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.

Chanticleer in town

You want the creme of the creme in acappella. Chanticleer could easily be the real McCoy. And they're singing in Lansdale this Sunday evening. http://www.chanticleer.org/concerts.cfm



If you miss that, they'll be at Elizabethtown College evening of April 12th. http://mtgretna.com/music/winter99.asp

choir flexes Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday the choir proved very flexible. Pastor Hunter was planning a very "intimate" service, a clustering of the people into as close to a circle as one could get in the sanctuary. Being a weekday, I also determined that no robes would fit the setting better.

Besides, the choir had to sit in the amen corner. And they had to stay after the service to prep for Easter. No complaints that I heard.


Church music people like me tend to get stressed out by the time Easter arrives--not unlike Christmas. Yet I experienced glorious moments of worship and praise and prayer despite the extra responsibilities on my shoulders.


The photo shows the first time in my sojourn at Zion that I used the "new" technology of a sign stand. Three of these tripod-like stands have been stored in the music office. Finally I made use of one of them.