On Wednesdays, from 9-3, women gather at the church to make tie quilts for Lutheran World Relief, as well as local agencies as there is need. Last year they shipped 347 quilts to Lutheran World Relief and donated 51 quilts to a variety of other ministries.
Quilts are often given to members of the congregation in times of transition (graduation, a move, ordination) to remind the recipients that no matter what happens to the quilt itself, the thoughts and prayers of the congregation remain wrapped around them.
The quilters are also involved in other outreach ministries, including collecting and assembling materials for school kits and layettes.
In the Fall of 2011, the quilters shipped out 114 quilts; in 2010 they shipped out 136 quilts and 98 school kits to Lutheran World Relief.
Two baby quilts were given to AWARE, and three quilts were donated to the CASA auction through Suan Ashton, as a way of thanking Alaska Marine Lines for donating the shipping costs for quilts and school kits to a collecting point in Seattle.
|
|
LWR LITANY OF THANKSGIVING AND HOPE
Litany written by Pastor Ed Whetstone, Salem Lutheran Church in Catonsville, Maryland.
L Almighty and gracious God,
P you have so richly blessed us, but we pray for more, much more.
L We pray for grateful hearts, for a humble awareness of our abundance amid all the world’s
poverty and pain.
P Lord, we pray for more.
L We pray for the courage to give generously of our resources—our imaginations, our time and
abilities, our material wealth.
P We pray yet for more, Lord.
L We pray for the strength to reject the rationalizations which lead to indifference and silence in
this climate of entitlement and insatiable desire.
P Lord, for much more we pray.
L We pray for confident hope, in the presence of such overwhelming needs, to know that each
offering of money, quilts, and material resources makes a welcome difference to others, and to
you.
P For still more, Lord, we pray.
L We pray for lifestyles of justice and mercy, living more simply, being advocates for those more
needful than we, supporting fair trade, being compassionate in our role as citizens.
P Lord, yet again we pray for more.
L We pray for your promised forgiveness for the fears, the selfishness, the thoughtlessness, the
suspicions, the self-righteousness which hinder our loving service, and then pray for grateful
and greater obedience to mark our thanksgiving.
P Yet for one more thing we pray.
L We pray you would bless those who labor on our behalf through all the work of Lutheran World
Relief and its partners, that we would uphold them with our prayers, our encouragement, our
gifts, our willingness to learn and to invite the support of others.
P In the name of our Lord who encouraged us to ask boldly when we pray, Amen.
|
|
