Music

Why has Zion installed this new organ? It has done so as a way of keeping in step with God’s gracious way and worship.

God would have you surrounded with beauty. “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,” we read in the book of Psalms (96:9). God’s beauty is His mercy. Through the death and resurrection of His Son, and through the nourishing gifts of His Holy Spirit, He forgives sinners their transgressions and fashions them into a holy fellowship that spans time and place.

Zion’s Great Organ was created to bespeak this beauty of God. Not only through sound, but also through the visual form of its pipes and casework, it carries a message: “This mercy is for you.” It belongs in your ears, upon your lips; it has touched your eyes, and appealed to your mind. It trumpets forth in the face of death! It chimes and rings as a companion to joy!

Under the direction of the Great Organ’s builder, Charles Kegg of Hartville, Ohio, the pipe shades that adorn the upper edge were hand carved out of basswood by sculptress Spirit Williams. They depict the celestial archangels and revered apostles with whom the Church still worships in unbroken (if unseen) fellowship. This mixing of things heavenly and things earthly is yet another dimension of God’s holy beauty, now reflected to Zion’s worshipers in wood struck by wisdom.

It was dedicated on February 21, 2010 with Dr. Heller playing in concert. The people of Zion have affectionately named the organ “Miriam,” after Moses’ sister, who led the people of Israel in victorious song (Exodus 15).

View below the most recent Zion Organ Concert Series performance The Righteous Shall Live By Faith: A Hymn Festival on Romans from October 22, 2022, Organist: Jeffrey Blersch
Hymn Commentator: Rev. Stephen P. Starke