GUIDE FOR COMMUNION ASSISTANTS

Thank you for volunteering to be an Communion Assistant!

As a Communion Assistant, you are contributing to the mission of Resurrection Lutheran Church by performing an extremely important role for all worship services. Communion Assistants serve as:

1) Distributors of the Blood of Christ during Holy Communion

During the week prior to Worship Service:

¨ Read all the lessons for your worship service.

¨ Pray for guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Before the Worship Service:

¨ Arrive 10 minutes before the service starts.

¨ Wear your name-tag.

¨ Record your presence on the list of volunteers for the day.

¨ Check-in with the Council Person of the Day and the Assisting Minister for special instructions.

During the Worship Service:

¨ Participate in worship.

¨ After the Eucharistic Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer, join the rest of the Communion Distribution Team at the altar rail for the first table and receive communion. You will be offered the chalice at first table; if you prefer individual glasses, stop by the credence table behind the chancel and get an individual glass full of wine or grape juice.

¨ After you receive communion and the blessing, proceed to the credence table to be issued either a chalice or a tray of individual glasses. The Pastors will issue chalices, the altar guild will issue trays. Take whatever is offered to you and take position inside the chancel to follow Pastors (who give the bread) and offer the wine. Tray leads, Chalice trails. See flow diagram below:

¨ Each communicant has the option of either taking an individual cup or the chalice. Whenever they choose what you are offering, say the words:

“The Blood of Christ, shed for you…”

If you know the name of the communicant, it is nice to say their name too, as in:

“The Blood of Christ, shed for you Peter”

¨ If offering the chalice, wipe the lip after each use with a purificator, and turn the chalice a quarter-turn.

¨ After the elements have been distributed to each table, hold the hand of the last person on your side of the chancel while Pastor gives the blessing.

¨ If necessary, accompany Pastors into the congregation to commune any who could not walk to the chancel.

¨ Once communion is completed, return the trays to the Altar Guild, one chalice to the Altar Guild, and one chalice to the Pastors.

¨ Return to your pew.

After the Service:

¨ Rejoice! You have served well. Thank you!

Special instructions for Communion Assistant Coordinator: It is important that Communion Assistants, like all other worship service volunteers, be contacted prior to each month of scheduled service to arrange specific dates to serve once during the assigned month. Names should be provided to Eric & Debbie Carlson before the first Sunday of the month prior to the month of service, so that they can be included in the Worship Assistant clipboard and monthly Newsletter and the Sunday bulletins. (The Newsletter deadline is the 15^th of the preceding month, and the bulletin deadline is Wednesday of each week.) If there is an unexpected late change, or the names are not in the bulletin, the Council representative assigned for each service (the “Council Person-of-the-Day”) needs to be notified as to who will be Communion Assistants.