Harriet Chapel, rector cope during hectic time of year

Tonight, for Maundy Thursday, a candle representing the presence of Christ will be blown out, and the colors and decorations will be removed. On Good Friday, decorations will be black, before the church’s festive spirit returns on Easter Sunday.

‘‘Almost everything you do in this church is symbolic,” said Sally Joyner Giffin, of Thurmont, the chapel’s rector.

The church sits at the foot of Catoctin Mountain, just across Md. Route 806 from the ruins of Catoctin Furnace, a colonial-era ironworks and the first Frederick County industry. In fact, the owner of the furnace from 1820-1835, John Brien, founded the church in 1833 and named it after his deceased wife, Harriet McPherson Brien.

Giffin on Tuesday worked in the church’s office, after attending a morning meeting in Frederick, where she serves on the board of directors for the Trinity School. Piles of papers and books littered a nearby table.

‘‘We’ve got a zillion projects [going on,]” Giffin said.

Giffin is also a member of the Catoctin Byways Committee, which is organizing North County tourism for Frederick County’s Bell and History Days, April 5 and 6. The chapel will be open for visitors, and parishioners will be dressed in historical costumes and will have homemade baked goods for visitors.

‘‘This area is rich with history,” Giffin said. ‘‘[It’s an] absolutely beautiful area to live in.”

Giffin, who on Tuesday wore a white collar with a white shirt and blue jacket and dress, said she has lived in northern Vermont, where she went to Lyndon State College, and in Virginia [her native state] and several states in between.

‘‘Maryland is a nice compromise,” she said.

Giffin took the top position at the chapel 18 months ago, after taking three years of seminary at the School of Theology at Sewanee, the University of the South. She spent a fourth year in Tennessee while her daughter, HollyAnne, now 20 and studying at Georgetown University, finished high school.

The appointment was an easy one to accept, she said. She and her husband, John, and their two children, HollyAnne and John Gray, 15, used to live in Frederick. She taught psychology and child development at Frederick Community College. She also worked as a counselor, as did her husband.

The Episcopal Church vetted Gaffin for three years before she could enter the seminary, in order to determine whether she truly had a calling to preach from God. During that process, she interned at Frederick Rescue Mission and a Frederick church. The decision to enter the priesthood was tough, she said. It would mean moving her kids from their schools, and her husband would have to find a new job.

‘‘You kind of have to give up your life,” she said. ‘‘It took me a while to be brave enough [to believe] that God would take care of us.”

She has also taken charge of the food side of the Thurmont Food Bank, where she said the need is growing.

‘‘A lot of people are facing tough times,” Giffin said, adding that is looking to get more room and volunteers for the outreach. March is on track to bring in more than double the number of ‘‘family units” taking advantage of the food bank – more than 60 – since the same period last year.

The food bank served more than 200 individuals in January, a steep rise from last year, said Jeffrey D. Gehris, pastor at Graceham Moravian Church.

‘‘There’s always an increased need for food items and also for volunteers,” Gehris said Wednesday. ‘‘It’s grown tremendously.”

Gehris handed the food bank’s scheduling, purchasing and stocking duties to Giffin in January, and he said he’s been impressed with her work. He continues to volunteer there, and also makes sure every family gets one pound of hamburger per visit.

The food bank, located at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, accepts cash and food donations at Thurmont Town Hall and at Harriet Chapel. The chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for prayer.

From across the highway, one of Giffin’s most dependable parishioners keeps an eye on the door.

Idella Anders, 79, lives in one of the houses in a row that once belonged to Catoctin Furnace middle managers. She volunteers at the food bank and makes sure Giffin is watched after while alone at the chapel.

‘‘I love my church, and I love this lady,” said Anders, who remembered carrying coal to a ‘‘great big round potbelly stove” in the church on cold Sunday 70 years ago.

‘‘One of things about Idella is, when she says goodbye to people she always says she loves them,” Giffin said.

‘‘That’s how we were taught,” Anders said. ‘‘God always says you’re supposed to love everyone.”