Sew 'n' SewSew 'n' Sew is a group of women who meet on the second Tuesday of every month to sew and enjoy fellowship. Theirs is a ministry of love and compassion, as much of what they do goes to help people in our community and beyond. Our United Methodist Women's group is now combined with Sew 'n' Sew.
We are currently concentrating on the following mission projects:
If you are able, please join us at 10 a.m. on the second Tuesday of every month, and bring a sandwich for lunch. You can help make a difference to people who need our help. Bringing JOY to others is our goal! Please take the time to read this beautiful article about our group, Sew 'n' Sew, written by Joan Fisher. Acts 16 recounts Paul going to Philippi. On the Sabbath he went to the city gate by the river where women gathered to pray. (v. 13) It was unusual that he, as a trained religious leader, would go outside the temple to a marginalized group of people, as women were in that culture. There he met Lydia, a seller of purple [dye], who opened her home to him while he was there. Perhaps they walked back and forth together each day to go to the river and pray and minister and then home again-like a church conference. His presence disrupted business in the city as he testified to Christ and it got him arrested and imprisoned. He was freed on a legal Roman technicality. But it didn't end there. Because of his experience, his ministry opened up to the larger world as reported in Acts. In parting to go to Thessalonica, he visited Lydia, one of the women of the river prayer group. We don't know if he bought anything from her as a seller; their relationship was more important than the product. Relationship is important to our own Sew 'n' Sew, which began in response to patient needs at the Methodist Home in Shelton. Their textile products and crafts expanded when the UMC conference invited local churches to help in Church World Service with school and health kits. Their product line has since grown with cancer hats to Middlesex Hospital, scarves for River Valley Services, Haitian dolls, quilts, and other knitted items for the community at large. Ten to twelve women meet on the 2nd Tuesday of every month to sew. Newcomers are always welcome, even if they don't sew. One member, a non-sewer, uses her gifts of helping to serve coffee, help with lunch, and pick up donations from those who are now home-bound and participate by making things in the quiet of their home. Lunch and conversation is shared; no one is excluded. Women as the keepers hold the confidence of their sharing and steadfastness of doing after the spirit of Hebrews 3:14: For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. The mission uses their hands as the hands of Christ with sacredness to its cause and trusting where it all goes. They often reach anonymous people in hospitals and institutions that mandate confidentiality. Through a letter of thanks from an institution is an encouragement they never really know how far and to whome a scarf or hat made its way. They trust, like the women at the river, that what they are doing goes forth with Gods blessing. When asked what their prayer would be, it is to be able to keep doing what we've done and reaching beyond the walls of the church with this ministry. Father, thank you for their persistence and offering and opportunity when thanks and rewards are no readily forthcoming. We rest in You. Amen. |
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