"For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."
--Matthew 18:20

Our greater CUMC Community
is comprised of many
connected groups who share
their interests, their time and
their lives with each other.

Find a fellowship group to join:
a place to feel welcomed;
a place to find God;
a place to do God's work; or
a chance to welcome
friends and strangers.

LINKS:
United Methodist Women
Friday Niters
Men's Groups
Shawl Ministry
Book Groups
Antique Show & Rummage Sale
Scrapbookers
Walk to Emmaus .

Prayer Shawls - A Knitting Ministry

 

              

Today I decided to start my day off differently... Instead of coffee and bad news on the TV, I put on my prayer shawl and took my coffee out to the deck and just sat in the quiet.  It was so great!

..A recent prayer shawl recipient   

                                                                                           

The prayer shawl ministry here at Chatham UMC continues to reach out and make a difference in the lives of our friends and neighbors, both near and far.  There is something comforting about receiving a tangible gift of love that can be both worn and cuddled with.  The joy that is felt in the creation of the shawl, extends to the one who receives it.  The many prayers that are knit into the very fibers of the shawl, demonstrate the depth and breadth of our God’s love!                                                         

If you are interested in learning more about this ministry, or if you are interested in knitting a prayer shawl (or know someone who would appreciate receiving one), please call the church office for more information.

Prayer Shawls are meant to be given away.

Contact the church office at 973-635-7740

to find out more.

 

May s/he be wrapped in the comforting healing love of God. 

This shawl has passed through our praying hands, and been blessed by our loving hearts. 

May God’s grace be upon this shawl, warming comforting, enfolding and embracing. 

May this mantle be a safe haven, a sacred place of security and well-being, sustaining and embracing in good times as well as difficult ones. 

May the one who receives this shawl be cradled in hope, kept in joy,graced with peace, and wrapped in love. Amen.

 

 (Prayers for those who receive shawls from the ministry, Janet Bristow)

---

              Blessings on and gratitude for all the knitters and crocheters who have provided prayers in shawls to so many this year! If you’re praying over shawls and giving them away, God bless you! Here is a partial list of those I am aware of who have been praying/knitting: Mary Kashmanian, Margaret Knoecklein, Jean Baird, Bert Whalin, Linda Gilbert, Dona Franklin, Pam Bess, Barbara Bennett, Barbara Fedeler, Francie Preston, anyone else?

              What are these shawls? In 1998, Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo gave birth to this ministry, and since then it has spread around the globe.  Shawls are filled with prayer and blessings for the recipient, from beginning to end.  Shawls are knit for people undergoing medical procedures or during illness and recovery, as a comfort after a loss, or in celebration: of a birth of a baby or a marriage, or in friendship, and other occasions as you think of them.

              As we choose the yarn, as we cast on the first stitches, as we knit the shawl, as we give it away, we are naming the recipient before God and asking God to wrap them in God’s compassionate love; as we finish the shawl and give it away we are praying for God’s embracing love to encompass the person.  We begin the shawl asking God’s blessing on the knitter, the shawl and the recipient.   Prayers are knit into every stitch.  If “our hands are God’s hands,” then through this ministry we learn to trust that God works through us when we care for friends and strangers alike.  Even as we begin a shawl thinking it will go to a stranger, part way through in a moment of grace, epiphany and revelation, we may find we know whom we will give it to.  The shawls are made in a simple pattern. Based on a K3, P3 pattern, the shawls are not just any shawl.  Much can be said about the pattern of threes: i.e. human existence in three stages of birth, life and death; time: past, present and future; three primary colors; human “being” in three parts: body, mind and spirit; the rhythm of the waltz; faith, hope and love for Christians, the trinity: God the Creator, Redeemer and Redeemer (Father, Son & Holy Spirit), and more. 

 

When the shawl is given away, a prayer is attached along with an explanation of the ministry.  Will you join us?  Will you recommend someone as a recipient? (For more information on Shawl-Knitting Ministry visit www.shawlministry.com or read Susan Jorgensen & Susan Izard book, Knitting into the Mystery: A guide to the Shawl-Knitting Ministry, Morehouse Publishing, 2003.)