Volunteers Help Move 34,000 Pound Organ Pipes Into Old City Church
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A team of volunteers hand-carried hundreds of pieces of pipe organ into Philadelphia's Christ Church, Monday.
It will be reassembled and tuned over the next six months, restoring a long church tradition.
A pipe organ has been part the church for nearly 200 years. Those pipes have to be replaced periodically but Pastor Tim Safford says the organ will look the same as it ever did.
"It's a new organ but all the cabinetry and casework is original to Christ Church so it's like having new wine in an old wine skin, which is the opposite of what the bible says but we're doing it anyway," said Safford.
Nearly 200 parishioners stepped up for the massive job of unloading the 34,000 pounds of instrument pieces.
"We carried pieces of wood, boxes, planks," said Neidermeyer.
Helen Neidermeyer liked the team work.
"In the spirit of an Amish barn raising..." said Neidermeyer.
Each of the more than 3,000 pipes will be individually "voiced" before the organ is dedicated in the spring. In the meantime, grace was acapella.
