Next Sunday, November 19, all adult Sunday morning classes will meet in the Fellowship Hall at 9:45, for a special class led by Nell King Bieger. Her emphasis will be on stewardship in estate planning and planned giving. There will be a question-and-answer period after the presentation.

	Nell King Bieger

This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about this aspect of stewardship from a highly regarded expert. The Bristol native is a member of the local firm Jones, King, Downs & Peel, P.C., and an authority on tax law. Nell has been named to The Best Lawyers in America for trusts and estates each year since 2003. She has also been named to Super Lawyers in Tennessee, Virginia, and the Mid-South. She is a member of the Tri-Cities Estate Planning Council, the Virginia Bar Association, and the Tennessee Bar Association. She has lectured frequently and published estate planning related articles in Tax Practice and Virginia Lawyer.

We will collect our Thanksgiving Offering in both services November 19. You will find envelopes for that purpose in the late worship bulletin and on seats in the Fellowship Hall. If you write a check, please note "Thanksgiving Offering" on the memo line. 

FPC member Geneva King, along with the provisional class of the Junior League of Bristol, is collecting donations through the end of November for local victims of domestic violence served by Abuse Alternatives and the Children's Advocacy Center. They need basic toiletry items for women and craft supplies for children; please see the lists below. A labeled bin for donations is in the Fellowship Hallway. For more information, email Geneva at [email protected]. Thank you!

 

Care Package Needs
Abuse Alternatives	Children's Advocacy Center
Shampoo	Popsicle sticks
Conditioner	Googly eyes
Body wash	Gems
Toothpaste	Yarn
Detergent (small bottles)	Beads
	Pipe cleaners

 

Our annual Fall Cleanup Day is scheduled for Saturday, November 18, from 8:30 until noon or a little later. We are now enlisting cleanup crew members and seeking church members who would like some help with the inevitable fall chores of cleaning gutters, changing smoke detector batteries, raking leaves, and so on. You will find sign-up sheets in the narthex and the Fellowship Hallway on the next two Sundays. To request help or to volunteer, call the church office at 423-764-7176 or email Diana Mattison at [email protected] by Wednesday, November 15.

Sunday's music participants: Sanctuary Choir.

Sunday's music: Our anthem, "How Clear Is Our Vocation, Lord," was composed as a hymn by Hubert Parry (1848-1918), an important British composer and teacher (Ralph Vaughan Williams was his composition student). Parry was influential in the revival of

	Hubert Parry in 1916

English music at the end of the 19th century. Parry's Scenes from Prometheus Unbound (1880) was the first of a series of choral works that showed his gift for the massive effects that characterized English music of the rest of the 19th century. His unison song "Jerusalem" (1916), a setting of words from William Blake's Milton, became almost a second national anthem during and after World War I. In 1883 Parry was appointed choragus (festival conductor) of the University of Oxford and joined the staff of the Royal College of Music, London, becoming its director in 1894. In 1900 he became professor of music at Oxford. He was knighted in 1898 and created a baronet in 1903. He died without sons, and the baronetcy became extinct. This tune and text can be found in our hymnal at #432.

Organist's footnotes: The Revised Common Lectionary lists Matthew 25:1-13, the Parable of the Ten Virgins, as today's Gospel lesson. Jesus told this story as an allegory for the End Times, underscoring the importance of being prepared and ready for the coming of the Kingdom. Philipp Nicolai's hymn "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (1599) is based upon this parable.

J.S. Bach's cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (BWV 140) is based upon Nicolai's hymn text. Bach used movement 4 of the cantata as the basis for the first of his six Schübler Chorales, BWV 645, (named for the publisher), which is the piece I am playing for the prelude. My organ teacher thought it would be "good for me" to learn this piece from a version employing Bach's original alto and tenor clef signs.

Years later at a used music sale, I acquired a set of the Schübler Chorales previously owned by Mary Landrum, former faculty member at King University. She evidently had purchased this edition many years ago when she herself was a still a student, before her marriage to Graham Landrum, because she signed her name "Mary W. Fisher." Mary, well-known for her sense of humor, had written spurious words under the quickly moving obligato part. "We all do play the organ, organ, ever so clear and lightly. We play the six sonatas, natas, ever so clean and brightly ..." Then when the slower chorale melody comes in, "J.S. Bach we do adore thee. We hope our playing does not bore thee ..." I hope MY playing does not bore thee!

The prolific Jean Langlais (1907-1991) composed 254 works with opus numbers. It was as an organist that Langlais made his name, following in the footsteps of César Franck and Tournemire as organiste titulaire at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde in Paris in 1945, a post in which he remained until 1988. Our offertory, "Chant de Paix" (Song of Peace), is the third of his Nine Pieces, published in 1945. I would like to thank Jane LaPella, Organist Emeritus of Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church in Johnson City, for introducing me to this beautiful composition.

Sunday, November 12

8:30 a.m.       Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:45 a.m.       Sunday School

11:00 a.m.     Worship, Sanctuary

3:30 p.m.       Christmas Pageant Rehearsal, Sanctuary

5:00 p.m.       Middle School Fellowship

5:30 p.m.       Finance Committee, Room 117

6:00 p.m.       High School Fellowship

Monday, November 13

5:30 p.m.       Adult Handbells

7:00 p.m.       Building & Grounds Committee, Room 117

7:00 p.m.       Worship Committee, Room 123

Tuesday, November 14

9:00 a.m.       Staff Meeting, Room 117

10:00 a.m.     Morning Prayer Group, Conference Room

6:00 p.m.       Venture Crew 3, Room 165

7:00 p.m.       Boy Scout Troop 3, Scout Wing

Wednesday, November 15

9:30 a.m.       Women's DVD Bible Study, Coffee Klatch Room

4:45 p.m.       Savior's Singers Children's Choir

5:15 p.m.       Baby & Toddler Care, Rooms 34-36

5:30 p.m.       Fellowship Dinner, Fellowship Hall

6:00 p.m.       Wednesday Night Kids

6:00 p.m.       Middle School Gathering

6:00 p.m.       Pastor Nominating Committee, Room 117

6:15 p.m.       Adult Learning Program, Fellowship Hall

7:00 p.m.       High School Small Groups

7:15 p.m.       Sanctuary Choir

7:30 p.m.       8:30 Worship Team, Fellowship Hall

Thursday, November 16

7:00 a.m.       Men's Bible Study, Parlor

12:00 p.m.     Noon Bible Study, Room 117

Saturday, November 18

8:30 a.m.        Fall Cleanup Day