Right in the middle of Lent we have a time of respite – Mothering Sunday. Flowers are allowed in those churches who maintain a strict Lent. For those who fast, it is a time when a little relaxation is permitted. Such relaxation provides encouragement to face one of the most emotionally draining parts of the church’s calendar – Passiontide and Holy Week.

The theme of the sermon for this year’s Mothering Sunday was nurture. This encompasses not just the nurture of a mother’s love for her children, but the nurturing role we all play as members of the church and the church’s nurturing role as Mother Church. In otherwords as the church nourishes us spiritually, so should we care for and encourage each other.

In Anglican churches there is a tradition of giving Mothers’ Day posies to the mothers in the congregation. Children go up to the altar, collect their flowers (usually daffodils and evergreens) and take them to their mums. Sometimes adult members of the congregation also collect a posy if their mothers are there. At the church I attended in Cambridge, posies were given to everyone who has a mother, has had a mother, or would like a mother! Last Sunday, as there are always spare posies, I was given one as in the words of the rector ‘you’re a Mother Church person’. I suppose he meant that, as a server, I have nurturing role in facilitating worship. Whatever the reason, it is always nice to have flowers to break the gloom of Lent.

We are well into the penitential season of Lent, the run up to Holy Week and Easter. The church takes on a sombre aspect – vestments are purple and the liturgy omits the gloria. Flowers are prohibited in church for all but Mothering Sunday.

I was serving again on Lent 2. As it was the first Sunday in the month, the junior choir were in attendance, the church full and much chaos as usual. For once, nothing went wrong in the serving dept aside from confusion at the beginning of the service on who was administering communion and from where. Cock ups were left to those in charge of the sound system who forgot to put out the microphones. We all forget sometimes.

The sermon as based on the Gospel reading for the day ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’. The importance of the message was underlined by the preacher dressing one of the children as a special messanger.

Strange then that the annual general meeting that followed was so heated (should we get rid of the pews and replace them with chairs). Very little charity given here, but people feel strongly on this issue. What annoys me though, is the misuse of tradition. Too often it is cited when what people mean is the status quo. Following tradition, we should get rid of pews and chairs and have the nave as the open space it would have been in centuries past. It would encourage preachers to keep the sermons short…

Today is St David’s day, the patron saint of Wales. I shall be wearing my leek (a felt one!) with pride. No one knows why the Welsh wear leeks on St David’s day. The saint himself is usually represented standing on a mound with a dove on his shoulder. In that respect, a leek is less messy.

St David’s reputed last words were ‘Be joyful, bothers and sisters. Keep the faith and do the little things you have heard and seen me do’. He was a wise man: it’s the little things that make the difference.

Dewi Sant gweddia drosom ni.

As the liturgical calendar continues its relentless progress towards Lent, we began to get into the Lenten mode by having an inordinately long service, at which I was serving.

Not only were the readings very long (aside from the gospel and I wasn’t carrying it this time …), but so were the hymns. Fortunately, they were very singable and so no one objected. When you have a 8 line 7 verse hymn that goes at snail’s pace it can be an entirely different matter. We also had two sermons for the price of one: a brief exposition on the Garden of Eden and a talk about a project in Malawi.

Serving passed without incident and as I was neither MCing or administering the chalice, the stress levels were consequently reduced. I sometimes feel that serving actually can get in the way of my concentrating on the service, so it was good to be able to focus this week. Next time I’m on the rota though, I am MCing, probably administering the chalice and it is family service again. It will also be Lent and the hymns less singable.

As it was the first Sunday in the month, the 3rd Sunday before Lent was celebrated with a family service with the new junior choir singing. As ever, it was an eventful service.

The choir members themselves were in line to be presented with some shiny new medals to mark their achievements thus far. Many choirs follow the Royal School of Church Music’s training scheme and ours is no exception. The children and, indeed, their parents looked suitably proud. One boy ran across their aisle during the recessional to wave his medal at his parents nearly causing a pile up.

This sunday was unusual in that my agnostic partner came to church too. This was largely due to a lunch invite from the rector and his wife. I think he understands a little of why I come home slightly frazzled when I have been serving on first of the month sundays. The gospel reading for the day was the call of Simon Peter, so our intercessions took place in the form of writing on fish, which were then collected by the children and placed in a net in front of the altar.

Lunch was a very civilised affair and as we were not the only guests, it was good to make the acquaintance of some of the newer members of the congregation. Some surprising, teeth-sucking comments were made though open warfare was avoided…

I am serving next Sunday – let’s see what that brings.

I had a lucky escape yesterday. There are three churches in our parish and I serve at one of them. Yesterday, the rota threw everything into chaos. I was down to serve at another church at which I have attended two services. I have never served there before; I don’t know where anything is and to cap it all, the service was being conducted by a visiting celebrant.

All these factors had caused some anxiety on my behalf. If one of the main reasons for servers’ existence is to ensure that everything runs smoothly, then knowing what to do and where everything is is essential. Owing to my background, I know how touchy priests can be if the vessels, books and so on are not just so. Added to this is the fact that I don’t much like this other church for various reasons.

Fortunately, I had to collect my cassock from St M’s first. One of the other servers, a primary school teacher by day, who normally serves at St N’s was already there and he very kindly offered to swap. No doubt our head server will be displeased, but better to have someon who knows what is what than leave a visiting celebrant and a baptism to chance.

The service at St M’s yesterday was extended communion. I was operating alongside one of the younger servers who has just turned 18. Extended communion means that the bread and wine have already been consecrated (at 8am communion) and so the service can be conducted by the lay readers – handy when there are three churches and only one full-time priest in the parish. Everything went off smoothly for once, even though the gospel was a long one and my arms were aching by the end of it. I wish we had a gospel book to carry in procession rather than the entire lectionary.

Lent is approaching rapidly – a season of preparation, reflection and repentence – and then Easter when there will be much to do for the servers, sacristans and indeed all God’s people.

I wasn’t serving this Sunday so was able to listen and digest without worrying about whether all was running to plan. At least the panics and omissions were limited to the sermon and that, thankfully, is never my responsibility.

In addition to serving, I also administer the chalice at Communion: this means that I offer the chalice containing the consecrated wine to the those receiving the sacrament. It can be nerve-racking as different people prefer to receive in different ways.

1) Taking the chalice completely from my hands – more usual when we have the family service and people receive standing up.

2) Holding the bottom of the chalice. Most usual and this helps ensure that the wine goes down the person’s throat and not their front.

3) Not holding the chalice at all. I hate this and have nightmares of spilling wine down the organist’s white surplice.

4) Dipping the wafer. Very high church, but easy for me. I only dip my wafer if I have a cold so as not to pass on germs or if something nasty is going round.

Yesterday, I was asked to administer, and initially agreed. Then to my horror realised I had nothing to tie my hair back and, as it was a normal service celebrated at the high altar, this would be a problem. People kneel to receive, I would have to bend down, hair would end up in chalice. Much confusion all round as none of the men could fathom why this would be an issue. Hopefully, I managed to deal with this without causing too much offence.

The evening saw a beautiful and moving service of Epiphany music and prayers. It was very meditative and just what I needed to set me up for the week. The theme was that of Christ’s kingship. For those of you aware of theology, you will already know that this is a tradition of servant kingship right to the point of death. As servers, it is the service aspect of Christ’s ministry that we emulate. It is not for our own aggrandisement, but in service to Christ, which is why, for me, it is important to get it right.

Or: three wise men and their associated camel.

Sunday last was the first Sunday after Epiphany, but as Epiphany fell on a Saturday this year, our church celebrated the festival a day late.

Sunday’s Eucharist, being the first of the month was also a family service. Things are slightly more informal at these services. We use a smaller, portable altar in the nave; the sermon is a little freer, there is no sung psalm and generally things can be a little unpredictable, especially when the children are involved. Family services have seen all kinds of unusual roles for the server – more of those at the appropriate times. Anyway, all in all, Epiphany 1 looked set to be fairly normal.

We had the usual hiccups needless to say, we nearly sang the psalm, a reading was skipped, but then we had to get the wise men to the crib. Done properly, a crib should not have any wise men in it until Epiphany. In my father’s church, they make a stately progress from window sill to window sill in the days between Christmas and Epiphany. At our church, they lurk in the vestry. The wise men and the camel had been the subject of much merriment prior to the service. In common with most church crib figures, they are pretty bashed up – not as badly as the cow with the missing ear though – and decidedly wobbly. The less said about the camel and how it would proceed up the aisle the better.

Well, during the gradual hymn (before the Gospel) the children were instructed to bring the ‘three wise men and their associated camel’ to the crib. This was delievered in the most dead pan of tones with a totally straight expression and was enough to cause a small collapse in myself and the other server. The figures duly arrived, delivered in the way only 12 year olds who are just starting to think that they are too cool for this sort of thing can. With the Holy Family, four shepherds, four sheep, an ox and an ass, the crib was pretty crowded. We just about squeezed in the wise men, but the camel was out in the cold.

Mercifully, the rest of the service passed off with little else in the way of incidents (almost forgetting the sanctus bell, or rather, chime bar, aside). However, I did notice a large bin in the vestry that had been used for one of the Christmas services. It was filled with straw and contained small parcels with instructions like ‘decorate the organist with tinsel’. I wonder what happened to the servers that day.

Here you will find occasional posts about my experiences as an altar server at a local parish church. Being an altar server is a form of service, which is an important part of Christian life and practice.

So what is an altar server? Broadly speaking, we are responsible for making sure the church is ready for services, particularly the Eucharist and evensong alongside other members of the congregation like the sacristan. This involves ensuring that the wafers wine are set out ready for the priest to consecrate them; the appropriate Gospel is marked; putting out the collection plate and sanctus bell. We also lead the procession when acting as crucifer and thurifer. In short, our job is to ensure everything runs smoothly so that the clergy can concentrate on conducting the services and leading worship. In addition, serving is an act of devotion through making sure we are ready, personally and collectively, to welcome Christ.

There is also another side to altar serving. We have to make sure our movements are as unobtrusive and seamless as possible and that when something goes wrong, no one notices. Clergy are also unpredictable beasts and like to change things on the fly. A good server will not bat an eyelid or flap, but continue as though it was always meant to be.

A sense of humour is an essential qualification to be a server. No one tells you this though.