"Music"
Beth DeJong

"For as long as I can remember, I have loved the church and loved her music. When I was fourteen years old, I began playing the organ in my home church, Mt. Pleasant Reformed in rural Hudson, New York. This was a feat because I had just started organ lessons! I remember being only able to play a few short pieces which I used many times as preludes, offertories and postludes. My pastor encouraged me as well as the congregation. This led to further study of organ at Hope College.

As my married life unfolded and we were part of different churches across the United States, I, at some time or other, played organ in each of them. One Easter Sunday, our daughter Liz, whose paintings you see here, had chicken pox and we found five different people to care for her during that day, one of the biggest church days of the year!"

"My passion for organ developed along with my spiritual life and playing for church services became an act of worship in itself. Sensing the presence of God in the music and leading others to enjoy that time with Christ is what church musicians can do in their congregations. Because music touches our hearts and souls, it takes us further than words into the presence of the Holy One. It is a thrill to have the opportunity to bring others, through the gift of music, into a deeper reverence for Almighty God who is beyond and above what we can comprehend."

"Liz embroidered some words from a prayer for church musicians in The Book fo Common Prayer in the painting about music. This prayer reads:

O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven.
Be ever present with your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; and grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled forevermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord; Amen."

Women's Leadership Institute

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