The ecumenical Sechseläuten service on Sunday in St. Peter in Zurich particularly addressed the children. The three parishioners told the Easter story with two rag dolls. A guild brass group played festive music.
Regula Pfeifer
Around 80 people came to the service in the old town church of St. Peter, including around 15 children of different ages. Some were already festively or properly dressed for the children’s parade.
Also the musicians from the company’s game to the Constaffel sat there in their costumes of blue and yellow and their wind instrument in their hands. The approximately 30-strong music group took up almost a quarter of the church space. The service was accompanied by loud, cheerful celebratory music.
The wind ensemble of the Gesellschaft zur Constaffel
“We all want to be happy”
The Reformed pastor of St. Peter, Cornelia Camichel Bromeis, greeted those present. “Peace be with you,” she quotes a statement from Jesus from the Bible. And added: “God created us to have joy in life.”
The first song to which she invited people was called: “We all want to be happy.” Then the Christian Catholic priest Lars Simpson, who works in the neighboring Augustinian church, appeared in front of the audience.
The Reformed pastor Cornelia Camichel Bromeis
He invited everyone to look around and see who was there, which most did with a smile. “God open our eyes and hearts to one another,” he said. “Let us be there for each other as you are there for us, Lord Jesus.” Simpson then read a story from the Gospel of Luke and the Roman Catholic priest René Berchtold – from St. Peter and Paul – took over the quotes from Jesus.
The risen Jesus – a ghost?
This was followed by what some children had probably been waiting for: a puppet show based on the Easter story, in Swiss German. Pastor Camichel Bromeis played with the soft hand puppet Petra, Simpson played with the puppet Pit. Pastor Berchtold told them the whole Easter story. The puppets kept asking if they didn’t understand something or wanted to make a comment. Because they, the dolls, were a bit cheeky.
The Sechseläuten service in St. Peter was celebrated ecumenically.
The resurrection of Jesus was obviously difficult to understand. “Was that like a ghost?” asked Petra. “Yes,” answered the priest. He later took the opportunity to encourage the children to attend church services. A different story from the Bible is told every Sunday. And everyone can take a word or thought from this for the coming week. “This is the Bible,” he said, holding up the book.
Make Bible sentences with words
Pastor Camichel Bromeis then asked the children to form a sentence together using the words on the pieces of paper that had been distributed. They are sentences from the Bible. The children went to the front and held up their words. Sentences came out like: “Peace be with you” or “Christ is truly risen.”
Pastors Lars Simpson (l.) and René Berchtold say goodbye to those attending the service
After the triple blessing by the priest and the two priests, the brass group belted out their “Constaffel March” and added three more pieces, during which the audience slowly left the church.
The three priests stood at the door and greeted each one of them with a greeting and wished them a happy Sechseläuten. There was a box of chocolate rolls available for the children – and everyone else – to take home. To satisfy hunger before the children’s parade, as Pastor Camichel Bromeis had previously said.
© Catholic Media Center, April 14, 2024
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