This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
A short liturgy for organ rededication
The following was written quite quickly after a request from a member of the COIN (Christians on the Internet) Music discussion list asked if anyone had an order of service for the rededication of a church organ which had just been restored. So here's a suggested liturgy based on Psalm 150, and (below) some chords which can be used if the organist can't think of better ones.
Order of service
After the sermon, the credal questions in the short form:
V. Do you believe in God the Father, who created you and all the world?
R. We believe and trust in him.
V. Do you believe in his Son Jesus Christ, who died to redeem you from your
sins?
R. We believe and trust in him.
V. Do you believe in his Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God?
R. We believe and trust in him.
V. This is the faith of the church.
R. This is our faith. We believe and trust in one God: Father, Son and Holy
Spirit.
V. As we worship our God, Sunday by Sunday, we give thanks for the privilege of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to help us, and so we rejoice today in the restoration of our church organ to lead and accompany us in worship. Let us listen to its pipes and express our thanks for the gift of music, using words from Psalm 150.
V. We praise you, God, in your holiness, and in celebration of your power.
[Chords played on full Great Organ.]
V. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord.
V. We praise you, God, in your noble acts, according to your excellent
greatness.
[Chords played on full Swell Organ.]
V. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord.
V. We praise you, God, in the sound of the trumpet.
[Chords played on the trumpet stop, or perhaps all the reeds together.]
V. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord.
V. We praise you, God, upon the lute, harp and strings.
[Chords played on "string" stops - Gamba etc.]
V. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord.
V. We praise you, God, upon the pipe.
[Chords played on the "flute" stops.]
V. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord.
V. We praise you, God, upon pedals and dancing.
[Descending arpeggio played upon the pedals.]
V. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord.
V. We praise you, God, with everything that has breath.
[Chords on the whole organ, built up from the bottom.]
V. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord.
V. O Lord our God, we thank you for the gift of music which lifts our
spirits, and for melody which allows us to express to you those things too
deep for words alone. We thank you now for the restoration of our organ in
this church; for all those whose giving has paid for it, for those who have
worked on it with skill and time, and for those who will play it for your
greater glory. Let us bless the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.
V. O Lord, we now re-dedicate this organ to your purposes. Accept the
worship of those who play it and sing to its accompaniment. Use it to
inspire us with confidence as we sing, so that our confidence will carry us
out into your world as your ambassadors. Take and use its sound to draw
hearts and minds into your presence, that the music of this church might
lead us into closer fellowship with you. By your blessing, grant that this
organ might be an instrument in the building up of your kingdom. Lord in
your mercy,
R. Hear our prayer.
V. So let us praise our God using the third verse of the hymn "O Praise ye the Lord":
(The verse of the hymn follows, then on to the intercessions.)
John Hartley
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.