First Lutheran Church to hold sculpture, music programs

Lorain’s First Lutheran Church will host artists performing music and explaining sculptures that have a unique connection to the church’s former organ.

The two separate programs are scheduled for Dec. 9 at the church, 1019 W. Fifth St.

First Lutheran has commissioned 16 panels to show symbols from great stories of the Bible.

The copper panels were fashioned from organ pipes that were salvaged from the wreckage when the former First Lutheran Church was deliberately burned in August 2014.

The panels were dedicated in October, but artist Michael Bendele of Delphos, Ohio, was not able to attend.

Bendele will appear at the church the morning of Dec. 9 to discuss his work.

“It was a good project, a fun project and just a great way to give new life to what was destroyed in the arson fire,” said Bendele, a metalsmith who has completed a number of projects for churches, homes and various buildings. “I was happy to be part of it.”

The church’s Fine Arts Committee and members of the congregation suggested their favorite Bible stories and Christian themes, said committee member Dan Wenger.

The committee passed those ideas to Bendele, who said he said he went to work on the copper with hammers, punches, heat and cold to fabricate shape the metal.

“They were just kind of mangled, like bent up straws,” he said about the organ pipes. “It was fortunate that the copper was still in good enough shape to use. It had gotten hot enough to melt the solder seams.”

Now, the metal shows deep relief images, including hands, a crown of thorns, a lamb and a dove to symbolize the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Bendele will explain the process in a presentation after the church’s worship service starting about 10:40 a.m., Dec. 9.

Later the same day, Brian Wentzel, First Lutheran director of music, will host “Advent Music,” a free concert at 3 p.m., which is part of the church’s continuing FIRST-music performance series.

Advent Music is an annual event at First Lutheran, based on the “Abendmusiken,” or evening music, made famous by Dieterich Buxtehude and Hugo Distler in Lübeck, Germany.

“Set within the framework of the evening prayer, these events use magnificent music to enhance the service and move the listener,” Wentzel said. “This reflective service is a perfect way to slow down during the busy holiday season.”

The Dec. 9 event will feature a service of evening prayer with seasonal music by Michael Praetorius, who was a prolific early Lutheran composer, Wentzel said.

The concert is meant to be accessible for all music lovers, he said.

The music is not purely classical work meant to be heard in a concert hall, Wentzel said.

As church music, the congregational hymns are more like folk music in that they are meant to be music of the people, he said.

The event may be the first time an organ has played at the new First Lutheran Church.

For the Dec. 9 event, Wentzel said he has rented an organ from Case Western Reserve University to play for the FIRST-music concert.

The church has a new organ being built by Paul Fritts and Co. in Washington, but it won’t be ready for installation until next year.

Even after the church burned, the FIRST-music series continued at other locations around the community as a form of outreach by the church, Wentzel said.

“It’s something that we can give back to the community,” he said.

RICHARD PAYERCHIN — THE MORNING JOURNAL A mangled organ pipe sits in the gathering space of First Lutheran Church, 1019 W. Fifth St., Lorain, in front of the sanctuary doors now adorned with relief images created from copper organ pipes salvaged when the church burned in 2014. Metal artist Michael Bendele of Delphos, who created the sculptures, will speak about his work in a presentation at the church after the 9:30 a.m. worship service Dec. 9.