I entered the Episcopal church as a college student in the mid-1990’s and found my spiritual home among the poetry of the Book of Common Prayer, the beautiful and holy sacraments in an ancient church, and the glorious music of chant and hymns… and I had a divine guide along the way.
Her name was Shirley McFadden and she was the chair of the Altar Guild at St. Anne’s in Annapolis. Shirley was an angel to me, a messenger sent from God. She invited me into all the beauty of holiness that is made present and tangible in the work of maintaining the altar and preparing the church for worship. She unlocked every cabinet, pulled back every curtain, revealed every trick for polishing silver or removing a stain from white linen. She showed me that the most precious objects used over many generations were not meant for a museum shelf, but to be blessed again and again by hands and lives being offered up every week at the altar of God. Shirley’s embrace changed my church citizenship status from being a foreign church visitor, to becoming a native inhabitant of this holy habitat.
Holy Week is usually a time when the Altar Guild is immersed in the holy habitat of church. Worship services occur every day and the most dramatic liturgies of our year are unfolding within the sanctuary, nave, and chapel. Linens, silver vessels, towels, basins, water, candles, bread, wine, and blessed oil are all being used to gather the Body of Christ on this sacred journey through the cross and into the resurrection. This is usually a time of tremendous activity and solemn prayer… and yet at this moment of pandemic precautions, the hands of our altar guild are not employed around the altar of our church. The altar guild is at home, like the rest of us.
I know how my empty hands feel as I long to touch, hug, anoint, feed, and wash the feet of All Saints’. I imagine that the hands of our altar guild are feeling restless this year. I asked Jody (our Altar Guild chair) to invite the guild to share the blessings they experience as they serve the altar. Unless you are part of the Altar Guild, this aspect of ministry blessing remains hidden to most parishioners. Tending the altar is ‘behind the scenes’ work. Here is a window into the hearts that hold the beauty of holiness in their hands….
I am so honored to be part of the Altar Guild all the time, but Holy Week is
especially meaningful. Being able to prepare for the many services in memory
of and to the glory of Jesus’s last days is very special.
I find it difficult to express such intimate, personal feelings and with that being
said, I find the stripping of the altar (Maundy Thursday) best expresses the
overwhelming sense of grief and outrage as well as the sense of hope and
anticipation. It is an emotional period – looking for the pain and suffering to
abate and lead to joy, but even with that joy we are unable to forget the
sacrifice. Handling each item – knowing that this part of the story is
unavoidable and necessary to the triumphant conclusion and that our
reluctance to do so feeds into our desire to protect Jesus from the inevitable
suffering that is to come is, indeed, humbling.
Taking part in stripping the altar and then seeing its starkness puts me in the experience of being apart from Christ. The depth of that feeling of loss makes
more profound the joy of Easter.
It is a blessing to be called to prepare the vessels and elements, these things that
so beautifully hold what will become the symbol of Christ’s love for us with the
priest’s words of consecration.
What a rewarding yet humbling experience it is to witness how deeply moved are those who come to receive the sacraments. By having everything in place, the priest and congregation can focus on the Eucharistic prayer and experience a meaningful communion with Christ.
In preparation for Holy Week 2020 we have entered an era of church that is both ancient and modern. We are learning and remembering how to be Domestic Church. The early Christians of the first centuries gathered only in homes, around tables that served dinner and communion. It was too dangerous to meet in public and gather in large groups. It seems that today we are walking a path already worn by the feet of our ancestors.
In this holy season, we are asking you to become the Altar Guild of your home church altar. Create a holy space where you can gather with your household, the presence of God made tangible in candle, oil, cup, plate, linens, prayers, and the beauty of holiness. We invite you to become citizens of the sanctuary present in your own life. The Altar of God is not only in the building on 106 W. Church St. The Altar of God is present anywhere you invite Christ to come and feed you. The space where you call down the Holy Spirit to transform you. The place where you ask God to re-create the world and show us the work of resurrection.
As we approach this most holy time in our church year – join the altar guild in their prayer as you prepare your holy household to travel from Thursday night’s commandment to love one another to Saturday’s silent tomb: from the last supper, to the foot washing, to pray in Gethsemane, to the trial, to the crucifixion, to the tomb… and then wait there – wait for God’s resurrecting power to come. (Alleluia! Christ is Risen!)
Most gracious Father, who has called me your child to serve in the preparation of your altar, so that it may be a suitable place for the offering of your body and blood; Sanctify my life and consecrate my hands so that I may worthily handle those sacred gifts which are being offered to You. As I handle holy things, grant that my whole life may be illuminated and blessed by You, in whose honor I prepare them, and grant that the people who shall be blessed by their use may find their lives drawn closer to Him whose body and blood is our hope and our strength.
Prayer written by the Rt. Rev. E. Don Taylor
