So, I (Anna) write this latest update from my sister’s place in the German part of Switzerland, a small village called Kirchdorf near Thun. Confused? Well, for many years I have been visiting this part of Switzerland. My sister Sue married a Swiss, called Fritz, (the story is very romantic… she met him some 26 years ago on a skiing holiday where he was her ski instructor), and here she has lived, now with 2 daughters, almost all the time since. So until this Bossey experience my experience of Switzerland was generally as an apendage to my sister who chatters in way in Deutsch (Swiss German) while I smile fairly blankly alongside.
But a couple of weekends ago I had my very own weekend of Swiss encounters, together with my Filipino friend Ernesto. All of the students left the haven of Bossey for 3 days to experience a wide variety of Swiss Reformed Parishes. Off we went, 2 by 2, some high up into the mountains, some (like Linda) staying nearby in the French speaking part… (the first time ever that being able to speak French has in some way worked against her!!) and others like me headed off into the German speaking quarter, in my case the city of Zurich.
And what a fabulous city it is! A manageable London. A river, the lights flashing on the towers of the world famous Swiss banks at the financial heart of Switzerland, the old town with the Gross Münster and the resting and working places of Zwinglli, the Banholf Strasse (the Kings Road of Zurich), getting more and more exclusive with its Gucci and Ralph Lauren the further along you go….
But the real purpose of the visit was not to shop, but to learn about and experience the Reformed church of Switzerland, and to provide to those Parishes a ‘window on the world’. Ernesto and I were fortunate in that our parish of Höngg have been receiving Bossey students for many years, and so many local customs have been established. One of these is dining at different homes from Friday evening to Sunday lunch. We enjoyed some traditional Swiss dishes and good conversations about all sorts of things including the differences in being a people of Faith in the highly secularised context of Europe compared to the 99% Christian dominance in the Phillipines where the churches can not contain those that want to come. But, dig a bit deeper and you discover many differences within Europe… it is all too easy when dealing internationally to homogenise ‘Europe’… but when you find out the reality of the differences between the State Reformed church of Switzerland and the State Anglican church of England it really is quite incredible…
The most marked difference is money! In most cantons (‘counties’) in Switzerland the church which has been elected as the state church (in most cases the reformed church) receives money from the government…. this money is collected via taxes from individuals (the vast majority of which continue to pay) and in the case of Zurich from corporate tax, which, given what we are talking about is the Swiss banks, is quite considerable. This money contributes to more than comfortable salaries for the Pastors (the rest comes via a separate route from the State), more than comfortable salaries for what we would call Church Wardens, building upkeep, marketing, events etc. What is collected on a Sunday is then ‘spare’ and given to charity… The alarming thing for me was that what was given to charity was a mere 10% of the overall income of the church…. Perhaps I have found a casestudy for my emerging Social Ethics paper on ‘Wealth and Poverty’….
The second thing that really surprised me was how Pastors become Pastors… many of you won’t have forgotten that huge long discernment and selection process we have to go through to reach ordination training in the Anglican church… well in Switzerland anyone who has done a degree in Theology can apply to be a Pastor and the only discernment and selection process as far as I can tell is the interview panel! Granted, many who apply are genuine believers, but as I understand it too there are many who are known as ‘unbelieving pastors’ drawn to the glitz and glamour of being the local minister (together with a nice salary and home). So these and other factors help to explain why many churches, with a handful of devoted congregation members, continue regardless. There is no question of ‘Can we afford to keep this church open?’ The resounding answer in most cantons is ‘yes’.
I am happy to say it was very clear we had a ‘believing pastor’. Marika took us from one venue to the next (albeit, surprisingly for the Swiss, 20mins or so late each time) and she was delighted at the personal and genuine reflections Ernesto and I contributed to the Sunday morning service. On talking to my host for the weekend after the service I hadn’t realised quite how brave I had been to a) talk about such a personal faith with Christ (God is usually held very much at a distance) and b) to provide a projection of an Orthodox icon considering the indwelling Christ at this time of Advent…. imagine a huge, highly decorated colourful icon on the white-washed walls of a Zwingllian Reformed Church!! Ernesto also sung a Fillipino song which I accompanied on the special ‘e-piano’ which had been brought in for the occasion!
There is much more I could talk about, for example, the trip to see the Rhine Falls on the Sunday with a delightful Swiss Post Man called Hans or the delicious champagne and smoked salmon brunch at the Church Council’s President’s house on Saturday…. (‘charge it to the marketing budget, did I hear you say?’). Despite my question, ‘does the Swiss reformed church need a reformation?’ my overriding memory of the weekend is one of meeting a wonderful array of incredibly hospitable people, warm, welcoming, interesting and most of all, genuine in their Faith, and at the end of the day, money and glorious city aside, it is that fellowship which is important and remains with me. So next time I come to Swizerland I will not only visit my sister and my sister’s friends. I will be able to visit my own friends too.
