The choir: spirit of the LWF Assembly
The LWF Assembly choir lifts up the spirit of the journeys in the main auditorium of the ICE Congress Centre in Kraków, Poland. The choir and the musicians are a global composition from all continents, all regions and many languages.
Delegates gather for Evening Prayer, at the LWF Thirteenth Assembly, in Kraków, Poland, 13-19 September, under the theme of “One Body, One Spirit, One Hope.” Photo: LWF/M. Renaux
The choir is central to Assembly worship
(LWI) - Participants at The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Thirteenth Assembly in Kraków, Poland, will agree that one of the highlights of the gathering is the worship Assembly choir. Songs and hymns throughout worship come from all corners of the global communion, representing many faith communities and experiences while building on the Assembly theme, “One Body, One Spirit, One Hope.”
Ms Kinga Marjatta Pap from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary is leading the Assembly choir. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
Kinga Marjatta Pap, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary, who is leading the choir, shared some of the details regarding worship preparations. “With the International Worship Planning Committee, we started working on the choir two and half years ago,” she said.
There were several virtual meetings and two in-person meetings, including one in Kraków, Poland which included a site visit prior to Assembly. “That is important for the planning because the worship is not just about music, it is about the whole environment and specifical circumstances,” she said.
The choir sings in the four official LWF languages English, German, French and Spanish but there are more than 40 languages together in the worship book for this Assembly. The Assembly choir, as with all the musicians who are serving at the Assembly, is a global composition including all regions and continents.
“There are a handful of people from the local Kraków congregation choir, who come here each day, which is a great joy for us and also it is such an effort because they are joining us three times a day for worship and one rehearsal in the middle of the day,” Pap added.
When not busy with Assembly preparations, Pap leads several choirs in Budapest, Hungary, and is completing a doctoral study related to international hymn books. She is working on a hymn book renewal process in Hungary and shared that the Assembly choir provides a lot of inspiration for her work.
LWF Assembly delegates closed the second day in an evening prayer. Photo: LWF/Johanan Celine Valeriano
For Pap, a special piece of music from the Assembly choir was one composed by her colleague Carl Petter Opsahl, a clarinet player from the Church of Norway.
“Last year when we were already preparing the Assembly music, Carl wrote this song on the day after the war in Ukraine started,” she said. “Last Friday we sang this song together here with the whole Assembly.”
Dr Uwe Steinmetz (left) from Germany and Dr Carl Petter Opsahl (right) from Norway playing saxophone and clarinette during worship at the LWF Thirteenth Assembly in Kraków, Poland. Photo: LWF/M. Renaux
With each day beginning with worship at the Assembly, the choir provides an important role.
“The choir helps us to connect with worship,” said Hannah Johnsrud, from the United Lutheran Seminary, United States. “It is so important for us to sing about our faith... especially when we are going into really important discussions, [worship] helps us to remain in one hope and one body.”
“When you look at the Assembly choir it is like you are looking in the mirror of the Assembly, people see themselves ... I love the faces of the choir, how I can see the joy and the concentration and the responsibility that help us to build up a worship that speaks not only to our mind but also to our whole body,” concluded Pap.
