If you missed the Halloween or Nasty Women concerts, they are available on demand at www.countrysideucc.org/concerts
Cancion a la Pachamama – Performed by Kusi Taki
It is election season… So today our prelude includes a shoutout to Bolivia, who saw the will of the people overturn a coup government. Defeating the coup government and restoring democracy was a refutation of Christian fascism and racism against the indigenous and their culture. The majority of Bolivians are indigenous, and their culture emphasizes fidelity to place, nature, and to the earth. Indigenous music, art, and ritual all reflect this fidelity, and Andean music is no different. Today, descendants of the Incas – the Quechua and Aymara peoples in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile – have deep cultural traditions that celebrate Pachamama – Mother Earth.
Back to the present day and why this is important – immediately after the coup, the interim president and right-wing religious leaders brought bibles into the halls of government and declared that “the Bible has returned to the government palace. Pachamama will never return.” At the ballot box, the people repudiated this sentiment and affirmed the religious pluralism that we also value, and that no matter the outcome of our election we will continue to seek a more tolerant world and advocate for religious pluralism and solidarity.
In Incan times, Pachamama was considered to be a cruel and demanding deity, but with the influence of the Catholic Church after the arrival of the Spanish, she became somewhat hybridized with the Virgin Mary. (Much of the Bolivian far-right is comprised of Evangelicals and Pentecostals, not Catholics, so the far-right’s disdain for Pachamama is exacerbated by the tie into the Virgin Mary). In modern times, Pachamama is a cultural representation for Mother Earth, but still retains some of those characteristics – benevolence and intercessory prayer. Many South Americans believe that problems arise when humans do not respect Pachamama, necessitating fidelity to the earth – something we could all learn from.
Toccata from Suite Gothique – Léon Boëllmann
For All The Saints
For All The Saints was first published in 1864, under the title “A Cloud of Witnesses,” a reference to Hebrews 12:1: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us . . .”
The hymn is based on a line from the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in the Communion of Saints.” Within the Anglican tradition, the relationship with the faithful on earth and the saints in heaven is paramount. Much of the text of For All The Saints centers around this theme.
Last year, we did a sermon series on Revelation. In Revelation 7, John has a vision of “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb…and they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” This innumerable throng—the “communion of saints”—represents the whole Christian Church on earth—past, present, and future. This concept from Revelation provides a secondary theme, expanding on the Apostles Creed.
For all the saints, who from their labors rest, who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia, alleluia!
Thou wast their rock, their fortress and their might: their strength and solace in the well-fought fight;
thou, in the darkness drear, the one true light. Alleluia, alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine! We live and struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in thee, for all are thine. Alleluia, alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the conflict long, steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong. Alleluia, alleluia!
Shall We Gather at the River
This hymn is also based on the book of Revelation – in this case, the first and second verses of Revelation 22:
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
The theology behind this hymn is somewhat apocalyptic, but in the present day is more often associated with funerals. However, the circumstances at the time of its genesis are relevant to us today. The summer of 1864 was the height of the Civil War. In New York City, where the author, Robert Lowry was based, there had been riots months prior by Confederate sympathizers targeting abolitionists and freed slaves.
Hymn scholar Pam McAllister writes: “in the 21st century, we gather to sing of a river of life, of beauty and remembrance, of loved ones and community, and melodies of peace. We hear in the words of this “old favorite” Lowry’s invitation and a Biblical reminder: we’re in this together.
Do we imagine God’s throne in some far off heaven? Or could it be that the throne is that spark of the sacred we discover at the core of our own beings and that the beautiful river is the current of divine energy that connects us to each other and to all life?”
Shall we gather at the river, where bright angel feet have trod,
with its crystal tide forever flowing by the throne of God?
[Refrain:]
Yes, we’ll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river;
gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God.
Ere we reach the shining river, lay we every burden down;
grace our spirits will deliver, and provide a robe and crown. [Refrain]
Soon we’ll reach the shining river, soon our pilgrimage will cease;
soon our happy hearts will quiver with the melody of peace. [Refrain]