the community with whom you can orientate yourself,” says Schran. So I tried to be there for the entire community of Alt-Krefeld, including the Church of the Redeemer and St. John’s Church.
In his retirement, the 65-year-old Schran would like to kneel a little more into music: “I would like to compose, edit psalms and set to music.” You could say even more! Schran has been an active music lover since early childhood. His mother took him to music lessons when he was five years old before school. “I started with the flute, very classically, then came keyboard instruments,” says Schran. “My older brother played the accordion, so I did that.” He taught himself to play the guitar when he was 11 or 12, and learned the organ from an organist friend of his, shortly before graduating from high school. “When you are 17 or 18, you look for your own point of view,” thinks back to Schran. “The world is still completely open to you.” Even back then he was already on the road in a combo style, playing in a combo for modern trade fairs. But he was also interested in philosophical questions. And theology.
In organ lessons he also learned to tune the organ together with his teacher. “That was a big advantage for me when the Vleugels organ was built in the old church,” says Schran. “I could use my knowledge there.” Between 2003 and 2010 Schran also played in the “Pfarrerband”, to which the four Krefeld pastors Michael Papsdorf, Jörg Geyer, Volker Schran and Michael Windhövel originally belonged. Later, others changed or added to the band.
Music and theology were intertwined with him. “A church service is always an interplay between preacher, liturgy, congregation and music,” emphasizes Schran. “It has always been important for me to combine theology and music. I agree with Martin Luther, who said: ‘According to the theology of Musica, I give the closest place and highest honor’. ” In his second theological exam, Schran had already chosen the topic: The importance of church music for the community. “That moves me to this day”, emphasizes Volker Schran. “Music is a very important factor; it can have a comforting, stabilizing or uplifting effect. Music reaches people very close to their souls. ” When Pastor Schran holds church services in retirement homes, he often also plays the piano or keyboard. The epilogue to the end of the service is a little longer, or he plays a few more songs. “To see the joy in the eyes of the residents – you can’t get a bigger reward,” says Schran, very moved.
It was important to Schran to ensure peace and balance among the different cultures in the city center. He helped the “Roof of Cultures” to a location in the congregation, “multikulti” is a real concern of the heart to him, and he enjoys celebrating church services with members of the various international congregations.
Volker Schran is married, has two daughters and five grandchildren: “I am curious about what time God still gives me. If you do not become like the children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven, says Matthew. For me that means: staying curious, living off the reception. ” A good plan for the next few years in the north of Krefeld, where Schran now lives with his wife.
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