Curioser and Curioser: A Journey of Faith in Altar Service

In a little over a week, our parish is hosting Breakfast Tacos with Jesus on a Saturday morning for those who are curious about worship ministries like being a greeter, an acolyte, a reader, a member of the altar guild, or a member of the choir. Today, I would like to share with you my own journey into serving at our Lord’s table, and I hope that you will consider joining us on September 24 for Breakfast Tacos with Jesus to learn a little more about the different worship ministries.

It was a Saturday morning in the fall. The temperatures outside were not yet cool since Mississippi held on to the heat for as long as it could before turning cold. A small group of the youth of the parish were dropped off at church by our parents and found ourselves sitting awkwardly in the pews as we waited to learn what it would mean to be an acolyte on a Sunday morning.

Our parish was small. A full Sunday morning was normally around 70 people between all the services. As such, the number of youth in the parish was also small. But, those of us who were old enough and either wanted to be an acolyte or were being made to do so by our parents found ourselves waiting for the priest to come and teach us how to be an acolyte on Sunday morning. For the rest of the morning, we practiced leading the procession in by carrying the processional cross, setting the table for Holy Eucharist, and learning exactly when we were supposed to ring those weird looking bells that would chime in the middle of the Sunday service.

Starting in 5th grade, I began to serve at the altar at least once a month and normally at least twice a month. As I grew in stature, I learned how to do different jobs at the altar for high feast days - like learning how to swing the thurible when we would have incense. (Our parish had it at least once a month in addition to the high holy days, and I still love the way that incense changes worship into a wonderful experience involving all of our senses.)

During high school, I had taken a break from serving at the altar. My break from regular altar service lasted until at least into my later 20s when I moved to a new city and began attending a new parish. In this parish, I had a false start with getting involved. I had been going to worship quite regularly and had served as a reader from time to time but got distracted in life for a little while. After getting an invitation from one or two parishioners to come back to All Saints’, I returned to the parish and got back involved with serving at the altar as a reader, a Eucharistic Minister, a member of the altar guild, and a verger. I plunged back into serving and worshiping as part of the altar party, and I looked forward to those Sundays in which I was able to serve in worship. In my adult life, it generally meant that I was serving once a month or so in the altar party. We had a good crew of folks who wanted to serve at the altar, and it was wonderful to be part of a community of people who looked forward to serving our Lord in this way.

Altar service - whether as an acolyte, a Eucharistic Minister, on the altar guild, as a reader, or as a greeter helping newcomers to feel welcome and to find their place in a pew on Sunday morning - is one way for us to grow in our own faith and in our own experience of God’s grace. It is an opportunity for us to serve our fellow disciples and to help the clergy of the parish to lead worship on a Sunday morning. In my youth, it had been something my parents wanted me to do until it became something that I looked forward to doing. It became a true ministry as I grew from one role to another in my own discipleship, and I began to learn more and more about the shape of our worship. By the time I left for seminary, I had grown to the point that my service around the altar was also one of the primary ways in which I was able to worship God.

Our form of worship focuses on worship being led through a shared ministry of lay and ordained ministers. The clergy are asked to rely on the assistance of lay leaders and ministers so that worship is a time in which all members of the Body of Christ are able to participate in the worship life of the parish - growing from sitting in the pews to being one of the lay ministers who devotes themselves to serving at the table that Christ has set for us. If we can look at worship from this lens, we can see that the shape of our worship and the ways that many people are involved in worship ministries is truly a celebration of the ministry of all the baptized.

What worship ministry are curious to learn more about? How is God inviting you further in your journey of faith? What is your favorite breakfast taco?

In Christ,

Hunter+