June 1, 2022

Beloved in Christ:

This past winter, when the war started in Ukraine, I learned of an outreach and prayer project at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chattanooga, TN. This church is in bustling downtown Chattanooga, and they built a prayer wall that offered a chance for passersby to offer prayers for peace in Ukraine or for whatever was on their hearts. That work inspired me – here we are in the midst of Rochester, a place where people from all over the world pass by our doors as patients and families, staff and researchers, convention visitors and neighbors, to visit the Mayo Clinic and all of its auxiliaries. Our doors are open – many people come inside the church for respite and prayer time but many don’t have the time or inclination to come inside a church. I felt that a prayer wall was exactly the gift we could offer those who walk on our block.

Paul Ehling picked up my vision and took it to some of our woodworking members:  Phil Karsell, Charlie Gilmore and Dick Christiana were inspired and the Vestry voted for the Prayer Wall idea to move forward. This past Saturday, it was installed on the outside of the brick wall that marks the southeast boundary of our Memorial Garden. This outward facing ministry is in business. The idea, described on a simple sign, is that people can take a red or white ribbon from a box, say their prayer or offer their intention, and then tie the ribbon to the wire part of the wall. No need to write anything down, just offer a prayer, tie a ribbon, and move on to your day. When I looked at the wall yesterday, it was a scene of ribbons waving in the wind – an outward and visible sign of the hopes, prayers, desires of so many people reaching to God with whatever is in their hearts. When the idea was merely a seed, we had no idea that it would grow to become exactly what we all needed in the weeks after two horrendous mass shootings in our country.

When we have a vision, we just need to invite others into the idea, and the Holy Spirit takes it from there. I am so grateful to Paul, Phil, Charlie and Dick, to our Vestry, and to our congregation for supporting such a beautiful and meaningful ministry for our neighborhood. By the way, if you have any left over material that is white or red, we can use it this summer to create more “prayer strips” for our box. You can cut it yourself – 8-10 inches is good, or bring the material to church and we will find someone to cut it.

This Sunday is Pentecost: there is a lot going on at Calvary, appropriate to the ‘Birthday of the Church’, the day when God’s Holy Spirit inspired the apostles to become the people to take the gospel good news of God in Christ to the world. Please join Paul and me at 9:30 a.m. outside at the Wall to take part in a short liturgy of blessing for this wall, its creators, and the prayers of hundreds of people that will be represented by ribbons blowing in the wind in the months to come.

In the peace of God that passes all understanding,

Beth+