Book of the Gospels
I have been on the road for much of the last couple of months, which gives me an opportunity to see how other parishes "do" liturgy - I'm always keen to pick up ideas. My own parish does not have a Book of the Gospels - the Gospel being read from the Lectionary, as with the other readings. However, two of the parishes that I visited do and I noticed one key difference been the two. Both parishes had a deacon who held the Book aloft during the Entrance Procession and who proclaimed the Gospel. Both parishes had a simple but dignified procession of the Book of the Gospels to the Ambo (the correct term for what is commonly referred to as the lectern). But it was after the Gospel had been proclaimed where they differed: In one parish, the Book of the Gospels was processed to a stand/lectern where it was placed, open, facing the congregation; whereas in the other it was simply closed and placed, unceremoniously, on a table adjacent to the Ambo, on top of other books...