“Grace to You and Peace: Voices of the Dutch Anabaptists”
A free concert brings to life the contrasting joyful and perilous times of sixteenth century Dutch Anabaptists. Wendy Chappell-Dick and the Anabaptist Singers will present a varied program of songs using historical words set to modern melodies.
The musical commemorates the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism, celebrated worldwide throughout 2025. Many of today’s Mennonites trace their spiritual roots to this movement in Europe. Chappell-Dick and sixteen other members of the Bluffton community will perform “Grace to You and Peace: Voices of the Dutch Anabaptists."
The program includes eighteen songs adapted for the show for its second performance at Bluffton University. One song, “An Anabaptist Love Story,” tells the tale of David Joris and Dirkje Willems who escaped persecution together and settled in Basel, Switzerland. Not all the early Anabaptists were that lucky. Another song relates the story of Janneken Verstralen who lost her husband, and Lijsbeth Dirksdaochter, a teacher who was tortured and killed. The show even includes the spirited voice of Martha Baerts, the maid.
The songs tell dramatic stories, but they are not always about martyrs dying for their faith. Instead, the songs talk about the connections people have to their families and community or what life was like in the 1500s. In one, a father explains his life philosophy to his son. There are prayers, praise and worship songs, humor, songs of victory and thanksgiving, instructions and advice for how to be an ethical businessman and a non-violent warrior. All the songs provide a social history of that time and place.
The original lyrics came from a collection of early Dutch music, “De tijd van de martelaren” by Camerate Trajectina, obscure stories of Anabaptists that are not well known, along with others which are referenced in The Martyr’s Mirror. Translations to English are by Gary K. Waite. In the liner notes Waite says the lyrics answer questions about what early Anabaptist martyrs were thinking, writing, talking and singing about, to each other and to the world." These songs came from eyewitnesses to events who wrote them so that they would be remembered. Five hundred years later Anabaptists still remember and continue living into the narrative.
The Anabaptist Singers include Sarah and Benji Bergstrand, Phil Yoder, Darryl Nester, Amber Steiner, Kendra Nickol, Jan Wiebe, Gerald Mast, Todd Rainey, Judy Steiner, Paul and Laurel Neufeld-Weaver, John Jantzen, Steve and Monica Harnish, and Mona Reichenbach.
Image by Gabriel Metsu
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