Praise the Lord!

May 23, 2004

Blessing of the Organ

The Rev. Dr. Anthony J. Godlefski, Pastor

Montgomery United Methodist Church

 

Psalm 47

Luke 24: 4-53

 

 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning! As we begin our remarks today about our scripture, there is one more thing I would like to say. Our organist, Dr. Laura Bell, has gone a remarkable way in preparing for this morning. We all know that she is an expert concert pianist, but as an organist … well, have you heard the expression, ‘a duck to water’? She is just wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Bell.

 

The 150th Psalm says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” In other words, let everything that lives and breathes praise God.  Let us spend our time and our highest moments praising the One who made us. Let us spend our time fixing our minds upon the greatness of the One who brought us to be and gave us the wonderful world that we have.

 

Further, the Bible tells us to use everything to praise the Lord, to use all kinds of instruments and tambourines and guitars and drums and the dance to praise the Lord. And so we should! When you are in prayer, let time be spent in just praising God and enjoying God’s presence and God’s magnificence.

 

This morning, we are consecrating to the Lord’s use this instrument, this organ, that it might be a vehicle of praising Him more thoroughly. You are getting a taste of what that’s like this morning. As we do consecrate this organ this morning, my friend, I just would like to say a word to you about its history.

 

When I came to this church in 1998, there was already a pipe organ committee formed. It was headed up by Dr. Ron Hemmel of the Westminster Choir College, and he had already done a lot of work getting enthusiasm and drive going for the instrument. As an organist myself, I couldn’t help but gravitate to that project and support him in his efforts.

 

Well, the project had some starts and stops, but praise God! it’s come to fruition today.

 

One of the most enthusiastic supporters and encouragers of the pipe organ project was Rev. Dr. Joel Nystrom. Rev. Nystrom was one of the founding members of this church and probably the primary inspiration in getting it started these many years ago.

 

 I was privileged to know Rev. Nystrom, in his 90s when I arrived here, and he always had the wonderful dream of an organ for this church. I wasn’t part of the design of this church, obviously, but some things indicate to me that the architects always had in mind something like these organ pipes in the spaces high on either side of the altar. Underneath the pipes is a beautiful, sturdy hardwood floor. I can’t imagine, other than looks, why anyone would build such a sturdy foundation unless they had an organ in mind.

 

But I think you’d agree, it looks as if the organ has always been there.

 

Rev. Nystrom was a strong proponent of the project, and he would say to me, “How much would it cost to build a pipe organ in our church?” Well, we found out, and it was pretty expensive. And he said, “Couldn’t you find a used organ someplace? One that people don’t want anymore, or maybe they’re moving?”

 

I said, “Joel, easier said than done. They’re hard to come by. Sometimes they’re too big, sometimes they’re too small. Sometimes they don’t work properly.”

 

“But couldn’t you try?” So I tried, but I really couldn’t find any. Whenever we’d get together, Joel would say, “How’s that pipe organ project going?”

 

And I’d say, “We’re still looking, Joel.”

 

And he’d say, “Oh, let’s have a prayer.” I remember, he took my hand and we had a prayer about it, and he said, “Lord, we don’t know exactly how this is going to happen, but we’re going to put it in your hands, so make it happen for our church.”

 

I remember one afternoon Joel’s son and I visited with him, frankly, to ask for a gift for air conditioning for the sanctuary. And with rather uncharacteristic firmness, Rev. Nystrom said, “I told you, pipe organ first, then we’ll talk about the air conditioning.” He must have had a different thermostat than I have, I don’t know.” [Pastor Tony, looking heavenward] Sir, mission accomplished. Asking permission to move on.

 

To his last days in the hospital, Rev. Nystrom would talk about his dream for our church. And still, I could find no instrument. We could find none.

 

He passed away, and a few months after his passing, I got a call from an old friend of mine, Lee Stadell, who is the Allen Organ representative. He said, “I found a used pipe organ that I think you might be interested in. It’s a 1941 Casavant [a pedigreed instrument] that a church down at the shore wants to let go of and replace with another. Are you interested?”

 

Well, the rest, as they say, is history. The Casavant organ, built in 1941, is housed behind those walls at the front of the church. It is going to be the heart of the entire instrument. Thank you, Joel.

 

I want to say thank you, also, to those of you who have been so supportive, both financially and with your encouraging words. Thank you so very much, for your encouragement to move ahead with this project.  I also want to thank the organ team. Thank you, my dear friends, for working so hard, for contributing so much time and energy and enthusiasm to make this day happen, and to make possible the future music program in our church.

 

Matt Brucker tells the truth: halfway through, I was getting scared. I was saying, “Maybe we could cut this way back. We could cut out all those nice sounds, make it a serviceable, okay instrument.” And to be precise, his response was “No. No. No. No. No.” I wonder what he meant by that? He said, “We put too much quality into it. Let’s go. Don’t let down now.” Thank you, sir.

 

Dear friends, please allow me in closing to share some hopes and dreams that I have for this organ and for your future. One, my hope and prayer is that it would thrill your hearts and lift you to the Lord. That this unique, remarkable, magnificent instrument would stir your soul Sunday after Sunday, recital after recital, and make you awesomely aware of how magnificent God is. May God speak to you spiritually, remarkably, through this instrument, thereby allowing and inspiring you to praise Him. That is my first and foremost hope, for all of us gathered in this room and for future generations, decades and decades of people who will worship here. May it praise the Lord through you.

 

Second, may it be a magnet. I’m hoping it will draw people here. I’m hoping it will draw people who are curious about this instrument or just like to hear good music, and then they’ll stick around to hear the message and they will be touched by the Lord through this. Let it be a magnet to draw people.

 

And the third dream is something we saw beginning to happen this morning, that it would fascinate children. When I was a little boy, my sister took me to the Radio City Music Hall at Christmas time. There’s a huge pipe organ there. I’ll never forget being up in the mezzanine and hanging on to the rail, seeing that organist roll out from the side and hearing that deep pedal note – I was hooked. I’ve been fascinated by organ music ever since. I hope it happens for the children in our church. I hope that they become fascinated by church music, by organs, but most of all, that the organ becomes a vehicle by which they become ever more involved in the life of the church.

 

Well, it’s here. Let’s enjoy it. May this instrument praise the Lord and lift your heart. God loves you. I do, too. God bless you all. Amen.