“With you I feel at home, with you I can be as I am, as I thought and because no one laughs at me…!”*
Even some time after the German Protestant “Kirchentag”, which took place from June 19 to 23, 2019 in Dortmund, Germany, it only takes this one line – and already the foot stamps, the fingers snap, the head nods and the excited tingling in the belly returns.
Almost forty students of Theodor-Fliedner-Gymnasium Düsseldorf and Evangelisches Gymnasium Meinerzhagen came together with their teachers and employees of the education department of the EKD to perform the song “Was für ein Vertrauen” (What confidence is this) written by Prof. Jens Seipolt and Tobias Petzoldt (Evangelische Hochschule Moritzburg) as flash mob.
After a short rehearsal together everyone went to Dortmund’s city centre. The group spread out in the surrounding area; wait a moment, behave inconspicuously; suddenly, a clapping starts; and then…:
“…What a confidence, I can trust you, I can build on you, look you in the eye, I am held by you, remain safe and I can shape, of course unfold…”!*
More and more singers join in, new voices and rhythms enter, passers-by stop, listen and marvel.
“…Because you can be relied on, how awesome is that…!”*
The singing pauses abruptly; the participants look at each other:
“… Therefore right here and now and with everyone I let myself fall!”*
Blindly, the “flash mobbers” let themselves fall into the arms of another singer. The audience claps their hands, the performers cheer for each other – what confidence is this!
A heartfelt thank you to Tobias Petzoldt for the wonderful lyrics, which not only express the feeling of being able to trust in wonderful words, but which could actually be experienced in the performance with strangers; to Prof. Jens Seipolt for the exciting music, the great “stage directions” and the stimulating communication in the run-up to the Kirchentag; to the committed teachers Elisabeth Bänsch, Johannes Fischer and Volker Schilmöller; and especially to the great students who made the vitality and diversity of Protestant schools as well as their commitment to a trusting coexistence in common music tangible.
*Free translation from German
