spring 2010

Ανάμνηση

by Larry Graham

“Do this in remembrance of me.” We hear that phrase every time we gather in community for a celebration of the Holy Eucharist.

“Remembrance” is the English translation for the Greek New Testament word Ανάμνηση (anamnesis). But our English translation has its weaknesses. As anamnesis was often used in ancient times, it means more than simply remembering. Anamnesis means acting to connect the past to the present and the present to the past.

Anamnesis means to make the past present again, here and now. And it means to take us, here present, into the past. And so it is that in the Eucharist we join outside of time, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. Anamnesis is a powerful, if unseen, sacramental action.

Of course, we all do other kinds of remembering too. We remember those who have gone before us into the Church Triumphant. And we remember the good examples set for us by those who live among us still. And often we want to honor those remembrances by giving them substance. We look for substantial ways of bringing those things past into the present.

All Saints’ Memorials and Gifts Fund offers us a means to do exactly that; a way of creating outward and physical signs that link us and the All Saints’ community to remembrance. It is a very special thing for our community of faith when we do this.

“My dear friend, Charles Crawford, died quite suddenly last summer,” remembers Harvie Abney. “We were close friends for years, and I was constantly amazed at his wealth of knowledge about so many things. One of these was our Episcopal Church. All Saints' was important to him as a place of worship and also as a part of God's community. Charles chaired Arts Theology and was deeply involved in production of the All Saints’ cookbook. He cooked many meals for St. Lukes’ Chapter and endeared himself to all of us with his cheerful personality and quick sense of humor. At his funeral, gifts were designated to the All Saints’ Memorials and Gifts Fund. I understand that these funds help beautify our church campus and fund needed improvements. Past donations have funded things as practical as prayer books and as complex as the North Avenue Arch erected in 2009. What a fitting way to honor a friend like Charles!”

Gifts designated in memory or honor of people, are always gratefully received. The Memorials and Gifts Committee maintains a list of items that would be useful to the work and worship of the parish and can make recommendations. Resulting projects from gifts to the parish are inscribed in a permanent record-book of gifts, and the bulletin on All Saints’ Day includes a list of all who have been honored or memorialized with gifts during that year. Acknowledgement letters may be requested sent to honorees and families of the deceased.

If you want to make a gift to the All Saints’ Memorials and Gifts Fund, please send checks made out to All Saints’ Church and flagged “Memorials and Gifts” to the church office: 634 W. Peachtree St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30308. If you have questions, email Sherry Terlemezian, committee chair.

Larry Graham is a former college professor, and now works as a theatre design consultant at Graham, Swift & Company in Atlanta. He lives in Dunwoody with his partner Rick Jones and their dog Bambi. He has been a member at All Saints' since 1981.

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