Tabling the altar

Its purpose and presence have been altered over time

By Christie Storm

Posted: January 28, 2010 at 3:29 a.m.

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Once a place of bloody sacrifice, the altar now serves a variety of roles in worship. The slaughtered lambs of Old Testament days might be gone, but to some Christians the altar remains a place of sacrifice - not of animals, but of Christ. Roman Catholics even refer to their worship services as the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and relive Christ’s crucifixion again and again.

To others the altar is simply a place to share the bread and wine or grape juice of Communion. The differences often have much to do with how the church views the Lord’s Supper. Are the bread and wine merely symbols, or the true body and blood of Christ? Is the Eucharist - the Great Thanksgiving - a central part of weekly worship or a once-per-quarter event?

Some congregations have banished the altar entirely, supplanting it with the pulpit.

David O’Leary, senior lecturer at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., said the altar has had many roles throughout the history of the faith, including being used as a memorial to martyrs of the faith. But the biggest shift occurred during the Protestant Reformation, when the altar became, for many Protestants, a place of enthronement for the Bible.

“It was no longer a place of sacrifice or breaking of bread and certainly not a tomb of the martyrs or a symbol of Christ. It was for the Word,” O’Leary said.

After the Protestant Reformation, many churches removed altars from their houses of worship and elevated the pulpit to the focal point of the sanctuary. Others discouraged the use of the word “altar,” preferring to call it a “table” instead.

In ancient Christian traditions, such as the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, however, the altar continues to play an important role in worship servicesand is rich in symbolism.

At St. Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Christian Church in Springdale, the altar area dominates the east wall of the sanctuary.

“It’s the center of our worship,” said priest John Atchison.

The altar itself is square and sits slightly inside an archway in the iconostasis, or wall of icons, that separates the sacred area from the rest of the room. The altar is wrapped in a white cloth, symbolic of the shroud in which Jesus was buried, with another cloth draped on top. Linens of various colors - purple, red, white - are used for the liturgical seasons.

The focal point of the altar is the tabernacle, which looks like an ornate miniature church. The vessel holds the host or consecrated bread, which Orthodox Christians believe becomes the body of Christ when blessed by the priest. A book of the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - bound in gold, sits in front of the tabernacle and on top of a silk cloth known as an antimension. The cloth features an icon of Christ, as well as the signature of the bishop. It also has a relic, in this case a bone from the martyr St. Blase, sewn into it. Atchison serves the Eucharist on top of the unfolded antimension to catch any crumbs of bread that may fall. Portions of the church are under construction; when it is completed, the relic will be permanently encased in the altar, as is done in most Orthodox churches.The same tradition is held by many Roman Catholic churches.

The altar also holds a seven-branch candelabrum and either a burning candle or an oil lamp.

“There is always light on the altar,” Atchison said.

A smaller altar, known as a prothesis, sits against the north wall. It’s where Atchison prepares the bread and wine for Communion.

“All churches had altars in the beginning, and I understand why our Protestant friends took the altar out,” said Atchison, who served as an Assemblies of God pastor before converting to Orthodox Christianity. “In Europe they wanted an intellectual understanding of Christianity ... it went from mystical to intellectual and now to evangelical.”

Atchison said Orthodox Christians believe the altar is vital to the church and ismore than a simple piece of furniture.

“Hopefully, it’s the glory of God that rests upon the altar,” he said.

Altars in the Anglican tradition also play an important role in worship. Kevin Robinson, priest at Trinity Episcopal Church in Van Buren,said the altar is the focal point of the service. It’s where the Eucharist - the bread and wine - is consecrated each Sunday. The architecture of many Anglican and Episcopal churches reinforces the importance of the altar by its very design.

“They’ll have a central aisle and your eyes are drawn along the aisle to the altar,” Robinson said.

The positioning of the altar differs from many other Protestant and nondenominational churches where the pulpit takes center stage.

Robinson said the placement of the altar has varied over the years depending on the role of the priest. Freestanding altars or tables supported the idea of the priest as a presider hosting a sacred meal, while altars against the wall were for the priest, his back to the congregation, offering a sacrifice on behalf ofthe people.

“You emphasize one over the other by the way you do the architecture,” Robinson said.

At Trinity, the altar is wood with a marble top, a common design in Anglican churches. Much like in the Orthodox church, the table is usually covered with linen to represent Christ’s burial shroud. Various Christian symbols are often carved into the altar. On top there are usually two candles - the Gospel candle on the pulpit side and the Epistle candle on the other side. A missal, a book that contains the order of the Communion rite, is also on the altar.

Other items include a chalice covered by a paten or plate containing a large wafer of bread. That is covered by a pall, a linen-covered board. Robinson said the original purpose of the pall was tokeep flies off the bread. Over the top is a veil and on top of the veil is a burse, a flat case that holds napkins for wiping the chalice. The burse may also contain a piece of linen used for catching crumbs from the consecrated bread.

Some churches also have altar rails surrounding the table, which Robinson said became popular in the Middle Ages.

An altar guild of dedicated church members tends to the altar and all the pieces used for the Eucharist. They polish brass, silver and gold; wash and iron linens; and prepare the bread and wine for the priest before each service. Robinson said their work is invaluable.

“You sit in church and it looks good and that’s because people have worked hard to make it look good,” he said.

While altars play an important role in liturgical traditions, many churches don’t have altars, or even altar rails, anymore. And in some denominations, one church might have an altar while another congregation opts not to. That’s the case in many Assemblies of God and Southern Baptist churches.

“A more traditional church would have one, but there are Assemblies of God churches that don’t have an altar,” said Bryan King, pastor of Changepoint Church, an Assemblies of God congregation in Cabot. King said many times if an altar is removed it’s to make room for more people to come to the front and pray.

“It’s not a matter of not wanting an altar,” he said.

King’s relatively new congregation is using a school for services. For now, they set up and tear down all the equipment and seating needed each Sunday and they have no altar. However, he foresees having one when the congregation has a home of its own. It will be used as a place to gather for prayer.

“Every church I’ve ever been a part of has had altars,” he said. “It’s a place to come and pray, to meet God, and although it in and of itself is just an object, the place has become significant to people. I think the altar is still relevant in the church today.”

King said the altar can serve as a tangible sign that the church is a house of prayer.

“The altar reminds us what’s important and that’s the relationship with God and prayer,” he said.

But to King, the altar is even more important as a state of mind than as a piece of furniture.

“The altar represents a place they can go to meet with God,” King said. “Even the physical structure of an altar, for us, is not as important as the significance of making the church a house of prayer for people. ... We turn the school into a house of prayer every week.”

Consequently, the “altarcall” during the service isn’t a call to a physical altar or altar rail. Rather, it’s a call to come forward and join together in prayer or to receive the prayers of others.

Bella Vista Baptist Church also has no altar, but pastor Michael McCauley’s past two churches had them. As in the Assemblies of God church, members are encouraged to come to the front and pray, or McCauley will sometimes instruct them to use their seat as an altar.

“We’re obviously not making sacrifices, so it would be a prayer altar,” he said. “My understanding of the Scripture is it’s the condition of the heart that is the important thing.”

While the church doesn’t have an altar in the sanctuary, there is one in the prayer room. Members volunteer for an hour of prayer at a time to make sure someone is praying for the needs of others from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. Some usethe altar as a place of prayer, while others don’t, McCauley said.

Unlike the Baptists and the Assemblies of God, altars have never been part of the Churches of Christ tradition, said Chris Benjamin, a minister at West-Ark Church of Christ in Fort Smith.

He attributes it to the church’s view on sacred space.

“We don’t have a history of sanctified space like some mainline churches do,” Benjamin said. “For us the church has always been the people, the fellowship. The building and the facilities are always secondary.”

The church building, he said, is simply a practical meeting place.

While the church has no altar, Benjamin said they do have the Lord’s table.

“Throughout the Bible you have the altar and the table. The altar is a place of sacrifice and the table is a place of fellowship and reconciliation,” he said. “For us the altar is the cross of Jesus.”

Some traditions fuse the altar and the table together, making it a place of sacrifice and of Communion, he added.

For the congregation at West-Ark Church of Christ, the “table” is a state of mind. The elements of Communion are prepared on tables in front of the auditorium, but worshippers do not come forward to partake of them; the elements are brought to the pews.

“There’s nothing sanctified about the table,” Benjamin said. “But it represents the fellowship. ... It’s the idea that we are coming together in the fellowship of Christ and each other.”

Benjamin said the table is a place of Thanksgiving.

“The idea is that we’ve been made holy through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ once and for all,” he said. “It’s a definitive, one-time sacrifice, so the altar has been satisfied.”

Religion, Pages 27 on 01/28/2010

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