See the Carpenter’s Helper newsletter for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost and the week of September 5, 2021. This week, you will find an invitation to the September 11, 2021 Special Compline and dessert exchange, a reminder of our fall Sunday worship schedule, and eye spy spots Marc playing an extraordinary organ.

• This is the first Sunday of the fall schedule:
  • 8:00 a.m. – Holy Eucharist, Rite I spoken, in-person with precautions and online on our YouTube channel (8:00 booklet)
  • 10:30 a.m. – Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music, in-person with precautions and online on our YouTube channel (10:30 booklet)
• Sunday, September 5, 2021 – the services will begin at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. We will also welcome a guest priest, Rev. Dr. Peter Van Horne.
• Sundays from 10:30-11 a.m., Communion at the Curb is offered for those who have not received the Sacrament in-person during the service.  You do not need to sign up for this.  ALL are WELCOME!
• Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m., lectionary bible study in the classroom.
• Wednesday at noon: Intercessory Prayer with Holy Communion, live on our YouTube channel and in-person with precautions. Here is the accompanying booklet.
• Thursday at 7 p.m.: Compline Evening Prayer with Deacon Cecily, live via Zoom. Here is the accompanying booklet.
• Sunday, September 12, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. – Novel Theology will discuss “Beneath the Scarlet Sky” by Mark Sullivan, live via Zoom.

During the dessert exchange following the Special Compline on September 11, 2021, we will be assembling some Go-Bags (rescheduled service activity from our Grove Gathering).  Please consider bringing some items to donate to this cause.  Here is a list of the requested contents:

• Protein serving (pasta, stew, tuna or chicken soup) – flip top cans only
• Granola or cereal bar
• 8 – 16 oz. Juice box
• Peanut butter/cheese crackers
• Fruit serving, such as single serve peaches, mixed fruit, applesauce, raisins
• Dessert optional (single serve pudding, cookies)

You will receive an emailed invitation to all the above events and their accompanying leaflets. As always, there are copies available to be mailed, so please let me know if you’d like a paper copy.

In this strange pandemic time, the church is aware that some of its members are struggling to make ends meet. If you are in this situation, please let the clergy know of your needs, pray for the church, and feel no guilt about your giving. But if you are able to give, options for giving include mailing a check to your church or online giving. See our Giving information.

The new Forward Day by Day booklets are available.  Please feel free to stop into the lobby for a copy, or let me know if you’d like one mailed out to you!  There are plenty in both large and small print.

If you have anything to add to the Parish calendar or the Carpenter’s Helper newsletter, please email the office at StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com.

To see all events or news, visit our website, check FaceBook, or check out the posted events on the board next to the name tag station. Recent Newsletters, Sermons, or Announcements are also available.

Kind Regards,
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator
StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com or (302) 368-4644

The Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ is the pipe organ in the Main Auditorium of the Boardwalk Hall (formerly known as the Atlantic City Convention Hall) in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company. It is the largest organ in the world!

The main auditorium is 487×288×137 feet with a floor area of 140,000 square feet, giving a volume of 5,500,000 cubic feet. Consequently, the organ runs on much higher wind pressures than most organs in order to achieve a volume loud enough to fill the hall.

Guinness Book of World Records recognized the Midmer-Losh with multiple entries:

• Largest pipe organ in the world based on the number of pipes – more than 33,110 in 449 ranks
• Loudest musical instrument/loudest organ stop – with sound described as “a pure trumpet note of ear-splitting volume”
• The only organ to have stops that run on record air pressure (100”) – about 30 times more than a normal organ stop
• One of only two organs in the world with a true non-digital, accoustic 64-foot stop, the Grand Ophicleide stop is unique in the organ world because it’s a reed-flue hybrid
• Largest musical instrument ever constructed – with eight organ chambers and nine 32-foot stops (stops are the components that control the amount of pressurized air going into the pipe chamber)
• The biggest console with seven manuals [keyboards] and 1,200+ stop-keys complete with orchestral instruments, from flute to violin.

With an instrument that large, it takes someone with huge talent and confidence to make her sing. And, who better than our own Marc Cheban!

“During the 2017 Christmas Season one of the gentlemen that works on the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall organ was at one of my sing-alongs at Longwood Gardens. After the program he approached and asked if I could maybe play on the Atlantic City organ the following Christmas. I was enthusiastic in my response. Sure enough, I played a number of times during the 2018 season on that organ. I guess they liked my style and the type of music I played and they asked me if I would be willing to play one day each week during the summer season. So I chose Tuesdays; that Summer I played every Tuesday from Memorial Day through the end of September. I played there again during the 2018-19 Christmas season but that was the last time that any of the organists played until this month, due to Covid.”

“The gentlemen that work on the organ are so lovingly devoted to ‘her’ that I was hooked the very first time I played there. However, because that organ and its console (where the organist sits) were built before there were specific console dimensions, it is physically challenging for me to play, since most days I am tall and that console was not designed to accommodate a tall organist. But I still love every minute of it.”