contributed by Rosanne Brooks
1st Corinthians 12.27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Driving up to a small wound care hospital I’d never seen before on a cold, drizzly, windy Sunday morning, I found myself thinking, “I can’t wait to get inside.” But I wasn’t looking forward to escaping the weather; I was looking forward to taking communion to a member of the parish who has been unable to come worship with us for some time now.
A brass plate indicates that an EV Kit was donated to the church in honor of a loved one
Eucharistic Visitors have the extreme privilege of bringing our church family and the eucharist to those who, for a variety of reasons, are not physically able to come to the church. I am a choir member, a recidivist participant in The Way, and a new lector, but participating in the Eucharistic Visitor ministry is the single most important thing I think I do in the church. When Deacon Liz hands the box over to the EV’s at the end of the 9:00 service, she and the presider are commissioning us each time to take the sacrament to someone who desperately wants to be with his or her church family. What an awesome responsibility! We visit people who are recovering from temporary illnesses, or who deal with things much less temporary. We visit newborns (and their parents, but really we just want to be the first to celebrate Christ’s gifts with the baby!) and people who have been members of Transfiguration for decades.
Eucharistic Visitors serve one Sunday a month, and we visit two or three parishioners before bringing the kit back to the church, usually before the end of the 11:15 service. Being an EV is cool because it comes with accessories!
The Altar Guild and Flower Guild support the EVs by making sure our boxes are ready to go on Sunday mornings and providing small bouquets for us to take to the people we visit.
The wooden boxes that we take out on visits contain a small version of every single piece of equipment needed for communion. To transport the consecrated elements, each box has a circular silver container, a pyx, to hold wafers and a cruet to hold consecrated wine. For the special service EV’s use, we pour the wine into a chalice and put the wafers on a small plate called a paten. We use a purificator to wipe the sides of the chalice, and the elements are presented on a corporal. As you can see, it really is the next best thing to being at church.
The EV service was designed to follow the Sunday service as closely as it is possible to do with out being presided over by a priest. We pray together and read the scriptures, we talk about the morning’s service, and then we take communion and pray together some more.
A typical set-up for a visit
To me, the most important piece of being a Eucharistic Visitor is to truly visit. Often the most rewarding part of being with those whom we go to see comes while simply visiting, either before or after the service. One of our strengths at Transfiguration is creating a real church family. I feel enriched by spending time with my church family, and treasure the opportunity to be with all of the members of the church body.
If you have any interest in working with this ministry or are in need of a Eucharistic Visit yourself, please contact Deacon Liz O’Donnell lodonnell@transfiguration.net Phone 972-233-1898 ext. 222