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a big thank you for our new holy table and pulpit

The Story of the Table, from John Calvert:
 
The idea for our own church furniture came from viewing the makeshift use of a table and riser as a Holy Table that did not fit the church well. It was downright ugly, too short, and not very accommodating for service even when covered by table linens. While reading one day, I saw a picture of a table that was open, simple, and beautiful.  God must have led me to that picture. A vision of what a new CTK Holy Table should look like began to form and, after a couple revisions, I showed a drawing to our rector, David. He thought it was a good design. 

The next step was to get the lumber. Wanting something that had character and showed the beautiful world that God has created for us, I finally settled on tiger maple. Then it came down to the actual cutting and assembly. David Denny volunteered to help get the project started. We were able to cut out the legs and some of the pieces for the ends of the table.  

I continued to work on the table in our backyard and house until space ran out in our dining room. The project sat for a while until Patrick Tarleton and I were talking after service one Sunday. He volunteered his basement workshop for continuing construction. We worked almost every weekend for three months: cutting, fitting, and gluing parts together and making mistakes along the way. Finally we were sanding and finishing the table. Along the way, we had a little extra wood, so we decided that a new pulpit was in order as well. After selecting and having additional wood cut and dressed, we used plans drawn on the back of a scrap of lumber to assemble the pulpit. Still there was enough scrap lumber to construct a book stand for the table.

There were many days when we, or at least I, would look at the table and pulpit and second guess what we were doing. However, God was always with us and helped us to correct our mistakes, decide what color we were going to dye the wood, how we were going to construct the crown, and finally how we were going to get everything out of Patrick's basement once it all was constructed. The table was too big for the door, so we took it through a window. Building these pieces was a labor of love that was guided by God's hands throughout the entire process, although there were times I felt that those hands were really heavy.

This new table and pulpit are simple in design, but serve a holy purpose. They are there to remind us how good God is to us and how He provides all things for our use that we might glorify Him.