To do lists

Here's some of the things I'm working on:

-line up special music for the summer months
-follow up the organ concert event, offering amount, attendance, thank yous to the partners etc
-contact organ subs for a few summer Sundays
-contact Nate Stucky, the summer seminarian, about how he wants to interact with music and worship
-prep for the choir singing at Dock Meadows this Sunday evening
-put the Felix Hell CD in library so it is available
-read a new book on using instruments in worship
-come up with a non-verbal component for Pentecost
-follow up on the decisions of the worship planning committee of last evening
-update the worship teams schedule

Whew. I wonder why I was busy today. And I didn't even get to any organ practice yet.

Felix remembers

I got a nice note from Felix. He writes that after a concert in Iowa and one in New York City he is "now back in my American home in Balitmore. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to perform at Zion Mennonite yet again, and I hope that my performance met your expectations. For me it was a great pleasure to return to the Fisk organ."

He goes on in his letter to thank me for turning pages for him. After the concert he gave me one of his CDs for doing that. It turns out it was really hard, because I sat so far away (my choice).

He ends the letter: "Thanks again for all your efforts. Give my best regards to everybody who was involved in organizing my concert. Sincerely, Felix."

I was so caught up in the event that I failed to take a single photo of him, so here's one he sends out.

changing wheels

People at Zion really care about how I'm getting along. They often ask about my drive--the 54 miles between Souderton and Leola.

So far, that Neon on the left has carried me without problems. Takes a lot of gas. Today I sold the Neon, thanks to a classified ad in the paper.

Enter--the Mazda on the right. That's my work horse now. It gets me 35.5 mpg.

This pic was taken right before I drove the Neon away for the sale at AAA. If you step outside my door, this is the sight you see. It's "rush hour" in Amish country and two cars are on the road just between me and my neighbor, Aaron and Sarah.

Got the Mazda from my son, Joel. He walks to work. Now that he's married, he and Stephanie are going to save money and do it with one car.

not this Sunday

This is not the anthem we're doing this Sunday. Just found this online. I guess it's Chinese.

The words are prettier than the notes.

In fact, we're not doing any anthem this Sunday. Last evening at choir rehearsal we as a group decided not to sing this Sunday because several singers are not able to be at church. We're planning to do "The Lord Is My Shepherd" next Sunday.

Democracy at work the day after the primary election.

friends visit

Dorcas and I were real pleased to have friends visit Sunday morning. Left, the Kookers, and the Friesens.

One of them emailed me:
"We found the congregation to be a warm and welcoming place. "

That makes my day.

If you drove by the church this weekend, you saw this sign. And if you walked in at 4 p.m. you heard organ music equal to none.

This sign also represents a lot of work behind the scenes. Let me try to remember some of the names: Bonnie Moyer, Bill Fridey, Gerry Hartzel, Nancy Constanzer, Dorcas Lehman, Brenda Oelschlager, Barb Musselman, Lorraine Shoemaker, Nancy Fridey, and.... Hey, I didn't take a photo so I'm in trouble. I know there were others. Let me look them up for the next post.

Helen Keller made a wonderful presentation to mark the 40th anniversary of the dedication of this organ.

my defenseless head

Here's Charles Wesley, born 301 years ago. This Sunday the choir is singing his "Jesus Lover of my Soul" in a setting by Martin.

Ever have one of those musical gnats that keeps buzzing inside your head? After rehearsal Wednesday the accompanist said, That's going to keep playing in my head. I said, Me too.

One phrase in particular: "cover my defenseless head with the shelter of thy wings." I'm like, defenseless head? Maybe Charles was bald. I look up images on google. This obviously was not his real hair. This is a wig. So, maybe the bald hypothesis is right.

Maybe, I think, it's that the head is the most vulnerable.

Powerful stuff, that Wesley.