Dear friends,
One of the big events of the year is coming up soon. The Annual Flying Pig BBQ will be after the 10:45 service on October 25. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for kids 10 and under. Bring a side dish to share and enjoy the BBQ! There are sign up sheets in the parish hall for helping Pit Master John Gimson, setting up and cleaning up, and other tasks. There will be great food and great bluegrass music by Brian and friends. You don’t want to miss it!
The following Sunday, November 1, is All Saints’ Day, an important day on the church calendar. We will welcome Maryann and Rick Lozano’s grandson, Leo, into the family of Christ through baptism. And we will read from the altar the names of those we love who have died in the past year, and all those who are buried in our memorial garden. If you have names you want remembered send them to me. There is no need to send in names of people from the Memorial Garden.
Then at 4 p.m. that Sunday the choir will sing a special requiem in honor of the day. Here is Brian’s description:
Concert Notice: On November 1st at 4:00 p.m., the Parish Choir of St. Dunstan’s will present the Requiem – Messe Pour Les Morts – written in 1894 by French composer Theodore Dubois. The music will be presented alongside readings and musical meditations specific to the festival of All Saints, which commemorates the faithful, known and unknown, who have died and now celebrate the “ineffable joys” given abundantly to all. This piece has a clouded history; it is dedicated to the memory of Dubois’s student Leon Ehrhart, who passed away in 1875 shortly after winning the Prix de Rome and yet is dated twenty years after Ehrhart’s death. Dubois himself was the head of the Paris Conservatory from 1896-1905, but it was his time as the organist at La Madeleine church in Paris that links him to Camille Saint-Saëns, his predecessor, and Gabriel Fauré, who succeeded him. The “Madeleine” Requiems of both Saint-Saëns and Fauré are heralded, canonical works in the choral repertoire. And yet Dubois’s Requiem, also premiered at La Madeleine, is rarely (if ever) performed and whose score remains absent from many libraries and relevant online repositories. The Parish Choir will sing the edition discovered in the 1980’s by Ronald Ebrecht, Yale University Fellow and University Organist Emeritus of Wesleyan University.
As we all know, important elections are happening next month. Polls are already open for early voting, and I know many of you have already cast your votes. Across the nation on Saturday there will be No Kings gatherings to protest the current administration and get out the vote. St. Dunstan’s has always had a good turnout for these rallies in support of American democracy. There are two gatherings that parishioners are planning to attend. The first is in Brookhaven on Peachtree, next to Canterbury Court from 10 a.m.–noon. You can park on Club Drive. There is also a gathering at the Sandy Springs at the Performing Arts Center from 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Join your fellow citizens and show your faith in standing up for our democracy.Finally, you are invited to join with other parishioners to see the Banksy art exhibit at Pullman Yards on November 8. Here’s the link for tickets. Buy yours for the 2 p.m. entrance. The Art of Banksy: Without Limits
There’s a lot going on! Enjoy!
With love,
Tricia