An Organ For Song:
In Praise of Music and the Liturgy
Its back! And for those who have not yet seen - she’s a beauty! A full chamber of polished pipes, two pristine manuals, a row of new stops, all in her original, dark-finished housing! On Sunday, 22 December, in the year of our Lord, 2013, our original Wangerin Pipe Organ installed at St Peter’s Ev. Lutheran Church in 1929, returned refurbished and was dedicated to the glory of God for use in the services of His house. Of His goodness He has “blessed us with this organ to enliven our hearts and adorn our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving” (LSB Agenda, “Blessing of an Organ,” p291). It is good, right, and salutary that she was dedicated on that particular Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Advent, known as Rorate Coeli, from the Latin for “Shower, O heavens, from above,” which comes from Psalm 19. For indeed music is a wonderful and blessed gift from God. And in the Divine Service we are privileged to join our voices in song to those of the “angels and archangels and all the company of heaven” (Proper Preface).
The Divine Liturgy is the common language of the Church. With the ears of faith she hears from God His sacred Word and with the mouth she confesses this Word back to Him and to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:19). For this is indeed a wonderful way in which the Word of Christ dwells in us richly (Col 3:16); that is, when it is set to appropriate music and chant, fitting of the Lord’s house in all reverence and fidelity.
Music and hymnody accompanied countless occasions in Holy Scripture: creation (Job 38:7); the rescue of Moses and Israel (Ex 15:1); the soothing of Saul (l Sam 16:23); worship in the Temple (2 Chr 5:13; 2 Chr 29:25-28); the laying of the foundation of the Second Temple (Ezra 3:11); Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane (Mt 26:30; M 14:26); the imprisonment of Paul and Silas (Acts 16:25); St John’s vision of heaven (Rev 4:8-11; 5:9-14; 7:10-12; 11:17; 14:2-3; 15:3-4; 19:1-8) which is nothing less than a description of the heavenly liturgy! We don’t have space to mention all the references to “song,” “music,” singing,” etc in the Psalms!
Concerning music Dr Luther wrote in the Preface to Georg Rhau’s Symphoniae iucindae (1538):
"Greetings in Christ! I would certainly like to praise music with all my heart as the excellent gift of God which it is and to commend it to everyone . . . Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. She is a mistress and governess of those human emotions - to pass over the animals - which as masters govern men or more often overwhelm them. No greater commendation than this can be found - at least not by us. For whether you wish to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to appease those full of hate - and who could number all these masters of the human heart, namely, the emotions, inclinations, and affections that impel men to evil or good? - what more effective means than music could you find? The Holy Ghost himself honors her as an instrument for his proper work when in his Holy Scriptures he asserts that through her his gifts were instilled in the prophets, namely, the inclination to all virtues, as can be seen in Elisha [2 Kings 3:15]. On the other hand, she serves to cast out Satan, the instigator of all sins, as is shown in Saul, the king of Israel [1 Sam 16:23].
Thus is what not without reason that the fathers and prophets wanted nothing else to be associated as closely with the Word of God as music. Therefore we have so many hymns and Psalms where message and music join to move the listener’s soul, while in other living beings and [sounding] bodies music remains a language without words. After all, the gift of language combined with the gift of song was only given to man to let him know that he should praise God with both word and music, namely, by proclaiming [the Word of God] through music and by providing sweet melodies with words." (AE 53:323-24)
Amen and amen! We rejoice with exceeding joy and thanksgiving that such a magnificent instrument was first installed in St Peter’s in 1929. Likewise, we give thanks to God that through the dedication of countless individuals over the decades this instrument remained in good repair and use for these 85 years. Finally, it is with grateful hearts and voices raising, that we thank all those who have donated and continue to donate to the Forte Organ Fund to preserve this marvelous instrument (she is the lungs of St Peter’s) for generations to come.
Your unworthy servant,
Pastor Mierow
Contributions to the Forte Organ Fund may be made payable to:
St Peter’s Lutheran Church (memo: Forte Fund)
2525 E. 11th St.
Indianapolis, IN 46201
In Praise of Music and the Liturgy
Its back! And for those who have not yet seen - she’s a beauty! A full chamber of polished pipes, two pristine manuals, a row of new stops, all in her original, dark-finished housing! On Sunday, 22 December, in the year of our Lord, 2013, our original Wangerin Pipe Organ installed at St Peter’s Ev. Lutheran Church in 1929, returned refurbished and was dedicated to the glory of God for use in the services of His house. Of His goodness He has “blessed us with this organ to enliven our hearts and adorn our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving” (LSB Agenda, “Blessing of an Organ,” p291). It is good, right, and salutary that she was dedicated on that particular Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Advent, known as Rorate Coeli, from the Latin for “Shower, O heavens, from above,” which comes from Psalm 19. For indeed music is a wonderful and blessed gift from God. And in the Divine Service we are privileged to join our voices in song to those of the “angels and archangels and all the company of heaven” (Proper Preface).
The Divine Liturgy is the common language of the Church. With the ears of faith she hears from God His sacred Word and with the mouth she confesses this Word back to Him and to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:19). For this is indeed a wonderful way in which the Word of Christ dwells in us richly (Col 3:16); that is, when it is set to appropriate music and chant, fitting of the Lord’s house in all reverence and fidelity.
Music and hymnody accompanied countless occasions in Holy Scripture: creation (Job 38:7); the rescue of Moses and Israel (Ex 15:1); the soothing of Saul (l Sam 16:23); worship in the Temple (2 Chr 5:13; 2 Chr 29:25-28); the laying of the foundation of the Second Temple (Ezra 3:11); Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane (Mt 26:30; M 14:26); the imprisonment of Paul and Silas (Acts 16:25); St John’s vision of heaven (Rev 4:8-11; 5:9-14; 7:10-12; 11:17; 14:2-3; 15:3-4; 19:1-8) which is nothing less than a description of the heavenly liturgy! We don’t have space to mention all the references to “song,” “music,” singing,” etc in the Psalms!
Concerning music Dr Luther wrote in the Preface to Georg Rhau’s Symphoniae iucindae (1538):
"Greetings in Christ! I would certainly like to praise music with all my heart as the excellent gift of God which it is and to commend it to everyone . . . Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. She is a mistress and governess of those human emotions - to pass over the animals - which as masters govern men or more often overwhelm them. No greater commendation than this can be found - at least not by us. For whether you wish to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to appease those full of hate - and who could number all these masters of the human heart, namely, the emotions, inclinations, and affections that impel men to evil or good? - what more effective means than music could you find? The Holy Ghost himself honors her as an instrument for his proper work when in his Holy Scriptures he asserts that through her his gifts were instilled in the prophets, namely, the inclination to all virtues, as can be seen in Elisha [2 Kings 3:15]. On the other hand, she serves to cast out Satan, the instigator of all sins, as is shown in Saul, the king of Israel [1 Sam 16:23].
Thus is what not without reason that the fathers and prophets wanted nothing else to be associated as closely with the Word of God as music. Therefore we have so many hymns and Psalms where message and music join to move the listener’s soul, while in other living beings and [sounding] bodies music remains a language without words. After all, the gift of language combined with the gift of song was only given to man to let him know that he should praise God with both word and music, namely, by proclaiming [the Word of God] through music and by providing sweet melodies with words." (AE 53:323-24)
Amen and amen! We rejoice with exceeding joy and thanksgiving that such a magnificent instrument was first installed in St Peter’s in 1929. Likewise, we give thanks to God that through the dedication of countless individuals over the decades this instrument remained in good repair and use for these 85 years. Finally, it is with grateful hearts and voices raising, that we thank all those who have donated and continue to donate to the Forte Organ Fund to preserve this marvelous instrument (she is the lungs of St Peter’s) for generations to come.
Your unworthy servant,
Pastor Mierow
Contributions to the Forte Organ Fund may be made payable to:
St Peter’s Lutheran Church (memo: Forte Fund)
2525 E. 11th St.
Indianapolis, IN 46201
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