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Ship of Fools: St Anne's Lutheran, London

The Mystery WorshipperThe Mystery Worshipper Shipmate
edited September 2018 in The Mystery Worshipper

imageShip of Fools: St Anne's Lutheran, London

Bach Vespers as Bach himself would have done it

Read the full Mystery Worshipper report here


Comments

  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    How good to hear such a positive Report about St. Anne's! I have happy memories of attending the 11am Eucharist on a couple of occasions, and also a Bach Vespers, when the congregation met at St. Anne and St. Agnes, Gresham Street.

    I'm glad they seem to have settled in at St. Mary-at-Hill (which I also visited once, for a weekday Eucharist, long before the 1988 fire). From photos, the restored interior looks better without the dark furnishings, in my personal opinion, but YMMV, of course!

    IJ
  • harmesharmes Shipmate Posts: 1
    a lovely report but one correction is needed. There was damage to the woodwork in the fire, but it was not destroyed. Follow this link to images showing the reredos and pulpit clearly intact. https://www.apollo-magazine.com/the-unhappy-fate-of-christopher-wrens-city-churches/
    They are now in storage, it would be wonderful to have them returned.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    Well, yes - but from at the photograph, it looks as though both would require a fair bit of cleaning/restoration nonetheless.

    Perhaps that's something for the future, as funds permit?

    I agree that the reredos would form a better background than the rather neutral grey curtain they have at the moment. The church which was formerly used by the St. Anne's Lutheran congregation had (and presumably still has) a similar reredos:
    https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTyskAtikssgDWGqJHg7OYMXtWtfdosYdZ5b8DHsqjQNvvHnQbN

    IJ
  • Royal PeculiarRoyal Peculiar Shipmate Posts: 1
    I didn't say the pews were destroyed, as they're in storage in Devon. That's why I used the word 'damaged'. So hopefully no correction is needed. Thanks for the link to the Apollo magazine report, though.
  • Box PewBox Pew Shipmate
    edited May 2019
    Thank you for your report. I think this may be the congregation that used to meet in St Annes and St Agnes in Gresham Street - and am glad they have found another church to worship in after the Diocese of London eased them out of St Anne's for reasons that were none too clear. St Annes never seems to hold services now - Lutheran or any other sort. Such a shame.

    It is a City of London scandal about the oak fittings from St Mary at Hill church - many of them from Wren's time - they should clearly be returned and re-fixed. Why are they not? The church was said to fully insured when it caught fire.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    Yes, this is indeed, as I said earlier, the congregation that used to worship at St Anne & St Agnes, which church is now used for concerts and recitals.

    I would hazard a guess that restoration, transport, and re-fitting of the salvaged woodwork would be an expensive job. If so, who is to pay for it (assuming that insurance cover is insufficient)?

    And is the woodwork (however fine) really needed for the mission and outreach of a modern 21st Century Lutheran congregation?

    How about a contemporary artist being commissioned to create a new backdrop to the sanctuary?
  • Box PewBox Pew Shipmate
    Bishop, we are talking about a Grade I listed building and fittings from the office of Christopher Wren.

    It may or may not be the choice of the Lutheran congregation (actually, I would be surprised if they didnt delight in the idea of the return of the fittings if their landlord, the Diocese of London, got it together to put them back as they are compatible with Lutheran ethos and worship).

    But that is not the point: whether they like it or not the Diocese is owner and custodian of the building for present and future generations. If it was under-insured it is their oversight and they should make up the difference. If this were not a church and the building was owned by a company or private individual, the full force of town planning legislation and enforcement would be upon them - but the church, and other faith organisations, have an indefensible opt-out known as <ecclesiastical exemption>. The sooner this anachronistic religious privilege it is done away with the better.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    Lutherans seem quite happy (well, some of them, anyway) with 'modern' churches, as well as with the more 'traditional' approach. Here's a modern Lutheran church in Sweden:
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=ACF2Ua5wkh8

    And here's a more traditional church:
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=sZwnrvOk4Dw

    It would be interesting to actually hear what the St Anne's congregation at St Mary at Hill thinks about the absence of the original pews etc., rather than engage in fruitless speculation!
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