Woven Prayers

Ash Wednesday

Tapestry Unfolds with Prayers for Lent & Easter

Three bare wooden frames, placed on the wall behind the altar in the Gloria Dei Worship Center, soon will be transformed into a weaving made from strips of fabric and paper provided by the community by local artist Christiane Buuck. Many of these strips of fabric contain a word of prayer for the Lenten journey.

Beginning with bare boards and empty threads for Ash Wednesday, mirroring our own spiritual poverty and the aching need of the world, we begin moving with our Lord through these weeks of Lent and into the great paschal journey to his resurrection… and beyond. Each week, new colors, shapes, shadows, forms, and materials will be woven into these empty threads, growing cumulatively from week to week with each new set of Scriptures along the way.

Members of the community are invited to contribute ideas and materials (fabric, paper, materials from nature, items of sentimental value). Fabric in a range of purple hues and patterns for Lent is especially welcome. Students, faculty, staff and visitors also are invited to contribute prayers – literally! Each week, fabric strips will be available at a table in Gloria Dei, along with pens, for individuals to write prayers they may be carrying this Lent and Easter. The fabric containing the prayers will then be woven into the tapestry for the next week. Ultimately, this tapestry will hold many interwoven prayers for our lives and the world: a visual opening into the texture, beauty, and complexity of God’s mercy unfolding in all things.

We invite you to come back and see what is added each week – to journey with us on the way!

Read the Artist's Notes and Reflections

Easter 3 Reflection by Student Roberta Meyer

We fall down and worship you, O Lord.
Our souls are not silent.
You meet us and feed us in our everyday lives.
You have chosen us as your instruments
To bring your name before all people.
We sing your praises with every creature
In heaven, on earth , and in the sea.
Amen!

Previous Reflections

Ash Wednesday

We enter this Lenten season
To be washed clean.
The dust is blown away,
Our nakedness is stark and vulnerable.
“Create in me a new heart, O, God!
…Sustain in me a willing spirit.” Psalm 51

Lent 1

We call your name, O, Lord!
Your mighty shadow is our refuge.
The way of our wandering is dark.
The snares are real.
We walk in the promise of your protection.
Lead us, O, Spirit, through the wilderness.

Lent 2

Your desire is ours, Loving God.
Gather us under your mothering wings.
In your protective arms we gain courage.
On your level path we are strengthened.
We wait in your promises
For our transformation.

Lent 3

We may only detect the stench of the manure
That surrounds our roots.
However, we know we don’t comprehend your ways.
Under its guise, by this medicine we are nourished
With a rich feast.
Our thirst is quenched in the waters of our baptism.
Our souls cling to you, Dear God.

Lent 4

Even in our grumblings and disobedience,
You, O, Lord, lead us to the promised land
Where we are fed its sweet foliage.
Teach us the way we should go.
We shout for joy
Because you promise
That we are never lost to you!

Lent 5

This place is filled with the fragrance
Of your love, Dear God.
You turn salty tears into
Rivers of hope that flow in our desert places.
From the desolate comes a plentiful harvest.
We will come home carrying sheaves of joy.
This is our prize.

Holy Week

Lord, God, help us.
We are like broken vessels
Weeping bitterly as we
Become aware of our weakness.
Our distance from you, O Lord
Is removed as the curtain is torn.
You empty yourself
And save us in your steadfast love.

Easter 2

O Lord, your gate is open.
We enter with thanksgiving
For you love us and by Christ’s blood you free us.
Your Divine Breath sends us to be your witnesses.
We must obey.
You are the one who is and was and is to come.
Rejoice!