This article was first published in the May 2018 issue of BE Alive

Easter 2018 A Liturgical Team:

the unseen and the seen 

Holy Week saw all our different liturgy groups putting in a huge amount of work and an impressive display of teamwork to contribute to the moving, powerful and peaceful services.

The Unseen:

Anyone stepping foot in the church during Holy Week either for a moment of quiet personal reflection and prayer or to participate in one of the services, could not help but be struck by the serenity, beauty and sheer preparedness of the church.

There is a group of volunteers in our parish the results of whose work we see but who

are rarely seen themselves – they work quietly and discreetly in the background fixing, cleaning, arranging and preparing.

Our committed team of sacristans and linen laundry volunteers ensured that the altar and church were prepared for each service, as well as tidying everything away again!  Indeed our sacristans stayed long after the services had finished to ensure everything was tidied away on the altar and in the church itself ready for the next service.

The flower arranging team of Mary, Joan, Maureen, and Kathy excelled themselves once again with the wonderful displays for Easter.

Our usual floral arrangements were complemented this year by a wonderful array of daffodils, an Easter gift from Bishop Eton school’s Enterprise Club, that kept watch at

the Altar of Repose. Some of the daffodil pots were then delivered by the SVP to the housebound.

The Seen:

During the services, we listened while our team of readers, representing all our Sunday mass groups, took us on a journey from the Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane, through the darkness and bleakness of Good Friday to the new light,  life and promise of the Easter message.

Our altar servers, under the guiding and experienced eye of our Deacon, John Keeley, served with distinction, They signed up for a marathon task, the number and complexity of the Triduum services requiring rehearsals each day but all the hard work and preparation paid off. We must add a particular thank you to the parents of the altar servers for their ‘drop-off and collection’ duties!

The renewal of the commitment of Ministers of Communion during the Holy Thursday service not only gave a visual representation of the numbers involved in this important ministry in our parish but also reminded those present of the important role the ministers of

communion play in ensuring that those members of our community who are sick or housebound and are not able to attend mass are not forgotten.

Our talented Sunday music teams were out in force throughout the Holy Week services.

From the combined 10am and 6pm ‘supergroup’ of volunteer singers and musicians and the organist and cantors from 11.30am at the Triduum services, to the 10am team accompanying the Children’s Way of the Cross on Good Friday, plus the usual Sunday duties for the 8.30am, 10am and 11.30am teams it was a busy few days for those involved in our music ministry! Music plays an important part in the liturgy and worship of the parish

and those who attended any of the services throughout the Holy Week period would have been struck by how the talents and contribution from our musicians continue to enhance the liturgy.

And a final special word of thanks to our parish office team of Hayley Metcalfe and Kris Reeds who provide our liturgy groups with such excellent and invaluable support and to Margie Zilnyk for taking the photographs!

Can you help?

We have a thriving liturgy team but there is always room and a need for more volunteers and participants. In particular, the 8.30am Sunday mass team are looking for new readers and people to add to their music rota.

If you are able to help to continue to build our liturgy at Bishop Eton in any area or to find out more about the different groups, please contact me: .

And there’s more!

The teams described above aren’t even all the liturgy groups we have operating in the Parish! To find out about all the teams and groups, please have a look at the liturgy page on the Parish website here: http://bishopeton.org.uk/liturgy.html

Susan Bamber

Liturgy Representative on the Parish