Walking with JS Bach’s Passion through Passion week
Have you wondered what to do with passion week toward the end of this long year of the plague?
Do you know that JS Bach’s musical Passion has the potential to comfort the sufferer, and to strengthen our self healing potential and resilience?
Bach’s passion is not just a musical masterpiece. It also holds the potential to console us in times of trouble.
Our Passion week Consolations, born last year of our “sheltering in place”, invite you to a time to tend to your sorrows and to be consoled by the Divine power of Bach’s Passion.
Each day, you will receive a brief meditation on an Aria, recitative or chorus in the Passion, a link to listen and meditate on the piece yourself, as well as some tender guidance to visit your places of sorrow without getting lost in them.
This will not be a music lesson, but rather a way to face your own passion journey with all your senses, facilitated by lyrics and music which transcend place and time.
For this we invite you to walk with us – at your own pace – from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, through the valley of your tears or loneliness or despair or sorrows, towards new life and the blossoming of spring.
You can follow our Passion Consolations every day in a community of fellow pilgrims or reserve a day or two to contemplate them in a self-guided retreat.
We are looking forward to welcoming you on this sacred journey,
Almut with Chuck and little one
PS: Yes, you can still join our group of fellow pilgrims.
How it works
To walk with us all you need to do is to subscribe to our daily email consolations. Each day, you will receive a brief meditation on an Aria, recitative or chorus in the Passion, a link, to listen and meditate on the piece yourself, as well as some tender guidance to visit your places of sorrow without getting lost in them. This will not be a music lesson, but rather an invitation to face your own passion journey with all senses, facilitated by lyrics and music which transcend time.
And as it is unique to our contemplative journeys we are journeying right beside you, writing for you while walking together through this sacred time.
Also you will have access to our online community of fellow pilgrims any time, to walk and support each other.
You can follow our Consolation on your own pace and time.
Many reserve a half hour every morning, noon or evening to read and listen, some save some time on Good Friday or “Silent Saturday” (how we say in Germany) to create their own meditative retreat using our Consolations. How ever you do, you can walk in and out of this sacred movement as it works with your schedule and spiritual journey.
How to Subscribe
These Passion Contemplations are given from our hearts to yours for all who need it in troubled times.
As always we ask for your offering on a sliding scale between 25-90$ to help us pay for our costs for facilitating this weeklong journey. Those who have participated before might already know what to expect and thus what to give. If you are not sure, give what feels right to your heart right now. If you later feel moved to give some more for this experience, you can always come back to make another gift. As aways, all who give more will help us sustain our cloister seminars program and sliding scale offerings.
After you subscribe you will receive a link to register over at our online gathering space.
*If you are a member of an order or if you would like to send a check instead or if you would like to request a full stipend please contact us: click here. Thank you so much!
“I have been taking this journey with you and have loved it all. But today was even more meaningful. The practice of listening to a piece I thought I knew so well broke open my heart even more, and I thought it was pretty open. Thank you. Especially love this: "Loss and new beginnings are of the same journey. We are on our pilgrimage towards Easter. Through the tomb," as I sit and listen to people all week who are struggling with this Holy Week and their observance of it. Yours is an entering into, which is the best way altogether.”
—— Mary Taylor, spiritual director and participants of PWC 2020
Presenters
Almut Furchert, Dr. phil., Dipl. Psych., is a German-American philosopher of religion, existential counselor, teacher, retreat leader and mother of a toddler. She is also the woman behind cloisterseminars where she shares her passion for wisdom teachings. Almut has taught and published in the intersection of psychology, philosophy and spirituality on both continents. She is also an amateur musician, and has sung for many years in the Munich Bach Choir.
Almut will lead you into a depth experiences of your personal passion week in your own pace and time, inspired by Bach’s lyrics and music, helping you to find consolation, hope and new beginnings.
Almut is supported by her husband Chuck Huff, PhD, who will help with translations, content advice and sitting their toddler…