Blessed and Blessing

One of the newer ministries in our community is prayer shawls: a small shawl or lap blanket that have been knitted or crocheted by members of the community. These are created with love and with intentional prayer; every stitch is a prayer.

The idea behind them is to extend the warmth and comfort of God and the church, to those who might benefit and appreciate a tangible reminder of their faith community. They offer the grace of being community to those who are ill or infirm, experiencing loneliness or difficulty, or in celebration of a major event.

Before they are distributed, we bring them to the church, and as part of the offering, the shawls are brought to the altar and God’s blessing is requested to be upon the shawls and those who will receive them.

Last Sunday was the first such blessing, and what a blessing it was.

For as the shawls were placed on the altar, the sun came out and shone through the stained glass windows. The refracted light brought spots of colour to the shawls, as though God was directly blessing these shawls.

I may have been the only one to witness these colours, but what a gift it was: for what is intended to be blessed continues to be a blessing. I think blessings are like that: they extend grace, they remind us of holiness, they invite us to continue the trend.

We, as people of faith, know that we are blessed. What a great reminder that we, as people of faith, are meant to also be agents of blessing.