ALTAR DUTIES
PURPOSE: General care and
preparation of the altar for worship services.
INTRODUCTION: By your
participation in these altar duties, you offer a needed and valuable
contribution to the worship services of our church. Just as people make
their homes as beautiful as possible for their loved ones, so we, loving
God above all things, want to make His house and our worship of Him even
more beautiful than our private homes. Whatever we do in humble and
adoring faith to achieve this end is a distinct service of love.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
-
Set up and clean up of communion on
Sundays and for special communion services during the year.
-
If needed, place flowers or plants on
altar or plant stands. No potted plants are to be used on the altar,
only on the plant stands.
CARE AND PLACEMENT OF THE ALTAR PERMANENTS:
-
The colored permanents are located on the
hangars in the right hand side of the closet in the sacristy (the room
behind the altar).
-
Check the colored calendar or chart in the
sacristy or the church office to determine the proper color for use on
any given Sunday.
-
The colored permanents are to be dry
cleaned only. The other altar and communion linens may be laundered as
needed.
COMMUNION WARE CARE AND PREPARATION:
-
The purchase of the communion wafers and
wine is the responsibility of the Board of Elders. Contact the church
office (Annette) if you notice supplies are getting low. Specifically,
let Annette know when there are only 5 sleeves of wafers remaining.
-
All handling of the communion ware and all
polished brassware should be done with the white cloth gloves located in
the drawer under the left side of the counter in the sacristy
-
The items of communion ware:
-
Individual cup trays (each holding 40
glasses), three trays are to be filled for each service. Fill the
individual cups ¾ full using the filling adaptor provided.
-
Chalice (common cup) is used by the
assisting elders and Pastor at the 8am and 11am services. Do NOT
pre-fill the chalice as the wine corrodes the brass.
-
Glass cruet is filled 1/3 full of wine
and used by the pastor to fill the chalice at the 8am and 11am
services when the common cup is offered.
-
Host box with lid to contain the
wafers. Silver wafer box for extra wafers needs to be used only on
special occasions when one might expect an unusually large crowd at
one communion service.
-
Paten – brass dish from which the wafers
are distributed. It is placed on top of the chalice.
-
Corporal – a 20” X 20” white linen,
which is placed over the fair linen that covers the altar. The
communion ware is placed on this in the center of the altar.
-
Communion veil – this is placed over all
the communion vessels with the stitched cross facing the front of the
altar.
-
The communion trays and host box may be
prepared as far in advance as even Friday or Saturday. If you decide to
do this, you may put it out on the altar if there will be communion at
the 8am Sunday service (first, please make sure there won’t be any event
being held in the sanctuary in the meantime). If you are preparing early
for the 9:30 service, it should not be placed on the altar until after
the 8am service is finished. Whether preparing before Sunday or on
Sunday, please make sure it is placed on the altar at least ½ hour
before the service begins. Fill the individual cups ¾ full, using the
filling adapter provided.
-
For the 9:30 communion services, please
place the two baskets (with linen napkins in them) out on the two wooden
stands for people to put their used cups in; do not fill the glass
cruet, and do not place the chalice on the altar.
-
Using the diagram that follows, place
communion ware on the altar.
CLEAN-UP AFTER COMMUNION:
-
Write the communion count (empty glasses)
for each service in the appropriate space on the chart on the side of
the closet next to the sink. Each of the trays contains 40 cups. For
common cup count (8am and 11am services), ask the pastor, or count
yourself during distribution.
-
Take the chalice with the blessed wine in
it outside and empty it into the grass or dirt. It may NOT be poured
down the drain. After emptied, rinse with water and dry it well.
-
Empty all the full cups back into the wine
bottle from which they were poured, using the funnel found under the
sink.
-
Collect all the cups and wash them in one
of the square plastic tubs found under the sink. Add a small amount of
Clorox to the water. Dry the cups well and replace them in the trays.
-
Empty the glass cruet back into the wine
bottle it came from, rinse it out, and dry it well. You can leave the
top off so the inside will dry when you place it back in the cupboard.
-
Place all of the remaining wafers back in
the Ziploc bag. Please make sure you leave Annette a note when there
are only five sleeves of wafers remaining.
-
Place all of the clean, dry communion ware
items into the fabric bags found in the cupboard.
-
Put everything away, wipe off counters,
and take all towels used in cleaning the communion glasses and trays
home to wash and return the same week so they will be available for use
next Sunday.
-
Check the coporal, communion veil, and
cloth handkerchiefs for wine spots and general grime. If you think they
need to be washed, please take them home and also return that week.
Revised July 2003
|