Meditation on Romans 5:1-5
First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown, NY
Reverend Dr. Karen Crawford
June 15, 2025: Trinity Sunday/Choral Appreciation Sunday
I discovered this week that our congregation has ALWAYS sung hymns.
When we met in our original building on Moriches Road, most hymns were sung as rounds or refrains with the words and the tune led by a member of the congregation.
The first musical instrument that accompanied our singing was played in our present Church building, as far back as 200 years ago, and it was a bass viol. Viols first appeared in Spain and Italy in the mid-to-late 15th century and were most popular in the Renaissance and Baroque periods (1600-1750). It looked a little like our modern cellos but had flat rather than curved backs and sloped rather than rounded shoulders. It had c-shaped holes rather than f-shaped holes, and 5 to 7 strings rather than 4 strings.
Our first organ-type instrument was a melodeon. This innovation was resented by some of the older members, says historian Dick Mehalick. “They looked upon it as an evil thing.” A melodeon is a small, button accordion, typically used for playing folk music or dances.
On March 31, 1862, the church purchased a harmonium, an organ operated by a foot pedal that pumps air through the reeds tuned to different pitches. The harmonium came from the Carhart and Needham Company on East 23rd Street in New York City. It cost $380, with a church discount of $70 off the original price. The harmonium was placed in the front of the church on a raised platform by the first pew. This instrument did not please the church, either, so it was exchanged for another organ whose tone was still not very musical, Dick says. We had no staff organists or choir directors in our early years. Volunteers received gifts now and then from members of the congregation.
The Ladies Aid Society came to the rescue. They purchased a larger Mason and Hamlin organ sometime in the late 1800s and assumed the responsibility of paying the organist’s salary. Our present pipe organ was purchased in 1909 for $1,850. It, too, operated by air, “manually pumped through a goat skin bellows by a long-handled lever mechanism. The air supply was motorized in 1916. The organ served us well for many years, “even though with advancing age it would occasionally stick, skip a note, or go off key—to the amusement of the congregation but to the chagrin of the organist and choir director.” In 1973, the congregation voted to refurbish the organ after a long debate over whether we should buy a new one or fix the old. The refurbishing cost $19,750 and all the money was raised through special projects, memorials, and other donations.
In 1981, a two-octave set of handbells was purchased through memorial gifts and dedicated. I am not sure if we had a handbell choir before 1981, but soon we had both a Chancel Handbell Choir, with high school and adult players, and a Westminster Handbell Choir for grades 7, 8, and 9. We also had a sacred dance choir, which was led in 1990 by Ardene Vandermeulen.
The new blue hymnal of 1989 stirred a controversy. It failed to include some familiar hymns, such as Battle Hymn of the Republic, and changed the language of some other familiar hymns to be more inclusive. At the same time, it brought back songs that the 1970 hymnal left out, such as Blessed Assurance and included some new hymns.
Although I have no idea when our congregation formed its first choir, I was able to able to go back as far as Rev. Brown’s tenure to learn some things about the history of our choral singing. In 1968, rehearsals were on Wednesday nights. The Senior Choir rehearsed from 8:30 to 10 p.m. and “anyone with a love of music (was) welcomed to attend.” This choir sang at the 11 o’clock service. The Chapel Choir –7th through 12th graders—rehearsed from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Junior Choir –4th through 6th graders—rehearsed from 6:45 to 7:30 p.m. They sang on alternate Sundays at 9 a.m. The handbell choirs would rehearse on Monday nights by 1990. (Today, both our vocal and handbell choirs rehearse on Monday nights and Sunday mornings.) Robert Lawton directed all the choirs from the 1960s until 1991, when he retired. The organist in 1968 was Gloria Sandbeck. Patricia Cook became music director after Mr. Lawton left. She moved in 1997, and John Kenneth took her place. Linda Lingenfelter served as the organist for more than 20 years, retiring in 1996. Susan Laurence, a graduate student from SUNY Stony Brook, served as organist for a year. Linda Lingenfelter returned on a part-time basis, sharing the organist position with Judy Lee until 2000.
Mary Charlene Harris served as our interim choir director in 2000, while Cindi Lehmann served as music director. By 2004, Cindi Russell was serving as director of music, leading all the choirs, while Carol Trump played the organ. Pablo Lavandera, a graduate student at Stony Brook, came to us in February 2005 as a substitute organist. He took on the permanent organist position in December of that year. Dr. Joanna Kaczorowska followed Cindi Russell as music director and choir director from 2008-2011, with Pablo playing organ and piano. When Joanna K. moved on, Pablo, who became Dr. Pablo in May 2009, assumed both positions—music director and organist. Joanna Huang came to serve the church as a volunteer and intern with Pablo around 2019 and was hired as a staff musician and children’s music ministry leader in 2023.
When I arrived to serve as your minister in 2022, I was delighted to learn that our congregation still has a full choir, and all are volunteers. And not only that, we have a handbell choir that rings almost every week from September through June. That is unusual. Having someone play violin with the organ or piano every Sunday is also rare and wonderful.
I have given some thought to why we still have choirs when so many churches are struggling to keep even one. This question is related to the question of how our congregation has survived for 350 years, I believe.
I think it is because we know what’s important—living out our faith, serving the Lord—and that we are willing to work hard to persist as a church. We have hope, so we ENDURE. We bear with one another, through ups and downs, and, as the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 5, we have the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that Christ has given us. This is our strength!
This faith stirs us to let go of perfection as a church and individuals. People have made mistakes over the last three centuries. We are going to make mistakes in the years to come. But we are justified by faith—and that is, the faith of Jesus Christ—and not our good works, charisma, or brilliant decisions. Our salvation is based completely on God’s grace. Our existence as a Church of Jesus Christ is all from God’s grace. That means that all the world around us can dissolve into chaos and mayhem, and we still have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. No one can take our peace with God away from us.
This passage in Romans gives us permission to boast. Here are the things that we can boast about. One is our hope of sharing the glory of God. This is both the promise that we, like Christ, will be resurrected and glorified with him because of his suffering work for us on the cross. But it is also that we share the glory of God to the world through our words and acts of kindness and generosity. We are showing God’s glory. We are revealing the goodness of God when we are good!
The other thing we can boast about is our afflictions! Our suffering! We do this as a church. Our entire church family is invited to share our prayer needs during worship, but the ministry of shared suffering continues through the fellowship hour, choral rehearsals, committee and board meetings, men’s and women’s lunches, phone calls, emails, and letters to one another and more. Whenever two or more Christians come together, we are always safe to share our afflictions with one another. And we do. I am not sure that we actually boast of them, like Paul tells us. But he gives us reason to do this. There is an excellent purpose to our afflictions.
It’s a chain reaction. Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. This is a hope that is not put to shame, a hope that cannot disappoint us. Because we can trust in one thing—and that’s our God of love and, once again, the love of God poured into each of our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
I thank God for our ministry of music. I am so grateful to all our musicians, including our handbell and vocal choirs, instrumentalists, and our choir director, Dr. Pablo Lavandera. All of you have an important calling. Thank you for sharing your gifts and your commitment to come to worship and labor in many rehearsals, developing your gifts and talents, and for encouraging one another as you walk with the Lord.
I asked Pablo last night, “Why do you think we still have a choir, while other churches are struggling and some of have given up on choirs altogether?” He told me that our choir includes a very committed group of people who have been singing together for many years and want to stay together. “They are a family,” he says. They feel challenged by the music and appreciated by their music director—both as musicians and human beings.
“We are singing for a higher purpose,” he says, “and not to put on a show.” It’s all for the Glory of the Lord.
Will you pray with me? Let us pray.
Holy One, we give you glory and thanks for all that you are doing in our church and with each of as individuals. Thank you for your love for us, a love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. This love and your grace have strengthened us to continue as your church for centuries. We pray for our blessing on all our musicians, on all who sing and play music in worship. We ask that you keep on building up our faith and strengthen us for many more years of serving you in this place. Remind us that our goal is never personal perfection, but rather to share our hope and your love, to endure and bear with one another in times of suffering and struggle, and to do everything to your glory, in your Triune name. Amen.
Sharing God's Love and Grace 