Organ Crosses | God's Gift of Music (Part 1)
"We can mention only one point (which experience confirms), namely, that next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise" (Martin Luther, LW 53:323).
This is part of a project (more posts will be coming in this series) that I have been working on for the last number of weeks for our congregation, Immanuel Lutheran Church in Lindenwood, IL, which is celebrating 150 years of the Lord's ministry.
To give a little back story, our old pipe organ was officially decommissioned on January 9, 2022. From what I have been told, it originated from Concordia University Chicago. though I don't have any other verification at this time. At some point it made its way to St. John Lutheran Church in Burlington, IL. Our congregation received it from St. John in the 1980s. However, a number years ago, prior to my coming to the congregation, it was deemed a fire hazard to play due to old cloth wrapped wiring after one of our sister churches, St. John in Sycamore, IL experienced a devastating loss of their sanctuary. Our congregation has had our organ assessed by several experts over the years to see what making it playable would entail, and it was extremely cost prohibitive. We have a utilized a few instruments as substitutes in the meantime through some generous gifts, but we are now moving forward with a nice Rodgers digital organ from Triune Music in Elmhurst.
Unfortunately, most of the pipes were in great need of repair and were of little resale value. But their historical value for the people and the God's gift of music is invaluable. So I asked about the possibility of memorializing God's gift of music that has adorned His Word through this instrument through making some crosses out of them. There is a beautiful example of this repurposing at Reliant Lutheran Church in St. Louis.
The cross pictured above is a cross for the home composed of some of the smaller organ pipes (~20"x20"). A larger cross for the congregation is awaiting to be mounted on a wall, and I will share it at that time. In addition, I am working on other iterations for members who have asked for one.
Click below to see the crosses in this series:
Organ Crosses | God's Gift of Music (Introduction and Part 1)
Organ Crosses | God's Gift of Music (Part 2)
Organ Crosses | God's Gift of Music (Part 3)
Organ Crosses | God's Gift of Music (Part 4)
Organ Crosses | God's Gift of Music (Part 5)
Organ Crosses | God's Gift of Music (Part 6)
Organ Crosses | God's Gift of Music (Part 7)
Organ Crosses | God's Gift of Music (Part 8)
