I have heard organ music since before I was born. How can that be you ask? My mother was a church organist. I have often said that I was on an organ bench before being in a highchair! Mom used to take me around Long Beach in my stroller on the bus to her various musical jobs, from Miss Valerie’s Ballet Studio to Belmont Shore Wedding Chapel to Hunter’s Funeral Home. I have probably been to more weddings and funerals than most clergy! Mom (aka Clintine Edelweiss Clark) had an unusual name and an unusual talent. I have the program and newspaper article about her first recital in Los Angeles at age 12. As a kid, I would sit in the congregation with my grandparents since Dad was in the choir and look up and see Mom on the organ bench and think – “That’s my Mom making that beautiful music!”
In 2001 I was looking for a new church home and a friend recommended the website Progressive Christianity. I liked the message so I made a list of member congregations in San Diego. St. Paul’s was first on the list. I never made it to the second church. When I came to my first service, the organ hooked me. It was as if Mom was telling me, “THIS IS THE PLACE!” I later came to realize that St. Paul’s relates to all of the senses with the incense, stained glass, beautiful architecture, the choir, and the organ of course…oh, and the preaching isn’t bad either!
Doug Clark
