Prayer Shawl Ministry
Pray and Knit
The Prayer Shawl ministry seeks to use our gifts of wo
rking with yarn for the special work of comforting and celebrating God’s people in their joys and sorrows. Each shawl crocheted or knit is blessed by a laying on of hands and a special prayer. Prayer shawls have been given to new babies, to people facing serious health problems and those celebrating milestones in their lives.
Join the Prayer Shawl Ministry.
An informal meeting of knitters and crocheters happens at 1:00 pm on the second Friday of the month, September through May, in the Sheldon Jackson Lounge. This is the time when we bless our shawls, trade patterns, give and receive help, and enjoy each-other’s company. All are welcome – all you have to do is show up.
Give a Prayer Shawl
Prayer shawls are always given, they are not for sale. If you know of someone to whom you would like to give a prayer shawl, call the church office to get the contact information.
________________________________________
Presbyterian Women, along with grateful donations from people who have received shawls allow us to have yarn on hand to be used in making these shawls.
====================================
Prayer Shawl Ministry Links
About the Shawls…
In 1998, Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo, two graduates of the 1997 Women’s Leadership Institute at The Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut gave birth to a ministry as a result of their experience in this program of applied Feminist Spirituality under the direction of Professor Miriam Therese Winter, MMS. Compassion and the love of knitting/crocheting have been combined into a prayerful ministry and spiritual practice which reaches out to those in need of comfort and solace, as well as in celebration and joy. Many blessings are prayed into every shawl.
The Prayer Shawl Ministry of First Presbyterian Church Rochester was started in 2004, when Carole Lloyd, then chaplain at Season’s Hospice, who had seen a shawl comfort a dying cancer patient, and Elizabeth Remfert, whose mother was knitting prayer shawls in Madison, WI, got together to introduce the idea to our congregation. Since then dozens of women have participated and about 200 shawls have been blessed and given.
In 2010, shawls were knit and given to the confirmands.
