Altar Guild again and again

This takes up a lot of my time and energies these days.

What images and words come to mind?

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Behind the scenes - what we do happens before the service starts.

We take care of the worship space.

We do get noticed when there are special events. Thanks for having warm water for the baptism - said the visiting priest.

The flowers are often admired.

There is the flow of the liturgical calendar.

You work with others on the Altar Guild and every member - and we are few in number - does their part.

We share activities with the clergy and with the servers. There are a number of younger servers now.

There is much cleaning and stitching and washing and ironing that goes on.

We set up for celebration of a meal.

We help organize for the seasons of the church year; for baptisms and weddings and funerals; for the major feasts of Christmas and Easter. We also decorate with harvest fruits and vegetables at Thanksgiving.

There is a certain tradition of the services and the vessels that are used. Some of the vessels that we have are over 100 years old.

Many talented people are involved in creative tasks. Some are able to make and embroider the linens that are used on a regular basis. I was involved in this activity a long time ago when new linens were needed. We do have several drawers full.

There are beautiful liturgical hangings that were made by some very talented artists.

The flowers are arranged by those who like to arrange the colours and sizes and types of flowers. We have a large selection of flower vases of various styles and also the more traditional brass ones. We have them in three sizes - small, medium and large.