FEB. 18, 2004

THE ARTS
Crafts create a spiritual movement

Religious congregations of all kinds have always had craft circles where women meet to make items for charity and to chat over coffee. In the last decade, there has been a movement away from casual crafting to something much more deliberate and religiously purposeful. Knitters, quilters, beaders and sewers who meet within congregations are increasingly adopting formal prayers, blessings and ceremonies performed at every stage of their craft.

These groups are spreading swiftly as interest and information jumps from congregation to congregation through books, the Internet, workshops and word of mouth. Two of the most popular ministries - Prayers and Squares, a quilting ministry begun in a Methodist church in San Diego, and the Shawl Ministry, begun by a group of women at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut - have watched groups spread to dozens of churches and some synagogues in the United States, Europe and Australia.

In the Shawl Ministry, knitters say prayers over their needles, yarn, each row and every stitch; the movement of yarn across needles becomes a kind of mantra. Quilters in Prayers and Squares pray over the fabric, the bunting and every stitch until the quilts and their recipients are blessed during the tying of the final knots.

Combining prayer with craft was a new concept for crafters who often belittle their own work, said Vicki Galo, co-founder of the Shawl Ministry: "It is an awakening."

Craft has been transformed into a contemplative practice that spiritually benefits the crafter as well as the recipient, says Susan Izard, co-author of Knitting into the Mystery: A Guide to the Shawl-Knitting Ministry (Morehouse Publishing, 2003). God exceeds intellectual understanding, she says, and spiritual knitting reflects that.

Why it Matters
Studies have shown that older people who engage in religious and spiritual practice often cope better psychologically and have better physical health than those who don't. Most religious traditions value caring for the elderly. What will happen when there are many more older people with a wider variety of needs and spiritual preferences?

Questions for reporters
During Lent, talk to craft groups in local congregations about the spiritual side of their work. What does contemplative, intentional crafting contribute to the spirituality of the participants? To the life of the congregation? To the broader community?

What is it about crafting that especially lends itself to religious practice? Why is crafting with a spiritual purpose finding such welcome among congregations at this time?

Find two or more different religious congregations in your area that practice some form of organized, intentional craft and follow the making of a craft from the planning stage to the presentation of the item to someone in the community.

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Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

National sources

• Susan S. Jorgensen and Susan S. Izard are co-authors of Knitting into the Mystery: A Guide to the Shawl-Knitting Ministry (Morehouse Publishing, 2003). Contact Jorgensen at 860-673-1430, sjpresence@aol.com and Izard at 860-233-9605 ext. 103, ssizard@yahoo.com.
• Janet Bristow and Vicki Galo are co-founders of the Shawl Ministry, based in Connecticut. The idea for the ministry developed out of a women's spirituality class they took at Hartford Seminary and a knitters' group they formed there. Today, their web site receives 1,000 hits per week, and congregations across the country and around the world have adopted their model. Contact Galo at 860-828-5815, galofamily@comcast.net. Contact Bristow at 860-673-4260, mjbristow@msn.com.
• Kathy Cueva is the president of Prayers and Squares, an international quilting ministry that originated in her Methodist church in La Mesa, Calif. The goal of the ministry is not to make and distribute quilts, but to promote prayer through the use of quilts. Contact prayerquiltpres@cox.net.
• Louise Silk is a fiber artist who specializes in quilts. She is the author of The Quilting Path: A Guide to Spiritual Discovery Through Fabric, Thread and Kabbalah (Skylight Paths, 2006) which describes a Jewish approach to quilting. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pa. Contact louise@silkquilt.com.
• Susan Towner-Larsen and Barbara Brewer Davis are co-authors of With Sacred Threads: Quilting and the Spiritual Life (United Church Press, 2000). Towner-Larsen is working on another book, Within Sacred Circles: Meditations and Mandala Quilts (Pilgrim Press, 2004). Together and separately they lead workshops and retreats on spiritual quilting. Both are based in Columbus, Ohio. Contact Towner-Larsen at 800-282-0740 ext. 206, stwnrlrsn4@aol.com, and Brewer Davis at 614-487-7216.
• Bernadette Murphy is the author of Zen and the Art of Knitting: Exploring the Links Between Knitting, Spirituality and Creativity (Adams Media Corp., 2002). She is a fiction writer and lives in Los Angeles. Contact 818-956-7522, bernadet@lafn.org.
• Annie Modesitt, who is Jewish, is a hand-knit sweater designer who has written about and teaches workshops on knitting as a spiritual outlet. She lives in New Jersey. Contact her through email, annie@modeknit.com.
• Alissa J. Stern weaves Judaica items and has taught Jewish pre-schoolers to weave their own tallith, or prayer shawls. She has plans to teach tallith-weaving to a 4,000-member Jewish community in upstate New York. She lives in Bethesda, Md. Contact 301-320-7870, alissa@jewishweaving.com.

Background

• Read an April 2002 article from the Jewish Forward about Jewish crafting.
• Read a Jan. 3, 2002, article in The Sacramento Bee about crafting and women.
• Read prayers designed to be said over every stage of shawl knitting.
• Read a Nov. 16, 2002, article in the Hilton Head, S.C., Island Packet about the local Prayers and Squares ministry.