The New Organ at 1st Congregational Church
Organ Installation and Dedication
On Monday, June 2, 2008, a new organ was installed in the church, and it was dedicated on Sunday, September, 14. The organist, Jake Troy, played a short recital of organ pieces, and a litany of dedication, in the form of a responsive reading recited by the congragation, was led by Judy Fales.
The new organ was made possible on donations by members of this congregation and we give many thanks to all the generous donors who helped with this purchase through their contributions.
The following are some thoughts on the new organ, as well as pictures from the installation and the litany of dedication for the new organ.
Some Thoughts on the New Organ
Acquiring our new organ has been a remarkable development. We’ve had the opportunity to purchase a high quality organ appropriate for a church of our size, and have generous donors who offered to underwrite the cost. We see divine intervention in these events.
The various musical instruments have indelible and powerful associations for us. For example, the marching band evokes community celebrations, sporting events, and summer pops concerts. Many of you no doubt took up an instrument and played in such bands. We have our own Tom Wheeler and the euphonium and French Horn.
Bagpipes bring to mind the craggy landscape of Scotland, castles, plaintive dirges and joyous outbursts of very rugged martial music. Think of Bill Kahler.
The harp gives us a gentle and transparent sound and taps ethereal emotions, and is perhaps indelibly feminine. It evokes the very essence of heaven, serenity and simplicity. We are grateful of the generosity of Faith Leitner who has played for us regularly.
The clarinet evokes jazz riffs, Dixie Land sounds, and good times but not so much in connection with the church.
The organ, however, is the sound of sacred moments. Its range of expression is unsurpassed among all instruments. The organ sound uniquely establishes meditative moments for prayer, and thoughtful solemnity of choral “Amens” and Benedictions. It provides songful expressions of faith in our hymns, choral anthems, and the stately chorales of J.S. Bach.
And, by contrast, the organ can burst forth in joyous outpourings of Easter hymns, celebration of God’s creation, the rhythmic pulses of revival hymns and praise music, brides walking down the aisle to wedding marches and leaving in recessional exuberance.
The organ, in all its glory, is indelibly the sound of our church experience. Because of the organ’s range of expression, it is aptly called the King of Instruments. It can whisper to you, can sing in many voices, and make you actually feel the music as you sit in the pew as its deepest tones shake the very timbers of the church.
Now, about the new organ itself.
We live in the Digital Age. If you are overwhelmed by Ipods, Blackberrys, text messaging, and digital cameras, praise the Lord for bringing the technology to musical instruments. The Digital Age brings us an organ capable of producing exceedingly high quality sound derived from recorded samples of sound from each note in the ranks of pipes from the best-made, large-scale organs. They are all inside the innards of our new organ awaiting the hand of the organist.
And it does so at a fraction of the cost of the traditional pipe organ made of countless pipes of lead, tin, wood, and a lot of tricky working parts to activate the passage of air into the pipes.
Also, digital circuitry endows the organ console with great flexibility of expression for the organist. The instrument is low maintenance—no tuning required. And, pitch and tuning are not affected by temperature and humidity. This is an organ the Finance Committee can love.
We now have a fine young organist to play for us, and a thoroughly modern, yet traditional, instrument befitting our fine church.
Congratulations to all.
- from Charles Hildreth
Moving Day and Installation
The following pictures show the new organ being brought into the church.
Acknowledgements
Beyond our generous donors who we gratefully acknowledge are:
- Our pastor Ron Lake who shepherded us through the task
- Judy Fales
- Jake Troy, our organist
- Phyllis Borges
- Ed Burke
- Royden Wilkenson – former organist at 1st Congregational who lead us to the organ
- Jack Jacobs – who took pictures on the day of installation
- And Scott Anderson who removed and replaced the window upstairs
A Litany For Dedication of Our Organ
Leader:Praise ye the Lord
People: Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
Leader: Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
People: Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Leader: Praise him with the timbrel… praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
People: Praise him with loud cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Leader: Believing that God has ordained that music be used in the house of worship as an instrument of His praise…
People: We dedicated this organ.
Leader: For the enhancement of Worship or the church, for the appreciation of the music of the masters, and for the development of the language of praise..
People: We dedicate this organ.
Leader: For the beauty of the wedding service, for the comfort in sorrow, for thanksgiving on festive occasions.
People: We dedicate this organ.
Leader: For the healing of life’s discords, for the revealing of the hidden soul of harmony, for the lifting of the depressed, for the humbling of the heart before the eternal mysteries of creation, and for the exultation of the soul through and transcending melody inspired of God..
People: We dedicate this organ