Threads and Tags

On the way to 5 Senses to Prayer Book 2 - #32

Today’s prayers are inspired by the chaos of a couple of weeks with computer problems that have not yet fully resolved. Threads and tags have meaning in the world of computer processes, but I’ve spun off to ideas based on the traditional meanings of the words ‘threads’ and ‘tags’ and my prayers today are simple prayers based on threads in woven cloth and tags from bread bags.

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Colossians 3:14 (NRSVUE)

I’ve been thinking about threads lately. In Autumn I tend to thread a needle most evenings and work a little on my slow project, hand quilting my autumn leaf quilt I first started sewing 14 years ago. It’s a very slow project! I’m trying very hard currently to work on slow things while some things in my life are fast and outside of my control.

As I was stitching the other day I pondered on the many threads that have come together for this project to exist. I thought I’d include it here as it relates to sensory prayer and leads us into the first prayer I’ve included today.

Joining threads

The threads of getting to a place to even start the project area multi-layered and come from a variety of sources. I have always been captivated by quilting. The combinaton of mathematical geometry, vibrant colours and sewing has always intrigued me. As a child I’d draw colourful geometrical designs that could have been quilt patterns. I even wrote a children’s book called Quilts many years ago. It’s long since out of print but there’s still an online review available. (Aside - I submitted the manuscript for a picture book with 500 words and it was published with less than 50! Not my greatest work.) A trip to North America driving through autumn colour, inspired the idea for my autum leaf quilt. The project seemed too big so I struggled to get started. My friend Catherine gets things done but she’s never in a hurry and her pacing inspires me. She motivated me to get underway with the slow hand sewing approach. A little bit at a time with no deadline to meet.

Threads connect things together

Physical threads

There’s the physical threads of so many pieces of woven fabric, an eclectic mix of cottons gathered over several years from different places. This fabric has been woven by others, threads connected on looms in factories in countries far away from me.

The part where I entered the threading is when I worked to hold the pieces together, a sewing exercise that took me ten years to complete. Joining small pieces of geometrical shapes together and making them into bigger shapes was a portable project as I assembled block after block of autumn leaves in various shades of colours. There were more threads when the blocks were connected one to the next, first connecting patch to patch in rows and then joining each row to the next row until there was one large piece of fabic, connected with hundreds and thousands of threads.

The next step was to sandwich layers of woven fabric. Now I’m on the final stage of the project, threading between all the layers and holding them together. One day the quilt will be finished… although at my stitching rate I suspect it’s still a long way off.

Threads hold things in place

Prayer threads

In recent years I’ve developed a prayer practice with my stitching. I really like sensory based prayers that include repetitive action. They inspire a slow approach to prayer, a chance to get the things top of our minds off our chest, and then lean into listening to those things that sit below the surface, giving us a chance to hear our inner voice and talk to God about things that we maybe haven’t given voice to before. The repetitive action becomes soothing as we get into the flow of the task whatever it is; stacking wood, peeling potatoes, hanging out washing or stitching to name a few. From a nervous system perspective, the sensory based repetitive action invites a calming within us and allows us to focus and to listen.

As I stitched and prayed I pondered how many threads of prayers for my people, my places, my world have been prayed over the last few years. One prayer leads to another and one thread pulls me on to the next prayer.

Threads lead us onward.

I wrote this prayer a long time ago and had abandoned including it in my book. It was based on the plastic tag that used to come on our loaves of bread. I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but in the last couple of years our bread tags have been made of strong cardboard and it’s compostable! I was making my toast during the week and as I took the tag off the bag, I thought about this old prayer and dug it out again. With some extra words to include the compostable component I think it still works so it’s included in the paid section with the full notes of extra ideas.

May your days be filled with observing and participating in the small things that bring delight and wonder and invite prayer.

On the journey

Caroline

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Threads Prayer

Sense of Sight – Responding (R.SI.9)

Hold a piece of woven fabric about 10cm square. With your finger, trace the threads across the fabric and then up and down. Imagine the process of taking threads and weaving them together to create a piece of cloth. Pray a one sentence prayer responding to God about the various threads that weave together to make you who you are. Hold a reel of sewing thread next to the fabric. Thread a needle. Place a second piece of fabric on top of the first piece. Using the threaded needle, sew a few stitches around the outside of the square, joining the two pieces together. As you make each stitch pray for specific situations where you’re feeling disconnected. Invite God to hold you together.