St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
Ayer, Massachusetts

Faith, Community, and Love

Virtual Tour

St. Andrew's Banners

Many older Episcopalians remember singing the hymn:

Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
with the cross of Jesus going on before!
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;
forward into battle, see, his banners go.

For children a generation or two ago, singing that hymn provided a thrilling moment in an otherwise serious Sunday morning service. It remains in The Hymnal (562), although events of the past few decades have perhaps caused it to be sung less frequently.

Still, there is nothing more thrilling for children in church to see, or better yet to be a part of, than a procession complete with banners. Each year, acolytes from St. Andrew's join many others from the 190 parishes in the Diocese of Massachusetts for the traditional commissioning festivities at St. Paul's Cathedral in Boston--a day of happy chaos with dozens of colorful parish banners.


St. Andrew's Banner St. Andrew's Banner

Our oldest banner depicts St. Andrew, our patron, holding a crux decussata or "saltire", the X-shaped cross on which St. Andrew is said to have been crucified. The figure of St. Andrew has been appliqued on a damask ground, with a hand painted face on fabric. The brass plaque attached to the wooden cross-piece is inscribed "To the Honor of God presented by P. H. D. 1952 Made at Warham Guild, London, England." P.H.D. stands for "Parish Hall Diggers"--the St. Andrew's parishioners who actually dug by hand the basement for the new Parish Hall.

This bright red banner with its raised surface sewn in the technique known as "applique", is intended for use at Pentecost, the 50th day after Easter. It depicts the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus as described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2. It was designed, sewn and presented to St. Andrew's Church in 1986 by Sigmund and Sharon Podlozny during Sigmund's second year as a St. Andrew's-sponsored Seminarian. He then was studying at Andover-Newton Theological School in Newton, Massachusetts.
St. Andrew's Banner St. Andrew's Banner

One of our greatest treasures is this two-sided banner, created by talented fabric artist and parishioner Melissa Crowe of Littleton, Massachusetts as a Sunday School project in 2002. The blue side (above) depicts the two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew casting a net into a lake (Matthew 4:18). The net is fashioned from silver fabric mesh, below which there are 26 colorful fabric fish, each designed and created by our Sunday School children. Under the top cross bar hang two brass bells; at the bottom of the banner hang two rows of glass beads.

The green side (above) of our two-sided banner represents one of the great events in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, as told in the Gospel of John, Chapter 6. While a hungry crowd gathered, Andrew brought to Jesus a small boy who had five loaves of bread and two fish. It was not nearly enough food, but Jesus took the loaves and fishes, gave thanks and distributed them. After they had eaten, Jesus said, "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." Andrew and the other disciples filled twelve baskets with fragments.