The young man in the photo is Sasha. I have been praying for him since the invasion of Ukraine from Russia, and Ukraine’s decree that all 18-60 year-old men “cannot leave the country, but be prepared to fight.” That would include Sasha…he’d be in his 30’s now.
I met Sasha in 2004 when I was in the Ukraine on a mission trip, helping with an English Language Camp in Cherkassey, south of Kiev. He was 14 or 15 years old and one of the students in my group. He was a wonderful young man, and we made a special connection. Sasha gave me the pink elephant (pictured above) at the celebration for the completion of the language camp at the end of that week. Over the years, I admit, I did lose touch with him, but he has been on my mind these days, and worked himself back into my heart as I pray for his safety during this conflict.
I’m praying, too, for a miracle, and for peace to come quickly to the Ukraine. And for all the wonderful people I met there.
(My grandchildren now play with this cute elephant which I wrote about in a previous post. )
Last March (2020) when Covid-19 started infiltrating our world and we began to isolate ourselves, I decided it might be a good time to start knitting a prayer shawl. I didn’t have a specific person in mind as I started knitting. The finished shawl would go to our care pastor at church, to give to someone as needed.
I used yarn a friend had given to me. The yarn created a unique pattern. It made for an interesting prayer shawl that I hope will lift someone’s spirits.
Interesting yarn pattern.
As it turned out, knitting ended up not being something I was inclined to work on a lot during the pandemic. But, after almost a year, I finished the prayer shawl.
Years ago, I knit several prayer shawls…some for specific people, others for the pastor to give out. At that time, when there were several people knitting prayer shawls, a man from our congregation joined in knitting shawls. He happened to be my son’s mentor through a church program, and he gave a prayer shawl he had knitted to my son. It was a special blessing. I also received a prayer shawl when my mother died.
An old article from a Seventeen Magazine.
I don’t remember anyone showing me how to knit. I think I learned from a magazine article, when I was a teenager. I believe the magazine was titled Seventeen but I can’t find the magazine’s name (or date) anywhere on the article to confirm this. I still have this article in my knitting bag and sometimes refer to its simplistic instructions for knitting.
A brochure for Praying with a Prayer Shawl.
The brochure that used to be handed out with a prayer shawl (and maybe still is) begins; “A prayer shawl is intended to be a reminder of God’s ever-present love which is as near to you as your own body is to your sprit. It is a fit for every time and every occasion – joyful or sorrowful, for every season and circumstance of life – chose or unchosen, when you are weeping or when you are celebrating”…
It includes this scripture and a special prayer:
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139
I hope the finished prayer shawl will be a blessing to someone who needs some encouragement these days.
Our small statue of “Cristo Redentor” – Christ the Redeemer.
Our church offered a drive-thru, what they termed, “Imposition of Ashes”. Because our church is still closed due to the pandemic this was offered to the congregation (and community) as the start of the Lenten season. You simply drove up to the church entrance. Our pastor met us at our car, applied the ashes, and sent us on our way with this scripture and prayer.
Psalm 51:10-12
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
O God, Give me stillness to recognize your presence. Give me quiet to hear your voice. Holy Spirit, I ask you to fill my heart with your peace, your love and your ways. Restore me and my spirit with Your strength to turn and follow you. Amen.
As our pastor marked our foreheads with the ashes he said, in part, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Now turn and follow Jesus.”
“On this day the length of time with sunlight is the longest.”*
Sunrise over Lake Superior, 2016.
Here are some excerpts from, A Summer Blessing, from the book entitled The Circle of Life.*
Blessed are you, summer, season of long days and short nights, you pour forth light from your golden orb, energizing the earth and calling forth growth.
Blessed are you, summer, with your generous gift of heat. Your warm breath animates creation, encouraging all growing things to stretch towards the sun.
Blessed are you, summer, you call us into playfulness, encouraging us to pause from work. You renew our spirits.
Blessed are you, sacrament of summer, natures’ green season, sweet echo of spring. You speak to us in living color as you renew the earth with symbols of life for our bodies and souls.
Blessed are you, summer, with your firefly evenings you minister to the child in us. You feed our hunger for beauty.
* The Circle of Life by Joyce Rupp & Macrina Wiederkehr
I helped make a meal for 37,000 children yesterday.
I volunteered at Feed My Starving Children, a non-profit Christian organization that packages nutritious meals to be sent to hungry children around the world. Over 37,000 meals were assembled in our two hour shift.
Four of us from my church drove up to Eagan to the FMSC facility to help pack food packages. We were among one hundred volunteers working during our time slot. The system is a streamlined assembly-line process that allows for a team of six to eight people working together at one of several stations to get a lot of meals packed in a short amount of time.
FMSC: empty work stations.
The packaged meal consists of rice, soy, freeze-dried vegetables and vitamins. By adding water to the contents, a nutritional meal is ready to eat. They say that 99% of their meal packets make it successfully to their destinations. They believe prayer plays a big part in that success since they pray over every box that is shipped out of the warehouses.
FMSC: work stations filled with volunteers.
I like to support this organization both financially and by volunteering at one of the three packing centers here in the metro area. If we are looking for a unique gift, or are at a lost for a gift idea, donating money to this cause in someone’s honor, is a great solution.
A motto on the wall…
It’s a successful program and the need is great. I feel time spent helping this organization is worth it. I believe they are making a difference in the lives of thousands, if not millions, of children around the world and I hope to volunteer more often now that I’m retired.
Blue Jean Sunday is the nick-name of an outreach event that happened at Emmaus Church, last Sunday, a very different Sunday morning for us all. We came prepared to participate in one of several groups: a prayer walk around the neighborhood, a clean-up crew for a near-by stream, a landscape crew at an elementary school, assistants for the senior center church service, a group to visit to the assisted living home residents across the street, a group to hand out fliers inviting neighbors to the free community meal at our church coming up soon (and monthly during the school year) or a group to stay back to prepare a luncheon so the congregants could return to reconnect and visit about their experiences.
After a brief service of communion and prayer each group went their way. I went to the assisted living home. The residents seemed hesitant to come and meet our group of eleven in the recreation room so we went and knocked on doors inviting them for donuts and coffee. That worked. Both men and women started coming out of their rooms, walking to the rec room and began opening up. When we left we had probably interacted with 15-20 residents.
These images come to mind when reflecting on my time at the home: Jerome playing Dominoes with a resident and then praying together after a couple of games, a high-schooler from our church (unable to connect with a resident from the home) connected with an elderly woman from our congregation who was a part of our group, three residents sitting in a row enjoying the donuts we brought along to share, the resident dog eating all the crumbs that fell from the donuts, a couple from church offering residents to pet their small dog they brought along, all this going on around me as myself and others were carrying on conversations with residents that were hanging around. There was a lot of commotion in that small recreation room, but somewhere along the way it all translated into joy.
The feedback at lunch from other’s experiences seemed positive too. I believe ideas are percolating in our pastor’s mind and we will be having more Blue Jean Sundays.
Three years ago, around this time of year, my husband was laid off his job. One evening back then, when I was working at the Christmas Festival, an older woman was sitting in the lobby near the box office. I don’t even remember how we struck up a conversation but I found out she lives out of state and has relatives in the festival so came to see the Christmas Festival for the first time that year. As we talked I shared about my husband’s job loss. She encouraged me that evening and said she would pray for me, then we parted ways.
Fast forward three years to Thursday night. She came back to attend the Christmas Festival and came to the box office to check on me. She told me she often wondered how things had turned out for me. I was blessed by this. We visited awhile and she promised she would continue to pray for me…and she would add my friend’s family to her prayer list.
Our conversation was sweet. I told her I wished she lived in my town so we could get together for tea every now and then. I’m delighted to know, and truly believe, she is praying for me and my friend! I’m grateful. I’m calling her my Christmas Festival Angel.
