Water by the mill

John Heywood, the grandfather of priest and poet John Donne, once wrote that “much water goeth by the mill that the miller knoweth not of.” I believe his observation suggests that we don’t always know the good we do, or the good that’s done around us, or through us—or sometimes in spite of us! God works in mysterious ways these wonders to perform . . .

The Laurel Heights Prayer Wall has been in place at the corner of Belknap and Woodlawn since Easter 2020, just weeks after we were displaced from our sanctuary by Covid-19. Ann and Mike McGlone and Genny and Nick Campbell assembled it that morning. Since that Easter Sunday on which we brought the church outdoors in that beautiful way, hundreds and hundreds of passersby have paused to pray at that corner, tying a ribbon onto a metal lattice to represent their prayer. Every few weeks those ribbons have been carefully removed from the prayer wall by Liz Escamilla and others and placed on the altar table in Scott Chapel, with new ribbons supplied in wicker basket at the wall. You may recall that we brought those colorful ribbons from Scott Chapel into the sanctuary last year during the month of October.

Last week a family wrote to the church office expressing what the prayer wall had meant to them during a challenging time:

Dear Folks of Prayer Ribbon Ministry,

Thank you for putting out the ribbons for prayer.  My husband and I are runners and stop by on our morning runs to say a prayer.

When it started, my husband was unemployed because of a shut-down.  We prayed for our needs to be met and they were!

We prayed for the health of our elderly moms and wisdom for our adult children. 

It’s a wonderful ministry!

Thank you . . .

The Prayer Wall has been a portal through which countless people have experienced God—some for whom this was perhaps their first invitation to pray in this way; and during Covid possibly their only avenue for shared prayer. Did you realize that Laurel Heights was in ministry with our community in such an expansive and quietly sustaining way?
Much water goeth by the mill . . .

Grace and peace.

Paul