FROM THE PASTOR

Quilters “Touch the Heart”

As I have had opportunity to visit some of the elders of St. Luke’s I’ve learned from them we have a long and rich history of creating tie-quilts for Lutheran World Relief. Among our “shut-ins” are women who remember day long quilt workshops with large crews of cutters and piecers and as many as three sewing machines running at any one time. However, these quilters had heard little first-hand witness to the on-the-ground impact our donated quilts had.

In their little book, What I learned from God While Quilting, authors Ruth McHaney Danner and Cristine Bolley recount a story told by the Sunshine Quilt Project, an internet-based group of six hundred women and men who make quilts distributed by the International Red Cross. The Sunshine Project experienced one rare interaction with a recipient of their skill and generosity. A Sunshine volunteer, attending a Rotary Club luncheon, met an Albanian exchange student. The volunteer recounts the experience:

“I thought I’d tell [the student] the story of our quilts, a very upbeat topic! I mentioned that we sent them to the International Red Cross, and from there they were distributed wherever needed most.”

At that point [the student] began crying and left her seat. “She came over to hug me,” said the volunteer. “When she was composed enough to talk, she said ‘Thank you’ over and over. Then she explained that she had seen so many people freezing that it hurt to think about it. She remembered seeing ‘pretty new blankets’ made with ‘little pieces,’ but not understanding where they came from.”

A blanket made of little pieces can indeed touch the heart.

This Sunday as we bless the LWR tie-quilts made by the members of St. Luke’s Quilt Workshop we thank them for “touching the hearts” of so many people on our behalf, people we are unlikely to ever meet but to whom these “little pieces” mean so much.

Pastor John Schumacher, BCC