February 19, 2009

Organ transplant gives life to congregation

By Debra Sapp-Yarwood

The brass ensemble assembles before the Rainbow Mennonite Church organ dedication service, Feb. 8, 2009. Photo by Sallie Page-Goertz

Elvera Voth conducts the Men's Chorus, Carol Buller accompanies on the organ and Roseann Penner Kaufman assists at the Rainbow Mennonite Church Organ dedication service, Feb. 8, 2009. Photo by Sallie Page-Goertz

Rainbow Mennonite congregant George Melby cleans organ parts at the Quimby Organ Company warehouse in Warrensburg, Mo., in summer 2008. Photo by Jan Buerge

Rainbow Mennonite congregant Ralph Kauffman (right) assists project director Richard Hamar of Connecticut with the “high” notes, summer 2008 at the Quimby Organ Company warehouse in Warrensburg, Mo. Photo by Jan Buerge

Rainbow Mennonite congregant Betty Wyckoff cleans the top of the swell box, summer 2008 at the Quimby Organ Company warehouse in Warrensburg, Mo. Photo by Jan Buerge

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City’s oldest pipe organ, now the newest architectural feature of Rainbow Mennonite Church, made its community debut at 4 pm, February 8, 2009, to a standing-room only sanctuary and balcony, as well as an additional 75 people in the fellowship hall, which was wired with closed-circuit TV.

Roughly 500 congregants, friends and organ enthusiasts attended a dedication that featured three organists from the Rainbow community and more than 20 additional performers, including a brass ensemble, a mixed chorus and a men’s chorus, conducted by the congregation’s Elvera Voth.

“This organ is different from other organs. It required a community effort.” Roseann (Rosi) Penner Kaufman announced to the crowd. Its dedication, therefore, reflected that community participation instead of featuring a headline performer.

Dr. Penner Kaufman, Rainbow’s music coordinator and an accomplished organist, directed the church’s efforts to acquire and install the E.G. & G. Hook Organ Company’s Opus 488, built in 1869.

Kaufman and Carol Buller, a member of the RMC organ committee, first visited the organ in Troy, New York in 2004. The once vibrant Presbyterian church that commissioned the building of the organ after the civil war had recently closed, and the organ had not been played for two years. Inside the organ were repairs made with string and paperclips. Buller played a hymn.

“Thank we all, our God?” Buller recalls vaguely. Kaufman says the church’s former pastor wept. The Rainbow congregation then shortly adopted it, raised the money to buy, transport, install and restore it — sans paperclips.

Rainbow engaged Quimby Organ Company of Warrensburg, Mo., to supervise the transport and restoration, and owner Mike Quimby contracted with Richard Hamar of Connecticut to direct the project. In 40 years of organ restoration, Hamar says he has never worked with a congregation with as many volunteers as Rainbow Mennonite: It was the “first time I’ve ever seen 14 people pick up a five-by-nine foot double-wide reservoir and carry it like a table top. Usually, it’s four people, just straining and grunting …” The first day the organ arrived at the church, Hamar said, volunteers put the project ahead of schedule by as much as a day and a half.

“You unpacked the truck in an hour and a half, and … the plan was to set up the frame and the heavy wind chest air boxes the following day. That was all … done in a matter of three or four hours.”
In his sermon the morning before the dedication, Rainbow’s pastor, Robert Kaufman, mused on the organ’s contribution to the community:

“It has been such a perfect fit with so many of our highest values, and who we are as a congregation: values such as being able to save something that was once of great value from going to the scrapheap; values such as being able to make this truly a communal project, with the opportunity for some of us to give of our money to make it happen, and for others to give of our time and our energy and our sweat. And because of that, we were able to save a bunch of money. And as Mennonites, that always makes us feel good about ourselves, doesn’t it?”

Mike Quimby, straight faced, confirmed that buying and installing a comparable new organ would likely cost $300,000. Rainbow’s volunteer commitment kept costs to less than half that.

During the reception following the dedication, people shared their experiences of the organ.

Carol Buller, who played the organ in New York, and also played at the dedication, was visibly relieved, “In Troy, New York, the organ looked huge, and we knew that the Rainbow congregation doesn’t like to be real showy, and we were a little bit overcome … But … the sound of it was so beautiful … And I am just amazed at the congregation. They have ownership of it now. It’s not just an instrument; it’s part of our legacy and our mission here.”

One of the dedication’s planners, Sally Page-Goertz, talked of its ministry potential, “It certainly brings a whole different way of doing music to the church, and all sorts of opportunities to reach out … to bring the community in to the physical building of the church.”

Two recitals are already scheduled, including one by the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Page-Goertz and others stressed that the organ would only add to an otherwise broad music tradition.

Congregant Becky Bartel elaborated, “The organ’s wonderful by itself; it’s also wonderful with the congregation, but we still enjoy a cappella singing … And as a choir member, I love to sing with the piano as well.” She suggested the church’s next project may be a new piano.