The ministry of prayer shawls

On Sun, April 30, we celebrated our prayer shawl ministry, coordinated by Mary Krull, who reminded us that the ministry is 10 years old. Some of the prayer shawl knitters and crocheters are pictured here.

So many people have been touched by receiving a prayer shawl in one of the saddest or happiest times of their lives. The shawls are available at church, if you'd like one to give away.

We are so grateful for those involved in this ministry. It was absolutely delightful to have a new person, Kristie, complete a prayer shawl for the blessing on Sunday. THEN after church on Sunday, . . . 3 more people talked to Mary about making prayer shawls. How awesome is that! One of them was a young man who was visiting that day, he used to crochet blankets with his grandma. He hasn't crocheted for about 10 years, but thought he'd like to give a try.

Mary has always sought out places to give our shawls away, e.g., The Northwoods Homeless Shelter, which has 4 locations in our county for homeless families. We have an exciting opportunity with our prayer shawls to give them to girls ages 10-17 who have been victims of human trafficking.

Lutheran Social Services (LSS) has just recently opened a home for these girls in Neillsville, WI. On Saturday we had our Northwest Synod of WI church assembly, and we took an offering of $6,000 to give to LSS for this ministry. We usually think of big cities as the ones with problems in sex trafficking, but it is also happening in rural Wisconsin, and it feels good to be able to assist these young women in recovering from that ordeal.

It was also revealed at assembly that we as a synod have given $325,000 to our companion synod in Malawi, Africa. This money has helped prevent starvation by having feeding stations and offering medical care. So many lives have been saved because of all our 200 congregations working together! North Valley is part of that. Praise the Lord and thank you for your giving!

Sunday's gospel and sermon was on Luke 24:33-35, the Walk to Emmaus, as pictured here. It is a wonderful story that takes place after Jesus' resurrection. Two companions are walking 7 miles from Jerusalem to the town of Emmaus, and they encounter Jesus. Their eyes are kept from knowing him while they walk and talk. They eventually discover who he is after he broke bread with them once they had reached their destination.

Where do you encounter Jesus in your daily walk of life? May you walk with purpose in your life, following the Way of Jesus, and not in circles! God bless. . .

P.S. How wonderful to have one of our seventh graders, Madison, lead our "Kyrie" in worship. She did a great job!