Altar Flowers

Barbara Modisett

To the glory of God, in memory of a loved one, and in thanksgiving for a marriage or other significant blessing, are all dedications expressed by the altar flowers placed every Sunday in the church and in the chapel.

Using glorious flowers to beautify the chancel is one of the assigned tasks of the Altar Guild. Each of the four teams has members who enjoy arranging flowers and who are responsible for putting flowers on our altars. All altar flowers for weddings and funerals as well as for Sunday services are arranged by them. There are often special requests for specific flowers on a given Sunday, and especially for weddings and funerals. It's always new and inspiring to see what kinds of flowers arrive, with their different colors, textures, sizes and shapes.

Styles and forms vary among the arrangers, but one form everyone must follow is to keep the height of the flowers no higher than the arms of the cross on the altar. To guide this measurement, each sacristy has a wooden cross hanging over the work space, replicating the height in the church and in the chapel from the altars to the arms of the cross.

On Mondays the flowers are made into eight or more small arrangements and delivered to a list of parishioners designated by the rector of those with pastoral needs or those celebrating a special event.

During Lent no flowers, only greens, are used for a more somber display. Exuberance takes over on the two festival days - Christmas and Easter- when abundant masses of poinsettias at Christmas and lilies at Easter fill the altars and baptismal fonts.

Occasional workshops at The Summit and Kanuga offer flower arranging techniques by noted flower arrangers. And Grace Church in Charleston, SC, holds a two-day biannual fall arts festival featuring a nationally or internationally renowned floral arranger who focuses on church flowers.

The premier seminar, however, is at the Washington National Cathedral held every January. The Cathedral Altar Guild conducts a marvelous five-day flower arranging workshop for thirty-six altar guild members from across the country. These coveted spots are snapped up during an autumn sign-up. The attendees stay at the College of Preachers on the Cathedral Close, each morning observing a demonstration by Cathedral altar guild members and in the afternoon having "hands-on" with flowers to practice what was taught in the morning. On the last day, a Friday, each student is given an assigned space within the Cathedral, buckets of flowers, and the go-ahead to create an arrangement for that space, under the guidance of Cathedral altar guild members. It's a thrill for each student to see her own arrangement in place on a pedestal, a rood screen, a baptismal font, or on altars throughout the cathedral - arrangements that remain in place through the following Sunday. Several of our Altar Guild members have attended over the years, and each of them has expressed great enthusiasm for the week.

Working with flowers is a happy experience and it is with much joy they are presented each week.

Send items for inclusion in future "Cross Roads."
The deadline is the first Thursday of the preceeding month.

© 2004 The Chapel of the Cross