A few weeks ago I went with my missus even though I had to wake up quite early in the morning, it was worth it. Now, as you know, I must not name the church because I am like Peter Parker, the Spiderman; those who are associated with me could get hurt. The people I criticise can be nasty.
The cantata for that Sunday was BMV 40. I am listening to it as I type.
In Scripture we read,1 Corinthian 14
16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
Well it was a blessing that they printed the cantata both in English and German. Since I can sight read music, I could follow the singers as they sang. The music was in the bulletin. I understood what was being conveyed by the cantata, as I looked at the English translation.
I tell you I was extremely edified and my heart was bursting in praise to God. It was beautiful, Bach was indeed a genius, the words and music as it were dropped down from heaven. I do not mind saying even in a facetious way, I got a "religious experience".
Many years ago, when I was getting my degree in Religious Studies, my Greek professor said to me that doing scholarly work in the original Biblical Languages requires one to learn either German or French. If you confine yourself to English, you will miss the other results other scholars from other countries have discovered, since there are lots of scholarly work in those languages.
I am toying learning German so I can read Bach's music and Luther's writings but I only have 24 hours in a day, so what to do?
Bach, I get ya, and I thank God for ya. You are a good Lutheran contribution to the world.
The semester is on next week and so blogging will be slow.
