“Pulling Out All the Stops”

Last Sunday, Central Christian in Lexington, KY, the congregation from which I retired last August, dedicated their newly renovated Holtkamp pipe organ.

The instrument that was renovated was installed in 1960, the year after my birth. When announcing my retirement, I wrote:

It’s not lost on me that we have a 1960 Holtkamp organ that has served admirably and is stepping aside to make a place for a new instrument that will undergird Central’s worship and ministry for decades to come. You also have a 1959 Shirey who has several pipes in his head and body that aren’t firing anymore, either! I look forward to passing the baton to someone who’ll offer a new generation of sustained, energetic leadership to a congregation I dearly love.

We did a capital campaign coming out of COVID in 2021, raised the money to renovate the regal instrument, then waited patiently. Over the next two years, Holtkamp took the old organ apart, returned its reusable pipes and other components to their Cleveland, OH shop, and built the renovated and enhanced instrument.

Joyous was the day in June when a moving truck rolled into Central’s parking lot with the 2,512 pipes, the meticulously handcrafted woodwork, and the handsome console that were assembled over the next three months in Central’s sanctuary.

I was asked to provide a video offering including a greeting, welcome, remarks, and prayer for the Dedication Service held this past Sunday, September 17. Here is an excerpt:

Grace and Peace to you, dear Central.

I wish I could see each of you and offer these words personally, but this long-distance greeting from Columbia, MO, will have to do.

What can I say?  Congratulations on finally having your renovated Holtkamp organ installed and voiced and ready to lend its voice alongside yours in praising God for decades to come. 

You know how I love the Psalms. Psalm 150 is on my mind.  It is the final psalm and it pulls out all the stops, if I may use an organ term.

Psalm 150 has only six verses, but the word praise is used thirteen times and there are eight exclamation marks. That’s a lot of praise!!!!!!!!

To accompany the thirteen times, eight exclamation mark praise, the Psalmist opens up the closet in the Old Testament band room and pulls out every instrument: Trumpet. Lute. Harp. Tambourine. Strings. Pipe. Clashing cymbals. Loud clashing cymbals.

Likewise, your renovated organ has pipes capable of voicing the sounds of every instrument from piccolo and flute to french horn and trumpet, violin to clarinet, bassoon and tuba. Oompah! One guy, after hearing the highest and lowest notes of an organ, said it has sounds “from earthquake to mosquito and everything in between.”

But your Holtkamp organ came without one instrument that it needs to be complete. That instrument is your voice. The point of an organ is not to take the place of the congregation’s voices but to undergird, uplift and magnify them.

It’s possible to praise God a cappella. Our Church of Christ brothers and sisters say, “You ‘instrumental Christians’ allow instruments to become a crutch for you to the point that you let the instruments and choir sing and you don’t.”  Please sing! Add the instrument that is your voice to this instrument and God will be glorified.

But listen:  An organ is not just for the magnifying of our voices in praise to God, but also for the magnifying of our lives in service to others.  If your worship of God on Sunday doesn’t inspire and direct your service to neighbors near and far Monday through Saturday, your praise is incomplete. Half-baked. 50% done. Where I come from, 50% is an F.  Praise as called forth in the Scriptures is worship of God leading to service to others. Both. Here’s to the hope that a renovated organ will be accompanied by a renewed and deepened commitment to outreach and service, mercy and justice, compassion and righteousness. The Great Commandment, after all, is to love God and neighbor. Worship driven by an organ ought lead to lives driven by selflessness and generosity.

So: Praise the Lord!
Praise God in Central’s sanctuary!
Praise God with organ and outreach!
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!