Our beautiful pipe organ fills the air with music to honor the Lord.
Pictured is Stephanie Mercer, our Music Director, Organist & Worship Pianist.
The 2024 Organ Rebuild Project was explained in detail at the Sunday, April 14th, 10am Worship Service. Project work began on April 15th. The campaign pledge documents, Stephanie’s video explaining the work to be done, and the history of the organ are all included on this page. All donations to fund this important project are greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Pipe Organ Giving Packet Documents:
- Letter from Rev. Garry McCaffery: Pledge Packet.1 – Pastor’s Letter
- Letter from Stephanie Mercer: Pledge Packet.2-Stephanie Letter (1)
- Giving Guide form: Pledge Packet.3 – Giving Guidance Form
Here is an article from Pastor McCaffery which talks about our pipe organ, and was posted in the April 2024 Messenger:
“Make a joyful shout to the Lord all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing…Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with priase. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” (Psalm 100:1-2, 4, NKJV).
“Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary…Praise him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; praise Him with clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” (Psalm 150:1, 2, 3-6, NKJV).
I love the book of Psalms for many reasons. The psalms cover a broad range of human emotions and offers us a myriad of ways for expressing ourselves to God. The two psalms I have quoted offer us encouragement in some of the ways we are to worship God. In these instances, our worship is encouraged to be vocal and expressive. Not simply speaking softly our praise but rather…making a “joyful shout to the Lord!” Can you imagine that? This verse makes me think of the same kind of victorious shout Buffalo Bills fans make when they make an interceptioin or score a touchdown followed by kicking the ball through the uprights for that extra point This is the same kind of joyful shout we are encouraged to make simply because the Lord of the universe is our God who loves us! Imagine coming to worship with that energy and enthusiasm because Jesus lives in our heart! Shouting praise and thanksgiving to the One who has saved us from sin and transformed our lives and who is worthy of all our praise!
We are encouraged to be vocal and expressive in our worship and we are also encouraged to play music boldly and expressively. We are even encouraged to use loud instruments! The trumpet, the lute and the harp, the timbrel, stringed instruments, flutes, and loud cymbals. Had pipe organs been invented during the time of the writing of the psalms they would have likely been included. David might have written, “and pipe organs, pulling out all the stops!” After all, he did write, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Yes, this includes you and me. Human beings having the breath of God. But I would include the pipe organ as it too has breath. There is a blower that supplies the wind enabling the pipes to sound. The “breath” provided by the blower is used to “praise the Lord!”
Music, instrumental and vocal, are vital parts of our weekly worship. Each week we hear and participate in making wonderful and joyous music to the Lord. One of the instruments we use has been with this congregation for 100 years. That instrument, of course, is the afore mentioned pipe organ. During the pipe organ’s 100 years of service, it has provided music for worship, funerals, weddings, and other special occasions. As with any musical instrument, it has needed service, tuning and adjustments over its many years of service. It has now reached a point where greater work is needed in order to kee it functioning at its best so as to continue to provide us with the music we have come to love and enjoy.
The maintenance of the organ is also a part of our worship to the Lord. If the organ is not in good repair, we cannot offer our very best praise to God. The need for a rebuild of the organ is something I have heard about since I began my ministry with you in July of last year. I know some questions that have been discussed concerning this project are: “What is the scope of the project” How extensive is it? How long will the organ be out of service? How much will it cost?” These are all valid, important, and necessary questions. There are other questions out there as well. These questions, and others you may have, will be addressed very soon.
As I shared a couple weeks ago, a steering committee for the organ rebuild project has been established. The steering committee has been meeting and is preparing to give a presentation on Sunday, April 14th during our morning worship. A time for further discussion and questions will take place after worship in the lounge.
Admittedly, this is a large project and a great undertaking. However, as we consider the history of our church family and the important role the pipe organ has played (no pun intended) in the life of the church, we can see there is value in going forward with it. We all enjoy music and we have been moved in our hearts and strengthened in our worship to God through the power of this vital instrument. Recall some of the postludes Stephanie has played on the pipe organ and how the sounds resonated throughout the sanctuary, into the pews, and through our bodies as we allowed ourselves to be enveloped in the presence of the Lord.
Yes, the psalms encourage us in our worship, in making music, through singing and playing instruments, all for one purpose. The purpose: to “praise the Lord according to His excellent greatness!” “Let everything that has breath priase the Lord!”
Below is some history of the Pipe Organ at Newark First United Methodist Church (provided by Stephanie Mercer):
The first organ played at the Methodist Church was purchased in 1871 at a cost of $3,000.
1922-1923, during the church rebuild/expansion, a large nave was built to house the M.P.Moller organ with electro-pneumatic action (very high-tech for the period). The cost was $8,000. This is the current organ in the Sanctuary. It was first played on January 27, 1924.
The organ consists of 14 ranks shared between two keyboards and pedal. It has roughly 1,000 pipes at the front of the sanctuary. The organ also consists of 4 ranks of an Echo division that will need addressing soon.
Over the years, the organ has gotten new looks:
1949 organ facade
1956 a second organ case was built in front of the original 1922 case which resulted in a muffled and unclear sound.
1970s Hickey Organ Company replaced the primary valve systems utilizing a leather substitute material known as Perflex. They also modified the expression system of the front chambers and replaced some of the motors.
After this work was done, NFUMC celebrated the rededication of the organ on October 15, 1978
1985 Peckham Organ company re-leathered all chests replacing the Perflex with leather. They also replaced motors, keyboards and pedal boards, added new stopkeys, new electronic memory and the original mechanical switching system was replaced with diode-matrix switching system.
At this time, according to Peckham, the air reservoirs were causing noise and the primary valve system was noisy and sluggish. This is one of the issues Parsons will be fixing during the rebuild.
2007 Organist Gary Verdine started exploring plans to dramatically increase the size of the organ to the tune of $450,000. The church purchased an organ from Centenary UMC as well as an organ from St. John the Baptist church. The console in the bell tower entrance as well as the pipes in the Girl Scout Room is from that purchase. At this time, the church is in discussion with Nazareth University about taking the extra organ as they will not be used in the rebuild.
2012 a direct current power supply was replaced. Around the same time, the organ façade was remodeled to what we have today. A new blower from Centenary UMC Church was installed.
2014 Newark First started working with Parsons Pipe Organ Builders. They had brought up the concern the reservoir chest was leaking causing the organ to be very noisy. They also explained that the deteriorating leathers that controlled the airflow to the pipes were causing a lot of the problems with the sound of the organ.
In February 2021, Swell 8’ Tuba, Swell 8’ Celeste and Great 8’ Tuba stops were permanently shut off due to rotten leathers.
From 2014 – 2023 various groups explored whether it was a good idea to go ahead with Gary’s vision or drastically scale down to fit the current congregation. It has been decided that rather than expand the organ, we are going to rebuild it and restore it to its original glory.