Stitch by stitch
Rhona Cathcart
June 11, 2024
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Psalm 139: 13-14 (NRSVA)
13
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.14
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
If my weaver ancestors could see me, they might breathe a sigh of relief that at least I can knit — sort of. I apparently have an unusual style (someone once told me that the only other person they saw holding their needles the way I do was a German nun). But as long as I stick to simple stitches and adapt the pattern to my tight tension levels I can manage.
There is something satisfying about watching a skein of wool turn into knitted fabric and then that fabric in its turn becoming a garment. The first thing I ever knitted was my ‘cross-Australia jumper’ — so called as I knitted each piece during very, very long bus journeys down under. I started in Sydney and finally sewed it all together a month later in Perth before getting on the plane to London. I’m not sure I could argue it was ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ but I was SO proud of that jumper. I loved it even when it became old and shapeless and frayed. And I loved the memories that were knitted into its creation.
It’s comforting to know that no matter how old or shapeless or frayed we get, God still looks at us with the love an artisan has for a work they delighted in making. I imagine God loves reading and re-reading the memories and experiences we have added in to the design. One way to honour God is to honour the material of which we are made, the material with which he knitted us together in our mothers’ wombs.
Prayer:
Lord God
Help us to treasure and value these bones and muscles
These joints and sinews
These intricate lacings of blood vessels and nerves
As remarkable in their well-worn state as they were when freshly made
Help us to remember and be grateful for the miles they have carried us,
Each of us unique, each journey distinct,
yet all crafted with the same material, by the same hand.
May we recognise and treasure that same material in all whom we meet.
Amen
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