I have just got back into hand-sewing, a little more seriously just lately as I've enjoyed having a little time on my hands and time to explore different elements of embroidery, 'painting with textiles' and generally messing with threads. I know it's in the 'fingers' so to speak as Mum was such an incredibly talented embroiderer and had many stories to tell when I sat with her learning to sew as a young girl. So pretend if you will that you are sitting with a friend and hearing tales of love whilst you stitch, or paint, or build, or plant or bake or whatever task you happen to have in your hands right now. You may have nothing in your hands and that is ok too, because you are holding the words of the story you are hearing in your heart instead. But there is something particular about stitching in whatever form that seems to open ones ears to really listening, and I think it is because you are absorbed in a gentle and creative task and you are in 'your happy place' as my friend Clewsy often reminds me, especially when we stitch together.
This week seven years ago we lay my Mum, Bernadette to rest, and I don't know where the time has gone. When I stitch I feel very close to Mum as it was the one thing that we really shared. I loved delving into her box of threads, an old fashioned big pink grand chocolate box that contained layer after layer of beautiful silk threads. It was a confectioners heaven, one made out of delicious, candy bright, and garden fragrant colours of the rainbow and some. It was a treasure trove of stories that held possibilities that could be woven into stories of their own and Mum told beautiful generous stories with her threads. One of those stories was the altar frontal pictured above, because without Mum it wouldn't have happened. Mum was lost, totally and utterly when Dad died, we were devastated and sadly Mum never really was herself again afterwards. She was coming with us to the Cathedral following Dads death and Stephen Cotterell now Archbishop of York was able to help her. Michael was a young chorister and Georgina was yet to start as a girl chorister but did attend the Sunday School at the Cathedral and both Andrew and I helped out. We were fully engaged in Cathedral life and Stephen suggested that perhaps Mum could make a quilt or something for a new service that was coming up that autumn aimed at the young people of the Cathedral and perhaps it could be done in Dad's memory? At that Mum was hooked, how could she not do something to remember Dad by. Stephen knew just what Mum needed, something to help turn her grief into something positive. It did the trick!
She then told me a story, because she had an idea. Every Saturday as a child Mum was sent to her convent school to help the Nuns out making scrap quilt blankets for the poor. It was scrap quilting, layering haphazard shapes that would fill out and cover the donated woollen blankets and add an extra layer of warmth and love to make something special for someone who had nothing. Those afternoons Mum learnt the meticulous art of embroidery from some very gifted artist Nuns from the Presentation Convent in Terenure, in Dublin, some of them became lifelong friends to her and as you can see by these pictures, when I came a long they were amazing and kind to me too. Who knew that what started in an Irish Catholic convent would one day find itself a gift transported into Peterborough Cathedral. Many hearts, working as one eh? But I digress. Mum's idea was to make a quilt which then grew into an altar frontal that would stem from the idea of "though we are many" as in the Eucharistic prayer, in a ecumenical sense and taken from 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. We were a 'mixed' religion family, Catholic and Church of England, so unity was key.
The idea grew, if we could manage it every member of the Cathedral community would add a piece of fabric and the children would stitch it in place into the rainbow signifying hope and that is exactly what happened. The 'though we are many idea' was to be pieces of rainbow coloured fabrics that had been donated representing everyone from whatever background or story to be placed in the representation of hope and the future. To Mum's credit, every single piece placed by a child or grown up was then embroidered into place to hold it down. No stitch was removed because as Mum said, 'they did it the best they could and that is what counts'. She was a wise and kind and loving lady and a very good teacher. I miss her.
Mum, Georgina, myself and Clewsy spent a lot of evenings putting together the altar frontal, again the theme of 'though we are many' runs through this narrative. It could not be done alone and it was a binding in friendship and a healing experience working on a community project that held such powerful meaning. The design was by me, the stitching was done by Sue Clews, Mum, myself and a bit by Georgina my daughter. Together we began healing and made something which would remember my Dad, a husband and Grandpa and my friends empathy in helping me work through my own grief. But it was done with love from friendship and the need to get through grief and look to the future with hope. That hope was in the 17 grapes that represented the children who would take communion for the first time - a new initiative and both Georgina and Michael were part of that. It was a blessing and yet another connection to Peterborough Cathedral and the nurture it holds for my family. The altar frontal didn't end up as a quilt to be sat on by young people but was held for all to see in a special place.
This weekend is special, it's Greenbelt online and a virtual big communion with a difference and in our own parish we will hear the narrative of the feeding of the five thousand. The many. Many diverse and different opinions and backgrounds, all come together to hear Jesus. Though we are many, we still come to share in one bread. That has been one of the hardest things during the Covid-19 pandemic, being unable to come together to share bread with one another. We do though in our hearts, and minds and bodies when we pray.
Peace be with you friends.
I found this, and I rather like it, I hope you do too!
"Though we are many, we are one body."
arranged and edited by Tom Inglis We Are One Body CHORUS IN ENGLISH： Though we are many, we are one body. We are one body in Christ. REPEAT THREE TIMES VERSE: One faith, in the Lord Jesus Christ binding us together in one cause. One hope, in the One God, One Father over all. CHORUS IN ZULU: Nakuba ziningi, singa emzimbeni munye. Singa emzimbeni munye ku Kristu. REPEAT ZULU REPEAT ENGLISH TWO TIMES Find more lyrics at ※ Mojim.com CHORUS IN AFRICAANS: Al is ons baie, ons is een liggaam. Ons is een liggaam in Christus. REPEAT AFRIKAANS REPEAT ENGLISH TWO TIMES REPEAT VERSE CHORUS IN SPANISH: Aun siendo muchos, somos en Christo. Un sólo cuerpo de amor. REPEAT SPANISH FOUR TIMES REPEAT ENGLISH FOUR TIMES See you virtually tomorrow at 9am for Celtic Morning Prayers
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