a prayer tree in the season of lent

Friends, we invite you to share with us in the creation of a Prayer Tree in the Chapel of Trinity Church!

In the autumn of 2019 – just prior to quarantine! – Chuck and I traveled to Wales. Our destination was the ancient Cathedral at St. David’s, Wales. After landing in London, in our rental car, we made a rapid stop in Avebury, England. We visited massive neolithic standing stones at the Avebury Henge and Stone Circles (https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/avebury/history/).

At the Avebury Village parish church – in the middle of these ancient monuments – we found the door open. We also found a lovely prayer tree blooming with pink hearts! Each heart contains a prayer – a name of a beloved, living or deceased; a prayer held closely to someone’s heart.

St. James Avebury has been a house of prayer for 1500 years. It was a departure point for pilgrims journeying to Santiago de Compostela, Rome and Jerusalem. I could feel centuries of prayer in that place. As you can see from our tourist photos, the prayer tree is a sacred thing of beauty and memory. We added our own names and prayers, and it felt like a lovely, healing offering to God!

Creative, artistic spirits here at Trinity are helping us build our own Prayer Tree – and it will take each of us to bring it to life! As you know, our Chapel is open for individual prayer. You will find colorful construction-paper hearts - and yarn with which to tie the hearts onto tree branches. We invite you to write your prayer – a name, a concern, a memory, a longing – and tie it to the tree.

Our tree will be available on Valentine’s Day! Invite a friend or neighbor to add a prayer. As we journey together in this season, our prayers will grow and blossom … and our Trinity Prayer Tree will bloom with love and spirit!