Blessing Crosses help spread the blessings

At the beginning of the year, Fr. Randy Melton gave a sermon to his parishioners at the Episcopal Church of the Messiah challenging them to live out the promise of God’s people to be a people of blessing. 
As a means of discovering creative ways to bless others in the community, they were implored to go into the community and ask someone in a context other than church, “How can I ask God to bless you today?”
Second, he asked them to become a prayer champion for a civil servant or educator. Finally, he gave away three $100 checks from the parish outreach fund to anyone who was willing to find a creative way to use it for mission-related purposes in a manner that would bring blessing on others. The idea was to see how far they could make the money go.
Well, Karen Melton was one of those who took up the third challenge. She headed for her kitchen as soon as she returned from church that afternoon, pulled the flour out of the pantry and started experimenting.
By Tuesday afternoon she had a ½ dozen crosses made and by Thursday took her first 11 to Twin Palms Hair Salon in Luling to get some marketing advice from owner Melanie Robbins. Karen left with some much valued input…and without any of her crosses…she sold them that quickly!
Karen continues to make the crosses and is delighted with the financial rewards. Over $600 has been raised and given to Gonzales Christian Women Job Corps to date. And on April 8, a check for $1000 was given to Patty Stewart for Relay for Life from the sale of the Blessing Crosses. But what Karen wants people to realize is that this is really much more of a PRAYER PROJECT than it is a fund-raiser.
“I was really inspired about what Fr. Randy said in his sermon about how we can go about our daily lives with the intention of blessing others” says Karen. “We tell people we’ll pray for them or that we’re thinking about them during a difficult time in their lives…but I wanted to figure out how we might do that in a tangible way. I looked through my Bible and found the verse that I have really loved over the years...it’s from Numbers 6:24-26. It says, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
“That really sums up my feelings when I’m trying to convey to someone my heartfelt concern for them whenever they’re going through a tough time. So after I picked out the scripture verse I thought about what medium I could use. That’s where the idea of dough art came to me. I wanted to use ordinary materials…like flour…as a sign and symbol that in our ordinary ways in our ordinary lives we CAN make a difference and do something for others…it doesn’t have to be fancy or cost a lot to show someone you care.”
As each unique cross is being handcrafted, Karen prays for those to whom the crosses will be given. And as part of this project during each Sunday worship service when prayers are offered for particular people by name, prayers are now offered for those who have received a Blessing Cross. On the card that accompanies each cross is an explanation of the project. And it says, “Receive this gift in the knowledge that God loves you and people are praying for you.” Karen reports, “I don’t have to know who exactly is getting a cross in order to pray for them. God knows that person…and that’s what counts. I do know that prayer matters so I pray that each and every recipient will find some peace and comfort knowing that they are being prayed for and that God loves them.”