Nathan Auth has come a long way since he built his first coffee table in his father’s shop as a teenager.
From that first project to his own remodeling company to his current work making altars, ambos, and other liturgical fixtures, Auth is building up the Kingdom of God with his own hands.
It all started one day when a mutual friend connected Auth with the Servants of Christ Jesus, who had just procured their first community house and needed to renovate it to suit their needs. A top priority, of course, was a chapel. So, Auth built them an altar, an ambo, and a stand for the tabernacle.
His work was just beginning, and he went on to create altars and other liturgical fixtures for Bishop Machebeuf High School, St. John Paul the Great High School, and Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services of Colorado. He would even go on to remodel the chapel at Annunciation Heights, helping to make the liturgical fixtures and many of the structural elements from the sanctuary platform and steps to the ceiling beams.
“All this happened in his humble woodshop in the back of our property, a testament to God’s desire to take our small offerings and do something beautiful with them,” Nathan’s wife, Allison, told the Denver Catholic. “When I see a pile of beams laying on the table in his shop, I cannot fathom how they will be sawed and sanded and shaped into the very place that God will come down and make Himself present to us. The process by which a stack of wood turns into a beautiful work of art comes from the very mind of the Creator Himself.”
Starting daily with prayer, Nathan reminds himself of his humble role in building up the Church. “I don’t want my hands doing the work,” he told the Denver Catholic. “I want God’s hands to drive it.”
“I had never once approached the job starting with prayer. God wasn’t necessarily ever in the picture of what I was doing. I always knew my gifts came from God, but it made it deeper, more real,” he continued, reflecting on the power of daily prayer for his liturgical work.
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The Servants of Christ Jesus were Auth's first liturgical woodworking client. He worked with them to construct an altar, ambo and tabernacle stand for their community's chapel. (Photo provided)
The chapel at St. John Paul the Great High School in Denver, with liturgical elements made by Nathan Auth. (Photo provided)
In-progress altar, ambo and candle stands for Bishop Machebeuf High School's chapel space. (Photo provided)
Liturgical fixtures created by Auth adorn Bishop Machebeuf's chapel space. (Photo provided)
Altar, ambo and candle stands at Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services of Colorado. (Photo provided)
In-progress altar, ambo and candle stands at Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services of Colorado. (Photo provided)
Auth helped renovate the Annunciation Heights chapel, creating the altar, ambo, presider's chairs and tabernacle stand, as well as the sanctuary steps and other features. (Photo provided)
In a small way, Nathan Auth sees himself as God’s instrument to bring beauty to the Church.
“When I speak of beauty, it’s warm, not cold,” he said. “I try to let God’s creation speak for itself. All I’m doing is trying to highlight what God created.”
“It’s a neat thought that there are people praying, and they’re looking at this, and it’s drawing them closer to Heaven,” he continued. “It’s something satisfying, something moving and fulfilling.”
That fulfillment is only compounded by the opportunity to share his work with his family, whether by renovating and beautifying their home or creating fixtures for family prayer.
The Auths recalled one renovation in which one of their sons helped lay flooring. “I had a helper at the same time, and I basically gave him the same instruction that I gave Timothy,” Nathan said. “And Timothy was faster!”
As the Auth children get older, there will only be more opportunities for collaboration in co-creation.
“It’s definitely a way to be more intentional with the time with my kids,” Nathan shared.
“I see this evolution as the growth of all of us,” Allison said, reflecting on Nathan’s work in and out of the home over the years.
“He has remodeled every room in our house and all the woodworking, all the furniture are all things that he has built, oftentimes out of scraps. So, I think it’s beautiful to see these scraps of lumber being turned into something beautiful, but also the transformation of our family, the journey that we’ve gone on as we’ve been transforming the house room by room. The kids have been witness to that. Growing up in this, they have that mindset of trying to look for beauty and appreciate the work that it takes and things like that,” she continued.
His work building up the Church – as well as his own domestic church – has certainly been a journey of ever-deepening faith and trust in God for his family and himself.
A journey he never foresaw, his liturgical building efforts continue with a few more projects on the horizon. Through it all, one thing is certain: Nathan concluded that God’s plan is best and leads us where he wants us to go.
“That’s where I’ve had my biggest revelation,” he said. “Just trusting in God more. There’s still trust issues, right? But definitely, there’s more trust now than there has ever been in my past. So, it’s been a good journey.”