May this shawl be a sign of your healing presence:
May it warm those who are weary, surround those who suffer, and encircle those in pain.
May your gentle touch reach out to heal in the light of Christ.
At our May 5, 2004 Wednesday Night Out, ten women expressed interest in beginning a knitting ministry at our church in the fall. It will build on a centuries-old tradition of women and men crocheting, rolling bandages, stitching comforters, and creating quilts as a way to express care for others. In this case, they will knit “healing” or “comfort” shawls for members of our church. The group will meet monthly to knit together and create shawls from a uniform pattern. They will be part of a larger shawl ministry begun in 1998 by two graduates of the Women’s Leadership Institute in Hartford, CT.
Several other local Mennonite churches are also birthing such ministries. Care and love of knitting will be combined into a prayerful ministry that reaches out to those welcoming comfort. Shawl recipients might be persons in bereavement, new mothers nursing a baby, cancer patients in chemotherapy, those living with a terminal illness, etc. The Minister of Pastoral Care will stay in touch with a coordinator in the group about potential recipients. This ministry will be bathed in prayer, and a printed prayer will accompany each completed shawl gift.
May God’s grace be upon these shawls—
warming, comforting, enfolding, embracing.
May they represent a safe haven—
a place of security and well-being, sustaining the recipient through difficult times.
May the ones who receive these shawls be cradled in hope, graced in peace, and wrapped in love. Amen.
Knitting Ministry participants: Jennifer Martin (coordinator), Joan Gingrich, Jonelle Gingrich, Norma Leaman, Donna Shank, Martha Rempel, Mae Stoltzfus, Marian Thomas, Jane Yutzy
