Many years ago, when church was more formal, “ushers” would guide people to a pew and seat them there. Then later in the service, they would take up the offering. Now, their only function is to take up the offering, but they are still called “ushers”.
When the offering is announced, two ushers come forward, each stands in front of the each collection plate, and awaits the prayer over the offering. Then they each go down their side of the church to ensure that anyone who has an offering to give has an opportunity to put it in the plate. And then they each come back up the middle of the church and return the plates with offering in them to the front of the church.
Not a difficult job at all; mainly an usher needs to be pleasant and not make someone feel uncomfortable if they are not putting anything in the plate. Some people give their tithes and offerings through “automatic deposit”, straight from their bank account to the church bank account. Others write one cheque a month for their tithe to the church; others simply don’t have money to give.
For some reason (tradition perhaps), people seem to think that only men can take up the offering. This is really quite a ridiculous notion, but I am sure many women would feel uncomfortable taking up the offering since the tradition has been around so long. Any woman who would like to lend a hand at taking up offering would be very welcome to.
This role can also be performed by boys and girls, as long as they are mature enough to follow the directions with a pleasant manner.
We have a few men who take up offering regularly, and in the Newsletter, an attempt is made to schedule the “ushers”. However, with people coming and going, it is rare that the ushers listed are actually the ones taking up the offering.
Perley usually looks after making sure two people will take up the offering, so if you (men, women, boys and girls) would be willing to do this from time to time, let Perley know, and he will have a list to draw from each Sunday, depending on who is here and available.
It would be nice to have men and women, boys and girls, all feeling very comfortable working together to do the various things that help to make a Sunday morning a wonderful experience for all of us.
— Eric Allaby
