Faith and Spiritual Life: Good Works
Published 11:16 pm Friday, November 9, 2007
Edmonds church plans remembrance service
At 6 p.m. Sunday, Edmonds Christian Church will conduct a Contemplative Labyrinth Worship Service of Remembrance in recognition of Veterans Day.
The worship service will honor past and present armed services personnel and those who have died within the year. Music will be performed by Judith Cummings, an internationally known harpist.
As worshippers walk the winding path, each honoree’s name will be offered in prayer. Those who know someone in the armed services or have known someone who has passed away while in the military are encouraged to attend.
Edmonds Christian Church said it was grateful to be able to offer this service of healing and remembrance as a gift to the community. All are welcome to attend.
For more information, go to www.edmondscc.org.
Churches craft prayer shawls for troops
Trinity Episcopal Church in Everett will offer a special service to distribute “pocket prayer shawls” for those serving in the military during 8 and 10 a.m. services on Sunday.
The services, conducted by the Rev. Larry Perry, will include ROTC students carrying flags, a special blessing for veterans and the blessing of more than 400 small shawls.
The shawls will be distributed to family and friends of men and women serving in all branches of the military. About 350 of the shawls will be sent to Wisconsin and distributed to several units that will be deployed at the end of November. St. John’s Episcopal Church in Snohomish is also helping make the shawls.
The prayer shawl ministry started a month ago at the request of a church member whose grandson in Wisconsin was to be deployed. Her grandson was so taken with the prayer shawl that he requested enough for all his fellow troops being deployed at the end of November. There has been a tremendous response from the congregation, both to help make them for the Wisconsin units as well as requests for their loved ones.
The pocket prayer shawls are miniature versions of the full-size prayer shawls and are small enough for the troops to carry with them at all times. They are knit or crocheted in sand and camouflage colors so they do not stand out in the environment where the troops are serving.
The pocket prayer shawls are tucked into an envelope along with an insert explaining them. The envelope has a blessing on the front, the maker’s name, the date it was blessed and a line for the recipient’s name. The blessing, written by the Rev. Wayne Bond, often is used to bless the shawls.
Trinity’s prayer shawl ministry was started three years ago by Marie Bond, Kathleen Newman and Evie Beard. The ministry has almost doubled the number of shawls it makes each year — it started with 110 shawls in 2005, and has made 312 so far this year.
The large shawls are given to church members, family and friends around the country in need of comfort in time of illness or sorrow, expectant mothers and those getting married at the church. The ministry also sends shawls to Hospice of Snohomish County, which received 117 this year, and Children’s Hospital in Seattle, which received 25.
The ministry has been corresponding with chaplains in several branches of the service, including Naval Station Everett, Fort Lewis and the Ohio National Guard, about the pocket prayer shawls with the hope of getting them into the hands of as many military members as would like them.
