Magyar Egyház, 1971 (50. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1971-06-01 / 6-7. szám
18 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ Believe it or not, there are still numerous Hungarian Protestant churches, where there is no organ, and people sing with the leadership of a cantor, hymn-leader. Lately, I heard about churches in Hungary, Romania and other countries, where there are organs, but no organists. Do the Hungarian Reformed people, here, in America like to sing praises to our Heavenly Father? Do they put their whole heart and soul into the hymns and praises of God? Indeed, our people always liked to sing! Dr. W. H. Hudnut, an American clergyman said: “I was greatly moved by the very sight of the Hungarians. And when they sang, I had never heard such singing. Such volume and such beautiful music. It was like a mighty wailing appeal — it stirred me profoundly.” I am sure, that here in Duquesne too, where our Free Hungarian Reformed Church was organized, even in your first church, you sang wholeheartedly and much more now in this beautiful new church edifice, with the help of your new organ. 1 know, that you love to praise God, and love to sing glorious hymns to honor our Savior, Jesus Christ. You always had organs, and now as you dedicate this new instrument, you will sing more gladly and more wholeheartedly than ever before. I know, that your pastor, and church leaders had the best intentions, in securing such a fine instrument, but their efforts will only be crowned with success, if the members of this church, and all who gather here from Sunday to Sunday will sing wholehearted praise to our Maker. Let the organ be the leader of your singing, and let your hymns of praise fill this church forever. Let this organ find you always here, in the courts of our Heavenly Father, ready to open your heart in singing. Let no hearts remain closed—no lips silent; rather, let everyone utter the praises of our God. Woe, unto you Christians, when you feel, there is no time for you to sing our hymns. The Psalmist says: “SING UNTO THE LORD, SING PRAISES TO HIS NAME!” When we give thanks to God for His abundant blessings, let us thank Him for all those who made posssible the installation of this new organ! May all of us sing continually the praises of our Maker. For His is the glory, dominion, power for ever and ever. Dezső Abraham Photo by: A Nagy — D. Czap. In March of 1967 the Organ Fund was established through a sizable initial donation by several families of our congregation. As of this date approximately $10,000 has been contributed to this fund. After an extensive research involving all major organ companies the unanimous decision of the Organ Committee and the congregational meeting of this year was to purchase a Rodgers 32-D organ from the Westmoreland Music House of Greensburg, Pa. The Rodgers 32-D is a three manual custom organ, with three tone cabinets and an antiphonal. Our model features a computer capture combination, serving 17 pistons through a memory bank. It features the traditional draw-knob stop controls for organ voices and tilt-tab stop controls for couplers and antiphonal cabinet. It has 14 toe studs, and air sound control will allow a duplication of genuine pipe organ sound. The organ’s specifications comply with American Guild of Organists standards. Its cost is in the neighborhood of $20,000. Preliminary preparations to the final installations consisted of building two sound chambers for the tone cabinets, and to install the antiphonal (echo) cabinet. This was completed by voluntary workers of our church. Dedication took place on Sunday, June 6th, 1971. This was another milestone of ecumenical understanding of Hungarian Reformed Christendom. Visitors of all Hungarian Reformed churches of the immediate vicinity and members of our congregation were gratified to partake in the official ceremony that was conducted by nine ministers. We were honored to have the Right Reverend Dezső Abraham, bishop of the Hungarian Church in America to deliver the English sermon. Participating in the worship service were the Rev. Eugene Barrett, president of the Duquesne Protestant Ministerial Association, the Rev. Barnabas
