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FEB.
18, 2004
THE ARTS
Crafts create a spiritual movement
 STATE
BY STATE
• Prayers and Squares
lists local
chapters by state.
• The Shawl Ministry
lists groups
across the country.
IN
THE NORTHEAST
• Bath
United Church of Christ in Bath, Maine, has a Shawl
Knitting Life Circle, a group of knitters that meets regularly to knit,
pray and read scripture. Contact Nancy Lauckner at 207-729-4504 or Celestia
Rice at 207-443-7437.
• First Presbyterian Church of Berkshire Valley in Berkshire Valley, Mass.,
has a knitting group. Contact 973-366-8440.
• St. Mary's Parish in Shrewsbury, Mass., has a knitting circle. Contact
Marti Page, 508-835-3470.
• The Unitarian Society of Hartford, Conn., has a knitters' circle that
meets before Sunday services. Contact Vicki Carey, 860-726-1989.
IN
THE EAST
• St.
Peter's Episcopal Church in the Great Valley in Paoli, Pa., has a shawl-knitting
ministry with about 40 knitters who pray while knitting. During Lent 2004, they
will also begin a prayer bead ministry. Contact knitter and church member Julie
Tampa at 610-722-9425, juliestampa@netscape.net.
• Trinity Episcopal Church in Bethlehem, Pa., has a "Crafting Our
Prayers" ministry
that has included quilting, breadmaking and crafting prayer beads and prayer
shawls. Contact the Rev. Laura Howell or the Rev. Lexa Shallcross, 610-867-4741,
laura@trinitybeth.org.
• Callie Janoff is co-founder of the Church
of Craft and minister of its New York, N.Y., congregation.
Contact tvecallie@churchofcraft.org.
• St. John's Episcopal Church of Olney, Md., has an Anglican prayer bead
service every week. Participants can make their own Anglican rosaries by ordering
beads through the church. Contact the Rev. Benjamin Shambaugh, 301-774-6999.
IN
THE SOUTHEAST
• Epiphany
Cathedral in Venice, Fla., has a knitting ministry. Contact knitter and church
member Gladys Cole at 941-488-5443, fbcole@comcast.net.
• Messiah United Methodist Church in Springfield, Va., has a Prayers and
Squares ministry. Contact Edie Williams, 703-569-9862.
• Debbie Monchek is a director for social action at B'nai
Aviv Conservative Synagogue in Weston, Fla. She tried to establish a knitting
group there linked to the Jewish concept of performing "mitzvah,"
or good deeds. Contact through the synagogue, 954-384-8265.
IN
THE SOUTH
• St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Louisville, Ky., has held knitting circles
for Warm Up America, a project that brings knitted afghans to the homeless.
Contact Janet Warner at 502-459-2093, janetrwarner@insightbb.com.
• Church of the Ascension Episcopal Parish in Montgomery, Ala., has a Prayers
and Squares ministry. Contact Ann S. Lewis, 334-271-1379, aslewis@charter.net.
IN
THE MIDWEST
• Grace United
Methodist Church in Sioux City, Iowa, has a knitting ministry that meets
weekly to make caps and shawls for the sick and needy. Contact Glendy Nichols,
712-276-3452.St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Rockford, Mich., has a knitting
ministry. Contact knitter Susan Deford at tsdedford@aol.com
or pastor Diane Konynenbelt at ststephn@juno.com.
• Edgebrook Evangelical Covenant Church in Chicago has a knitting ministry
called "The Crafty Angels" whose shawls and caps are blessed by the
church pastor before being delivered to the needy. During Lent, church members
plan to knit shawls for local elderly for delivery at Easter. Contact lay pastor
Chris Pokorny, 773-267-3060, clpokorny@aol.com.
• Schoolcraft United Methodist Church in Schoolcraft, Mich., has a Prayers
and Squares ministry. Last year, every church member helped create a "peace
quilt" that was presented to U.S. Rep. Fred Upton. Contact pastor David
Nellist, 269-679-4845.
• First Community Church of Columbus, Ohio, has a Prayers and Squares ministry.
Contact 614-488-0681.
• Westminster Presbyterian Church in Sioux Falls, S.D., has just started
a Prayers and Squares ministry that includes women of several generations. Contact
Nancy Cunningham, 605-371-2084, heelspur@msn.com.
IN
THE SOUTHWEST
•
Paramount Terrace Christian Church in Amarillo, Texas, has a prayer
shawl ministry. Participants ask for God's blessing on yarn and needles,
and when a shawl is completed, they pray for the recipient of the shawl. Contact
Sandy Duncan, sandy@ptcc.org.
• ArtSpirit
is a ministry of the United Methodist Church in Dallas that explores and interprets
the mysteries of God and spirituality through the arts. It challenges spiritual
seekers to use their creative talents in alternative and traditional forms of
worship, scholarship and service to the world. Contact the Rev. Diana Brown
Holbert, a trained musician and dancer and a clergywoman in the United Methodist
Church, 214-826-2060, art.spirit@earthlink.net.
• First
United Methodist Church of Tulsa, Okla., has a knitting ministry that combines
knitting, crocheting and praying in the making of shawls for the sick and needy.
Contact Denise Rounds, 918-496-1838.
• St. Michael's
Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, has a knitting ministry. Knitters recommend
one prayer per row of knitting, and recipients report feeling "wrapped
in the Holy Spirit" when they wear their shawls. Contact knitter and church
member Melanie Fahey at 713-868-1136, melfahey@aol.com.
• St. Laurence's Episcopal Church in Conifer, Colo., has a Prayers and
Squares ministry
that involves 10 quilters who have constructed quilts for cancer patients and
ailing babies. Contact Pat Beckham by email only, pjbweb@aol.com.
• St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Yuma, Ariz., has a Prayers and Squares
ministry that draws people from several churches and includes some who are unchurched
as well. Contact Nancy Wright through the church for a callback, 928-782-5155.
IN
THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Deborah
Bergman is the Oregon-based author of The Knitting Goddess (Hyperion
Press, 2000). Contact deborah@knttinggoddess.com.
• The Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco has observed Lent
by forming a knitting group that knitted caps for babies in Third World nations.
The caps were blessed by ministers before traveling overseas. Contact Susan
Conrad, 415-863-4434, sjconrad@self-serv.net.
• The Seattle
Church of Craft meets every second Sunday in Seattle. Contact Betsey Brock,
sisterbetsey@churchofcraft.org.
• The Los
Angeles Church of Craft meets in Los Angeles. Contact Reverend Allison,
allison@churchofcraft.org.
• The Rev. John H. Farley is senior pastor at Foothills United Methodist
Church in La Mesa, Calif., and has written about being the recipient of a prayer
quilt. Contact 619-670-4009.
• St. Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Temecula, Calif., has a
Prayers and Squares ministry. Contact Sharon Mittry at 909-696-9645 or Joyce
Carney at 909-302-3606.
• Marysville United Methodist Church in Marysville, Wash., has a Prayers
and Squares ministry. Church members make a quilt for someone in need and place
the quilt in the sanctuary during Sunday worship, where members pray for the
recipient as they tie knots that will hold the quilt together. Contact Ruth
Sowards or Anita Jennings, 360-659-8521.
• Marci Greenberg teaches "Knitting by Torah" to Jewish teenagers
in Seattle. The caps they make for cancer patients are considered a mitzvah,
or good deed. Contact 206-525-3625, marcigreenberg@comcast.net.
• Nancy Katz is a textile artist in Berkeley, Calif., who facilitates "community
art-making," primarily in Jewish communities, helping congregations
make prayers shawls, Torah covers, ark covers and banners. Contact 510-843-5280,
nkatzart@aol.com.
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