"Thirty-three years ago, when my late wife and I moved from a western suburb to Chicago, we began a search for a new church home. We put together a list of four churches and decided to visit each of them and decide. We first came here. The Chicago Temple First United Methodist Church. 

As we walked out of the building after the worship service, we looked at each other. Without a word, we knew. We were home. We never visited those other three churches. 

Over the years, we came to appreciate the music ministry of this church. It was always good, and lately, under the leadership of our Director of Music, it just gets better and better. Critical to that ministry is our organ. 

We first came to notice it and to appreciate it early in our time here when our former organist played the Widor Tocatta, a magnificent piece of music. It is a challenge for the organist and breathtaking for us in the congregation. Our current organist played it brilliantly as a postlude a few weeks ago. 

But I am up here this morning because our organ needs work. It is in bad shape. It is 100 years old. It has been deteriorating and three times it has suffered damaging water leaks. It does not play notes it should play, and it plays notes it should not play. 

Of its 73 stops, the switches that produce different sounds, only 44 are working. It is like playing a violin with one or two strings missing. We have done makeshift repairs, but this organ needs a complete overhaul, an enormous project.

 

It is an extraordinarily complex instrument. It has four keyboards in addition to its pedals. Built into the area behind me and over me are 5,589 pipes. 

This organ, when we are done with its rehabilitation, will be able to produce magnificent music. It is the king of instruments. It will be grand and majestic in its sound, powerful, textured, nuanced, music of color and vibrance. It will produce feelings of joy, celebration, empowerment, solace, and comfort. It will be a centerpiece of our music ministry, a fount of glorious music that is the soundtrack of our faith. 

It will produce the ultimate joyful noise, music that is positive, transforming, and inspiring.

This is in the category of “If you build it, they will come.” Remember the movie Field of Dreams. A guy in Iowa builds a baseball diamond out in an Iowa corn field and soon there is a line of cars a mile long, people who want to enjoy the field and its magic. That will happen here when we finish this project. We will be the center of great music in Chicago, able to inspire and to edify all who come through our doors. 

We ask you to join us in this project. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a difference, to do something for our church and our community that will provide joy and inspiration for another 100 years. Working on this challenge, I have felt the grace of God at work in our efforts.

We have already gathered more than $1 million, and we need at least another million. Join us with a gift and become part of something inspiring and important.

I often wish that my wife was here for certain things, things like our granddaughter’s graduation from the University of Chicago, my wife’s alma mater, on the first of June. My wife loved this church and its music. She was totally committed to this project. More than anything I wish she could be here when we have finished the restoration of this magnificent instrument, and we hear its first notes resonating through this sanctuary and into the heart of our city."

This testimony has inspired us to post his speech on our website. Here is a link to make a minor (or major) contribution to the restoration : A sanctuary of sound in the heart of the city, Opus 414 is one of the finest symphonic-style pipe organs in the country.