The opening hymn complemented the program for the April 19 Union service as the 275th anniversary celebration at Heidelberg Church continues. It was "Oh, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing."

The prayer of the day continued the theme of music with "Pour out your Spirit on your servants who, with the gifts of music, enliven our praises and proclaim your word."

And again in the reading was to "Praise him with trumpet sound, praise him with lute and harp," which led directly to the morning service.

Harpist Sarajane Williams played music intertwined with giving a presentaion titled, "Music and Our Pennsylvania German Heritage."

Though she now lives in Macungie, she said visiting the church feels like a wonderful homecoming.

Her father was a deacon at Heidelberg and she spent many Sundays admiring the stained glass windows, the handcrafted chestnut woodwork and the altarpiece painted by her grandfather's friend, Clint Dorward.

Williams said she had fantasies of becoming a minister but women were not allowed to be ministers at that time.

The most moving part of attending services for her was the music.

Her grandfather Paul German's farm was two farms down the road from Heidelberg Church and she spent many hours and summer vacations there.

A few years after her parents died, Williams realized she should carry on family and cultural traditions.

She discovered her ancestors helped found and pay for the church eight generations ago.

The first settlers came from Upper Milford and did not settle until the mountains loomed forming the areas that became Washington and Heidelberg townships. Settlements began in 1735.

Congregations were formed beginning in 1740. Today's church area was staked and known as the Hill of Zion. The Heidelberg area was spared the Indian massacres of adjacent townships.

Williams said Swiss characteristics predominated in this congregation.

She described them as honesty, faithfulness, rugged, blunt and stiff-necked while being true, open and cordial, ready to render assistance, and they held the church in high esteem.

German settlers were skilled craftsmen, artists and farmers. That is why music and basic education were so important.

While some groups discouraged the use of music, the Lutheran, Reformed and Moravian congregations encouraged it.

Don Yoder, a folklorist, termed them the Gay Dutch. They lived in the community and did not set themselves apart as some congregations did.

That was due to the influence of Martin Luther who initiated the Protestant Reformation by posting 95 Theses on the door of a church in Wittenberg in 1517. Luther had been a priest who rejected some of the Catholic church's teachings.

He taught salvation was by faith alone and the Bible was the only authority. He translated the Bible into German.

Luther composed hymns and, in 1524, published the first German hymnal. He was a skilled tenor, flutist and lute player.

Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press made dissemination of the new ideas and music easier.

The rote was the most important stringed instrument in use in Germany. By the 8th century the harp began to appear.

In the 12th century, the Abbess Hildegard of Bingen founded two monasteries.

She was a composer, poet and artist and wrote theological, botanical and medicinal texts.

Hildegard said music was the highest form of praise to God.

Astronomer Johannes Kepler asserted "God created the world according to an intelligible plan that is accessible through reason."

The notion that there was a perfect order of the universe gave rise to orderly and well constructed music.

The coming of the Pastorius Colony, also known as Germantown, helped to create an organ culture and other instruments.

Williams said a harp is featured on one of the stained glass windows.

She finished her presentation with one of her own compositions, "Appreciation."

Williams and Stephen Rauch recently completed a book on Rauch, Handwerk and Co. Builders, a Family's Contribution to Early Transportation and Commerce.