| Worship Aids Appointments for Ordinary Time |
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This page covers matters related to church appointments
in Ordinary Time (all those green days between Baptism of
Our Lord and Ash Wednesday and also between Holy Trinity
and Christ the King). If you have not reviewed the general information on
planning liturgy, worship appointments, etc.,
please do so at our Worship Aids
page. |
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Paraments and VestmentsThe color for Ordinary Time is green.
Paschal CandleExcept for funerals and baptisms, the Paschal candle is
not lit during Ordinary Time, and its place is at the
font. Visit our Paschal Candle page for
details. Other CandlesThe lighting and extinguishing of candles for the Sunday morning service is a matter of local custom. Some congregations have rather elaborate rituals for doing so. Others struggle to find acolytes. If lighting and extinguishing the altar candles has become a challenge, a congregation might follow the advice found in the Manual on the Liturgy—Lutheran Book of Worship: light the candles well before the service, and extinguishing them well after the service, doing so decorously but without pomp and circumstance. This, then, can be done by ushers, the sexton, the altar guild, the pastor, etc. without vesting. FlowersFlowers are lovely and a fitting adornment. Flowers, however, should not placed on the mensa (tabletop of the altar). Most non-freestanding altars feature a gradine (a raised shelf at the rear of the altar); flowers may be placed on the gradine along with altar candles. A freestanding altar (or communion table) poses a challenge for flower placement. If, in the apse, there is an old high altar with gradine or a reredos with shelves for flowers, the problem is solved. Flower pedestals or stands can be used, or the flowers may be simply set on the floor in the front of the altar as it is faced by the congregation, assuming the pastor presides from the other side. Flowers should not pose a fire hazard in their placement or a tripping hazard. |
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