Light in the Window - January 23, 2023

Prayer Shawl, by Suzanne Underwood Rhodes

Christian Century (January 2023)

The work of a prayer shawl

is to love the weight it holds,

the blue yarns heavy with the ache

of shoulders, of cold like winter rain,

the gray yarns grave as tears. A voice struggles

to rise from the wool, but the cry fails and falls

and the hurt breast is unconsoled.

But the Galilee ladies who gather on Sundays

to knit their prayers into a woman’s fear

and hug her prayers into theirs, know

that in the diamond honeycomb stitch,

or the hurdle and purl ridge stitches,

hope turns and casts on the heart’s fibers

and the ladies believe, needles flashing.

Dear Covenant Family,

Recently I met with a Presbyterian pastor friend, the Rev. Matthew Bauhof, who is a new chaplain with palliative care patients at Seidman Cancer Center across the street from The Church of the Covenant. He has a gentle presence and a kind soul well suited to his ministry. When I asked him about prayer resources he uses in his chaplaincy, he shared a series of blessings written by professor, cancer-survivor, and best-selling author Dr. Kate Bowler. She calls herself “an incurable optimist” and creates blessings for difficult moments in ordinary life. I am including one of her blessings below in case you need it this week - A BLESSING FOR WHEN TODAY ALREADY FEELS LIKE TOO MUCH.

I find that many of my days feel like too much and the nature of my work means the most important tasks are unfinished. I love being in ministry, but there will always be more people to visit, more sermons to write, more ideas to renew the church, more needed change to implement, more study and learning to keep my skills fresh. A clergy friend recently reminded me to regularly do things that can be finished- like baking bread, planting seeds, completing a puzzle, knitting a shawl. I don’t know how to knit, which leaves that last one out. But if anyone does, Rev. Matthew needs prayer shawls to use in his ministry at Seidman, which would be a beautiful way to connect with a healing institution across the street from us. Please let me know if you can help!

A BLESSING FOR WHEN TODAY ALREADY FEELS LIKE TOO MUCH

I was hoping to be the kind of person by now

who doesn’t tumble, headlong, into the day

falling, falling, falling

from the high board

without nearly enough water below.

God, I swear I didn’t plan it like this.

But here I am, hoping for another miracle.

Lord, bless these dumb plans

that will short circuit my thinking

and make me fragile, brittle.

Lord, bless these multiplying tasks

that swarm like mosquitoes.

Underneath this to-do list

and these calendar invites

and these many obligations

is a set of loves.

Keep love in front of my eyes.

Love in the car.

Love in the waiting room.

Love on the phone.

Love at my laptop.

Love in the laundry room.

And love, especially,

for the soft heart—mine –

who cared enough to be this tired

in the first place.

Writing with love,

Pastor Jessie

Pastor@covenantweb.org