Knit one, pray too

Susie Wong (left), Office of the Treasurer, and Worna Haywood, Mission Investment Fund, were two of more than a dozen ELCA employees at the Chicago offices who participated in the organization’s Christmas service project: knitting/crocheting prayer shawls for Vitas Innovative Hospice. The group met weekly since last spring and made 70 shawls that were blessed at the Dec. 8 worship service at The Lutheran Center.

“A prayer shawl, knitted with love and draped over the shoulders of a grieving family member, is a fitting metaphor of how our faith provides warmth and refuge during life’s greatest challenges,” wrote Dee James, community liaison representative for Vitas, the largest provider of end-of-life care in the U.S. “I’m sure they will immediately be put to good use.”

Gina Autenrieth of the Office of the Treasurer said, “We formed bonds that may not have happened any other way.”