A Protestant worship service built around German-language pop songs, held Aug. 23 at the Christuskirche in Graz, Austria, can now be watched online through the media library of Austrian public broadcaster ORF, the congregation said.
The service was the third in the church's series of Schlager services and the first to be carried live on national television and radio. In a notice published on the parish website on Aug. 26, Stefan Raubal wrote that the recording would remain available in the ORF media library for the coming weeks. ORF III and Radio Steiermark broadcast the event, according to the parish announcement.
Pastor Friedrich Eckhardt and his team led the service under the motto "Hier ist ein Mensch," or "Here is a human being." The parish said the music consisted of Schlager standards from the 1960s through the 1980s, performed by singer Helmut Hussler, who has provided live music at earlier services in the series. Schlager is a genre of melodic, often sentimental German-language popular music with a long following in Austria and Germany.
Christian Daily International reported in July that the Aug. 23 service was structured around the Gospel of John's account of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery, and that the song list included "You Lied to Me a Thousand Times," "You Are Not Alone" and "The Sun Rises Again and Again."
The congregation has described the format as an attempt to reach people outside regular church attendance. "We want an open door for everyone, including those who have not felt addressed by traditional worship services until now," Eckhardt said, as reported by the German Christian news site Jesus.de.
An account of the second Schlager service, held in Graz in May during the week of the Eurovision Song Contest, was published by Jesus.de on Aug. 14. Writer Rüdiger Jope reported that the church was full, with some participants travelling more than 50 kilometres (31 miles) after hearing a short-notice announcement on Radio Steiermark, and that the program drew on Eurovision songs alongside the apostle Paul's image of one body with many members.
Eckhardt told Jesus.de that he saw no reason to restrict the range of music used in church. "Church music ranges from Bach to Schlager," he said. "Why should we limit ourselves? God is bigger than our pigeonholes."
The recording of the Aug. 23 service is available at religion.orf.at.
