St Laurence's Church, Slough, SL3-7LU
Team Vicar: Father Alistair = Dr Alistair Steward
Background: This is not a testimonial. Klaus has not even played yet in St Laurence's, but he has played at St Peter's where Father Alistair is also in charge. When Father Alistair asked to Klaus to play the organ for a funeral at St Laurence, an amusing correspondence ensued.
31 August 2017 happened to be the day on which Muslims celebrate the festival of Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), on which Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son, in total submission to the will of God, is commemorated (Genesis 22; Qur'an sura 37 (As-Saaffat), ayat 100–112). On this day Father Alistair C Stewart, aka Dr Alistair Steward, Team vicar of Upton cum Chalvey, Slough, UK, happened to invite Klaus to play the organ at a forthcoming funeral.
Father Alistair emailed:
Date: 31 August 2017, 15.48h
Are you available for a funeral (not mine, or yours, I hope!) at St Laurence's in Slough (SL3 7LU) on 20th Sept, at 1345?
Here's hoping... no clue yet as to music.
Fr Alistair C Stewart
Team vicar of Upton cum Chalvey, Slough, UK
w: ancientchurchorders.wordpress.com
Klaus replied:
Date: 31 August 2017, 18.29h
Yes. I will be available. Please confirm that this is a definite booking. I look forward to being with you again.
Yours sincerely,
Klaus
Then a further email from Klaus:
Date: 31 August 2017, 21.30h
Definitely accepted, but I cannot resist the temptation to express my delight that, by writing 'funeral (not mine, or yours, I hope!)', you built something like the Conditio Jacobea (Deo volente) into your enquiry, and I should have replied with 'Insha Allah', because today of all days is the Muslim Eid when they celebrate Abraham's readiness to do the will of God (as he imagined it) and to sacrifice his son Isaac even though, even by the standards of his time, I am sure it was a crime and a kind of child abuse. But the will of God has to override human laws and traditional emotions like paternal love or any 'civilised' conventions, which is what the story of Abraham teaches, and Muslims still take it seriously and devote a big festival to it whereas we, Christians, only hear it once a year during the Easter Vigil service.
Anyway, I shall be there (sub conditione Iacobea).
Yours sincerely,
Klaus
Father Alistair replied as follows:
Date: 1 September 2017, 9.23h
Indeed, ἐὰν ὁ κύριος θελήσῃ καὶ ζήσομεν, though the Muslims indeed put it more succinctly.
Thus, إن شاء الله I will see you on 20th. Please note that this is not the church you have visited previously. It is, however, also fairly central to Slough and a similar distance from the station (though in a different direction.) The organ is electrical. There are facilities at the church for wudu'.
Melito of Sardis teaches us that the עֲקֵידַת יִצְחַק is devoid of significance due to the fact that it is only a type of the paschal offering of Christ (which is probably why it is heard in the great vigil.) This is generated by controversy between Christ-believing and non-Christ-believing Jews in the second century, which leads me to reflect that you may be right in suggesting that Christ-believing Muslims (all of us submitting to God) should make this better known.
The قربن is after all ἐφάπαξ.
Inshallah I will let you know the music next week. In sh' alLah et Deo volente!
Klaus replied:
Date: 1 September 2017, 16.08h
Dear Father Alistair,
Thank you for that wonderful reply. I have to frame that and keep it. And, to top it all, all the fonts displayed correctly on my computer and even on my mobile phone.
Thank you also for alerting me to the fact that it is a different church BUILDING this time. I did not notice this and would have gone to the usual church if you had not warned me.
Yours sincerely,
Klaus
Father Alistair replied:
Date: 8 September 2017, 14.12h
Looking forward under the usual Jacobean conditions (though the Jacobean features in the church were ripped out in the nineteenth century... fragments remain) to seeing you on 20th at St Laurence's. I trust you now have route mapped out (through the shopping centre!) I would imagine that the church will be open from around 1300. Should you get lost in the attractions of the Slough Shouk, the verger's cell number is 07931-942 019. I would give you mine, but the phone will probably be in whichever hearse it last got left.
I attach the outline order of service which I am about to send to the funeral directors for prettification. The three hymns are all familiar.
In addition there is the request for liturgical music to cover the entrance and exit... in particular the family (who clearly have little knowledge of music) said that the deceased had liked Va pensiero (they didn't call it that). I take the liberty of attaching a two-handed score which you will undoubtedly be able to improve in performance.
I'm glad you enjoyed the last email. The people to thank are those clever individuals who invented unicode fonts! Switching between Arabic, Syriac, Coptic, Greek and Hebrew, with the occasional foray into the Latin alphabet, is now simplicity itself. It's almost worth learning Old Church Slavonic just to add the font display!
حفظكم الله (oot em dna)!'--
Fr Alistair C Stewart
Team vicar of Upton cum Chalvey, Slough, UK