UPCOMING EVENT: The Guild Creative Arts Conference, November 4, 2023, Church on Morgan, Raleigh: Organized by singer-songwriter Jess Ray, spoken word poet Sharlene Provilus, and event curator Cary Brege, The Guild Conference endeavors “to care for the craft and character of creative people while encouraging creative community. We want to inspire your creative work, spiritual journey, and daily rhythms.” The special guests this year are singer-songwriters Dwan Hill, Andy Squyres, and Taylor Leonhardt; JourneyMates director Mary Vandel Young; and Makers & Mystics podcaster Stephen Roach. The day-long conference includes sessions, a panel discussion, an artist showcase, and a concert by The Choir Room. The regular ticket price is $75 (group rates and concert-only tickets also available).
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ARTICLE: “A Cloud of Witnesses: Why We Should Celebrate All Saints Day” by Leonard J. Vander Zee: In this June 2008 article from Reformed Worship, the Rev. Leonard J. Vander Zee writes to his fellows in the Reformed Protestant tradition, explaining what All Saints’ Day is and why it’s important to celebrate it, as Methodists, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Roman Catholics do every November 1. (Churches without midweek services typically celebrate the feast corporately on whatever Sunday precedes the first of November: this year, October 29.) Vander Zee also offers a sample order of worship, including specific hymn suggestions.
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SONGS:
>> “For All the Saints” by John L. Bell and Graham Maule, performed by Roger Sullins: A contemporary hymn from the Iona Community in Scotland, Bell and Maule’s “For All the Saints” is not to be confused with the 1864 William W. How hymn of the same title, which begins “For all the saints who from their labors rest.” Instead of How’s militant language that emphasizes the Christian life as struggle, this hymn focuses on the loving actions of the saints and uses the beautiful English folk tune O WALY WALY. It’s performed below by Roger Sullins, a worship leader at Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church in Tampa. Purchase the sheet music here. (© 1996 Wild Goose Resource Group / The Iona Community; admin. GIA Publications, Inc.) [HT: Global Christian Worship]
For all the saints who’ve shown your love
In how they live and where they move
For mindful women, caring men
Accept our gratitude againFor all the saints who loved your name
Whose faith increased the Savior’s fame
Who sang your songs and shared your word
Accept our gratitude, good LordFor all the saints who named your will
And showed the kingdom coming still
Through selfless protest, prayer, and praise
Accept the gratitude we raiseBless all whose will or name or love
Reflects the grace of heav’n above
Though unacclaimed by earthly pow’rs
Your life through theirs has hallowed ours
>> “Lux Aeterna (Nimrod)” by Edward Elgar, arr. John Cameron, performed by Voces8: The orchestral work “Nimrod” is movement 9 from the Enigma Variations by British composer Edward Elgar (1857–1934). In 2004 John Cameron wrote an SSAATTBB choral arrangement of the tune using the words of “Lux aeterna” from the Requiem Mass—which is what Voces8 performs in this video.
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine,
cum sanctis tuis in aeternum,
quia pius es.Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua leceat eis.English translation:
May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord,
with thy saints forever,
for thou art kind.Eternal rest give to them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
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ARTICLE: “Soul on Deck” by Jake Lever: In Image no. 117 (Summer 2023), artist Jake Lever writes about a handful of his artworks having to do with the archetype of the boat as a vessel of passage: Ark, Bardsey Boats, Hailes Boats, Soul Boats, and Do the Little Things. He describes the fragile vessels he creates out of branches or wire, tissue paper, and gold leaf as “both cradle and coffin . . . something akin to a giant belly, cocoon, or womb . . . empty seed pods suggestive of cycles of birth, death, and resurrection.” Editions of some of these were given as gifts to family and friends during COVID, or to members of his collaborator-priest friend’s parish journeying through the final stages of a terminal illness.
For Soul Boats, installed at Birmingham Cathedral for its tercentenary, Lever invited city residents to fill the two thousand boats that would hang from the ceiling of the nave with personal memories, prayers, and reflections. “Created in hospices, youth clubs, schools, sacred spaces, and scores of community settings across the city, boats were made in memory of loved ones who had died, as cries for help in finding employment, as prayers of thanksgiving and gratitude, for peace and justice.” Heading east toward the high altar in the sanctuary, these boats formed a “constellation of souls.”
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LITANY: “Litany for All Saints Day” by Fran Pratt: I always appreciate the litanies (responsive prayers for congregational use) that Fran Pratt writes. This one is from 2016.
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And for some lighthearted fun: a GIF by James Kerr (artist name: Scorpion Dagger), of Jesus and the twelve apostles riding a tandem bicycle! Kerr makes humorous animated digital collages mostly from Northern and Early Renaissance art.
Art & Theology 