St John the Baptist Wonersh
Last amended 18th March 2008/del
8.00 BCP Molly Howard
8.00 ASB David Hutchins
10.00 First Sunday Paddy MacVean
10.00 Third Sunday Sue Barry
10.30 Thursdays Lilo Mowforth
18.30 Second Sunday Marie Foster
The duties of the Sacristans are to make preparations for Communion. This involves
· Getting the communion table ready – removing the blue cloth, maintaining the candles
· Putting out the correct stole and cloth. Also the communion linen (purificator etc)
· collecting the silverware
· putting out the wine, water and bread.
· Ensuring everything is put away after communion, and that the elements are used up.
· The Sacristans check that we have stocks of communion wine, candles and matches; let the Secretary know when re-ordering is required.
Many thanks also to:-
· Barbara and David Hutchins who have tirelessly provided the linen laundry service for many years.
· Jilly Pratt for keeping a close eye on the Church Registers
· Thelma & Humphrey Boughton who prepare the baptismal table & documentation.
· John and Sue Wallis who are responsible for seeing that the hangings are cared for and changed each season.
The stoles that clergy wear and the curtains around the altar table change to match the season of the year according to the church calendar. This is not always the case as Ian was recently seen wearing yellow, and when asked why he said it was because he liked the colour!!
The year begins with Advent, which is a time of preparation, not only for the coming of Christ at Christmas, but also of the Second Coming of Christ as Judge at the Last Day. The liturgical colour is then PURPLE (or Violet) for a King, but in Wonersh the communion table hangings have traditionally been BLUE or RUST. On Christmas Day the colour changes to white, the celebration colour, and we hang our beautiful GOLD festival curtains and communion table frontal.
The colours next change on the first Sunday of Epiphany, which is associated with the arrival of the Wise Men and the showing of Christ to the Gentile world. For this season the colour is GREEN which is the most common colour and speaks of nature. We remain with Green until Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, when the liturgical colour is PURPLE for mourning or repentance, but we use the very simple unbleached linen hangings and frontal which always seem appropriate for this season of penitence and abstinence. On Good Friday all the hangings are removed and the communion table is left stark and bare, ready to break out into the triumph of Easter Day, when we return to our GOLD festival hangings and frontal.
It is traditional to use the colour of RED for Whit Sunday symbolising the fire of God’s Holy Spirit, but we stay with the GOLD until the Sundat after Trinity when we go back to GREEN for all the Sundays leading up to Advent again.
Some of the hangings are very old and the colours on the main communion table differ from those in the Lady Chapel.