THE LITTLE CHURCH UNDER THE ALTAR
For twenty years a little church lived under our Altar. The first five years after it was builtit was taken out the first Sunday of every month. Then one Sunday it was forgotten and was never gotten out again. The poor little church sat there under the Altar year after year with no purpose , not too many people even knew it was there or knew why. Then one day, just about this time of the year, the little church was taken out from where it lived and dusted off. The little church must have been excited thinking it would be used for a good cause again but alas it was just moved to a closet in the Sacristy.
Our little church is a model of St. Andrew’s. It is made of wood but the sides are gray like the stone walls, the roof is black like the slate and there are two red doors. It was built by Frank Kraker (Ivy Kraker’s husband) around 1995 and was used for donations for blessings for special events, like birthdays and anniversaries. Frank was one of those people you could always count on for doing things like this. He was always doing something around the church and every Sunday as soon as the service ended you would find him picking up bulletins left in the pews and straightening the hymnals and BCP’s. The books had to be in just the right order and spaced just so. When you wanted to hear a good story, Frank was the one to tell it. If it took the men longer than necessary to get something done , it was because we wanted to hear the end of the story. Frank was one of those people that was a verger of the church and just didn’t know it.
As said before, our little church was taken from it’s home under the Altar the first Sunday of the month and anyone having a birthday or anniversary that month could come forward for a blessing for their special day and a donation would be put in the church. The money would then be used to help families in the parish who may need help with expenses. After about five years, less people were coming forward and the practice was discontinued. The little church was left under the Altar until 2014 when we were getting ready for Maundy Thursday and it was taken out and put in a closet in the Sacristy. This could have been the end of the story, our little church could have stayed in that closet for another twenty years with no one knowing it was there. One person remembered the little church, remembered its purpose of helping people in need and suggested we use it again.
We are going to make our little church happy again. It is going to be cleaned and polished and given a purpose again. For a short time it will be put back in it’s old home under the Altar. Then on the first Sunday in April it will be brought out and placed in it’s new home somewhere in the Nave. Then each time you walk by remember why Frank made it and drop your spare change in, maybe a little more on your birthday. All the proceeds will benefit our outreach projects like SPO, Community meals, Kings Kettle and the summer lunch program. Just think about all the people we will be helping and how happy our little church will be.