December 1997: Heavily textured, natural white raw silk with satin binding

Roll over the image to see the altar as set for Easter.

Since white is used both for Christmas and Easter, we wanted a design that would be appropriate for both festivals. The shallow V-shapes, applied in bands of satin, suggest a crib, and also the upward radiance of the resurrection.

On Easter of 1998, we covered the white cloth with a cloth of heavily ribbed, raw silk, with multi-colored and metallic gold threads woven in. Pure gold lame would have looked too flashy, but the texture and admixture of other colors in this piece looks rich and elegant. The gold cloth lays diagonally over the white cloth. When shopping for the fabric for this set of paraments, I wanted to be sure to get all three kinds of fabric at the same time, since I would not be able to complete the set if one kind of fabric was missing. But there was not enough of the satin that matched the natural white raw silk. I asked the shop to phone me if more satin came in. Shortly after, someone returned a length of the satin, just enough for my needs. But by this time, the bolt of ribbed gold silk (which was from another store), looked dangerously thin. When the clerk measured it out, there was just enough, with only two or three inches to spare. This was another occasion when I felt the leading of the Spirit.