From the UCC Network: 07/30/2011 "Knitting Prayer Shawls and Baby Booties"

Knitting Prayer Shawls and Baby Booties

"For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works."

Excerpt from Psalm 139:13-18

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

On Tuesday nights, a group gathers in our church lobby to knit prayer shawls, baby blankets and booties for the members of our congregation. The knitting ministry meets the same night as our church council. So while we are in the conference room making big picture decisions about the life of the church, just a few feet away on the couches other people are knitting for the sick, the new babies or those in need of any kind of healing. I think it’s a nice combination of ministry on Tuesday nights, like a check and balance system for what leadership in the church is all about.

I still have the prayer shawl I received from my current church when I was sick, and I still have the prayer shawl I received from my former church when my mother passed away. I went on to inherit the prayer shawl her church made for her when she first fell ill. They all lie around my house as extra blankets in the family room, ordinary objects infused with prayer in the midst of our ordinary lives.

The prayer shawl didn't cure my mother's fatal illness. But there is no question in my mind that it was a conduit of healing. It remains a symbol to me of how all our churches are knit together by the Holy Spirit.

New babies receive a hand-made gift to keep them warm, blessed by prayer before it is given away. It's a symbol of a beautiful biblical metaphor that goes back many thousands of years. It seems that people have been knitting for one another forever, perhaps ever since God, the original knitter, knit each one of us together in our mother's womb. So indeed, we are wonderfully made.

Prayer

When I feel discouraged, unworthy or damaged, remind me that you, Divine Knitter, knit me together and made me wonderful. And when I feel cocky, superior or smug, remind me that you did the same for everyone else, too. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.