Prayer Shawl Ministry

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.  How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Psalm 139: 13-17 

In 1998, Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo, graduates of the 1997 Women’s Leadership Institute at The Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, began a ministry as a result of their experience in this program. Their desire to extend compassion to others, and their love of knitting and crocheting, led them to combine the two into a prayerful ministry called the Shawl Ministry. The intent of this powerful outreach and spiritual practice was to reach out to those in need of comfort and solace along with those celebrating joy in their lives. The shawl maker begins each new mantle with prayers and blessings for the known or unknown recipient and these intentions are continued as the shawl takes form, is completed, and then is given away. (Source: The Prayer Shawl Ministry Homepage; http://www.shawlministry.com/)

 

Many years ago, a prayer shawl ministry was born at Eastridge Church with the hopes of continuing this special spiritual practice with our church family and beyond. This mission of compassion and love continues today with EPC members knitting, crocheting and quilting prayer shawls. Throughout the years, many shawls have been prayerfully completed and given away with the hope each recipient will feel the love and comfort of God, along with the prayers and blessings of a member of our church family, when they see their shawl or wrap it around their shoulders.  

Just as a butterfly develops slowly within its cocoon and emerges with its distinct characteristics or a baby develops slowly within the womb of her/his mother and is born a unique human being, so a shawl slowly develops too. With each tug of the yarn from the skein and the continual movement of the needle and fingers or the careful selection, cutting, placement and sewing of fabric occurring over time, each shawl takes on its own individual design with the blending of colors and stitches chosen carefully and loving by the maker. As I work on each shawl, I am constantly reminded of how God has chosen to create each of us with unique gifts and talents that allow us to be a reflection of God’s love and a blessing to others.

 

Prayer:  Dear Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, we thank you for the gift of our hands and the ways in which they can be a blessing to others. We ask you to bless those who have felt your calling to knit, crochet and sew prayer shawls along with those who have received them. May these mantles be a perpetual reminder of the unfailing love and care you, and our church family, have for them. Amen.

Patty Niemann (reprinted from 2017)

Editor's note: Photo below of an Eastridge prayer shawl recipient in the hospital at Bryan West two years ago!