A Stitch in Time

Last evening the St. Paul UCC Women's Fellowship held their Annual Mother's Day Celebration Event. Focused on the theme of 'Quilts', many in attendance had brought special, precious quilts which had been made for them or which they had made. I was in awe. Some well over 100 years old, one still in the quilt rack in which it is being quilted, and the rest everywhere in between, each told a story, each revealed a tenderness, and each touched a heart. From a grandmother's wish for her granddaughter to a whimsical interpretation of raising a grandson, from a quilt made from feed sacks to one made from ribbons, from one which told various Biblical stories to one which told the stories of a daughter's sports accomplishments, all bore the sacred stitches of love and passion which only a quilter can fully fathom and appreciate. For folks like me who are more interested in how a quilt feels on a cold night than the pattern and stitching with which the quilt was made, it was an evening of apocryphal proportions. The nearness of the Kingdom was announced in a language and with a heart that few among us truly know, but all can savor and understand.

One quilt which captured my heart wasn't even there on display, yet was the focus of the program compliments of a wonderful Power Point program: The Patriot's Quilt told the story of an array of women whose contributions to the Revolutionary War helped write the history of an emerging nation. It was a history lesson no class on early American history ever taught - and being a history major in college, I can assure you (at least when I attended college) no such class was even offered. More is the pity, yet incredibly powerful the lesson taught in the blocks of a quilt.

Such are our lives in the hands of God: each of us a stitch in the Master Design; each of us an intentional connection to the other; and, each of us a part of the Story. Though our human minds and wisdom are unable to comprehend the whole of the beauty, I believe, in the moment we enter into the fullness of God which we call the Kingdom, there we will see, there we will know, there we will be known in the completion of the Pattern. Inconceivable as it might seem, such is the power of the Quilter's Hand and we are both, observer and participant in what is, even today, being created. Look and see.