Drs. Han and Laura Ong, Instructor Josh Rudd, and Pastor Sam have been working with the King University Environmental Club and Bristol Mayor Margaret Feierabend to create For the Beauty of the Earth, a series of discussions on environmental stewardship. The first event, at 7:00 p.m. tonight , Thursday, November 14, will highlight the importance of recycling programs in Bristol and answer questions from the audience about recycling in our area. The developers of this program hope to follow up in the next few months with another panel on the question of the spiritual and moral imperative to care for the environment.

In addition to those from the City of Bristol and King University, representatives from two local companies, Revolution Curbside Recycling and Eastman Chemical, will be on the panel. Pastor Sam will moderate the discussion. All are welcome. Please join us in the King University Student Center Boardroom (on the mezzanine).

We will have several opportunities this Monday to hear from and speak to award-winning author, cultural critic, and philosopher James K.A. Smith. On his third visit to Bristol, he will give the Frederick Buechner Lecture in the King Institute for Faith and Culture. He will come to FPC to take part in an hour of conversation, after which we can meet him at a reception then hear his lecture. (See schedule below.)

Dr. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin University where he holds the Gary and Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview. He also serves as editor-in-chief of Image, a quarterly journal devoted to dramatic, incarnational art, to "works of imagination that embody a spiritual struggle, like Jacob wrestling with the angel."

Dr. Smith is the award-winning author of Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?, How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, and You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit. His theological trilogy Desiring the Kingdom, Imagining the Kingdom, and Awaiting the King has been widely read in Christian colleges as they find their institutional mission. His latest book, On the Road with Saint Augustine, presents the ancient African thinker as a pilgrim guide for spiritual devotion in our complicated times, the "patron saint of restless hearts." His popular writing has appeared in magazines such as Christianity Today, First Things, and the Los Angeles Review of Books as well as in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. He and his wife, Deanna, have four children, and live in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Dr. Smith's schedule for November 18:

T his Saturday, November 16, beginning at 10:00 a.m., is Basement Cleanout Day! We need volunteers from the congregation to help with this task. There may be some treasures in the basement that the church no longer needs, so come on out! There is a large quantity of slate from previous roof replacements that those of you with an artistic flair could put to use. We're asking $2 apiece for roofing slate (we have to pay for the dumpster somehow!). If you can help, please contact Randy Cook at 423-956-1541 (text preferred) or email [email protected]. 

We will collect our annual Thanksgiving offering at both services Sunday, November 24. Please be generous, for this special offering will benefit Bristol Faith in Action. FPC was one of the 13 area churches that worked together to found this ecumenical mission for the purposes of providing aid to local residents in temporary financial crisis and distributing commodity items, financial and mental health counseling, and referrals to other social service agencies. The aim is to help in emergencies while promoting long-term financial stability and self-sufficiency. More information is available on the BFIA website, http://www.bristolfia.org/.

Start the new year right with FPC Bristol at Passion 2020! We're going to join thousands of 18 -to-25-year-olds at the Benz in Atlanta from December 31 through January 2. Passion is filled with incredible worship, dynamic speakers, and sweet time with your church family. The cost is $150 if you register by December 1 and pay a $50 deposit. After December 1, the cost rises to $200. Register here. For more information, contact Katie Arnold at [email protected].

	Ann Holler

Sunday's music: Our anthem this week is "God, the Lord, Is My Strength" by local composer and FPC member Ann Holler. This piece is a beautiful setting of words adapted from the book of Habakkuk that affirm the reality that, throughout difficulties, God will provide a source of strength that endures. A notable element of this work is Ms. Holler's ability to seamlessly flow between keys that are not closely related in the circle of fifths. The work opens and closes with a solo sung by Mary Ellis Rice.

Ms. Holler holds music degrees from King College, Virginia Intermont College, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her compositions have been performed in the US, Italy, Scotland, and England. Several of her compositions are published through ALRY Publications and GIA Publications. Ms. Holler is a member of several professional organizations for musicians and has taught music theory courses at King University and ETSU.

Organist's footnotes: Sunday's organ music centers around this phrase in the Apostles' Creed: "the holy catholic [universal] church."

French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908 -1992) composed "Apparition de l'église éternelle" ("Apparition of the eternal church") in 1932. The piece is in arc form, beginning in pianissimo and building up to a fortissimo climax featuring a C major chord, then receding back to pianissimo. Richly colored chords alternate with open fifths, on top of a throbbing bass that repeats a simple rhythmic pattern. Programmatically, the piece describes the appearance of the eternal church, which then fades away. This imagery has been compared to Dante's description of the Inferno. Messiaen described the piece by quoting from the hymn "Cœlestis urbs Jerusalem": "Scissors, hammer, suffering, and tests, tailoring and polishing the elected persons, living stones of the spiritual edifice," stating that the throbbing bass depicts the incessant work of construction. He also wrote the following poem:

"Made out of living stone, Made out of heavenly stone, It appears in heaven: It is the Lamb's bride! It is the heavenly church Made out of heavenly stone Which is the chosen's souls. They are in God, and God is in them For heavenly eternity!"

Like Messiaen's early organ piece "Le Banquet Céleste," the piece is in extremely slow tempo, and can take up to 10 minutes to perform.

	John Ferguson

The offertory, "Den store hvide Flok" ("Behold a Host, Arrayed in White") by John Ferguson (b. 1941), is based on a 17th-century Norwegian folk tune sung with an English text in Lutheran congregations. Ferguson's arrangement for organ is quiet and ethereal. The melody is played in the pedals with 4 ' and 2 ' stops, accompanied by celestial string stops in the manuals.

The postlude is a setting of AURELIA by English organist and composer John Edward Marsh (b. 1939). AURELIA ("golden") was originally a setting for the hymn "Jerusalem the Golden." Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810 -1876), grandson of Charles Wesley, composed the tune in 1864. We now sing "The Church's One Foundation" to this tune. The lyrics were written by Samuel Stone in 1866. He based his text on Article 9 of the Apostles' Creed: "The Holy Catholic (Universal) Church; the Communion of Saints; He is the Head of this Body."

We've got the bells: You have the hands! Come join the Sanctuary Handbell Choir for low-key fellowship and upbeat music! We need new regular members, but we would also love to have people who can serve as substitutes. We practice from 6:15 to 7:15 on Wednesday evenings in room 212 upstairs, and play for the late worship service about once a month. We hope to play for the final service of this month on Christ the King Sunday, November 24. Come to our next practice and get in the swing! Contact Bob Greene at [email protected] or 276-696-9091.