Some Assembly/Knitting Required

…Speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
Ephesians 4:15-16

They can be seen at almost every large ELCA gathering, from synod assemblies to churchwide assemblies – those who sit among the voting membership and busy themselves with something additional to the business at hand: knitting (or, for you keen observers, crocheting).

We, as the body of Christ, are brought together so closely – knitted – and these are the people who are quietly showing, in a small but practical way, what being knit together means.

Doing her part to knit us together!

A first-time voting member to a synod assembly, Kristen Gyorgy from Good Samaritan Lutheran Church, Lexington Park, Md.,, is one knitter who is sitting in the back of the Assembly Hall and creating with her hands while she listens to the presentations.

She is a teacher of third-grade children and finds that some of her students need to keep their hands occupied. She also finds that keeping her hands busy makes it easier to pay attention to the deliberations in the front of the room. Of course, she puts her needles down to pick up the voting device when elections occur.

Gyorgy has been working on a pair of green booties for her sister’s baby during the two days of this Assembly.

Gyorgy, along with other lay members of her congregation, was asked to attend the Assembly as a voting member. But her presence is not the only extension of her congregation here at the Assembly. So is her knitting. About a year ago, she joined her congregation’s knitting group, called the Stitching Sisters, where she learned the skill. The group gathers twice a month to not only socialize but some make prayer shawls that are shared with others.

Perhaps there is no better metaphor for the body of Christ coming together as a corporate group these days. In order to be the synod, we must gather in Assembly; we must knit ourselves together.