Bandage-Rolling & Prayer Shawls

Saturday morning, September 30 was a busy time in the Upper Room at MCC. A group of women gathered together for the first time to do two things simultaneously: roll bandages for Congo and knit prayer shawls for folks in need here. Both tasks occur "under the radar" of congregational life. They don't make a lot of noise about what they do, but the pay-off is big. When Martha and I visited Cong (the Zaire) in 1994, we were astounded at the way those bandages were used everywhere, kind of like we use duct tape. You see, there still is precious little infrastructure in Congo. So containers of bandages are used to dress wounds, support as slings, hold limbs up in traction, secure I.V. bottles, tie, hold, bind, support anything.
Then the prayer shawls are a ministry I saw practiced with Diana Trautwein, who brings a prayer shawl to a person just before or after surgery. They are knitted by members with prayer and love, knowing they will be wrapped around a person in the future with prayer from the whole church. Hospitals are notoriously cold places, and the prayer shawls bring that much more warmth and love.