Searching for Advent

Day 2 - Berlin, 27 November 2011

We get up later than we thought.  I had hoped we could somehow get out to Saint George's Church, somewhere in Charottenburg, but that was not to be.  There is breakfast in the breakfast room with all the usual characters.  I think that this is the first First Sunday in Advent that I will have missed either attending or celebrating the Liturgy in a long, long time.  God is merciful, however.  After the quiet breakfast we make our way down to Kurfurstendamm, and run into the Weinachtsmarkt at Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche.  It is completely surrounded, and after spending a few moments in the church itself, found ourselves best by either Curry Wurst, or Trockene Früchte.  Mammon, we are here.

KaDaWe is righteously closed, so our visions of their food hall are quickly cooled.  Some orientation is needed.  We get on the S Bahn, and take the clock-wise circular route around the northern half of the city.  So much can be seen from this vantage point from the port facilities at Westhafen, to the abandoned buildings still in shell-shock after the war.  It shows another side of things, reminding us that things are still in transition.  We end up at Frankfurter Tor, and then train in to Alexander Platz.  Our goal is to be somewhere near Nikolaikirche for an Advent concert that late afternoon.  It is very cold, and all of the attention seems to be given to the Glühwein booths at the markets.  They are crowded, and the crowds are being regaled with Christmas music in English.  It's difficult to bear, so we make our way over to the Nikolaiviertel.  In search of lunch.  It is found in a small place, where tables are shared, and a good goulaschsuppe was to be had.

It's still not anywhere near 16:00, so we do some more walking, noting to historic plaques documenting anti-Jewish pograms in the 16th Century.  They are very difficult to read or to understand.  We find a little tea shop and have a Johannisbeerkuchen, and then go stand in line at Nikolaikirche.

Destroyed in the second world war, and now a part of the Berlin Museum, this old church has a remarkable acoustic, and a wonderful altar area in which the baroque elements are hung about where the altar was and is no more.  This is where I hope to find Advent.  We purchase tickets and sit under the pulpit in the nave.  The singers file in and begin with Conditor alme siderum.  I think of my dad, and tear up a bit - he would have loved this.

Twenty-five percent of the program is Advent hymns, with the remaining parts organ works (Reger and Bach) and Christmas fare.  At the end, however, the conductor invites us all to sing with the chorus in the Advent hymn Macht hoch die Tor.  It is here that Advent happened, at least for me, as I heard the entire audience with out the benefit of a hymnbook, belt out this wonderful hymn - three verses from memory.  When Jesus comes again in glory, the faithful may have some difficulty in remembering him.  They will however remember the hymns that served as the core (bad pun: chor) of their faith.

Dinner at Giraffe in the Hansaviertel near our Hotel (Rote grütze mit Vanilliensause).  Now I can rest.