Hymn Festival At St. John’s, New Minden
Hymn Festival At St. John’s, New Minden
Dr. Robert Mueller
St. John’s Lutheran Church, New Minden, invites you to mark the 500th Anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation with an Organ Recital/Hymn Festival Monday, October 16, 2017, at 7:00 p.m. The Title of the Festival is “The Hymns of the Lutheran Reformation: It’s Still All about Jesus.”
Guest organist for the evening is Dr. Robert Mueller, Professor of Music at the University of Arkansas and organist and choir director at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Fayetteville, Ark.
Professor Mueller will lead the assembled congregation through the church year with the playing and singing of familiar hymns, interspersed with his own commentary.
As Professor of Music, Dr. Mueller teaches music composition and music theory and conducts the University Symphony Orchestra. He is the Pianist with the Fort Smith Symphony, and he has been on the faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Arts Camp.
Dr. Mueller has twice been composer-in-residence for the Fort Smith Symphony, and his music has been performed nationwide by several orchestras, including the Cincinnati, Omaha, Fort Smith, Lansing, Arkansas, Missoula, Helena, Jackson, and North Arkansas Symphonies.
Before he joined the staff of Good Shepherd in 1998, Dr. Mueller served as organist at Salem Lutheran in Springdale, Arkansas, and at Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Cincinnati.
He has performed many organ recitals; recently he performed a program of music for organ and double reeds at the International Double Reed Society Convention. He has written numerous compositions for organ, and hundreds of anthems for chancel choir.
Dr. Mueller last served as organist at St. John’s in 1988 when his brother, St. John’s Pastor Tim Mueller, was ordained and installed into the ministry. At that time he played the 1907 Kilgen organ, which was destroyed in the 2013 tornado. Three ranks of pipes from that organ were incorporated into the new 19-rank tracker action organ built by Martin Ott of St. Louis, and dedicated last year.
An offering will be received, half of which will go to the St. John’s Organ Fund to offset costs for tuning and maintenance. The other half is designated for a mission project of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) called: “Christ’s Care for the Persecuted & Displaced: Mercy for Body and Soul.”
Pastor Tim Mueller of St. John’s said, “We have so much about which to sing! Music can bring the word of God home to the human heart in a way that nothing else can. The Lutheran Reformation 500 years ago shined the spotlight on Jesus and His work to save us all. After 500 years we are still singing the Gospel of Jesus with dear hymns that came to us from the Lutheran Reformation. We look forward to singing the faith into each other’s ears and hearts, and giving a little bit back to brothers and sisters in the land of Luther and Bach, from which we have received so much.”
