Monday, June 13, 2005

Lindsey's Prayer Shawl: Adventures in Community Part I

I had found a kindred spirit: like me, it seemed Lindsey’s Mom listens best when her hands are occupied. For two Sundays I was aware of her knitting during a part of our worship time. Later she explained that it was a prayer shawl for a dear friend’s wife living with brain cancer. She described how she had prayed while in the yarn shoppe to be guided to the right yarn. She explained how she had set on stitches in a multiple of three and that she would knit three then purl three, for the Trinity. She sparkled as she told us that her prayers and the prayers of our community were woven into the shawl as she knitted. She revealed she was making the shawl large enough for her friend, the husband, to benefit from wearing it as well. When it was complete, we gathered ‘round our round communion table and blessed and commissioned the lovely multi-moss-shaded work of art.

It had been years since I had knitted, and then only a very simple vest. I was so intrigued by the shawl idea, however, that I went home that night and found my needles and some purple yarn that had never been made into a pillow for a college roommate. In my mind, I knitted for my friend, Joanne, in her second year free from cancer. My early rows were comical. The men in our community enjoyed a gentle teasing. If you look carefully, the whole beginning section is on an angle because I somehow managed to set on more stitches than I dropped. But Lindsey’s Mom helped me take out selected mistakes, recognize what I did wrong, and set out again with new energy. Lindsey loved the little stitches of the purple shawl. My needles were half the size of her mother’s. The lavender shade was “c-o-o-o-l.”

Easter came, and I decided to have a Vigil on Saturday night and knit. I would knit until it was time to put together the casserole for our Easter sunrise breakfast. I sang and prayed with Joanne in my thoughts while my needles clicked. Lindsey’s “ooo” on Easter morning warmed me. For a couple of weeks we’d all been tossing about ideas of what, if anything, to do with two mistakes that had formed perfect little boxes near the beginning of the shawl. Lindsey’s diagnosis: “Smiley-face beads!” Inwardly I grinned at the idea and clicked on. Sometime while Spring was first beginning to wear her colors, it hit me that I wasn’t knitting for Joanne. Lindsey’s Mom shared with me her hope that Lindsey might soon want to begin confirmation. Someone asked me the purpose of a prayer shawl, and I decided, “It’s like giving someone who really needs it, a hug that doesn’t end.” All of a sudden I knew there was a smiley-bead purchase in my future.

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