Sound of Worship

GLOSSARY

 

Altar The altar is the table in the chancel that the clergy use for Communion. During the Protestant Reformation, some people felt that the traditional term was theologically misleading. As a result, many people preferred to call it a Communion Table. Anglicans decided that both terms were correct, because it is the altar from which we receive the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and because it is, literally, the table on which we celebrate Communion. Today, Anglicans and Lutherans generally call it the altar, whereas churches in the Reform tradition tend to call it a Communion table.

Apse If the wall behind the altar (the east wall) is curved, it forms a semicircular area that is called an apse. In ancient times, large church buildings ...