This post was written by Whitney Holley

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The Altar Guild is a ministry that, if they do their job right, generally goes unnoticed by the general congregation. They are responsible for making sure everything is in place and ready for the priests and servers to conduct the church service. But what does that entail? Sarita Florida invited me to watch this ministry at work and  here is my look at the (Sun)Day in the Life of the Altar Guild!DSC00912

The Altar Guild is divided into teams and each team is in charge of weekly services. The team on the calendar for the Sunday services actually meets Saturday morning. There is a checklist of everything that needs to get done and the members come in and immediately pick a task and get to work.

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Their tasks include, and aren’t limited to, checking and preparing the vestments, cleaning and setting out the linens, preparing the boxes for the Eucharistic Vistors, preparing the vessels to be used for communion, cleaning the altar rails, and switching out any candles that are low. Generally anything found within the altar rails gets taken care of by the Altar Guild (they even water the flowers for the flower guild throughout the week).

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Come Saturday evening whoever signed up for the 5:30pm service is there a bit early to make sure everything is ready for worship. This person will then prep for the next service to help out whoever signed up for the 7:30am and it continues until 11:15 wraps up. When the guild member comes in Sunday they

– see how the previous service went

-see what needs to be set up, usually taken care of by previous service

-get the niche set up with everything ready for communion and anything else the MC for the service may need

– make sure that the altar is ready

-make sure the Offering plates are in the back for the ushers and that the Gospel book is ready for the Deacon to carry in during the processional

-refill torches

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When I asked the members serving this past weekend why they chose to spend time with this ministry there was a lot of talk about the fellowship with one another that takes place on work days. The Altar Guild is a family and while they work together they also catch up and check in with each other. I also heard variations on the work being ‘peaceful’ and Mary Ellen Horan, our Altar Guild Directress, said she found the time preparing for others to worship as her time to talk one on one with God.

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The Altar Guild members prefer the behind the scenes aspect of the job and take pride in the small tasks that make a big difference to the congregation. The work can be meditative and there is peace in knowing their ministry is integral in other’s spiritual lives.

In fact there was only one negative comment made the entire time I observed the Altar Guild at work and it had to do with lipstick. Apparently lipstick is a real pain to get out of the linens, so ladies maybe blot a bit before coming up to altar rail? Although members are quick to point out that they have a method to getting the stains out and that it comes with the job!

So the next time you are sitting in the pew and participating in the worship service, take a moment to notice how smoothly everything operates on the altar. That is partly due to your Altar Guild’s hard work in prepping “backstage” for the main event!

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If you are interested in finding out more about this essential ministry, please contact Mary Ellen at 972-964-1787 or mehoran1@verizon.net and she will be happy to talk to you about joining the altar guild. While the list of tasks they take care of is long, she promises  that the time commitment is 2 hours per month. Only more if you make friends and visit while you work!