Music Ministries
“Their sound has gone out into all lands, and their message to the ends of the world.”
PSALM 19:4
ST. PETER’S CHOIR
St. Peter’s Choir is a choir of mixed voices which sings a variety of repertoire from the Renaissance, spirituals, gospel and the best possible contemporary music. We welcome seasonal residents to join us as they are able. Each member brings something unique to the choir and all are equally valued. Choir is a ministry to the congregation as well as to the members; convivial fellowship is always our goal.
The choir sings in the 9:30 service, as a rule.
New singers are welcome any time.
Sanctuary Choir practices at 3 pm on Tuesdays.
ST. PETER’S HANDBELL CHOIR
St. Peter’s Handbell Choir is a group of musicians who enjoy the teamwork of making music with handbells. We utilize 4-5 octaves of Schulmerich handbells and all the fun and excitement that modern handbell music’s special effects affords its players. Members support each other in learning to ring the range of handbells. The handbell choir rings in worship, alternating services, about once a month and for the early Christmas Eve service, the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. New ringers should contact the Minister of Music to coordinate an entry date and appropriate position within the group.
St. Peter’s Hand Bell Choir practices in the Sanctuary at 2:00 pm on Tuesdays.
Soloists and Ensembles
St. Peter’s has many auxiliary musicians who lead worship with solos or small ensembles, instrumental and vocal. They may be soloists with choir or bell choir, sing for special services; they might be instrumentalists with special talents and are represented by all age groups.
Pipes for Praise Update
In the spring of 2021, a task force was formed to investigate how to replace our ailing digital organ as the company that made it no longer existed and parts for repair were becoming more difficult to find. As the taskforce went about learning about all the various types of organs (digital, electronic, pipe and hybrid) we were notified by a regular summer visitor that the pipe organ in his home church was available for as St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in East Longmeadow, MA was closing, and they had sold the building, but the new owners did not want the pipe organ. We investigated and learned that this is a 1991 Southfield pipe organ. It has two manuals and 16 ranks. It is valued at between $750,000 and $1,000,000. We visited St. Paul’s and had the organ evaluated by two organ builders/rebuilders and decided we wanted to go forward with this project. St. Paul’s congregation was thrilled that their pipe organ would now potentially serve another Lutheran congregation.
One doesn’t just take a pipe organ from one place to another without incurring great expense. It was determined that it would cost about $250,000 for Foley-Baker, Inc. to dissemble, remove, reconfigure and then re-assemble the pipe organ in St. Peter’s sanctuary. In addition, there would be about $100,000 of renovations to be done to the sanctuary that were in planning stages as well as those needed for the installation of the organ. As we considered this “gift” we recognized that music is one of the ways we glorify God and one of the opportunities for leaving our legacy and continuing the legacy from St. Paul’s. It is an opportunity to enhance our worship in many ways and continue our Lutheran liturgical tradition for future generations.
At a special congregational meeting in the fall of 2022, St. Peter’s voted to go ahead with this $350,000 project using existing funds that had been given for the organ and also our “rainy day fund” which we would pay back via fundraising.
Below is a picture of what the organ looked like in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, East Longmeadow, MA:
Music is one of the ways we glorify God and one of the opportunities for leaving our legacy and continuing the legacy from St. Paul’s. We looked at this as an opportunity to enhance our worship in many ways and continue our Lutheran liturgical tradition for future generations.
Soon we will provide a sketch of what it will look like in our sanctuary- it has to be reconfigured to go on either side of our beautiful stained-glass window and wood reredos at the front of the sanctuary.
Fundraising efforts are ongoing. As of the middle of September we had raised roughly two thirds of the $350,000. If you would like to donate, please see the tab on our website regarding donations or send checks directly to “St. Peter’s Lutheran Church”, 310-MA 137, Harwich, MA 02645 and be sure to indicate “organ fund” on the memo line of the check.
