Published: October 23, 2009 11:06 am      

Celestial Praise Chorale invites listeners to the throne of God

When asked to describe what he hopes the Celestial Praise Chorale will accomplish when they perform at the Fairfield Glade Community Church on Nov. 8, Director Roger Peden said, “We hope folks will feel they have been part of the great cloud of witnesses worshiping God around the throne in heaven.”

Peden will be directing the 24-voice chorale, based in Fletcher, NC, at the annual Fairfield Glade Community Church Memorial Concert at 3 p.m. on Nov. 8. Midway through the hour-long concert, the names of Community Church members who have died since the previous year’s concert will be read and a rose in their honor will be placed on the communion table. After the concert the chorale join the congregation for refreshments in the fellowship hall. The chorale will also sing with the Fairfield Glade Community Church Choir at the 10 a.m. worship service on Nov. 8.

Composed of singers from 12 Seventh Day Adventist churches in North and South Carolina, the Celestial Praise Chorale draws upon the traditional hymnody of the church in its presentation, but “puts a new paint job” on traditional hymns. “We try not to be predictable in our harmony and presentation,” Peden said. “We want to create a worship experience focusing on God instead of us. We want listeners to have an experience of God. My goal is for the audience to meet me at the door and say, ‘Isn’t God awesome!’”

A retired high school music educator who served schools in California and Arizona, and who wanted his music to be a “hobby rather than a vocation,” Peden started the Celestial Praise Chorale in 2006. It was a spin-off of another group he formed, the Sounds of Praise, that grew too large to make it feasible for the group to travel to present concerts. Celestial Praise has traveled to perform concerts every second weekend of a given month since 2007. Peden last directed a choral group at the Community Church in 2001.

At times featuring eight-part acappella harmony, Celestial Praise presents hymnody that is “conservative, but alive.” Peden said that the group’s harmonies are contemporary, and in the eight-part arrangements, are very close harmonies. The group segues from one hymn to the next, often singing for 15 to 20 minutes without a sizeable break. Philosophically, Peden strives to meet five elements in the balance and harmony of the Chorale’s presentations: melody, harmony, rhythm, intellectual content, and emotional content.

“We try to bridge generations,” Peden said. Some of the songs presented are “contemporary,” being drawn from music written in the last 15 to 20 years, but the chorale’s strongest base is the traditional hymnody of the church. The chorale’s appeal to younger generations is found in the harmonic progressions, Peden said. Some pieces are acappella, while others are accompanied by a Clavinova keyboard, which provides a wide variety of keyboard sounds. Considering himself a “re-arranger” rather than an arranger, Peden attempts to present well-known themes in a new light that “evokes worship and brings us closer to the Lord.”

Making God the center of the concert is Peden’s ultimate goal. The common themes that emerge through the music are “trusting in God,” “the greatness, the awesomeness of God,” “heaven and the new creation in Christ,” and the picture of the “great cloud of witnesses worshiping around God’s throne.” Peden said, “In our world today we focus so much on the present that we lose sight of God’s glory.” Peden believes that the Holy Spirit convicts, encourages, uplifts, and renews people through music.

One of the ways that Peden practices “music evangelism” is that during the concert he will take the opportunity to share the Good News of God’s love with the audience. In some concerts “I have a burden to strengthen family ties, particularly between parents and children,” Peden said. In others, particularly in a time of financial stress and a down economy, Peden tries to press home the point that one’s security is to be “found in the Lord, not your 401K. These times of stress teach us to rely on the Lord.” In a retirement context such as Fairfield Glade, Peden said his hope is that the chorale’s presentation will encourage retirement age folks to have a viable, outward relationship with the Lord.

Peden said the chorale asks itself, “What is our witness — direct or indirect — in how we pay our bills, live out our work relationships? Do people see Christ in us?”

“Our responsibility as Christians is to pack the knowledge of God in our hearts and minds,” Peden said. “God’s responsibility is to unpack this knowledge in the appropriate way.”

No reservations are required to attend the concert. If you need further information you can call the church office at 484-7412. For a map to find the Fairfield Glade Community Church, visit the church's Web site at www.fairfieldgladecommunitychurch.org.