Knit for peace

Dear Friends,
I’ve just returned from a few days in Ireland, seeing my mother and our extended family there.   It was good to reconnect in person with our loved ones.  It was deeply inspiring to drive to familiar places, especially the hills of my childhood and the sea.  To breathe fresh air that has that salty quality to it; to hear gentle waves breaking against the shore.  However, one thing that I found deeply inspiring was to connect with Garth and Doreen, two members of our extended family.
Garth and Doreen have spent their free time dedicating themselves to worthy causes.  They have done lots to raise money and awareness around diabetes and other worthy social justice projects.  Doreen has, for the last years, spent endless hours knitting hundreds of hats and blankets for children, young people and adults in war torn countries such as Syria – from December through to March it can get bitterly cold there in the Refugee Camps.  Simon, and our extended family in England, have for many years knitted hats for Indian and North African sailors in Arctic waters.
For me, this activity of knitting or crocheting (which my paternal grandmother was amazing at!) is a truly inspiring example of ‘our ‘Faith in Action!’  Our congregation has a worthy record of being involved in Social Justice Projects over these past years in the Czech Republic.  I would like us to continue our involvement with Social Justice Projects under the guidance of Barbara and I also wonder if we could involve ourselves in a practical way of working for social justice in the ‘majority world!’    We have many creative members amongst us and maybe, just maybe, we could knit or crochet for our sister citizens of war torn regions.
While thinking about this subject I came across this website: https://knitforpeace.org.uk

This organisation is located very near to our base in London and if we were to involve ourselves in knitting and crocheting for children/young people/adults in Refugee Camps then we could easily keep track of where our hats, blankets and other items were going……………..
Knitting, crocheting, raising funds make a difference.  It reminds me of the words from the Old Testament Book of Proverbs ‘Where there is no vision the people perish’ (attributed to King Solomon of the Jewish people).  For me, without ‘Faith in Action’ or a ‘vision of making the world a better place through social justice in action’ our faith becomes nothing more than intellectual debate or personal/collective enquiry.  Could we knit or crochet for peace……..or give money towards the projects that provide warm hats, scarves and blankets to those who so desperately need it in the majority world?
In Faith and with love,
Mark
PS. Our next service is on Saturday September 7th at 11am in Unitaria, 1st Floor Meeting Room, Karlova 8, Prague 1.