One of the ministries that heard about when we arrived here was the Prayer Shawl ministry. What we heard was that there used to be a group who met to knit and crochet together, making shawls for those who were sick or mourning and needed the comfort of the these shawls. The group also has created cotton bandages and premie caps in the past.
Just a few weeks ago, one of the members who had organized this ministry before approached me, wanting to begin meeting again. We gladly helped to schedule a time and place for this group to resume meeting. Since I love to knit and crochet, I also made time for a shopping excursion to purchase yarn so that I could begin a shawl, and join in this ministry of our congregation.
Even before the very first meeting time, I was handed a completed prayer shawl, with the request that it be dedicated and given to a recent widow in our congregation. Before the week was out, four other completed shawls appeared in my office. That next Sunday morning, as we were announcing the first meeting of the revived ministry, five shawls were blessed with prayer by both of us and passed among the members of the congregation for their prayers. What a marvelous way to re-introduce such a wonderful ministry!
During our first meeting, as I knitted and purled my way along on the shawl I had already started, I also asked about a pattern for premie caps. I was given a lovely but challenging pattern, which requires using 4 double-pointed needles – something I have only used once or twice in my years of knitting. Never one to say ‘never,’ I took a copy of the pattern home and began work on my first premie cap, with yarn I had on hand.
Working on these during quiet evenings by the TV at home, I have now finished three caps, and have yarn for several more. These are really quite fun to create – and my work is certainly based in gratitude and prayer, as I am profoundly thankful that our twin grandsons were not born prematurely. So I am quietly creating these, hoping that they may bring comfort to tiny babies born too early and too small.
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I brought the prayer shawl ministry idea to St. B in December. There are now 6 or 7 ladies who knit and crochet the shawls, and my mom sends one every now and then as well. This week we presented Mia McDowell (LTSS) with a prayer shawl. She is our seminary partner. She and her husband James came for a visit this week.
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