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Trinity Episcopal Church 44 East Market St. Bethlehem PA  18018-5989 610-867-4741

     Prayer Beads Ministry     
Members of our parish and from a variety of other parishes in the Diocese, are active in a "Prayer Beads Ministry".  This group prayerfully makes and distributes prayer beads and provides workshop leadership both in the creation of and use of prayer beads.

• Prayer Beads are distributed at Trinity Church (donations welcome).
  
  
• Prayer Beads may be purchased from GiGi Beads (proceeds from sales are used to purchase materials to continue this ministry).
  
  
• To schedule a workshop or retreat, please contact The Rev. Laura Howell (email: laura@trinitybeth.org; telephone: 610-867-4741).
  
  
• For more information about Anglican Prayer Beads and suggested prayers, click here.
• For instructions to create Prayer Beads and suggested sources of supplies, click here.

   These pictures are of a group of Prayer Beads Ministry workers creating 250 kits to be used by the children of the Diocese during the "Bishop's Day With the Kids", summer Diocesan program.
June 2002

Who are we?

• Gaby Whittier, Trinity, Bethlehem - "Chief instigator, designer and brain", according to our Chaplain.  (You can also blame Gaby, as Webmaster, for all the mistakes on the web pages.)
  
  
• The Rev. Laura Thomsas Howell, Obl.S.B., Trinity, Bethlehem - Our Chaplain, prayer bead evangelist and general mischief maker.
  
  
• Sr. Patricia Michael, Diocese of Bethlehem - Our resident poet laureate, who writes prayers to be used with the beads.  Please note that we are putting a copyright notice on her work.  We want the prayers to be used, but not marketed for profit.
  
  
• Then, there are all those who pray with us, sort and count beads, make kits and prayer beads and write prayers for our use.
  
  
• All those people who stuff my mailbox with beads!  Thank you all for your donations from your Spring Housecleaning and Flea Market junkets.  
  
  
• And, most importantly, those who keep our ministry in your prayers....Thank you all.

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Special Project for 2005
Prayer beads for AIDS Hospice Workers in Swaziland

Background: Our parish has had a relationship with the people of Swaziland in Africa for many years. We've been actively involved in praying for them; several members of our congregation have visited; we've had several of their priests come to visit us; we've helped them set up schools and helped them with agricultural projects. It has been reported by several International Health Organizations that "Swaziland has the world's highest HIV infection rate". One of our parishioners has worked in the area for many, many years. As a physician, he developed a "hospice at home" project. Two years ago our parish organized a shipping container of supplies that were sent to the area. (click here for more information: http://www.trinitybeth.org/swaziland/containerproject.htm). In January 2005 our rector, Nicholas Knisely, went to Swaziland to assess current needs and ways to continue to respond. (click here for his journal of the trip: http://www.trinitybeth.org/swaziland/nicksjournaljan2005.htm). We had given some prayer beads to one of the Swaziland priests during his visit. When Fr. Nick went there in January, that priest asked why he had not brought more. The AIDS hospice workers wanted them to use for prayer and as identification of who they were. Prayer Beaders Response: So, our prayer beads ministry went to work! We designed a string of prayer beads with a heart symbol, that is long enough for the hospice workers to wear around their necks. We have been busy making them during this year. Our goal is to make 3,000 of them prior to the next container shipment....late in 2005. If you would like to join us in this project, we need all the hands we can get! "Take-home kits" are available. Please contact Gaby for more information. In addition, Loraine Johnson, one of our prayer beaders developed a prayer to go along with the beads. Click here to read it.

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Workshop Schedule Please note that we are being inundated with requests for workshops. In an attempt to keep our sanity, we will be scheduling no more than 4 workshops per year. We are asking for a minimum of 20-30 participants and a maximum of 50 participants per workshop.
Date	Time	Place	Contact
Saturday, October 27, 2007	10:00 am - 3:00 pm	Trinity Episcopal Church 44 East Market Street Bethlehem, PA 18018 Click here for more information	gaby@trinitybeth.org, or phone Gaby at 610-867-4741 x301

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Prayer Beads Workshop
Christ Episcopal Church, Stroudsburg, PA
March 13, 2004

       

      

      

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Diocese of Bethlehem Convention
Cathedral Church of the Nativity
Bethlehem, PA
October 17-18, 2003

       

      

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Prayer Beads Workshop
Trinity Episcopal Church, Mt. Pocono, PA
June 28, 2003
       

                    

       

       

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