From the Rector

Dear Friends,

I came across an anonymous quote last week that declared, "Volunteers are unpaid, not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless." You know how true that is at the Chapel of the Cross!

Just take one area of our ministry, the one most fully experienced by most of us: our worship. Although staff members, clergy and lay, play key roles in organizing and planning our worship, assigning roles and providing necessary training, printing bulletins and schedules, and officiating and preaching, without volunteers our worship would be greatly impoverished and ineffective. The lectors proclaim the word of God in a way to help us hear and engage with it. The intercessors lead us in praying for the Church and for the world. The lay Eucharistic ministers nourish us at the Lord's table. The choirs and musicians lead us in singing God's praise and in heeding God's presence. The acolytes assist with practical tasks and symbolic rituals. The ushers facilitate the smooth order of the service and the atmosphere of reverence. The greeters welcome people into God's house and into the hospitality of God's people. The Buildings and Grounds Committee attends to and maintains our worship spaces, including lighting, sound, and temperature. The Altar Guild handles a myriad of details from flowers to missals to sacred vessels to hangings and vestments, which allows the whole congregation to enter into a deeper level of worship.

It is this last group which is the focus of this issue of Cross Roads. Since their work is largely hidden, happening well before and after worship services, we thought it would be helpful to all of us to understand the nature and scope of their duties. Since their work is done so consistently and effectively, it is easy for us to take it for granted; but it is vital to our worship of God, for which we are most grateful.

Because we maintain two worship spaces and a variety of service formats, including a number of different special services and more weddings and funerals per year than any other parish in the diocese, the Chapel of the Cross makes great demands on its Altar Guild. But "many hands make light work"; so the Altar Guild is divided into teams and special tasks.While membership is by invitation of the rector, if you (male or female) would like to serve on the Altar Guild, please contact me or Helen Corry, our Altar Guild chair.

- Stephen

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The deadline is the first Thursday of the preceeding month.

© 2004 The Chapel of the Cross