I remember from my younger years the phrase "Laten we nu ons geloof belijden met de kerk van alle tijden en alle plaatsen met de twaalf artikelen van ons geloof, de apostolische geloofsbelijdenis..." ("Let us now profess our faith with the church of all places and all ages with the twelve articles of our faith, the Apostles Creed...".)

I had to think about the church of all places and about the profession of our faith when a musician of a young Reformed Korean church shared a video where the young people of that church are singing Book of Praise Hymn 1A and another one of Psalm 133 in harmony. It is very symbolic that they sing Psalm 133 on this video: "Behold, how good, how pleasant is the union / When brothers live together in communion!" It is heartwarming to see these young people profess their faith and sing the Psalms!

The Reformed churches in Korea are very young and have a great hunger for the Word of God. Although they are young churches, they are already struggling with false teaching and the consequences of that. They are learning the English and Dutch language only to access the Reformed resources by ministers from especially Canada and the Netherlands! The longing to know more about God and his plan and a deep desire to understand the history of his church and the history of it through the ages keeps these young people occupied any time they have left. May God bless them: that they may grow in faith and knowledge, and add to their numbers!

This particular church has only a few dozen members and the young people have not enough men to sing in four voices. But even three voices sounds great!

Psalm 133 (Genevan) by young people from DAE GU Reformed Church

(PS The Lord willing one of their members will join us here in Langley, also with the objective to better understand how to serve the Lord. There is no example for family worship, church worship, group bible study, personal bible study, etc. in these new, young churches... This young lady's motto is Ruth 1:16... Let's welcome her in September DV!)

(PSS Check the Reformed Korean church site and in between the Korean characters, you will recognize James Visscher, Ge H van Popta, AB Roukema, Klaas Schilder, J. Faber, J. De Gelder, Cl. Stam, G. Kwakkel, Bob Vuijk, and more....)

The season did not start yet, but some people might be thinking about sending children to music lessons. (And it doesn't have to be your own child - what a wonderful idea to sponsor another child's music lesson if you can!)

I had to think about that when I saw this video of this child with his teacher playing in church. I don't think that he used more than a three chords and he could not reach the pedals of the church organ, but there were people singing along. It is a Dutch song, but look at what this young boy can do! Wonderful! And it would be wonderful to have some kids in our church doing the same!

When you watch this, note that the teacher is singing along to keep the boy on track with the congregation .

This video is without singing... he plays a well-known hymn...

It is holiday time and that is can be noticed on the Internet too. It's good to take a break! We've had a good time with our family from the Netherlands, the weather was much more "summerish" here than over there .

Musically it's a break too and that generates many more musical ideas and thoughts. On Sunday I'll be in Surrey playing the Maranatha organ. It's will be an interesting experience now I can compare it to our own new organ in Langley.

Back to vacation... Altough there are many tips that I can give you about where to go based on personal experience, there is one place that I just got recommended through email. I will pass on the entire e-mail, so that you have it all. This is located in the area of Hope, British Columbia, Canada. Notice the end date: August 2!!! (Please note the disclaimer of the pastor that there were some statements that we do not agree with.)

----

Dear Church Family,

We were informed by the Seventh Day Adventist Churches that on their campground "Camp Hope," there will be a full-scale replica of the Tabernacle of the Wilderness on display from today (July 25) till next Saturday (August 2).

This exhibition will be open to the public every day from 9:00 am - 6:00 pm.

Admission is free. Guided tours of "Messiah's Mansion" (the official name of this exhibition) will be conducted at 15 minute intervals throughout the day-in other words, every 15 minutes a new tour begins. The tour takes a good hour.

This morning Adam Slingerland and myself visited this exhibit, and were favorably impressed by the presentation of a capable tour guide. The essential truths of the gospel were clearly articulated. There were some statements we could not quite agree with, but they constituted but a small percentage of the total presentation.

I would encourage you to visit this exhibit if you have the time. (Pictures are attached!) It will give you a wonderful sense of the actual size of the Tabernacle and all its pieces of furniture, and it will enable you to read Exodus 25-40 with a sense of "having been there."

Camp Hope can be accessed from Hwy 7 several kms before you get to Hope itself. Driving from Chilliwack, it will be on your left hand side.

Highly recommended!

Pastor B. Elshout
Heritage Reformed Church of Chilliwack, BC

---------

Here is some more information from http://www.messiahsmansion.com

What is Messiah's Mansion?

Messiah's Mansion is a life-size replica of the Mosaic Sanctuary that God gave instructions to Moses to build in the wilderness. Everything is to scale and a copy of what it would have looked like to the children of Israel to the best of our knowledge.  Through guided tours, people are able to see the plan of salvation and bring it to life with the visual aid of the sanctuary furniture.

Here are the pictures:

Who's behind this?

Mr and Mrs Leinnewebers have been traversing America in a semitruck setting up their replica since 2003. Before then, they owned a restaurant and bakery. They take winters off because the cold weather is bad for turnout.

Clayton Leinneweber teaches sophomore and junior Bible class at Oklahoma Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist school in Harrah, Okla. His students learn to set up the mansion and give tours as part of their curriculum.

By comparison the sanctuary is small, but it was made to be carried across the desert, with each family responsible for packing a particular piece. Fully loaded, the Leinneweber's semitruck tips weigh station scales at more than 68,000 pounds.

Anyway, I thought I'll pass it on....

GREAT OPPORTUNITY!

Free admission for students and children!!!!!!

Adults $ 15 and Senior Adults $ 10

Both performers are teachers of the Langley Music School...
You can expect an excellent musical performance!

Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth,"
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
and there was no longer any sea. 

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people,
and he will dwell with them.
They will be his people,
and God himself will be with them and be their God. 
'He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away."

He who was seated on the throne said,
"I am making everything new!"
Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
To the thirsty I will give water without cost
from the spring of the water of life.
(Rev 21: 1-7 NIV)

June 15/16 2008

It feels like a rollercoaster; the last seven weeks went by fast and intense. From renovations in the church, to the installation and now the voicing and tuning.

These two weeks I have been in the church every day to discuss the progress with the voicers. The first week was the slowest. The first thing that they did was to find out the acoustical behaviour of our sanctuary, which they call 'room'. The sound is different in a lot of places: in the center, versus the sides, underneath the balcony or out in the open, on the balcony centered or the side wings of the balcony.

If the sound is optimal/best at any place in the room, they first needed to understand what people are hearing wherever they would be sitting. And our room has quite a few variables with the balconies, support beams, and sloping and angled ceilings and floors.

Then they were voicing the organ. Not all pipes of the same rank sounded equally (e.g. bright/dull) and not every pipe was equally quick in response. This means that they were looking at/istening to every pipe individually... 1,250 times.

There is a system/method for voicing (and I am sure that different voicers have different methods). Starting with the Principal ranks, they first voiced the octaves, then the fifths, then the fourths and thirds, as far as I understood. They don't use any electronics, they only use their ears. And I am convinced that electronics can't do what their ears can do.

Tonight they finished their work and it is ready to be used and heard. Sunday morning will be the first Sunday we can use the organ.

My first impressions from tonight are:

- Very clean sound of the individual stops
- Very nice strings
- Excellent Cornet on the Great for accompaniment and leading the singing
- Bright and transparent sound, great for baroque music
- Full trumpet with body and character
- The 16 foot Doucaine on the Swell gives the full organ a solid foundation
- And much more...

We accepted the organ. It is excellent in sound, technically, and in appearance. Yesterday night (Wednesday), after playing the organ, I had a few requests for changes/modifications of the sound. They were all finished today, but therefore it became quite late for the final testing, 11:00 PM. This organ is a jewel and will hopefully serve the congregation for many more years, and will allow for a lot of music and song to be heard in our church!

Sunday we'll hear the organ for the first time, but I will be playing it carefully.

The formal "Dedication Recital" is scheduled for September 12 or 13 or 14, Deo Volente. We plan for a Sunday Evening Music Program that weekend, with other instruments. 

Psalm 150 NIV

    1 Praise the LORD. 
       Praise God in his sanctuary;
       praise him in his mighty heavens.

    2 Praise him for his acts of power;
       praise him for his surpassing greatness.

    3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
       praise him with the harp and lyre,

    4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,
       praise him with the strings and flute,

    5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
       praise him with resounding cymbals.

    6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
       Praise the LORD.

 

Tonights performance of the choir was nice. We had a good audience. After a challenging season, this 'performance' was a good ending. Now we take a break.

Some pictures:

We could obviously not use the organ yet, but with the piano it went well.

Now we have to schedule our annual BBQ...

We hope to have a larger group next season, starting in September DV.

(PS This might be long to continue with a choir - at least that is what some people told me. In Utrecht (NL) I directed the "Stichts" Choir. They did hire me and in the agreement I received 2 months summer vacation, one week off with Christmas and one week off with Easter. That means singing until the end of June, vacation July and August and back on the job first week of September. That worked well and people stayed in good shape with such short breaks. )

The Langley Times checked everything when the Casavant truck arrived, but all those crates and boxes were not worth writing about... "When can we see some pipes? was their question. The actual "interview" took place several weeks ago, and I don't recall any specifics, because it was so casual.  Nothing was published yet. Then last week they called me again, and asked to take more pictures, because they had "to fill space in the paper". There was scaffolding in the church, because of the voicers, but that was okay...

The voicers were willingly holding the flash for John Gordon as he tried to get the proper perspective in his pictures. And then today it was in the newspaper. Front page. I am in the picture (again), and John really wanted that for the perspective: it gives a better idea about the size of the pipes. I kept my hands down.

The completed article can be read online here. It includes some interesting information about Casavant Freres and also Jacquelin Rochette, the Tonal Director. Actually - a very good article!

The next publicity will be far away from here: Langley's Opus 3872 will be announced at the AGO Convention in Mineapolis June 22-26 2008 and also during the RCCO Convention in Kitchener ON, July 13-16 2008... we won't be there, but it's still nice to know that our instrument is also important for others.

This week has been a busy week. The voicers are almost spending more time on the organ than the assembly people.

The tonal director of Casavant, Jaqcuelin Rochette (left), and a voicing team under the direction of Casavant's Senior Voicer, Yves Champagne (right), have been working on the tone and tuning of the pipes.

They had to get used to the acoustics of "the room", as they call a sanctuary. They went carefully through the primary rank of pipes (including the front pipes that we can see). Every pipe needs to start making sound in a similar way, they all need to be at the same volume, and the same tone. Some pipes were "too dull", others "too thin". They need to be modified to sound lively, bright, and most of all clear - individual and together, low and hight, from the trumpets to the flutes.

Mr. Rochette was on the balcony, underneath the balcony, in the front and the back, to check the sound everywhere, to make sure the sound of every pipe will be optimal everywhere in the sanctuary. Next week we hope to be able to hear the organ. But, please keep your expectations low: it is like a brand-new car: you can't take it out of the showroom to the freeway and try the maximum speed. The organ cannot be played with all stops open at the same time yet, we need to "break it in" for 4 - 6 weeks.

The "Nederlands Dagblad" (a Dutch Christian newspaper) published an interview with Rev. Paul Washer (organization, wikipedia). The heading is "Simplicity of American Christianity is shoking" and the first parapraph says: "A video on the Internet changed the life of evangelist Paul Washer. His criticism of the simplicity of American Christianity and his call for radical repentance is causing different reactions: denial and recognition".

In that one-hour speech he says many things to think about, often confrontational. "The greatest heresy in the American evangelical and Protestant church is that if you pray and ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart, He will definitely come in." Although he might address the Evangelical movement, many statements will make Reformed believers think as well...

link 

Keeping in mind that this he is a Southern Baptist Church, I appreciated his insight, warnings, and concerns in this video. He addresses American Christianity, but for us in Canada, we can replace "American Christianity" for "Canadian Christianity"...

It's one hour, but well worth listening to...