As we conclude our annual Stewardship Campaign and move into the holiday season, we are highlighting the work of GC|RH ministries and community groups with a series of blog posts based on informal interviews with group leaders. Despite the many challenges of this year, GC|RH community members continue to find ways to connect to God, the earth, and each other and to pursue commitments to spiritual growth, environmental justice, and anti-racism work. Read on to learn more and discover how you can participate in the vital work of GC|RH.
Interview with Cynnie Davis, Altar Guild coordinator and co-founder of the Weekly Contemplation Group
Emily Wright: When I first began attending Grace Church, I was unfamiliar with the altar guild, and others might be as well. How would you describe it?
Cynnie Davis: The altar guild is a ministry of the laity as distinct from the clergy. The altar guild prepares the altar for the observance of the Eucharist – laying out the altar linens, arranging flowers, and preparing the Eucharistic vessels for the host and the wine. In larger parishes, there is often a group of ushers who prepare the sanctuary for worship – turning on the lights, picking up discarded programs, straightening the pews. However, since we are a small congregation, our altar guild prepares the altar, the sanctuary, and hosts the fellowship time afterward.
EW: How did you come to be involved in the altar guild?
CD: As a young adult in the church, the altar guild was the thing I did not want to do! Traditionally this was women’s work in liturgical churches, while lay leadership was considered men’s work. I didn’t want to participate in furthering the gender discrimination that pertained to the church and in society. Ironically, at Grace, the role fell to me at the same time as I assumed the position of Senior Warden! Apparently, no one else was drawn to this ministry either.
Once I embraced the work, however, I developed a profound respect and appreciation for the generations of people ( women) who had preceded me in this ministry. I enjoy the unseen aspect of the work and its aesthetic dimension. It has become for me a contemplative practice. I like to arrive early before anyone else arrives. This affords me the quiet and solitude to approach the task as a Zen practice of “one-pointedness”. I restrict my attention completely to the task at hand allowing my mind and heart to become one with the embodied experience of the work.
EW: I remember when you gave me an orientation to the altar guild, you mentioned that approach and I really appreciated it. Would you say that it changes your experience of the service as well?
CD: I’ve never thought of that, but, yes, I think so. It allows me to be more centered, more receptive, and more aware. I can engage more deeply with the worship, and it’s sensually very rich as well.
EW: That’s probably a good segue to your participation in Grace Church’s weekly contemplation group. How long have you been involved there?
CD: Since its inception. Shortly after Neal came to Grace Church (about 8 years ago), there was a group of people that expressed an interest in contemplation, and we’ve been meeting ever since.
EW: What does a typical meeting look like?
CD: Someone brings a poem or a short reading to open the time. Then, we sit together for 20 minutes followed by a brief check-in time. Some people will comment on the reading; others might share something that’s going on in their life. Often, we’ll re-read that week’s selection and we conclude with another 20 minute sit.
EW: Who participates in the group?
CD: The doors are open to everyone, and there is usually a flow of new people in and out. But there’s also a number of people in the group that have been there since the beginning.
EW: What’s it like to share that experience for so many years?
CD: We have a very deep bond. Not everyone is a member of Grace Church. Some come from other faith traditions. While we don’t spend a lot of time talking or sharing; we don’t get together much outside of our gathering, there’s something about the bodily experience of, week after week, year after year, being together, breathing together, entering into the ground of love that creates and sustains us that fosters a joyful sense of kinship.
EW: What has the contemplation group been like during the pandemic?
CD: We’re meeting on Zoom. It’s not the same, but it's still wonderful to be able to continue our practice together in this time of keeping distant. There are sometimes technical difficulties, and there’s also this feeling I have that we’re not quite occupying the same moment. There’s a time lag. It creates a feeling of disconnection that I’m very sensitive to. That we have a shared history of meeting together in person helps to transcend that.
EW: It seems counterintuitive to ask if the contemplation group has plans for the future.
CD: Yes! Part of what I love about it is that we don’t have to plan or produce anything. It’s about being in the moment and practicing contemplation. But I want people to know that everyone is welcome. If we got to be too large, we might even split into two groups.
Once in-person services resume, the altar guild will need new members to fill a few open spots. Members usually serve once a month on a rotating schedule. Please contact cynthia.davis@me.com to get involved.