Following the 6-CD set of the songs of the Book of Praise (Psalms and Hymns), produced by G. VanSeters/H. VanderWel, a similar CD has been produced for the 28 Hymns released for testing by last Synod.

These CD's have only instrumental music and are intended to be used for singing along; whether that be at home, biblestudy, camps, catechism, or at school. Each song has a short prelude, the song (one or 2 stanza's) and sometimes a postlude. It is to assist the singing, so in many ways the music is kept simple and transparent.

The previous Hymn CD, with organ and trumpet, congregational and choir singing, that was produced last year, has no relationship with this new CD. Therefore I was determined to play completely different preludes on this instrumental CD with the same hymns. And that worked out... only two hymns I missed the inspiration and I re-used the harmonic concept of the first CD .

For anyone who plays organ (piano with some adjustments), I wrote down the music of these short improvisations. It was more a personal goal to learn a music notation program, and I am still learning. Because of the amount of work to do this, the limited use of these hymns, and the likely changes at upcoming Synod, I addressed only the first 10 hymns of the Augment. (When they're all going to stay, I could write out more preludes, if there is any need for...)

Click here to DOWNLOAD the complete file (PDF format) 
with the sheet music of hymns 1- 10.
Download and Print for Free (but your feedback would be appreciated)

SOUND SAMPLES

Sound samples of a few seconds of the first 10 hymns.

To hear the complete preludes and listen to all 28 Hymns,
please purchase this Instrumental 28 Hymn CD from:

Harpert M. VanderWel, Audiocraft Productions
Phone: (905) 639 - 1905
Fax : (905) 639 - 0674
E-mail: audiopro@audiocraftproductions.com

Christ is risen, Alleluia!

Romans 14:9 NIV •
Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

Revelation 1:18 NIV
I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!

In between Good Friday and Easter I went to a funeral service in Abbotsford (father of one our our staff). The (baptist) minister made a few comments that I remembered well. One was that the daughter said at the grave that her father did not go away, but that he went ahead of them. Symbolically his hand was not waving "Good bye" but signaling "Come, follow me..."

The pastor comforted the family. He said that they should not be upset when people would say that they are sorry that the family lost their husband or father. If you don't know where someone is, then they are lost. We know where believers are going - if you know where they are, then they are not lost.

The minister recalled a recent conversation in which the man had said, excitingly: "I will win, no matter what...", explaining that either a miracle would happen to heal him, or he would be soon with his Saviour.

Another conversation was about how long a twinkling of an eye is. A specialist mentioned 1/50th of a second. This in relation with "We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." I heard Handel's Messiah in my head.

Being busy with God's things. The deceased had said at the end of his life on earth that he would not like to trade his healt for his present relationship with God. When we are healthy, we often take thinks for granted. On Easter Sunday we will listen to the last part of Handels Messiah, which finishes with:

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

Blessing, and honour, glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
 
Amen.
Revelation 5:12-14

On Good Friday we remember Jesus' death on the cross. The origin of the word "good" has been lost. Some claim that it is a corruption of "God" and that the early Christians called this day "God's Friday." "God" morphed in to "good" just as "God be with you" has become "goodbye." Others claim that "good" refers to the blessings of humanity that Christians believe arose as a result of Jesus' execution.

"A fourth-century church manual, the Apostolic Constitutions, called Good Friday a 'day of mourning, not a day of festive Joy.' Ambrose, the fourth-century archbishop who befriended the notorious sinner Augustine of Hippo before his conversion, called it the 'day of bitterness on which we fast'." (Chris Armstrong, "The Goodness of Good Friday. An unhappy celebration—isn't that an oxymoron?," Christian History newsletter, 2003-APR-18, at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/)

On March 18 1998 we left the Netherlands, after the container left on the 13th of March. This means that we are celebrating 10 years Canada now.

We were born there and we were so used to things around us, we took them for granted. Now we appreciate those things much more and look at that with different eyes. Some pictures of the village Baarn where we came from...

The house Marijke was born in.

The house in which Marijke rented an appartment before we got married.

House of Frank's parents (present)

Frank rented a room above the left corner store.

After we were married, we rented a few rooms in this historical farm in the downtown area.

Our appartment (top floor) and street where we lived later, and from which we left for Canada.

Marijke worked in Hilversum (Evangelische Omroep) and later for the city of Naarden, and she got to both cities by train. (leaving her bike at the train station).

The palace Soestdijk where Queen Juliana lived at that time. She showed up in town frequently, as did the rest of the royal family and we were used to that. Frank's dad was part of the undercover security for the royal family.

The main church and flower store in the centre of the village. EveryTuesday morning there is an open market around the church.

Our church where we got married and where Frank played the organ for 15 years.

But then, let's also have a look at where we ended up... Langley BC, 10 years ago.

The container arrives at our townhome in Walnut Grove. Quite something to see your personal belongings back after a few weeks on a different place on this planet.

Langley church

Our current home...

Looking back, we see God's hand in our lives, leading us and guiding us. His care and protection was and is with us always and we thank Him.

Would we ever go back? We don't know. God brought us here for a reason He knows. We want to listen to His voice and serve Him wherever that is.

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

(Zechariah 9:9 NIV)

 

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you.

Psalm 118: 26 (NIV)

 

The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

   "Hosanna!"
   "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
   "Blessed is the King of Israel!"

(John 12:12-13 NIV)

Earlier this year my parents went to Israel to celebrate Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles). Obviously they took pictures and we received a nice slideshow with spoken explanations on a DVD. One of the pictures is from the Golden Gate taken from the Mount of Olives. Through this gate Jesus could have entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

My father commented that the Golden Gate is the closed gate, which is an interesting fact, expecially today.

In Jewish tradition, this is the gate through which the Messiah will enter Jerusalem. The Golden Gate was sealed off in 1541 to prevent the Messiah's entrance. The Muslims also built a cemetery in front of the gate, in the belief that the precursor to the Messiah, Elijah, would not be able to pass through, since he is a Kohen.

In Ezekiel 44:1-2 (NIV) we read: Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut.  The LORD said to me: "This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it."

A widespread Jewish belief states that the Mount of Olives would see the coming of the Messiah. This belief is based upon Zechariah 14:3-4:

"Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle./ And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east [...]"

One thing is for sure: Sunday (tomorrow) is Palm Sunday, the start of the last week before Easter. The week when His suffering came to a climax here on earth. It is the week when Jesus cleans out the temple, when he teaches in the temple, washes the disciples feet, celebrates the Passover and institutes the Holy Supper, when Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane while desciples sleep, the week of Jesus' arrest and the abuse by the Sanhedrin, the week of Peter's (and our) denial, the week of Jesus trial, the crucifixion and His death.

Some of us don't really think about this 'stuff' during this week. Some even don't bother the Good Friday service, and are somewhat surprised to find out next Sunday morning that it is 'already' Easter Sunday...

But this is a good week to take for example your CD (or DVD) and follow Bach's St. Matthews Passion  or his St. John's Passion. Or take Stainer's Crucifixion, or listen to the second part of Handel's Messiah.... Listen, remember and believe...

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Tomorrow moring Pastor James Visscher will preach in Langley about:

³⁸O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. ³⁸Look, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
(Matthew 23: 37 - 39 NIV)

THEME:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
Our text reveals
a) a terrible indictment,
b) a tender longing,
c) a transcendent prophecy.

Wishing you a blessed week....

Last week we received an email with pictures from Casavant, prepared by mr. Benoit Gendron. The pictures are from our organ, partly assembled in one of the assembly rooms. Very exciting pictures to see it slowly become real what we have only seen on the drawing.

I put these pictures in a web presentation with some explanation (linked it on the Langley website for the congregation to view as well). If I can manage this week, I will get the new pictures also printed on letter size and display them in the church.

The first 19 pictures were also shown at the Langley congregational meeting in February 2008. The last 10 pictures are new, taken on February 25, 2008.

(Click on the picture...)

This gives an impression of what we will see when we visit Casavant early next month.

Casavant Freres provided two drawings of possible designs. One design was fairly similar to what we have currently: an open display of the pipes, but with a concentration in the centre. With all respect for the designer, with some imagination this design looks like a water fountain display with the highest spouts in the middle...

This rework of our current organ façade was an alternative to the first design. Many pictures were taken by Casavant in our church building, not only from the organ loft, but also from the rest of the building. The new organ should naturally fit within the sanctuary, not only from a sound perspective but also regarding the visual aspect. It should support our style of worship, and glorify God most of all.

When I first saw this design of the façade of Langley’s new organ, I had to think about Psalm 91. Because I have some time on my hands this week , I will try to explain in some random thoughts...

SHADOW

Psalm 91 opens with “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
The new organ will have pipes in the centre. On the sides there are downward curved panels, which will be placed on an a slight angle. The front pipes will place a shadow on the panels behind.

The left and right top of the Swell Box in the back will have a wood shape that follows the contour of the façade. Seated on the balcony, this detail will only be visible from the side wings, where this detail will seem to be a shadow of the façade.

People in the church are reminded that they, members of the local congregation or not, if they dwell in Him, are under His care and protection. They are safe and remain safe: the protection is constant. Where His shadow is, He is. Communion with God means safety. Always. Women are going missing from our streets, children in our neighbourhoods are getting into violence, we have seen space shuttles blow up, airplanes fly into the NY towers, and a city almost be washed away, snow like we have never seen before, yet, those who are in communion with God are safe with Him, no evil can reach them, because the outstretched wings of His power and love cover them from all harm.

 

Other Psalms also talk about shadow of God's wings:

"Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings" (Psalm 17) 
"I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings" (Psalm 57)
"Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings." (Psalm 63)

POINTING TO HIM

Verse 2 of Psalm 91 says: “I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.". The Psalmist's thought has changed; no longer a peaceful, quiet hiding place, but a tower of defense: strong, manifest, ready to meet the attacks of all enemies, ready and able to resist them all. This confession is strong and bold. Anyone can say what they want, but we say of the Lord, "He is my Refuge." And it is a personal call: my refuge and my God. Imagine a hand raising up to heaven: “He is…”.

This pointing to heaven is symbolized in the vertical structure of the design, with the largest pipes in the center column. The wood structure below the organ includes the Word of God in the design as its foundation. This verse of Psalm 91 seems to be worked out more in Psalm 46. Luther wrote the hymn "A Mighty Fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing". In the last stanza he proclaims: "God’s truth abideth still; His kingdom is forever".

 

Seven lines are pointing to heaven: the center column is one and the panels left and right have each three curved lines supporting the center column. The number seven indicates completeness or wholeness in Gods ordination. Although this number is found throughout scripture, many people will think about the seven churches in the book of Revelation. The extension of the greetings of Revelation 1, which we hear every Sunday, reminds us "Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen." This is not only pointing towards heaven, but also pointing to the future, the glorious future, when the Holy City, the New Jerusalem will come down from God, when "the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them."

WINGS

Verse 4 notes “…and under His wings you will find refuge…”. The Psalmist probably had in mind the cherubim, who were not only in the Most Holy Place, but also embroidered on the walls of the tabernacle and engraved on the temple walls and doors. The wings of the cherubim were the highly noticeable by the Israelites. In the Most Holy Place the wings of the cherubim covered the Ark of the Covenant, of grace and peace. Under these wings the Israelites found refuge.

Even non-Christians have commented on the imagination of “the wings” of the new organ. The two pipe fields in the façade left and right of the middle could symbolize wings and in an abstract manner one could recognize the symbol of a cherubim. Every time we recognize this parallel, we should be reminded of where we find refuge: “under His wings…”.

The verses 11 – 13 say: “For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”

Satan used this text to tempt the Lord Jesus. Satan knew that the following verse spoke about his defeat: it was Christ Jesus who trampled the great lion and the serpent. And in Him we did also. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (Romans 8:37).

Psalm 91 ends with a strong promise in verse 15: “He will call upon me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.” When we sit in the pews, preparing for worship, we all have our own sorrows and burdens. Our world is burning, calling for the return of the Lord. Yet, being symbolically reminded of angels, it will direct our thoughts toward Him commanding angels concerning us to guard us in all our ways; they will lift us up in their hands… Jesus tells us not to worry (Matt. 6). He says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”. (Matt 11: 28)

That is why Psalm 91 comes to my mind when I look at the design. The designers of Casavant designed an organ façade that symbolically testifies, founded on the Word of God.

Maybe not everyone follows my thoughts; and just recognizes a bunch of organ pipes in the new organ design. That's all right with me.

How will the next generation sing in the church? On a lower pitch, predicts Christiaan Winter, the cantor/organist of the Oude Kerk (Old Church) of Amsterdam. People are not used to singing anymore, they sing less than in the past, and that limits the range of their voice. In addition, the body length of the average person increased in the last 50 years. Therefore the length of the vocal folds increased, resulting in a lower range of the voice.

This development is regrettable "because a singing congregation on a higher pitch is much livelier and more dramatic than the somewhat lethargic singing on a low pitch".

Winter, a composer of hymns in, amongst others, the Dutch song books 'Zingend geloven' and 'Tussentijds', shared these thoughts at a seminar about the future of church music in November 2007. This seminar was organized by the church music associations of the Gereformeerde Kerk (vrijgemaakt) and the Protestantse Kerk (Protestant Church) in the Netherlands. 

Church music will become more rhythmic as well, predicts Winter, and this will push melody and harmony aside. At the same time he forsees a 'spiritualization' of the music in the church": Gregorian and Greek Orthodox tunes gain popularity, also outside the church. "This music gives a sense of eternity which is being sought after by the modern western people." 

Things were not always better in the past, not with church music either. "In the 70's people were purists and had a legalistic approach to church music, which made many people abandon church music entirely", says the organist. "Approaching church music much to serious basically killed all energy and joy of making music in the church."

Regarding church music he points out several confusions: “Simplicity was mixed up with insignificance, creativity with distastefulness, and quality with dissonance”.

Winter notices a fragmentation of church music. He observes that many Reformed denominations easily exchange the singing Psalms for singing of Hymns and Christian Contemporary Music. 

In the middle of the church (neither conservative nor progressive), which are the majority of the congregations in the Protestantse Kerk, he sees that "hymnals are often traded in for projection songs supposed to be discarded after use, traded in nonentities, not made to last for years, forget about centuries".

Original text in Dutch

Post Scriptum

The orchestral pitch in the 17th and 18th Century was a semitone lower (A=415hz) than we have today (A=440hz). In the 16th Century the pitch varied but there are conclusions that the French pitch was a whole tone lower than our current pitch. This means that many Psalms and Hymns could be played lower than what is written (which I do in church regularly). The modern equal temperament tuning does eliminate concerns about mode-specific melodies.

After the concert, it was nice to get to know the artist in person. What a nice person Rachel Laurin is! She personally greeted every person and asked what their role was: playing a piece, improvising or auditor.

We had six players. Ms. Laurin gave every individual valuable feedback for their further studies. Comments on the registration (and on that organ you can talk forever), about pedacl technique, about musical playing, about interpretation, and quite a few very practical hints to try with improvisation! Too bad that it was only 2 hours...!!!!

This was very interesting for all people present, organists and pianists. We got new energy to try again, more, and new things...

Some pictures to give an impression...

Intense listening...

Following along in the score... 

Registration...

 Interpretation...

An example....

Improvisation.... from the Book of Praise...!

Too bad that there were not more (Canadian Reformed) musicians. Experiences like this keep you motivated and going! The congregation would appreciate it!
I know that we're all too busy, but if you're too busy to get gas and fill up your tank, we will see you eventually on the side of the road

I think that it is important to know what churches want with a Hymnal (Psalter), when they start making changes. If changes are made based on reactions (due to dissatisfaction, new desires, maybe cultural development, etc.) and the development of a Hymnal is driven based on these reactions, it could be very dangerous if there is no thought given to what you want to accomplish in the end. What you try to do becomes a moving target...

The other issue is that the church needs church songs. And we need to know what those are. That's important for the children, but also for the older ones. If a church is changing and it takes ten synods to finalize, that could mean that a church member from birth to when they are middle-aged don't know what the church songs are... and can't really learn any by heart.

That seems to be the development in our sister churches in the Netherlands. From the report of the Committee Church Music (Deputaten Kerkmuziek) for the upcoming Synod 2008, I compiled the following numbers about their hymns.

The 2008 number is the committees proposed number. If you pull the line through... no... I can't imagine that...

There is the initiative of Psalmen voor Nu (Psalms for Today). Psalms set to "contemporary" tunes and music (sample), written for "contemporary instruments" that can be found in many Evangelical churches and also many CRC churches today. The committee recommends that Synod includes these Psalms in their mandate, to evaluate for inclusion in the new Psalm book.

This could mean that - they will likely decide to keep the Genevan tunes - a set of 150 contemporary Psalms will be added by one of the next Synods. Their songbook would contain almost 900 songs (150 Psalmen voor Nu, 150 Genevan tunes, 472 Hymns). That would be very expensive to print... and maybe Powerpoint will help...

It could go totally different as well, as there are also suggestions to participate in the development of the new Oecumenical Hymn Book (ISK). A new oecumenical song book is to be released in 2012. This would mean that the GKv would work together with the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (including the Lutheran churches, Gereformeerde Kerk (the sister church of the CRC), and the Hervormde Kerk), the Mennonites, and the Remonstrant Church). I don't understand this, probably because we've been gone for almost ten years now...

I am glad that the CanRC have decided to set the Hymn section to maximum 100. Although you might disagree with this number, at least we can work towards a goal and know which Psalms and Hymns we can teach our children and sing in church tomorrow...