The Diocesan Altar Guild

16 Pages·2013·2.43 MB·English

The Altar Guild Prayer

O, loving Savior, we pray to You to send Your blessing upon this Altar Guild and upon
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the work of all its members; give us your Grace that we may be loyal to Your holy church,
and faithful in our care of holy things. Grant that we adorn and make ready Your altar,
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that we may learn greater love and reverence for all that belongs to Your service, and
through all outward symbols come to a clearer vision of inward and spiritual truth
t taught by them. We ask this for Your sake, O Blessed Lord and Master. AMEN.

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The Diocesan Altar Guild

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DAG is an organization serving all the altar guilds of all the churches within the Diocese of Mississip-
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pi. Its purpose is to instruct, assist, and promote the fellowship among altar guild members.
t Membership dues are $20.00 per year for a parish and $10.00 per year for a mission.
l The DAG's annual meeting in April of each year always includes a short business meeting, a pro-
A gram of interest to altar guild members, Eucharist, and lunch.
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Our work begins with supporting the Bishop and providing for Diocesan Eucharists. The DAG will
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assist parishes and missions in the diocese with
a
s  the purchase of supplies and/or improvements to its sacristy;
e  developing ways to enhance your worship;
s c  finding sources to order new vestments or paraments for your sanctuary;
 finding resources to purchase altar linens, such as purificators, corporals, fair linens, etc.;
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 locating fabrics and patterns to make any of these special pieces yourself;
i  assisting with a workshop in your church or sacristy by sending representatives from the DAG
i D to host a program from care of linens to proper candle care or basic altar guild techniques;
 finding new homes for sacristy items or providing information on how to restore or refinish
i others;
p
r  practical suggestions for laundry and ironing of linens, and for polishing brass and silver as well
p as well as other topics of interest.
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c s June 2013—In this issue
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M
National Altar Guild Prayer 1 Province IV 11
a 2013-2014 DAG Officers and Board 2 Biltmore Flowers 12
Mark Your Calendar 3 Preparing for the Annual Meeting 14
Seminary Bread/Linen and Things 4 National Altar Guild Association 16
Spring DAG Board Meeting 5
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Report From the Board 7
Annual Meeting at Mediator in Meridian 8
Lost in Meridian with Rachel George 9
Books with Polly Marshall 10
2013-2014 DAG Officers & Board

Abbott, George [Treasurer] Jackson, Mary [Supply Closet]
4530 Glenleigh Circle 5919 Westmore Drive
Southhaven, MS 38671 Jackson, MS 39206
[email protected] [email protected]
662-403-0313 601-214-6309 (C) 601-362-8573 (H)

Bailey, Mary Alice [Coast Rep] Ketchens, Judy [Membership]
316 E. Beach Blvd. 1703 Beverly Drive
Gulfport, MS 39507 Clinton, MS 39056
[email protected] [email protected]
228-863-4223 (land); 228-261-2741 (cell) 601-919-6379 (C) 601-924-5446(H)

Bennett, Lucette [Central Rep] Lamb, Rebecca Delta Rep
4025 Eastwood Place 407 Lincoln
Jackson, MS 39211 Greenwood, MS 38930
[email protected] [email protected]
601-954-8598 662-453-3864

Brown, Denise [Northern Rep] Lancaster, Alice [Flower Guild]
5088 Garner Lane 517 5th Street
Southhaven, MS 38672 Columbus, MS 39701
[email protected] [email protected]
601-466-8870 (email/text only) 662-425-4026; 662-327-4026

Everett, Lollie [Stoles Project] Marshall, Polly [Secretary]
100 W. Easthaven Circle 6509 Grandview Cove
Brandon, MS 39042 Raymond, MS 39154
[email protected] [email protected]
601-506-4126 601-953-2980

George, Laurie [Newsletter] Milsted, Ann
105 Pine View Drive [Vice President/Sowashee Rep]
Raymond, MS 39154 3826 King Road
[email protected] Meridian, MS 39305
601-624-2402 [email protected]
601-485-8613
George, Rachel
[Historian/Tombigbee Rep] Smith, Harvey [Old River Rep]
905 3rd Ave. 706 Newitt Vick Drive
North Columbus, MS 39701 Vicksburg, MS 39180
[email protected] [email protected]
662-435-0726 (cell); 662-329-4836(land) 601-331-0373; 601-638-3187

Heidelberg, Anne [President]
607 Parkwood Drive
Long Beach, MS 39560
[email protected]
678-357-6635 ©; 228-864-3389 (H)
MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Diocesan Altar Guild’s fall Board meeting will be on , Friday September 27, 2013,
Fr. Matt Rowe &
On the Coast at St. Patrick’s, Long Beach.
Laurie Noble
The Very Rev. Julia

Diocesan Council meeting will be in Natchez in 2014. Start making plans.
DAG will have a booth.

Cheryl Welch
Rebecca Lamb

The 2014 Annual meeting will be hosted by Trinity of Hattiesburg on
April 19, 2014. Please make plans to attend.
Alice Lancaster and
Rebecca Lamb

Province IV will meet this next year, June 1-4, 2014, at Kanuga in
Hendersonville, NC.
Laurie George and
Polly Marshall

The National Altar Guild Association [NAGA] meeting will be in Salt Lake
RacCheilt Gye,o Urget ah, June 27-July 3, 2015, duriGnego rGgee Anbebroat l Convention. The theme:
Sacred Space and Spiritual Practice; Keynote Speaker John Phillip Newell, former
warden of Iona Abbey in Scotland and an authority on Celtic Spirituality.
P
rayer
SEMINARY ALTAR BREAD
for the deconcecration of Linens,
from Trinity, Clanton, AL
Ingredients: Vestments, and Paraments
7/8 cup warm water 1-1.2 tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp. salt 1 pkg. dry yeast
1-2/3 cup whole wheat flour 3 tbsp. natural honey
Almighty God,We thank you for the

The following instructions are for using a bread machine on the dough setting. Mix both
beauty of your creation and our
types of flour and salt together.
responsibility to care for it. We thank

In another container mix warm water, oil, and honey. Pour liquid mixture into the bread you for your faithful people who have
machine container. Add flour mixture on top of the liquid. Do not mix. Make an
given these linens, vestments, and
indentation in the center of flour mixture, and add yeast. Process on dough setting.
paraments to be used for your honor

When completed, roll the dough on a floured surface to about 1/2 inch thickness. Cut and glory. As they were consecrated in
into round “loaves” and cut a cross in the center of each loaf. The size of the loaves
your name, they adorned your
depends of the number of communicants. A biscuit sized loaf will be sufficient for about 15
communicants. This may take some experimentation. sanctuaries, reflected your beauty and

served your people. So now Lord in
Place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 13 minutes or longer, if you are
making larger loaves. A golden bottom is a good indication that the bread is done. The your name, we deconsecrate them this
smaller the loaves, the shorter the time needed.
day return them to the Earth from which

This is a non-crumbly bread and freezes well. It thaws out in 10 minutes. they came—Earth to Earth, Ashes to

Ashes, Dust to Dust. We pray in the
name of the first born of all Creation,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Linens and Things
Here’s a hint, even though it will be too It really erases red wine. You can spray it directly on the wine right
late for this Lenten season: Do you have away and rescue a fair linen or credence cloth with it. A must have in
trouble keeping the cloth drape on your the Sacristy. Also great for wine on a surplice or alb.
outside crosses during Lent?
Another product is "Goo-Gone"--it will take out soot dropped on a fair
If your cross is made of wood, there is a
linen. Rub gently with your fingernail. Leaves no ring.
very easy solution. Cut a vinyl epaulet no
Blue "Dawn" is the best of all. It will take out wax residue after you
wider than the cross bar, and 8"-12"
have scraped the pieces off. Mix with hot water and suds up.
long, depending on the amount of fabric

in your drape. I like to then round off the
Really permanent lipstick comes out with Carbona # 6 Make-up and
ends (using a soup can or some thing
Grass "Stain Devil" remover. I get it at Jo-Ann's Fabrics.
similar), and tack it down with 3-5 metal

tacks on each end, giving it a little ease,
You can't beat soaking linens in "Biz"--it is safe and works very well..
so you can slide the fabric in and out as
It will redeem old linens beautifully. Sarah Hill—St. Peter's Cathedral,
you put it up or change the colors. Your tails may then fly in the breeze,
St. Petersburg, FL; Directress of South West Florida
and perhaps flip over, but the drape will not come off! If you are doing
ways been a Martha but sometimes I whine - and the food was
this with some thoughts of the season, while you are nailing to the cross, the
delicious. Again the quiet, behind the scenes planning made all the
sound may give you some chills. Janet Robinson – Diocese of Florida
difference.
Diocesan Altar Guild Directress, Treasurer - Prov. IV Altar Guild.
~Reprinted from Province IV Altar Guild Spring 2013 newsletter

I think the best newer item on the market is spray " Oxi Clean.".

We use it on spilled wine or on purificators before washing.
2013 Annual Diocesan Altar Guild Board Meeting Report
Friday, April 19, 2013

The DAG Board meeting was held on Friday, April 19, 2013. Mary Alice Bailey, president, called the meeting to order at 3:15 pm,
with an opening prayer. The minutes prepared by Polly Marshall, Secretary, were sent out by e-mail from the last meeting at Basker-
ville Manor, Columbus, were approved. Judy Johnson turned the duties of treasurer over to George Abbott after a term of seven
years. The board thanks Judy for her loyalty to Mississippi Diocesan Altar Guild.

Treasurer’s Report
George Abbott, the new treasurer, brought a silver chalice and paten set for display and the beautiful boxes for carrying and storage,
made of oak and cherry, lined with cedar, made by Jerry Cassidy of St. Timothy’s in Southaven. Most of these sets purchased by the
Board for Council have been paid for by memorial gifts! Twenty-four sets were donated to Council. As of this writing, George updat-
ed me with more about the chalice and bowls. “The response to the Diocesan Altar Guild’s project for replacing the pottery used for
Council with silver chalice and paten bowl sets has been overwhelming. Of the 25 sets purchased by the Guild, 21 have been given as
memorials or thanksgiving gifts. This is a marvelous way of remembering a love one or recognizing a family member or your individu-
al parish. We also have three beautifully handcrafted cherry wood carry/storage cases (lined with cedar). Your donation of $100.00
will allow the DAG to recoup their costs so that their ministry may continue for generations of MS Episcopalian to come. Please re-
member that you may purchase a chalice and paten set or handcrafted box in honor or in memory of loved ones. Send your check
for $100 per set, with the name you want inscribed, to George Abbott, Treasurer, 4530 Glenleigh Circle,
Southhaven, MS 38671.

Membership Report
Judy Ketchens sent inserts for the updated membership notebook with the listings of the altar guild members .so far. Please send your
membership dues to Judy Ketchens, 1703 Beverly Drive, Clinton, MS 39056.

Supply Closet Report
Mary Jackson announced a supply closet web page on the existing DAG site, where those in need and those with surplus can post in-
formation and ultimately get items where they are most needed. If you have or need items, contact Mary Jackson by email at
[email protected]

Flower Guild Report
Please send Alice Lancaster tips on flowers for the newsletter at [email protected]. We want to know all your strategies for
surviving the seasons on the altar.

Stoles Project Report
Lollie Everitt has made three more stoles for deacons.

Newsletter Report
Laurie George, MS DAG newsletter editor, is ALWAYS working on the newsletter and requests that articles be sent to her by email
[email protected] or [email protected].

Historian’s Report
Rachel George, MS DAG historian requests any pictures that you have for the DAG albums be sent to her at [email protected].
Please make sure that your photos are in a .jpeg and are of printable quality.
(continued from page 5 — DAG Board Report)
Convocation Meetings
(Central) Lucette Bennett reported that Central Convocation had a meeting well attended and thinks that Good Shepherd of Terry
will host next year’s meeting.

(Delta) Rebecca Lamb reported that the Delta Convocation combined their Altar Guild and ECW meetings.

(Northern) Denise Brown graciously accepts the new post as Northern convocation representative and looks forward to great things
from her convocation.

(Old River) Harvey Smith from St. Alban’s, Bovina, also accepts the new post as Old River convocation representative and is already
stirring up .

(Sowashee Rep) Ann Milsted reported that Convocation and Annual meeting for Sowashee convocation were combined this year.
Read what a wonderful meeting it was on page 8 of this newsletter. Good job, Ann.

(Tombigbee) Rachel George reported that Tombigbee Convocation meeting was held at St. Paul’s.

(Coast) Anne Heidelberg reported “The Coast Coalition held their annual spring meeting on Saturday morning, February 16, at St.
Mark’s, Gulfport. Upon arrival St. Mark’s Altar Guild served a delicious breakfast to the guests. After a short business meeting, Nan
Lovett presented the program on “What the Altar Guild Does at St. Mark’s.” Her talk was illustrated with an informative booklet
with beautiful color pictures. After the meeting was adjourned, the Very Rev. Beau Roberts gave a tour and brief history of the new
sanctuary at St. Mark’s.”

Gifts
President Ex-Officio Mary Alice’s gift to her Board was a memorial chalice and paten set to be used at Council in honor of the DAG.
The Board’s gift to Mary Alice was a pottery crab bowl in honor of the great work she has done in leading our group and in tribute to
her wonderful hospitality.

Installment of new Board members and Representatives
Bishop Duncan Gray installed the Diocesan Altar Guild Officers during Holy Eucharist at Church of the Mediator, Meridian. Anne
Heidelberg, President; Ann Milsted, Vice-President; George Abbott, Treasurer; and Denise Brown, Northern Convocation rep.
Harvey Smith (Old River) will be installed at the Annual Spring Altar Guild meeting at Trinity of Hattiesburg, on April 19, 2014.

Offering
The plate offering from the DAG Spring meeting was sent to St. Elizabeth’s in New Jersey involved in Hurricane Sandy.

Your DAG Board will meet on the Coast, Friday September 27, 2013, at St. Patrick’s, Long Beach.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

St. Paul’s Columbus, Easter 2013, In God’s Garden all things can flourish.
Report from the Board
DAG Board gives offering from annual DAG meeting to St. Elisa-
beth’s Chapel-by-the-sea in Ortley Beach, NJ
At the annual meeting of the MS Diocesan Altar Guild Board, held April 19th
(hosted by Mediator ), the Board unanimously voted to send the offering
from the closing Eucharist to one of the Episcopal churches damaged by Su-
per Storm Sandy.

After consulting with the Episcopal Relief Director for the Diocese of New
Jersey, the Board chose to send a donation in the amount of $202.00 to St.
Elisabeth's Chapel-by-the-Sea, Ortley Beach, NJ. St. Elisabeth's is a chapel
that has served the Jersey Shore since the late 1800s welcoming summer resi-
dents for over a century. For the past several years, its doors have been open
year round to welcome and minister to an ever growing year-round popula-
tion.

This magnificent wooden gothic chapel was completely destroyed on Oct.
29, 2012 by Hurricane Sandy. This after surviving a devastating fire that de-
stroyed many of the neighboring buildings nearly a hundred years ago. And
in March of 1962, a devastating Nor'easter literally washed 2 ocean front
homes, immediately adjacent to the Chapel, out to sea.

This time around Hurricane Sandy’s destruction scattered the Chapel’s be-
longings. One of its pews was recovered on the mainland clear across
Barnegat Bay, with a prayer book and hymnal still in the pew rack! A soggy
record book of communicants and a couple of brass alms basins have also
been recovered. The Diocese of NJ has announced that St. Elisabeth's will
rebuild. The will and the stamina of the Jersey Shore members of St. Elisa-
beth's are resilient, and they are determined to rebuild a safer Chapel in or-
der to continue ministering to the faithful of Ortley Beach.

It is the Board's hope and prayer that their gift will let the members of St.
Elisabeth's know that they are not alone and that the people of MS do under-
stand their plight and know first-hand, after experiencing the devastation of
Katrina, that through Him all things are possible. God Speed to the members
of St. Elisabeth's and to all dealing with the aftermath of this storm.

~George Abbott~
2013 Annual Spring Diocesan Altar Guild Meeting at Mediator
Celebrating Our Gifts: Theme

Mediator of Meridian was the site of DAG’s Annual meeting Saturday, April 20, 2013. Altar Guild
members gathered early to have a wonderful breakfast prepared by the ladies of Mediator, to shop in
the book store, and to enjoy fellowship with one another.

Mary Alice Bailey, DAG president welcomed the participants, and our Bishop Duncan Gray III. Ann
Milsted, Mediator Host, announced the workshops and the leaders. The keynote Speaker, the Rev-
erend Dr. Helen Tester, rector, spoke on how to celebrate our gifts. She said that we should be cel-
ebrating not hoarding the gifts the God has entrusted us with. In the church and in the world, the
altar guild’s gift is to make a sacred place, an intense place in the midst of the day. Dr. Tester talked
of the Lourdes Grotto replica, on the A-B Tech campus in NC and on the verge of being torn down,
as a place where nuns, students, teachers, and those just passing by could go to meditate and pray
and become refreshed. We all need our sacred places. (Perhaps you have one in your home, your
yard….or maybe you can make an additional place in your parish for your sacred landscape, which
could include a labyrinth.)

Workshops
“Sew,” You think Your Church Could use Some New Banners Workshop Speakers Gayle
Gray, Betty Hayes, and Sally Scaggs. Gayle, Betty, and Sally spoke of choosing your designs, choos-
ing your colors, finding your fabric and doing your basic construction…all a delightful and thought-
provoking hands on meeting. Marvelous hand-outs provided by the experts; then a question and an-
swer period that impressed and enlightened even the novice.

You” Knead” to Know: Instructions on Making Communion Bread Workshop, with
Robert Covington. Bread is memory, says the speaker: never throw any of the dough away for God
uses all things and you can use the pieces of dough in other ways. A massage therapist, Robert
showed the best way to do the kneading and reminds us that God finds ways to use even the smallest
parts of us as a sacred gift.

Churchware Care and Restoration Workshop, with Bruce Cohen of Mississippi Metal
Smiths. This workshop was full and many people attending were second timers. He explained what
and how a metal smith works and showed samples. Because so many churches have metal problems
but little money, he showed simple ways to restore our metals as well as the complex methods
which requires a professional, such as re-silvering. Distributed was a brochure that also contains a
list of available products. Bruce shared valuable cleaning and polishing tips in his workshop. Dawn
detergent , for instance, is great for cleaning brass. After cleaning brass, polish with Metal Luster.
Use that silver cloth for your silver, get smudges off with 90 percent denatured alcohol (Turtle Wax
sometimes works); then polish with Haggerty’s silver polish.

Bishop Duncan Gray III celebrated the Holy Eucharist and installed the DAG officers, Executive
Council and Convocation representatives. Newly installed are Anne Heidelberg, President; Ann
Milsted, Vice President; George Abbot, Treasurer; and Denise Brown, Northern Convocation rep-
resentative. Harvey Smith, the new Old River representative, will be installed at the meeting at
Trinity in Hattiesburg.

The plate offering from the DAG Spring meeting was sent to St. Elisabeth’s -in New Jersey affected
by Hurricane Sandy.

A beautiful luncheon was served by the Meditator Altar Guild.
Lost in Meridian
by Rachel George

Now y’all should understand that, though I am entering my second year with this wonderful Diocesan Altar Guild board, I
still feel like the newbie. I have been to the coast and walked on the beach at Mary Alice Bailey’s. I have eaten at the Viking restau-
rant in Greenwood prior to their superb state meeting. I have helped clean up after Annual Council where our longtime Bishop an-
nounced his coming retirement. I have even had the board sleep over at my new home in Columbus. (I hope they come back.) I have
a copy - apparently one of only a few - of the bylaws and I still am often at a loss for understanding at our meetings. Perhaps I should
read them again.
These amazing individuals that make up our board, these people that have held the DAG together these many years until it
now flourishes, these competent members that can rally their friends to new heights for meetings, convocations and conventions,
they left me like a foundling child at the hotel in Meridian!!!!!
I had little trouble navigating through neighborhoods to turn left at the HUGE Baptist church and wind myself to the wine
and cheese party for the annual diocesan meeting at Mediator in Meridian. At the close of the board meeting I jockeyed for position
directly behind George Abbot and the bus that knew the way to the Drury Hotel. I kept up and never let them out of my sight. I
made it and was rewarded with happy hour, popcorn, and a snack bag in my very comfortable room. I should have known it was too
good to last.
We hopped on the church bus for a short ride to the historic Weidman’s restaurant in old downtown and had a delightful
meal with Sela Ward as our next table entertainment. Yep, I took her picture. She expected me to. She is really tiny - cute but tiny.
After some thought, I remembered she was always on the top of the cheerleader pyramids at Alabama. She still looks as if she could
bounce right back up there without straining much. Enough of all the good stuff. Back on the bus, back to the hotel, back to my
room and a night’s sleep on a comfy mattress. Come the morning, we trickled into the downstairs breakfast bar and had our fill of
eggs, cereal, and waffles at the hotel dining area. I had several cups of fresh brewed coffee and it is to that I attribute my later down-
fall…
We all gathered in the lobby and arranged to convoy to the church with George in the lead. My closing words to him still
echo in my brain, “Don’t leave without me. I don’t know the way. I will be back down in a jiff.” Less than 5 minutes later, armed
with my camera, my purse and all the rest of the junk we women feel we just must have to face the day, I arrived off the elevator
into an empty lobby. I asked the desk clerk if she had noticed a bevy of folks recently making a mad dash to the parking lot and she
reckoned she might have remembered such. It’s true. They left me.
To bring this long, painful story to a short conclusion, I called Ann Milsted to get directions, cussed George, and managed
to turn left into oncoming traffic in front of an 18 wheeler on, what I can only assume, was a red light. Nobody died but I prefer not
to dwell too long on the words he was calling out his window. I made it. I found my way all by myself.
I loved the dough for communion bread and I bought a full supply of the metal cleaners and I was amazed at the creative
ideas for the banners. I walked the labyrinth and prayed for myself and others and knew that I had been found at the Mediator in
Meridian.
An Invitation to Read with us

Years ago I read that friendship is mutual psychotherapy, and since all my friends have been co-dependent to some degree… all
of them in search of meaning… all of them readers, all them ready to tell anyone how to survive life’s overwhelming
moments, I’ve hardly ever had to resort to paying real dollars for my therapy (well, a couple of times …)

I don't know how many of you love to read or love to write, but I do know that all of you have the same problems as I do: Not
enough time for yourself because you’re always doing something that just must be done for someone else…and only by you, of
course. For those of us who are wives and mothers or caregivers in our family or just faithful workers in our church,
somewhere inside we really believe that no one can do the job that we do.

For those of you dealing with issues of faith, or of health, or of boredom with the same old life coming around in the morning
and hanging around most of the night, or with issues of betrayals, yours or someone else’s, of issues dealing with children, loss
of jobs, loss of enthusiasm, or just with the perils of the aging process;

All those of you who can use a new perspective, I can promise two things: Jesus loves you; and you are not ever really helpless.
(Saw this on Face Book and Lessons in Womanhood: You’re only helpless when your nail polish is wet. Even then you can pull
the trigger if you have to.) Let me suggest a book or two.

When Diane asked me to do a book review for Province IV Altar Guild meeting, I had already taken a leave of absence as a
book reviewer for the National Altar Guild in order to do some much-needed inner work, so several of these reviews can be
found on the NAGA website (nationalaltarguildassociation.org). Try these books for an instant uplifting of your spirit:

Hope as Old as Fire by Bishop Steven Charleston
The Meaning of Mary Magdalene by Cynthia Bouregeault
Gospel Medicine by Barbara Brown Taylor
Falling Upwards by Richard Rohr

I have listed other books below because I have been helped by them, especially this year, some of them journals and memoirs
by writers who have blessed me with their experiences…and in the case of the journals and memoirs, I have kept going back
at different times in my life for reinforcement on how to cope.

May Sarton, whose works I have read over and over for years, comments “is there anyone, I sometimes wonder, who is not
wounded and in the process of healing…a journal is a way of sorting out.” You will enjoy her journals/memoirs:

Journal of Solitude
The House by the Sea
Plant Dreaming Deep
Recovering

Spiritual Recommendations (I do, however, read other than spiritual books…and often even the downright trashy):

The Grief Book by Melody Beatty
A Sorrow Shared by Henri Nouwen (forward by Barbara Brown Taylor)
The Eyes of the Heart: A Memoir of the Lost and Found by Fredrick Beuchner
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron
A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman by Joan Anderson
When Women were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams
Everyday Grace: Having Hope, Finding Forgiveness, and Making Miracles by Marianne Williamson
My Bright Abyss: Meditations of a Modern Believer by Christian Wiman
Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis by Lauren F. Winner
Let Evening Come: Reflections on Aging by Mary C. Morrison
Signs of Life: A Memoir of Dying and Discovery by Tim Brookes

It was May Sarton who said that we must become faithful gardeners of the spirit, who knows that without darkness nothing
comes to birth, and that without light nothing flowers. And I say to all my altar guild friends that we must till our gardens
together and share its bounty. So tell us what you’ve been reading, and read with us.

~Polly Marshall~ Province IV Altar Guild Meeting, Kanuga Conference Center, June 2013.