By Linda Piotrowski
This past Christmas my husband gave me the book, Knitting Into the Mystery: A Guide to the Shawl-Knitting Ministry. The book describes the prayer or comfort shawl ministry begun by Susan Jorgensen and Susan S. Izard. Prayerfully knit, the shawls are given away without cost to anyone in need of comfort or celebration. The book includes directions for starting a shawl-knitting group as well as a history of the origins of prayer shawls, how to knit or crochet shawls, sample prayer services and a variety of interfaith prayers. This seemed an ideal way to combine ministry with a passion for knitting.
And so began a prayer shawl ministry, involving many loving hands, at the hospital in Vermont where I minister as interfaith chaplain.
This past March on a bitterly cold evening, nearly 25 people gathered in a small third-floor nursing conference room on our hospital’s psychiatric unit. The occasion was a potluck supper and blessing ceremony for John and his wife. John is the evening nursing supervisor on our psychiatric unit. His diagnosis of widespread cancer had left us reeling.
At the start of our potluck supper, two staff members draped our hand-knit prayer shawl around John’s shoulders while we took turns reading the prayer that accompanies this article.
About one month prior to the supper, we purchased yarn and began knitting the shawl for John. We circulated a letter, accompanied by the yarn, needles and shawl in progress, to the hospital staff. The letter briefly explained the tradition of the prayer shawl (a Jewish tradition for centuries, but now a nondenominational practice) and invited staff members’ participation, either to knit some rows, or to hold the knitting and pray (if that was authentic to them), or to infuse the fibers of the shawl with their good thoughts and wishes.
We wanted to present the completed shawl to John to remind him of the good will, caring and love that we have for him. For those who might choose to pray, we included a suggested prayer from the book. We started the shawl with one person knitting the first ten rows. From there it passed from person to person. Even those who did not know how to knit took the growing shawl, held it, and prayed, sending good energies and their healing spirits into the shawl.
Since then this ministry has taken on a life of its own. After we shared the story of John’s shawl at the hospital’s clergy advisory board meeting, Sue Barasch, a member of the board, shared news of the ministry at her synagogue’s Sabbath ceremony. Within the week, a group of women began meeting at the synagogue to pray and knit shawls. Sue spoke about the shawls at our local clergy association meetings.
Almost immediately, e-mail and phone requests for directions for knitting the shawls began pouring in. Just last week the local United Church of Christ held a shawl blessing ceremony during their Sunday service. Placing the completed shawls on the altar, the congregation prayed along with the pastors, asking God to bless the shawls and their recipients. Word of the shawls reached the volunteer coordinator at our local home health and hospice. Now volunteers and staff gather to pray and knit shawls for their clients.
Delivering the meal invocation at our hospital’s volunteer appreciation luncheon provided another opportunity to talk about the shawl ministry. One of the women serving us lunch approached me with a donation of yarn from her yarn stash. At the end of the luncheon, a woman describing herself as a non-knitter came forward and contributed a $25 gift certificate she had received as a prize at the luncheon. She said she could not knit but wanted to be a part of the ministry.
Now a group of volunteers meets monthly at the hospital to pray and knit. Our shawls are designated for participants in our Breast Feeding Support group, our Newborn and Infant Loss Support group, and patients of the nurse midwife in one of our physician practices. As our ministry grows, we hope to be able to provide shawls to each woman giving birth at our hospital.
Since our first prayer shawl for John, we have presented shawls to a staff member experiencing a divorce, and yet another recently diagnosed with cancer. Each shawl bears a tag with the names of the knitters and pray-ers as well as a copy of a prayer written just for them.
My colleague, Lynn Burgess, an APC board-certified chaplain, began the shawl ministry at Northeastern Vermont Regional Medical Center, a 75-bed acute care hospital in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Prayer shawls of varied colors and textures draped over the backs of the chairs greet you as you enter the hospital chapel. Each shawl has a tag tied to it. The tag contains the signature of the man or woman who knitted or crocheted the shawl. A group of fifteen meets regularly in their hospital chapel to pray and knit shawls. On the altar is a photo of the oldest member of their group, an 82-year-old man, proudly displaying the three shawls he has knit so far! Their group held a bake sale raising over $125 in yarn money in one day.
Starting the shawl ministry at our hospital brought our community together both internally and externally. Now when we check out purchases at our local fabric and yarn shop, it is not unusual for the cashier to ask, “Are you knitting a prayer shawl? I know someone who could use one.”
The requests come in faster than our needles can fly. As chaplains, we know very well the extent of isolation, pain and suffering as well as the reasons for celebration in our world. Starting a shawl ministry is one way to invite the community in to the hospital while at the same time reaching beyond the walls of our institutions to give much-needed signs of love and support to people in need of a healing touch.
For more information about starting a prayer shawl ministry, the book Knitting into the Mystery provides background regarding the shawls’ simple knit3, purl3 pattern. For a detailed description of this symbolism, consult www.shawlministry.com or page 42 of the book. Everything about the shawl is symbolic from the type of yarn to the color chosen to knit or crochet the shawl. (You can read more in “Knitting into the Mystery of God” by Susan S. Izard from the September 2000 issue of Presence-A Journal of Spiritual Direction. The article is available on line at http://www.shawlministry.com/Articles/presence.htm.)
Linda F. Piotrowski is
Interfaith Chaplain at Central Vermont Medical Center. Located in the heart of
the Green Mountains, Central Vermont Hospital (122 beds), Woodridge Nursing Home
(153 beds) and the 10-member Central Vermont Physician Practice Corporation
serve the medical needs of 26 central Vermont towns and communities. Contact
Linda at Linda.piotrowski@hitchcock.org.
Shawl
Ritual for John and Neuane
Central
Vermont Hospital
March 3, 2004
John,
Please
receive this shawl.
Wrap
it around you.
It
brings the energy and caring of your
friends
and co-workers at CVMC.
Knitted
into each strand
are the memories
of all you have shared with us
as we worked to bring hope and wholeness
to all who came here needing help.
.
May
this shawl be for you
a
mantle of security and well-being…
sustaining
and embracing you in good times and difficult ones.
May
it bring you comfort
from all that appears too much to bear
from all that feels as if it might break you
from all that threatens your peace of heart.
Rest
within its softness
so
that
you
and Neuane
will
be cradled in hope,
kept
in joy,
graced
with peace,
and
wrapped in our love.
Amen.
(This
prayer, adapted from several prayers appearing in Knitting
into the Mystery, was printed on a tag attached to the shawl.)
Caption
for photo on page 10