Photo by Jody Isaackson Organist Gwen Arneson is seated at the organ at Christ Lutheran Church in Cottonwood where she spent much of the past 50 years playing for a variety of services. Arneson is the church’s full-time organist as well as pastoral assistant and choir director. She was recently recognized for her 50 years of service with a gift and cake reception at the church.

COTTONWOOD — Christ Lutheran Church organist Gwen Arneson was recognized for 50 years of dedicated service with her musical talents Aug. 26 during a church service in Cottonwood.

“It was a lovely surprise,” she said. “A gift was presented to me during the service. Two of my three children and their spouses were there and sang.”

There was a cake reception after the service, she said, and many kind words were said and best wishes offered.

Arneson was just 7 years old when she first started taking piano lessons, which would later turn into a lifetime ministry of organ playing.

“I started playing when I was 14 years old,” Arneson said. “When I was just confirmed at Lakeview Lutheran Church in Maplewood, the old organist retired. A friend of mine played piano. She and I took over from the retiring organist. We traded off, but I was the main organist.

While attending college, she would go home during the summers and play organ at her home church.

“I took three or four years of organ lessons at Augustana University (Sioux Falls, South Dakota,” Arneson said. It was at the university she met her husband, Kevin Arneson, which is how she ended up in Cottonwood. “I also gave a junior recital and a senior recital in college.”

It takes a lot of commitment to put in the hours of rehearsal each week as a full-time organist, Arneson said, “50 years is a long time.”

“I choose music based on the Scripture texts that will be read that day,” Arneson said. “In a way, it’s an extension of the lesson.”

Her favorite genre of music is traditional and historical.

“I love classical music; I love Bach,” she said. “I was trained in classical music. There are also some great new composers. I go annually to continuing education so I’m exposed to new music. Also, when I play the piano, I play some different composers.”

“Traditional” versus “contemporary” is a hot topic on social media, Arneson said.

“I look at the word ‘contemporary’ as being applicable for us today, not as just one type of service,” she said. “And that can apply to traditional hymns as well as to newer styles of music.”

For church services, Arneson has at times mixed organ music with piano music, either as duets or simply covering different parts of the service, she said, which can get complicated.

“We have a beautiful grand piano in the front of the sanctuary,” she said. “It’s a long walk from the organ loft to the piano.”

Something she learned over the years, Arneson said, was that it takes dedication to play when you know you aren’t going to please everyone all the time.

“(However) playing organ or accompanying (singers or instrumentalists) on piano is a way for me to worship and praise God,” Arneson said. She said she enjoys leading others in worship and praise as well.

In addition, Arneson has played for innumerable liturgical services such as funerals, weddings, ordinations, church anniversaries and organ dedications as well as regular church services. She has also played for worship services at nursing homes and assisted living places.

In addition to organ playing, Arneson is the pastoral assistant at Christ Lutheran Church, Cottonwood (16 years), the choir director/accompanist there and a member of the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (WELCA).

“I’m not allowed to hold an office in WELCA because of my position as pastoral assistant,” Arneson said, “but I’m the vice president of the ELCA Synod.”

No one else plays the organ at Christ Lutheran Church at this time, so when Arneson serves as the pastoral assistant, for example: conducting a funeral, somebody else will play the piano or they have to bring in an organist from outside the congregation.

In the past, Arneson has also been Luther League adviser and a release time (catechism) teacher, she said. She has also taught piano lessons in her home for 42 years and counting.

“It’s a personal joy and satisfaction to be able to use a gift in a way that (edifies) others who hear it and honors God while I’m doing it,” Arneson said. “It is also enjoyable to go to worship at other places and sit quietly listening to someone else play a prelude.”