St. Martin's Cloak
The Cloak is a collection of audio vignettes—stories that reveal parishioners’ faith journeys. Share your thoughts by sending us an e-mail.
… it’s very clearly a manifestation of God and the presence of God.
Betsy Masters
From her position behind the altar as a Liturgist, Betsy Masters has a visual perspective of the church not afforded most parishioners. Light, she says, plays an important role, particularly in summer.
I think that one of the most significant things about summer and the changes in the seasons, for me, is the change in light and the change in the quality of light and the length of the day, especially during the summer.
I think it allows me to be more awake and more alert. The sun awakens me much earlier in the morning and I feel much more alert and much more in connection with the earth and with God — in contrast to the winter when you have very little light and so there’s a feeling of darkness and protection and enveloping by the darkness.
One thing that I’ve noticed in the church during the liturgy the last couple of Sundays, which is really amazing, is that from behind the table you see down through the church and out through the door and there’s a series of layers of light. Really, there’s no place else in the church where you can see this. You see first the table, which is lit very brightly, because it has a white linen cloth, so it’s just really quite radiant. And then it’s a little bit darker and you see the congregation a little bit, but it’s not quite so bright.
And then the font is lit and it sort of glows in the whole church and is a real focal point reminding you of the connection between the events of the altar and the meaning of the font. Then beyond it gets very dark.
And then suddenly you can see through the door and its very very misty outside — you know the last couple of weeks it’s been very humid. And in the morning the way the light comes through that humidity it almost looks a little bit foggy and misty. I feel very fortunate to have seen this sort of light event because it’s very clearly a kind of manifestation of God and the presence of God in a very special, very special way.