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Altar Guild Report 2025

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The main purpose of Trinity’s Altar Guild is to prepare the church for all worship services, while maintaining the altar area of the sanctuaries in the nave and both Christ the King and Blessed Sacrament chapels. Guild members are scheduled and attend every Eucharist, wedding, baptism and funeral service. Eucharists are scheduled for 8am and 10:15 every Sunday, 5pm most of the Sundays during the school year, weekday services during Advent and Lent, monthly vestry meetings services during Holy Week and other feast days.

In 2025, the 26 active members of the Altar Guild provided services for 136 Sunday and 62 weekday Eucharistic services in the nave as well as in the Blessed Sacrament and Christ the King chapels. With two funerals held at Trinity, the Altar Guild served at 200 services, which is up from 190 services in 2024.

This year services resumed in our Blessed Sacrament chapel for weekly morning and noonday prayers plus advent services. The chapel is open all day and can be used for private meditations. It is an overlooked treasure of our building. In Christ the King chapel a new holy water stoop was added in memory of former Altar Guild Directress Vera Doner. The Christ the King chapel is used for feast day Eucharistic and the 5pm Taizé services.

One of Trinity’s younger members has joined our ranks as a Junior Altar Guild member. In addition, a high school student is a “Senior” member. Each is responsible for setting up and/or cleaning up for services in the nave and Christ the King chapel. If there are other school age students interested in this ministry, please let Mtr. Amanda or an Altar Guild member know.

Beside serving at Eucharistic services, Guild members are also responsible for behind the-scenes duties:

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• Launder the many small and large altar linens used at each Eucharistic service

• Coordinate the flowers and plants which decorate altar/services (other than lent)

• Change the banners that adore the sanctuary each season (other than lent)

• Order and replace candles for all acolyte torches, candlesticks, sanctuary and votive candles in the nave and both chapels

• Order wine and communion wafers when needed

• Fill the stoops with Holy Water each week in both the nave and Christ the King chapel

• Fill and clean home communion kits for LEM’s and clergy taking communion to shut-ins

 

Throughout the year, as liturgical seasons change, guild members change the frontals, bible markers, banners and the vestments for both the clergy and the chalice, all reflecting the appropriate liturgical colors. For Christmas services, the Altar Guild places (and removes) candles, creches, wreaths, banners, trees and poinsettias in the worship areas and throughout the church. For Lent, Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter services, the members add veils on the reredos, provide the palms and also “decorate” the nave and chapels for the joyous season with Easter lilies and banners. Spouses and other church members are always welcome to join the guild workers to help with these big work days.

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This year we added a flowered wreath to the new aluminum cross on Berry Street for the season of Easter. We also started re-cycling the glass globes from the Sanctuary candles to be used as vases for distributing altar flowers and for luminaries used for our evening services. If anyone has an idea of reusing these glass candle globes, please let us know. With the nave and chapels, three globes are used each week.

Several times during the year, the guild has “cleaning days” to spruce up the nave and chapels where regular routine cleaning from the sexton is typically not done. If there are items in the church that a parishioner feels needs attention, it is important that an Altar Guild person is contacted, so that it can be addressed.

If you are interested in learning more about how to participate in the work of the Altar Guild and be an integral part of our worship services, please contact Mtr. Amanda or any Altar Guild member. No experience is needed, only a desire to serve the Lord.

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Alison Lee Bauer
Directress

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For more information, please contact Alison here.

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