Prayer Shawl Ministry...goes to monthly meetings

Westminster's dedicated shawl makers will continue to hold in prayer those who are wearing the shawls.

An increasing number of nursing and medical schools educate medical professionals about the integration of the emotional and spiritual aspects of health and wellness. Several researchers have been exploring the healing benefits of prayer. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/27/health/27iht-snpray.html

Deacon Jo Kiefer is our coordinator, and she has graciously volunteered to help teach others how to crochet.

If you would like for our Prayer Shawl Ministry to pray for you, simply email Westminster to request a shawl and we will hold you in our prayers. There is no limit on the time that you may keep the shawl. They are stored in our library downstairs adjacent to the fellowship hall.

Prayer Shawl History...

Each shawl is unique...one of a kind! And, there are shawls appropriate for men, women, and youngsters. The idea of prayer shawls comes from ancient israel. When Jewish men pray, they place a white woven shawl over their heads to simulate the time when God's cloud came down around the Israelites while they were in the wilderness. During that time they were to rest in God's presence, and gain strength for the journey ahead.

Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo, two graduates of the Women's Leadership Institute at the Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, started prayer shawl ministry as a result of their experience in this program. They combined the joy of knitting and crocheting, and the power of prayer into a ministry that reaches those in need of courage and comfort as they go through trying circumstances. Each shawl is started with prayers for the recipient, and the shawl maker continues to pray during it's creation. When the shawl is completed, a group prayer dedicates it before it is given to someone with a special need. Bristow and Galo developed the original pattern of alternating three knit stitches and three purl stitches to point to the Christian symbol of the Trinity.

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