Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Spring 2013 Issue | Page 27

Bringing the Pews to the Congregation
David Bell
At both of St. Alban’s Sunday services
on February 10, parishioners gathered
to formally recognize the completion
of 50 years of weekly Sunday Worship
Ministry at neighboring Sleepy Hollow
Manor Nursing Home, and to say to
volunteer ministry participants past
and present, “Well done, thou good
and faithful servants.”

Each Sunday at 10 a.m., a
predominantly wheelchair-bound
contingent of some 30-40 Christian
residents at Sleepy Hollow gathers
together "in the presence of Almighty
God our heavenly
Father, to render
thanks for the great
benefits that we
have received at his
hands, to set forth
his most worthy
praise, to hear his
holy Word, and to
ask, for ourselves and
on behalf of others
those things that are
necessary for our life

and for our salvation” (Book of Common
Prayer). This is almost precisely what
this ministry provides: a liturgy-based
corporate worship service.

Fifty years equates to 2,600
consecutive Sundays and more than
200 other occasions, achieved thanks
to the unswerving efforts of an always
small but dedicated band of St. Alban’s
volunteer parishioners. The effort
began with members of the thenactive chapt