Faure Requiem

Black Mountain Presbyterian Church will present a special service of remembrance and light on Sunday evening November 6 at 7PM at the church at 117 Montreat Road in Black Mountain. During the service the Chancel Choir of the church will perform “Requiem” by Gabriel Fauré. Admission to this formal service is free and open to the public. This service will help participants call to mind and commemorate family and friends who have died; the service will conclude with the lighting of candles in memory of those who have died. This worship service will include Bible readings, poetry as well as hymns and the special music to be performed by the choir. Fauré composed his Requiem over a span of several months between 1887 and 1890. It was performed at Fauré’s own funeral in 1924 and premiered in the US in 1931. In this setting the choir will be accompanied by a small ensemble including Mike Barker, organ; Michael Brubaker and Christina Cornell, French horns; Alice Keith Knowles, violin; and Judy Bailey, harp. Contact the church 669-2725 or michaelb@bmpcnc.org for more information.

Tinntinabulumn

New to our All Saints Sunday worship this year will be a tintinabulum. Use of the tinntinabulum has increased among some liturgical congregations in recent years as part of the All Saints observance. In the Middle Ages the tinntinabulum served the practical function of alerting the people of Rome to the approach of the Pope during papal processions. In modern usage it relates to honoring saints of the church, and most particularly, for Reformed congregations utilizing this symbol, it honors all faithful Christians who have died and rest from their labors and represents the priesthood of all believers and brings to mind the whole cycle of God's redeeming work represented in observance of the church year. The newly-constructed tinntinabulum for Black Mountain Presbyterian Church is built on a Tau cross. Ribbons of various colors, representative of the church year, are hung from the cross-piece. Included in the color array are black ribbons, representing each church member who has died since last All Saints. Bells are tied to some of the ribbons as an audible symbol of God's presence. Further the bells create a subtle sound of joy for God's grace in the lives of God's saints living and deceased.

Understanding All Saints Sunday

"American Presbyterians have been observing All Saints Day/Sunday for at least 50 years." That statement is found in a 1982 article in the Presbyterian Associations of Musicians' journal (Reformed Liturgy and Music, XVI.4, p 154.) Twenty-six years further on, we still should remind ourselves of the "whats" and "whys" of All Saints celebrations.

Whenever we state the Apostles' Creed we affirm our belief in the "communion of saints." Far more than having "something to do with the Lord's Supper," this statement lies near the heart of an understanding of All Saints observance. "All Saints is a time to rejoice in all who through the ages have faithfully served God. It reminds us that we are part of one, continuing, living communion..." (ed. Richardson, et. al., The Westminster dictionary of Christian theology, Westminster, 1983). The communion of saints draws on the message of Hebrews 12, that there is a great company of witnesses surrounding us like a cloud. The death of God's disciples does not end their relationship with God, but indeed they enter into a fuller fellowship in the glory of God. The family of God is "united in heaven and on earth, as one body, in which all members are 'alive unto God.'" Our communion is not interrupted, let alone ended, but is merely changed.

Important to Presbyterians is the notion of the "priesthood of all believers." This is right in line with how we understand All Saints Sunday. We acknowledge the Godly lives of our spiritual ancestors and by drawing the example of their lives of faith and worship and mission to mind, we seek to emulate the same in our own lives. Veneration and adoration can be taken to extreme, hence the on-going Protestant re-interpretation of the doctrine surrounding All Saints. The meaning is captured fully and quite simply in the line from Lesbia Scott's hymn "I sing a song of the saints of God:" "I mean to be one too."
To celebrate the Lord's Supper at an All Saints celebration is singularly appropriate. "This service is a deep remembrance in which we encounter anew the most profound dimensions of what it is to be the church. There is a clear eschatological vision and tone to this celebration, since it reminds us of those for whom the battle is over, the victory won, and also of our continuing pilgrimage toward God and heavenly banquet" (Hickman, et. al., Handbook of the Christian year, Abingdon, 1986). The service is meant to be solemn without being sad, a service of remembrance not dwelling on persons but rather on the grace of God evidenced in persons' lives and encouragement to seek similar attitudes of devotion and service in our own lives.

In the weeks between now and All Saints, be reminded, each time we say what we believe, that in a few weeks we will have a wonderful opportunity to enact and live out our faith as we "rejoice in God's saints."

Rejoice in God's saints, today and all days!
A world without saints forgets how to praise.
Their faith in acquiring the habit of prayer,
their depth of adoring, Lord, help us to share.

Some march with events, to turn them God's way;
some need to withdraw, the better to pray;
some carry the gospel through fire and through flood:
our world is their parish: their purpose is God.

Rejoice in those saints, unpraised and unknown,
who bear someone's cross, or shoulder their own:
they shame our complaining, our comforts, our cares:
what patience in caring, what courage is theirs!

Rejoice in God's saints, today and all days!
A world without saints forgets how to praise.
in loving, in living, they prove it is true:
The way of self-giving, Lord, leads us to you.
Fred Pratt Green, 1977