A few nights ago, I was watching the Graham Norton Show. Graham is a British talk show host, and the format of his program is a little different. The guests are already sitting together when the show begins. What follows is more like friends having a conversation together, rather than an interview by Graham Norton.
Last Friday, one of the guests was Thomas Daly, the British Olympic diver who won a gold medal earlier this year. He brought the medals for Graham and the other guests to see. They were in a pouch he had crocheted. He then set the medals on the floor to show other projects he had completed.
As he showed some of the items, he talked about his Olympic experience. Because the athletes were basically in a bubble, he had a lot of free time. He used that time to teach himself to knit and crochet. Below are two pictures of him and the sweater he made.
As Thomas described why he started knitting, he spoke about the difference between the Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro Olympic villages. He described Rio as busy and exciting with athletes from different countries meeting each other, sharing meals, conversations, and camaraderie. Tokyo was a very different competitive environment. Between being tested for COVID almost daily, and having to restrict movement and interaction, there was very little for most athletes to do.
So, Thomas knitted. A lot. He turned that wilderness Olympic time into learning a new craft. Thomas stated that the knitting actually helped him to be more focused when he wasn’t on the diving board.
I know that the pandemic is not yet in our rearview mirror. Still, we are getting closer. Like Thomas, we have been living in the same wilderness. I wonder what new projects we have taken on during our time of isolation. Did you teach yourself a new craft or pick up an old one to keep your hands busy and your mind off of what we weren’t able to do for a while? Did you complete some items on your “to-do” list because you finally found time to get to them?
And if the answer to those questions is yes, I hope you won’t consider setting it aside, as we begin to return to what we did before. This time away is an opportunity for each of us to plant new ideas and new ways of being engaged in mission and ministry. Can a new knitting or crocheting ministry begin where you are, so that more people may receive a shawl, a pocket cross, a hat, or a pair of mittens? Can a quilting ministry lead to lap blankets for hospice patients or receiving blankets for newborns?
If you have become an amateur carpenter, can you help build a ramp for someone who now needs to use a walker or wheelchair? Have you been able to develop enough woodworking skills to make bookshelves, cabinets, or storage trunks?
As we begin to recast our visions for the next part of our faith journeys, I encourage each of us to share what we have been doing while we have been apart. We will be blessed by the ways the works of our hands will create new ways for us to be together and build relationships with our Lord and with one another. And Amen.
