Prayer Shawl Ministries Knit Comfort And Warmth

Between 15 and 20 people, including Jean Uebele and Jean Colby (above) participate in the the Prayer Shawl Ministry at Federated Church of Orleans. These knitters have produced almost 100 shawls in the past three years, knitting into each shawl prayers and blessings for the recipient. When the shawl is completed it is offered a final ritual of blessings before being sent along its way to someone in need of comfort.

Knit three, pearl three, knit three, pearl three. That is the mantra of many women across Massachusetts who have supplied prayer shawls to thousands of God’s children in their churches, their communities, and across the globe.

According to Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo, two graduates of the Women's Leadership Institute at the Hartford Sem-inary in Connecticut, the three-stitch seed pattern was selected as symbolic of the Trinity and of planting peace, healing, love, comfort and hope. In 1988, the two women combined care and the love of knitting into a prayerful ministry, offering hand-made shawls to those undergoing medical procedures, suffering an illness, in recovery, as a comfort after a loss or a divorce, or as a celebration of commitment or baptism. Many members of UCC churches across Massachusetts have joined the ministry and have spawned more groups across the country.

Although not limited to females, it seems the groups are made up mostly of women. Judith Kinley, pastor of First Congregational Church in Greenfield, wanted to get involved in the shawl program, but didn’t know how to knit. She got a group of women together to help teach her. That was a year ago. This open and ecumenical group – made up of expert and novice members and non-members – has grown to 16 people. Although not everyone attends each get-together, there is a meeting every week and as a result the Prayer Shawl Ministry members have produced over 90 shawls since inception.

Anita Mewherter, a member of the Federated Church of Orleans, was one of the founding members of the Prayer Shawl Ministry at her church. Between 15 and 20 people participate and have produced almost 100 shawls in the past three years. “We didn’t want it to be another obligation for people,” says Mewherter, “so we get together monthly at each other’s houses but do most of the knitting at home.”

The shawls have destinations near and far. The Orleans congregation is an aging congregation, suffering from many illnesses, so over 50 members of the church have received shawls.

Sometimes the groups have a wider community outreach. “Our shawls have gone to the Oncology Department at Franklin County Medical Center and a Franklin Hospice facility as well as people in church who are suffering from cancer,” says Kinley. “In addition, the shawls have been sent to California, Russia, Jerusalem and many places in between.” Last November, an Oxford church sent shawls to tornado victims in Indiana.

A little over a year ago Jane Blake, a lay pastor from United Parish in Lunenberg, heard on the news that armed terrorists took hundreds of school children and adults hostage in Beslan, Russia. After a three-day standoff, shooting broke out and 344 civilians were killed – 186 of them children – and hundreds more wounded. The story touched Blake in such a way that she knew she had to help. At a prayer shawl gathering in Hartford, she asked representatives of all the prayer shawl groups to help send shawls to the grieving people of Beslan. Less than five months later, Blake shipped to a Beslan mission over 270 shawls – provided by UCC churches across Massachusetts, as well as other churches, senior housing facilities, and knitters from across the country. Although Blake spearheaded the efforts, she gives credit and thanks to all that sent shawls.

“There are some projects that flow through you, not from you,” explains Blake. “The tragedy touched many lives and it was a way we could show an outpouring of God’s love to help uplift those people in need.”

The recipients are usually very grateful for the prayers and comfort that are attached to the shawls.

“We have gotten letters about how comforted the beneficiaries felt after receiving the shawls. They felt it was wonderful to know that strangers were praying for them,” says Kinley. Joann Edmonds of the First Congregational Church of Oxford received a note from an appreciative recipient with the words: “I am so grateful. The shawl keeps me warm during my chemotherapy and I can’t believe someone would do this for me.”

Whether they are called prayer shawls, comfort shawls, peace shawls or mantles, and whether the shawls are knitted, crocheted, or machine woven, the “knitter” begins each shawl with prayers and blessings for the recipient. When the shawl is completed it is offered a final ritual of blessings before being sent along its way. These shawls are meant to be given away unconditionally and not to be sold for profit.

“Knitting is a peaceful, contemplative thing to do,” says Mewherter. “And when we’re knitting for someone else, we are really knitting the prayers into the shawl itself. We’re thinking about the individuals and hoping that they find God’s love and healing when they wrap themselves in the shawl.”

“Knitting the shawls gives me quiet time to pray,” says Vivian Bisbee, a member of the First Congregational Church of Princeton. “I think of the shawls as a hug from God and hope the recipient can feel the warmth and prayers that have been anonymously passed along with it.”

“But the blessing goes both ways,” says Kinley. “Those that make and deliver the shawls are equally moved.” So moved, in fact, that they sometimes spread the ministry elsewhere. A few of the members in Greenfield spend half the year in other parts of the country, like Arizona or Oklahoma. These ministry members started shawl groups in those locations as well. Kinley herself brought the ministry back to her hometown in Vermont. Members from Blake’s group have started prayer shawl ministries in Florida and California, and a visitor to Edmonds’ church brought the ministry back to her home in Finland.

Members who have knitted all their lives teach younger members who want to get involved but do not have the skills. “It’s something that anyone can do,” says Blake. “Even people who are homebound, or retired and feeling isolated, can still serve.”

According to Bristow and Galo, “some recipients have continued the kindness by making one themselves and passing it on to someone in need. Thus, the blessing is rippled from person to person, with both the giver and receiver feeling the unconditional embrace of a sheltering, mothering God.”

Note: Instructions, patterns, outreach ideas, and additional information can be found on www.shawlministry.com/

Massachusetts Conference Edition

Prayer Shawl Ministries Knit Comfort And Warmth