Dr. James Laster plays a harpsichord in his Winchester home Friday. Laster will brave the chill of Bethel Memorial Church Sunday to play the pump organ for the traditional Christmas service. (Photo by Ginger Perry) Dr. James Laster prepares for Sunday's Christmas service at Bethel Memorial Church by practicing traditional Christmas songs on the harpsichord in his Winchester home. (Photo by Ginger Perry)

     MILLWOOD -- Dr. James Laster recalls an unusually cold winter in Lebanon, when he played the organ for a Christmas Eve service.

     "The church wasn't heated," Laster recalled, "because winters there are usually mild. I never felt such cold keys in my life."

     The retired professor of music at Shenandoah University may get a chance to re-evaluate that claim Sunday, since he has volunteered to play the old pump organ for the traditional Christmas service at Bethel Memorial Church.

     The former Quaker meetinghouse, on a ridge above the Shenandoah River in Clarke County, is open only twice a year.

     Decorated with greenery and lit only by candles, the national and state historic landmark is the site of a 5 p.m. non-denominational service open to all. But dress warmly, because there is no heat.

     Laster expects to stay warmer than the participants who gather to hear the Christmas story read from scripture and sing traditional hymns. That's because the old pump organ at Bethel has not been converted to electricity, as many of these instruments were.

     In order to play music, Laster must man the pump, too.

     A pump organ, he said, has a keyboard like a piano. But, in order to get any music from it, air must be pumped into the bellows, where metal pieces called reeds vibrate to create sound.

     Before electricity, human power was used to get air into the bellows, Laster said, and often the job was done by children.

     In the case of the Bethel organ, Laster will provide the power by pumping with his feet alternately on two pedals.

     "You have to get a rhythm going with your feet," Laster said. "You have to keep up a steady supply or the sound of the note will run down."

     The steady rhythm has to be maintained despite the tempo of the music being played, Laster said.

     "If you have a fast piece, you tend to pump faster and wear yourself out."

     Laster said it is a situation similar to the childhood game of patting your head while rubbing your stomach.

     In addition to keeping your feet moving, the organ also has work for the knees. Laster said there are little levers which you manipulate with your knees to increase or decrease the sound from the organ. For a softer or louder tone, knee the lever to the left or the right.

     "If it's a long hymn, you have to pace yourself so you still have energy in your legs."

     The Bethel organ offers some other challenges, Laster said.

     "Ivory keys are cold to the touch, and in candlelight, you hope you can see the [sheet] music."

     A prudent organist wears gloves between numbers if there is time. If not, Laster said, hands should be inserted under armpits to warm up.

     During his 27 years with Shenandoah University, Laster taught choral music, choral array, and music theory, and worked closely with Musical Director Hal Herman on many of the university's theatrical productions.

     Retirement has left him more time to pursue another interest -- acting.

     Laster is currently taking part in Wayside Theatre's production of "Miracle on 34th Street," which offers its last three performances this weekend.

     He will be in two performances today, at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., but is turning his part over to an understudy for Sunday's matinee in order to tackle Old Bethel's pump organ.

     "It will be a fun service to play," Laster said. "It certainly isn't the run-of-the-mill thing."

     A deed dated 1765 refers to God's Acre on the Hill, a church building that is known today at Bethel Memorial Church or, simply, Old Bethel.

     Mary Morris, archivist for the Clarke County Historical Association, said the land on which it sits, off Swift Shoals Road, was deeded to Robert "King" Carter by Thomas, Lord Fairfax in 1730.

     The land was handed down through Carter's Burwell descendants for the next 31 years, but the exact date when the log Quaker meeting house was built is unknown.

     By 1800, a Baptist congregation took over the log church and, 36 years later, replaced it with the brick structure that stands today.

     The minute book from Bethel, running from July 16, 1908, to June 8, 1930, has been preserved. In 1930, the church was abandoned.

     In 1940, Beverly McKay undertook a project to save the structure. The Bethel Baptist Memorial Association was created to oversee the property and raise funds for preservation and reconstruction.

     A two-year restoration was undertaken in 1988 to recapture the original look of the building.