New Altar Book Stand

Thanks to the generousity of a family, we have a "new" altar book stand. Actually it is not new. It is our old bookstand that was in use until 1974 when this church was heavily damaged by a major fire. This bookstand was ruined in that fire over 33 years ago. Nothing was done with it beyond giving it a superficial cleaning and placing it in the church basement for use on the Sunday School altar. An inexpensive clear plastic stand was purchased and used until about 5 years ago.

When my former congregation in Detroit closed, the officers were kind enough to send me some items to put to use here at Hope. One of those items was a venerable, sturdy brass bookstand, which is pictured here. It is the one with the pivot. That bookstand has, for many decades, held "The Lutheran Hymnal Altar Book" with no problems whatsoever.

However, it met it's match with the new "Lutheran Service Book Altar Book." It is so large that it kept turning the pivot over. I pictured it in a November 2006 blog which is archived here. This meant that the new altar book could not be used at Hope.

Now it can. Our old bookstand that was serving in the basement has been restored to better than new condition by the CM Almy company in Maine. You can see just how beautiful a job they did in the pictures. I have photographed both bookstands side by side for a comparison. As you can see from the design of the newly restored stand, it will have no problem with any sized book. Almy did a wonderful job. The stand is absolutely radiant! You can see my image reflected in the highly polished surface, which will be covered by the book. I am afraid to touch it without gloves!

The new stand will be placed on display in the narthex for Sunday December 9 so that everyone can get a good look at it. It will then be re-dedicated on December 16. Then I can finally start using the new LSB Altar Book.