"The Communion of the Saints, for All Saints"  by Ira Thomas

For many of us, October 31 is filled with laughing children, spooky costumes, and lots and lots of candy. While all this is a great fun, especially for those of us who are kids at heart (did you see my Spock costume?), what about the day after Halloween, All Saints' Day? Within the church, do we spend enough time focusing on and thinking about those saints who have gone on to glory before us? In the midst of our busy lives, do we have time to remember the dead? We adorn our Halloween props with R.I.P., and give a nod to the reality that life is more than is seen with the eye, but taking time to remember the dead, to smile when remembrance washes over us, to grieve our present loss, and to look towards things to come is one of the highest forms of human love.

This was Søren Kierkegaard's conclusion in an entry in the second series of his Works of Love. In Chapter IX, "The Work of Love in Recollecting One Who Is Dead," we read: "The work of love in recollecting one who is dead is thus a work of the most unselfish, the freest, the most faithful love." It is unselfish because the dead cannot repay our affection. It is the freest love because the dead are dead; they make no demands upon us, so ours is a truly free act. It is the most faithful because the dead are changeless, in a sense, while we are subject to change. To recollect lovingly someone locked in time, so to speak, locked in the past amidst our many changes, is to remain faithful to the beloved in a unique way, a way that keeps them "present" and "alive."

Here, Kierkegaard riffs on St. Paul's "Love never ends" in 1 Corinthians 13:8, while pointing towards a greater mystery. If I might, I would humbly suggest an expansion and improvement on Kierkegaard's point. There is One who is faithful beyond all others, and before whom we are lovingly remembered and sustained in eternal memory, namely, God alone. Karl Barth made this point very well when he wrote "no wing-beat of the day-fly in far-flung epochs of geological time" will escape God's eternal attention and care ( Church Dogmatics, III/3, 90). To love our "timeless," dead beloved amidst our many changes is an act that transcends time and participates, in part, in the timeless quality of God's life. Put simply, when we remember and love those who have gone before us and who now dwell eternally before God, we rise into a union of love with those who exist in timeless union with the One who holds all in the palm of His hand. We anticipate and participate in the union that is to come, made present in the very flesh of our resurrected Lord Jesus. In that union, we look in hope beyond restful peace towards our rising in glory.

So what does all this waxing philosophic mean, you may ask? Amidst all that chocolate, be sure to remember those who have gone before, as we will below in our listing of the names of the recently departed. When we do that, we are never more fully alive, for we love our departed in a way that looks forward in hope to the eternal, resurrected union we will all share with God through the love of Christ Jesus. Glory be to God!

In Christ,

Pastor Sam

 

To the Church Triumphant

Graham Barr

January 6, 2018

LaVerne Frazier

June 16, 2018

Betty Millard

February 7, 2018

Lynn Mattison Rankin

June 23, 2018

Sam Samuel

February 20, 2018

Bill Stone

July 9, 2018

John Warner

December 6, 2017

Early on November 4 the human world, or our little part of it, will acknowledge what the greater world knows: it is time to fall back and regroup, for winter is coming. While some of us are snoozing and others staring at the ceiling, Daylight Saving Time will end at 2:00 a.m. Remember to set your clock back one hour before you retire Saturday night. We will see you at 11:00 standard time for One Worship and our new pastor's installation Sunday morning.

The Children's Christmas play will be presented in the sanctuary Wednesday, December 19, at 5:30 p.m. Rehearsals will be held from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. on the Sundays of November 4, 11, and 18 and December 2, 9, and 16. We are seeking adults and teens to help, and children to perform. Those interested should contact Sujean Bradley at [email protected] or Lilly Osborne at [email protected].

Sunday Night Student Fellowship has started a new series called Subject to Change, all about the one thing in life we all deal with: change! Join us as we figure out how to stand firm through life's changes by staying close to a God who never changes. When life is subject to change, it's only a matter of time before those changes bring disappointment or letdowns. But when faced with that kind of change, what can we do to move forward? In week two of our Subject To Change series, we'll see that even when life changes, God never makes us move forward alone. We meet at 6:00 p.m. in the Youth Wing of the church. We hope to see you there!

We will have two orientation meetings for young acolytes to serve our church community in traditional worship. The first meeting will be on Wednesday, November 7, at 7:00 p.m., and the second will be on Sunday, November 11, after worship. Both meetings will be held in the chapel. We invite students in grades 6 -12 who want to take part in this ministry, along with their parents, to this orientation meeting to discern whether they are called to serve.

Come to the Fellowship Hall at 5:30 p.m. next Wednesday, November 7, for fellowship and fried chicken. Stay to participate in a Bible study led by Dave Welch for our Adult Learning session at 6:20 p.m. High School Small Groups, Middle School Gathering, and Wednesday Night Kids will meet at 6:00. Handbell ringers and anyone who would like to learn will head upstairs to practice at 6:15. We look forward to sharing this time with you!

It is with a heavy heart that we shared with those present at last Sunday's 8:30 worship service that our Interim Director of Early Worship, Jenn Sproles, has resigned her position effective November 5. Jenn plans to travel and explore new callings, and we wish her all the best. We have been blessed by her presence, her gifts, and her love for us all, and so we bid her "a Dios": go with God. We thank her for her service, and ask that you pray for God to guide her in all her ways.

Beloved Congregation,

I would like to take a moment to simply say thank you. When I stepped into the Interim Early Worship Director position last summer, I had no idea what to expect, or if my surprise tenure would be well received. You met and exceeded every possible expectation.

The 8:30 worship service has always been a welcoming, encouraging place for myself and the worship team. It means so much more than I can explain to have felt your backing and confidence, even when I had little faith in myself. I will continue to be thankful for your invaluable prayers, kind suggestions, and endless support. I hope to show my thanks by continuing to pray for this congregation as I start my adventure in a new place.

May God bless and keep you all close.

Jenn Sproles

The Children's Ministries will hold a Parents' Night Out from 6:00 to 8:30 on Friday, November 16, in the Education Wing. This event is for newborns through sixth graders. Please let Lilly Osborne know the number and ages of the children to expect so that she can provide dinner and materials for all of them. To sign up, email Lilly at [email protected], call or text her at 423-383-5476, or use the Children's Ministries Facebook page.

We want to thank everyone who came last Thursday and participated in the Trunk or Treat at Fairmount Elementary. According to reports, the school stopped counting noses after 500. From our vantage point, we easily served 600 to 700 people. With every smiling face, laugh, and word of encouragement and with our simply being present with our neighbors, Christ was present in that crowd. Thank you for all you did to help this event happen! We invite you to pray for our schools and our neighbors around the church.

Lilly Osborne, our Children's Ministries director, adds: "A big thank-you to everyone for helping with Trunk or Treat for Fairmount! Thanks to all who sent in candy; we didn't run out! The staff and PTA from Fairmount were so appreciative. They thought it was awesome, and everyone raves about it!"

We wish we could publish photos of all the clever trunks and costumed FPC folks that were there, but we must make do with only a few:

We are collecting vanilla wafers for the many students of Fairmount Elementary whose families can't buy them snacks for the afternoon break. We collect snacks from our generous church family, and the Christian Hands Ministry folks make sure they get to the school. Please bring boxes of any brand of vanilla wafers to the Little Red House in the Fellowship Hallway to help our friends at Fairmount pay attention through the fall afternoons. Thank you!

Sunday's music: Our anthem, "See, I Make All Things New," was composed by Alfred V. Fedak (b. 1953). Fedak is a widely published and well-known composer of church music. He has more than 200 choral and organ works in print, and his hymn tunes appear in

	Alfred V. Fedak (Photo: Nicole Villamora)

hymnals and collections in the US, Canada, England, Scotland, New Zealand, China, and Japan. Fedak has earned many honors in organ performance and composition, including the AGO's prestigious S. Lewis Elmer Award. Since 2002 he has received annual composition awards from ASCAP. Fedak served as a member of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song, which prepared Glory to God, the PC(USA)'s 2013 hymnal.

Born in New Jersey, Fedak graduated from Hope College in 1975 with degrees in Organ Performance and Music History. He subsequently earned a masters' degree in Organ Performance from Montclair State University and has done further study at Westminster Choir College (church music), Eastman School of Music (harpsichord continuo), the Institute for European Studies in Vienna (music history), and in England at the first Cambridge Choral Studies Seminar at Clare College. A Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, Fedak also holds the Guild's Choirmaster Certificate, and from 1995 to 2000 served as Director of the AGO's national Professional Certification Committee. Since 1986 he has been a member of the Guild's national Board of Examiners; his own grade of 95% on the AGO's Fellowship paperwork remains the highest score ever achieved on that demanding, seven-hour examination since the founding of the Guild in 1896.

Recently called "one of America's leading church musicians" by The American Organist, Fedak has served as organist and choir director for churches and synagogues in the East and Midwest. He serves as Minister of Music and Arts at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Capitol Hill in Albany, New York, where he plays a landmark, four-manual, 1929 E. M. Skinner pipe organ.

Organist's footnotes: It is not every Sunday we have a bagpiper in worship! Andrew Hicks will be piping for the processional and recessional. For my prelude, I decided to join in the fun by playing the ninth movement, appropriately named "Andrew" after the patron saint of Scotland, from The Apostles: Twelve Sketches for Organ. By the way, I will be playing three of the quieter movements from the same collection during Communion: "John (the beloved disciple)," "Jude," and "Thomas." I composed  The Apostles in 2007 for a special FPC Arts Series program known as Artistic Reflections.

On this Sunday when we adjust our clocks back to standard time, I thought it appropriate to play Louis Vierne's "Carillon de Westminster" for the postlude. As the title indicates, "Carillon de Westminster" is a fantasia on the Westminster chimes, since 1858 played from the Palace of Westminster's Clock Tower, affectionately known as Big Ben. The chimes play four notes in the key of E major, G sharp, F sharp, E, and B in various patterns every fifteen minutes.

Sunday's music participants: Pat Flannagan & Bob Greene, Sanctuary Choir, Andrew Hicks (bagpiper).

Handbell Choir: The Sanctuary Handbell Choir welcomes all adults who'd like to help the music ring out on Sunday mornings. No experience required: it will be fun to teach you! We practice Wednesdays from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. Please talk with Beth Flannagan or Bob Greene, and join us upstairs in room 212 after the fellowship supper.

Memorials and honoraria are published in the newsletter only after the family has been personally notified by our business office. Today we gratefully acknowledge Alice Moore's gift to the Memorial Fund in memory of Joy Huber, mother of George Huber.

Sunday, November 4

9:45 a.m.       Sunday School

11:00 a.m.     One Worship, Sanctuary

12:30 p.m.     Installation Reception, Fellowship Hall

3:30 p.m.       Children's Christmas Play Rehearsal,

Sanctuary

6:00 p.m.       Student Fellowship, Youth Wing

Monday, November 5

6:30 p.m.       Board of Deacons, Rooms 117 & 123

Tuesday, November 6

10:00 a.m.     Staff Meeting, Room 117

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

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

Wednesday, November 7

9:30 a.m.       Women's Bible Study, Room 117

5:15 p.m.       Baby & Toddler Care, Rooms 34 - 37

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.       High School Small Groups

6:15 p.m.       Handbell Choir, Room 212

6:20 p.m.       Adult Learning, Fellowship Hall

7:00 p.m.       Acolyte Orientation, Chapel

7:15 p.m.       Sanctuary Choir, Room 202

7:15 p.m.       Worship Team, Fellowship Hall

Thursday, November 8

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

8:30 a.m.       Meals on Wheels, Fellowship Hall

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

Saturday, November 10

5:30 p.m.       Praise Band Retreat, Weddington Home

Church Officers
ELDERS
Class of 2018	Class of 2019	Class of 2020
Aaron Brooks	Anna Booher	Nancy Allerton
Randy Cook	Lee Galliher	Rebecca Beck
Debbie McMillin	Pete Holler	David Hyde
Stuart Parker	Han Ong	Jordan Pennington
Chuck Thompson	Pete Stigers	Jerry Poteat
DEACONS
Class of 2018	Class of 2019	Class of 2020
Adam Abel	Sujean Bradley	Blake Bassett
Nancy Butterworth	George Linke	Rhonda Comer
David Ginn	Greg Roberts	Brenda Lawson
Rett Stocstill	Nate Sproles	Barbara Thompson
Ann Woods	Bill Whisnant
TRUSTEES
Class of 2018	Class of 2019	Class of 2020
Charles Webb	Nancy Cook	Peggy Hill