The Eucharist
Altar Guild
The Altar Guild is a volunteer group of the parish whose ministry is to care for the altar, vestments, vessels, and altar linens of the parish. Altar Guild members prepare the sanctuary for services and clean up afterwards. Altar Guild members frequently supervise the decoration of the sanctuary of the parish with flowers.
St. John’s Altar Guild prepares the church for services and special occasions that include Holy Eucharist, such as Baptisms, Confirmations, Memorials, Christmas, Easter, The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Ordination and a visit from our Bishop.
The Altar Guild has four teams working one week each month. Each team has a Captain, a flower person and team members who set up the Altar for communion, clean up after communion, wash and press linens and set up the Altar for the next service.
Contact the rector if you are interested in becoming part of the Altar Guild.
Worship Helpers
The eucharist is the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, and the principal act of Christian worship. The term is from the Greek, “thanksgiving.” Jesus instituted the eucharist “on the night when he was betrayed.” At the Last Supper he shared the bread and cup of wine at a sacred meal with his disciples. He identified the bread with his body and the wine with his blood of the new covenant. Jesus commanded his disciples to “do this” in remembrance of him. The Last Supper provides the basis for the fourfold eucharistic action of taking, blessing, breaking, and sharing. Christ’s body and blood are present in the sacrament of the eucharist and received by faith. Christ’s presence is also known in the gathered eucharistic community.
In the Book of Common Prayer, the whole service is entitled the Holy Eucharist. The first part of the service is designated the Word of God. It usually includes the entrance rite, the lessons and gradual psalm, the gospel, the sermon, the Nicene Creed, the prayers of the people, the confession of sin and absolution, and the peace. The second portion of the service is designated the Holy Communion. It includes the offertory, the consecration of the bread and wine in the Great Thanksgiving, the communion of the people, and the concluding prayers of thanksgiving and dismissal. A blessing may be given prior to the dismissal.
The eucharist is also called the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, the Divine Liturgy, the Mass, and the Great Offertory.
St. John’s needs many volunteers to help with worship services. Please contact the rector if you are interested in serving in any of these roles.
- Ushers greet parishioners as they enter the church and hand out the programs for the service.
- Lectors, also called readers, are lay people trained in reading scripture who are appointed by the clergy person in charge of the congregation to read lessons or lead the prayers of the people. The term is from the Latin, “to read.” There is no license required for this lay ministry. They read from the lectern, a reading stand upon which the lessons, psalms, or prayers sit.
- Tellers help in the office after church counting and recording the collection taken during each service.
- Lay Eucharistic Ministers are lay people licensed by the bishop to administer the consecrated elements of the eucharist. Lay eucharistic ministers may be licensed to administer the consecrated bread and wine at any celebration of the eucharist in the absence of a sufficient number of priests and deacons to assist the celebrant. They also may be licensed to go from a Sunday eucharist or other principal celebrations of the eucharist to share the sacrament with members of the congregation who were unable to be present at the celebration because of illness or infirmity. Lay eucharistic ministers may be licensed for either or both ministries. They help with the church services at the altar and during communion.
- Acolyte is a general term which covers not only servers, torchbearers, and lighters of candles but also crucifers, thurifers, and banner-bearers. They help with the church services by carrying the cross (crucifers), carrying lighted candles on either side of the cross (torchbearers), carrying and swinging the container in which incense is burned during the eucharist and other services (thurifer), holding the Gospel Book during the reading of the Gospel and assisting with the set up of the altar for communion during the service.