Today a reminder email was sent to the parishioners of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu about the shindig to celebrate my 35 years as organist — a party on Sunday, April 14th from 12:00 to 2:30 pm. If you look closely, you’ll see that there was a reference to this blog: Another Year of Inanity! (sic) Same… Read More Don’t rain on our parade!
This afternoon was the annual Children’s Benefit Concert at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu — always presented during Lent which not only showcases the talented children of LCH but also raises money for a good cause. For the past seven years the beneficiary has been Heifer International, but this year the concert planners decided to… Read More A surprise performer!
Some of life’s best moments are unscripted — if you tried to plan these things in real life, they wouldn’t have worked out so well or with such great timing. Such a moment happened during the Christmas Day service, my last as Organist at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Pastor Jeff, who normally has his… Read More Unscripted
On Monday morning, I needed to drop by LCH to pick up a Christmas carol book because Carl Crosier was going to be playing the piano for a school fundraiser. I ran into the guys from Aloha Roofing (who are replacing the roof this week) patiently waiting outside the building so I opened the gates.… Read More Beware the Organ Killer!
A year ago, I wrote a post called “Countercultural Advent,” in which I expressed the idea that we in liturgical churches are really contrary to the mainstream — namely, that we don’t sing Christmas carols until Christmas Eve, and the season before Christmas — Advent —is considered a penitential season. This year we are even… Read More Countercultural Advent, take two
ser·en·dip·i·ty/ˌserənˈdipitē/ Noun: The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way: “a fortunate stroke of serendipity”. It was pure serendipity that on All Saints Sunday, forty-three continuous years of ministry at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu were represented by the presence of Pastors Donald K. Johnson (1969-2000), Fritz Fritschel (1990s),… Read More All Saints serendipity
There was an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe last week titled, “Save the church! kill the organs” and it naturally elicited a lot of response from organists and parishioners alike. The author, Jennifer Graham, associated music coming out of an organ to that of a horror movie, and had the nerve to blame organ… Read More Don’t blame the organ!
You’ll never guess who my newest organ student is. Why, it’s Pastor Jeff Lilley who approached me about lessons a few weeks ago! Like my other students, from age four to eighty-four, I’ve started him with Discover the Basics, a series by Wayne Leupold, a comprehensive method of teaching music reading, rhythm, theory, technique and even… Read More It’s never too late to learn
Dear People of LCH, This day, one long anticipated, has finally come. What a wonderful journey these past 38 years have been for me. When I think back to the countless regular and special worship services and the many church concerts that I have been involved in, I thank God for this wonderful opportunity to… Read More A message from the Cantor