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April 2000 Old
First Computer Center Classes Forge
Toro will teach a free series of adult classes introducing church members
and friends to the new, digital world of the twenty-first century.
The first class will be "Introduction to the Internet",
Wednesday, April 19, 7:30 pm; suitable for novice and intermediate
computer users. It will be followed by classes on "What is E-mail?", Wed, April 26, and "How to Surf the Web", Wed, May 3, both at 7:30 pm. Sign up for any or all classes with Forgetoro@yahoo.com. CAN YOU GIVE A LIFT? If you have a car and a little extra time, you can join in a wonderful act of community by providing much needed transportation to and from worship for fellow Old First members. The Board of Deacons is seeking additional help with this important need. If you are someone who wants to help, please contact Jonathan Lee or David Lo, or leave a note in their deacons’ folders in the narthex. Hymn-Sing
Sunday, April 30 As
is our custom, we will celebrate the Good News of Easter with a
mostly-music worship service on April 30. Come back to church on the
Sunday after Easter prepared to sing! Sundae
Sunday Honors Fernando Gonzalez, April
30 The
Board of Deacons’ annual Ice Cream Social will be sweeter than ever this
year. The event will honor Old First’s sexton, Fernando Gonzalez, on the
occasion of his fifteenth anniversary on the church staff. As usual, there
will be all kinds of ice cream with all kinds of toppings. $2.50 per
adult, $1.00 per child. After Worship, in the Fellowship Hall. Proceeds to
benefit the Deacons’ Fund. Revised
Schedule for PNC Election Our
Session of Elders, working to expedite the pastor selection process, now
plans to hold a meeting to elect the five congregation-at-large delegates
to the Pastor Nominating Committee on June 4, rather than the previously
announced July 19 date. At
their March meeting, Session elected its three PNC representatives -- Pam
Byers, Sydney Hollar and Esther Kim -- and the Board of Deacons will elect
their representative early in April.
The report of the Mission Vision Team will be voted on at the April
Session meeting. Session
Notes • The Renovations Subcomittee, once a part of the OFC 2000 Committee (which no longer exists), will become a sub-committee of the Operations Committee. Stephen Taber will serve as Renovations moderator. •
After considerable discussion, a motion to install a columbarium at Old
First was tabled, and Rev. Davis and Operations Moderator Bill Moss were
instructed to meet and recommend on how to proceed with the proposal. •
A special Personnel subcommittee submitted their draft of three possible
models for ministerial staff and two for financial staff. Their final
report, with projected costs, will be presented at the March meeting of
Session. •
Rev. Davis expressed concern about the continuance of some of the
Community Ministry programs for the second half of 2000. The Homelessness
Task Force is to present a report at the next meeting on how to provide
Community Ministry leadership and what to do about funding. •
Community Ministries Director Susan Young reported that she is now seeking
a call to an ordained position. Stewardship
Committee to Present Silent Auction Balancing
Old First’s budget for 2000 depends on the success of the Stewardship
Committee’s major fundraising effort of the year: a silent auction, to
be held after worship on Pentecost Sunday, June 11. In
several previous years a silent auction has been both an effective source
of funds and an enhancement of our spirit of community, so Stewardship
Chairman Ted Chiao has great hopes for this year. The first step is to
assemble a fine selection of goods and services. Ted
needs to hear from people who can donate 1) personal services, such as
dinner in your home, a sailing outing on your boat, gardening assistance
or help setting up a new computer, guided tours of particular areas of the
city; 2) items you would be proud to give a friend, such as a handmade
quilt, fine wine, art objects, and the ever-popular sports and
entertainment tickets; 3) merchandise or gift certificates from your
employer or friends in business. He also needs people who can help with
the auction by working as tellers, serving food, decorating, etc. Does
that sound like something you want to think about? Wonderful, but please
don’t take too long! Early donations make for a well-planned auction.
Last-minute donations won’t be turned down, but they make things tougher
than necessary for all the generous souls who help put on the event.
Please contact Ted ....... soon? “Paris
by the Bay”on our Hutchings/ Visscher Organ The
first commercially released recording of Old First’s Hutchings/Visscher
organ is Glenn Kime’s recording entitled “Paris by the Bay.” It
consists of Louis Vierne’s Symphony No. 3 and Marcel Dupré’s
“Symphonie Passion”. Vierne was organist at the Cathedral of Notre
Dame in Paris; Dupré was for some years Vierne’s assistant, before
moving to the church with the largest organ in France, St. Sulpice. Both
organists made tours to the U.S. During Dupré’s initial tour to the
U.S., he appeared in recitals at Wanamaker’s in New York and in
Philadelphia (Wanamakers in Philadelphia is home to the largest organ in
the world), where he stunned audiences and critics with his gift for
improvisation. Given four themes for improvisation, he realized (“in a
flash,” he wrote) that they formed the basis for a symphonic work based
on the life of Christ. The impression made by his improvisation was so
great that Dupré recreated the work on paper and published it as the
“Symphonie Passion.” Glenn
Kime’s excellent recording has already captured national critical
attention. His recording and
the Old First organ have been
heard on the nationally syndicated National Public Radio
program “Pipedreams.” Copies
of the CD are available for $15 each. Checks should be made to “Raven
Records.” Old
First Concerts: What 30 Years Has Done There
is quite a remarkable 'Venerable' tucked inside Old First Church. In the
rapidly shifting scene of San Francisco in the late 60’s, ours was the
first church to schedule the arts, with church productions of “Jesus
Christ, Superstar” and “Godspell”.
The church knew what a treasure the sanctuary was, and with these
performances it realized what an opportunity there was to reach out to the
community. Old
First Concerts was formally begun in 1970 with instructions from Session
to provide a place for young and emerging musicians to perform, a place
for the audiences to enjoy this music for a modest cost, and a way to
enhance the name of Old First Church. Thirty
years later, after 2,500 concerts and a quarter of a million people, this
still remains the fundamental purpose of Concerts. Through the years the
spotlight has been refocused; the young performers are now teachers,
orchestral section leaders, soloists and stars. The audiences have
changed, but, like a renewable resource, they too have learned to love
this place through music. The name of Old First Church is now mentioned
quite literally throughout the world as a place to perform and attend
concerts. Through
the years our church has had name recognition far beyond the modest size
of its membership, in part because of the seeds scattered by Old First
Concerts. We have created a musical community by bringing the people of
the Bay area into our Sanctuary to wonder at the exonarthex ceiling, to
check out the notice Boards, to ask questions about the banners and
liturgical artwork, to stare at the stained glass, to read the Bibles in
our pews and to experience the spiritual quality of music. Concerts
brings church members and city music-lovers together as volunteers at
concerts and through its Board of Old First Concerts; about half of the
volunteer workers and Board members are from the church. This means that
most of the people who attend concerts can be greeted by a church member,
someone who can tell them not just about Concerts, but also our music
program, our services, and our church. This March we were given the opportunity to tell the Friday night concert-goers about our response to the homeless by housing families for the night. Regular members of the audience who enter Old First only for concerts commented how glad they were about what “their church” was doing! This is how, for 30 years now, Old First Concerts has been a bridge between the church and the larger community. Jazz
Vespers Quartet: Four views
of our Jazz Vespers worship services A
member of the JV Congregation:
Marge E. Healy
Jazz
Vespers is a wonderful experience in my life.
It not only combines my love of music and spirituality, it provides
a social setting to meet new and interesting people.
The music is always great. I work on Sundays, and Jazz Vespers
gives me the strength I need to prepare myself for the week. Thanks for
keeping it going. A
Minister: The Rev. Keenan Kelsey I
was on staff when Libby and Ed proposed Jazz Vespers, so from the very
first, I have been part of the leadership.
In fact, I think I have only missed two in the series!
I remember when I was first asked to do a service on my own,
without co-leading with Tim Hart-Andersen.
I was actually more nervous than leading a Sunday service in my own
church at Noe Valley! However, I soon relaxed, and it has been both joy
and privilege to lead these services while Old First leadership
re-organized. I
think the anxiety arises when I consider the enormity of the opportunity
to create worship in an unfamiliar context.
At Jazz Vespers, it is the worship leader who is solely responsible
for moving a jazz concert from performance to piety.
Without the leader, there would be no bridges to worship.
The antidote to anxiety, for me, is to "let go and let
God." This is one
service I plan carefully, but not rigidly.
It is important for me to respond to the music and the audience,
and let the Spirit work. It
is the one service where I actually worship while I lead.
Across
the country, all sorts of alternative worship services are surfacing in an
attempt to reach the "unchurched."
JV is one of these, and it is indeed attracting new people.
Even for Old Firsters, it helps expand our definition and
experience of worship. In my
mind, Jazz Vespers is no
longer experimental. It is an
established, important, sprit-filled, enticing opportunity for worship. A
Musician: Gerry Grosz What
is jazz? For me, it's a joyous celebration of the spontaneous flow of
universal energies, channeled through each performer's instrument, and
combined in totally unique ways by the spirit of the moment and the
interaction among the players. Does this sound like a spiritual event to
you? It sure does to me, yet there are very few places jazz is performed
where I get to revel so completely in that spiritual practice. You
may not know it, but jazz is having an identity crisis. It's either lauded
as America's classical music in stuffy concert halls, or it's relegated to
the dusty corner at the end of the bar in the back of the restaurant where
nobody's listening anyway. The sad reality is that the surroundings and
demands of most gigs detract from the essence, beauty, and joy of the
music. Jazz
Vespers is unique among jazz gigs. It's a meeting in a sacred space where
the music and the spirit are honored and celebrated together. Ideally,
this combination would not be a singular experience, and I try my best to
make each of my gigs a spiritual event. This special setting easily allows
me to do just that. For this
reason, I am especially grateful for the opportunity to perform at Jazz
Vespers. A
Member of Old First: Rod MacDonald I’d
like to tell you about the "Inside" of Jazz Vespers -- not to be
confused with the inside details that Ed Klitsch does so well organizing
the talent. I'm talking about what happens "inside me" at Jazz
Vespers. The
improvisational nature of jazz helps me create a freedom inside my mind.
This freedom encourages me to explore thoughts, without the encumbrance of
traditional church music structure. Jazz
can have repeating themes, but seldom are the notes always played exactly
the same. In the same way,
jazz at vespers encourages me to take a question, a thought, a sound, and
shape it into many different meanings.
For example: the sound of cymbals being tapped or brushed allows my
mind to think about the pleasure of the moment; the influence of music and
cultures of centuries past; what music sounded like in biblical times; and
how pleased God must be there is jazz at Old First. Lectionary Apr
2 4th Sunday in
Lent
Num. 21:4-9; Ps. 107:1-3, 17-22; Eph. 2:1-10; John 3:14-21 Apr
9 5th Sunday in
Lent
Jer. 31:31-34; Ps. 51:1-12 or
Ps. 119:9-16; Heb. 5:5-10; John 12:20-33 Apr
16 Palm/Passion Sunday Mark
11:1-11 or John 12:12-16; Ps.
118:1-2, 19-29; Isa. 50:4-9a; Apr
17 Monday of Holy Week
Isa. 42:1-9; Ps. 36:5-11; Heb. 9:11-15; John 12: 1-11 Apr
18 Tuesday of Holy Week
Isa. 49:1-7; Ps. 71:1-14; 1 Cor. 1:18-31; John 12:20-36 Apr
19 Wednesday of Holy Week
Isa. 50:4-9a; Ps. 70; Heb. 12:1-3; John 13:21-32 Apr
20 Maundy Thursday Exod.
12:1-4 (5-10), 11-14; Ps. 116:1-2, 12-19; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; Apr 21 Good Friday Isa.
52:13-53:12; Ps. 22; Heb.
10:16-25 or Heb. 4:14-16; 5:7-9; Apr
22 Easter Vigil Gen.
1:1-2:4a; Ps. 136:1-9, 23-26; Gen. 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18, 9:8-13; Apr
23 Resurrection of the
Lord Acts
10:34-43; or Isa. 25:6-9; Ps. 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Cor. 15:1-11 Apr
30 2nd Sunday of Easter
Acts 4:32-35; Ps. 133; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31 May
7 3rd Sunday of
Easter
Acts 3:12-19; Ps. 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48 Old
First Choir and Orchestra Concert - Sunday, April 2, 4:00 p.m. Daniel
Pinkham’s short but lovely Sonata No. 1 for Organ and Strings will
follow. Mark Daniel has agreed to conduct, and I will (for the first time
at one of these concerts) be heard as a performer, playing the organ part. The
second part of the concert will include Gustav Holst’s “St. Paul’s
Suite.” In spite of his German-sounding name, Holst was an English
composer, a colleague and friend of Ralph Vaughan Williams. The “St.
Paul’s Suite” was written for an orchestra that he conducted at the
St. Paul’s Girls School in London. This
will be followed by Emmanuel Chabrier’s “Suite Pastorale”. Presbyterian
Women’s Second Not-quite-annual
Book Sale Sunday,
April 16 in the Fellowship Hall
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2000
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