In “Fabric of Faith: A Guide to the Prayer Quilt Ministry,” Kimberly Winston not only includes a history of the ministry commonly known as Prayers and Squares, but also interweaves a blend of moving human stories and offers advice on how to start your own prayer ministry.

“Fabric of Faith” responds to quilting enthusiasts and to people of all religious traditions, and demonstrates how the art and craft of quilting can reveal the grace of God.

“The prayer quilt ministry is a grassroots ministry born in a single Methodist congregation in suburban San Diego in 1992 and has spread to churches in almost every state and a half-dozen other countries. It’s a ministry in which laypeople make simple, tied quilts for people in crisis,” said Winston.

Through Prayers & Squares, thousands of quilts have been distributed, each a special gift of love.They have been made for sick babies, for cancer and AIDS patients, for adults and children facing surgery or personal crisis; for many reasons, but each for someone in special need of prayer.

What distinguishes prayer quilts from ordinary hand-made quilts is the fact that from beginning to end, prayer quilts are made with prayer, intention and purpose.

“The person who chooses the fabric prays; the person who cuts the fabric prays; the person who ties the quilt prays. Even the person who irons the quilt prays. Made in this way, a prayer quilt becomes, in the words of one pastor, a sacrament,” said Winston.

At the completion of a prayer quilt made by the members of the ministry within a church, the offerings are placed before the entire congregation for dedication and prayer. Prayer quilters attach the layers of the quilts with strands of cotton thread that are then tied by members of the congregation as they say their own individual prayers for the intended recipient.

“While these knots may become untied during trips to the hospital or throughout convalescence, the prayers said while tying them can never be undone,” said the author.

Prayer quilts may be given to anyone, provided the three basic commandments of prayer quilting ministry are satisfied, Winston explained.

1. First commandment: The purpose of the quilt must be to convey prayer and caring, not to display the most beautiful quilt design possible.

2. Second commandment: The recipient of a prayer quilt must agree to accept the gift of prayer in the form of a quilt and to be the object of the prayers of others. Only if the recipient agrees tobe a prayer “receiver” can the prayer quilt work its mystery.

3. Third commandment: Prayer quilts, like prayers, cannot be bought. No payment can be made for a prayer quilt. If a prayer quilt is to represent the gift of love people give when they hold others in their thoughts and hearts, then it must also be a true gift — freely given, never bought.

Winston encourages people to become involved in making prayer quilts “because prayer quilts are more than blankets. They are the visible, tangible physical evidence of faith — faith in God, faith in love and faith in prayer. But perhaps most importantly, they’re also a symbol of our faith in one another.”

According to Winston, prayer quilters confess that their work in the Prayer Quilt Ministry brings them a deeper experience of God and a more enriched prayer life. Pastors in churches that establish a chapter of this ministry say their congregations experience a revitalized sense of the purpose of prayer when they participate in the tying of prayer quilts.

“When we make a prayer quilt, we’re declaring our beliefs that love for one another as children of God is so strong it can be a force for change. We’re saying that God’s love and our love are one and the same, and that together they can bring comfort, strength, joy, and healing,” said Winston.

Phyllis Tickle, noted commentator on American religious culture and author of The Divine Hours said, “So far as I know, this is the only how-to book that has ever, ever touched my heart. I know it is the only one that has ever moved me to tears. This one is pure joy.”

Quilts delivering prayers in South Carolina

By NANCY C. WOOTEN

T&D Features Editor

Four South Carolina churches have started their own Prayers & Squares ministries: St. Andrew By-The-Sea United Methodist Church in Hilton Head Island, St. Mark United Methodist in Seneca, State Street Baptist Church in Cayce and Johns Island Presbyterian Church.

Mildred Branton started Chapter 423 of Prayers and Squares at Cayce’s State Street Baptist Church in February this year. The group is made up of about six women, although several girls and a boy from the youth group have helped make the quilts.

“We’ve done 20 quilts and have two more that will go in next week,” Branton said. “The group met met once a week during the spring, but we have people who make them at home and I sort of coordinate it.”

Each Prayer and Square group has their own guidelines once the three requirements are met (see main story). At State Street, the group decided the quilts would be made only for those who are critically ill. Any member of State Street can sponsor a quilt for someone. Branton and Linda McCauley oversee the making and use of the quilts.

“We do make some ahead of time, and then make some on the spur of the moment,” she said. “We make a certain kind for babies, another for teens, and some are especially for men, others for women.”

The quilters sew backing, batting and top together around the edges and then tack them in 30 or 40 places with yarn or narrow ribbon, leaving longer threads than usual. Then the quilts are left on a quilt rack in the church’s prayer room with a note explaining for whom the quilt was made, their critical circumstances, what type of prayer they have requested and any connection to someone in the church. Each person who comes in and says a prayer for that person ties a square knot in the quilt.

“The quilt stays in the prayer room two weeks,” Branton said, “and then we sew in a label that says: ’This quilt was made for you with our love, hope and prayers. Each knot represents a prayer said for you. The Prayer Quilt Ministry.’ We also tell them who requested the prayer and what we prayed for. The quilt is wrapped in tissue and boxed, and the sponsor is responsible for delivery.”

You must be logged in to comment.