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Protestant prayer beads help put faith experience into action
McCOOK, Nebraska -- Start with a bead, then the cross.
I don't start with a bead.
I know. But you don't either.
Oh ...
This thread's not long enough.
I like that color combination. You don't?
Uh oh, two threads won't go through this bead.
I need my glasses. Where are the scissors?
You'll need more of that small-size bead.
I need my glasses ...
I want to make a child's size.
Go for it ...
She always keeps the pretty beads.
I always get the leftovers.
You want to put the price tag where?
Oh, I love you!
I love you more ...
"See why we can't work together?" Annie Trail giggles. "We talk too much," she says, grinning at Patty Keene, who can't keep from laughing out loud.
The women may get more work done separately, but in a common mission, they're building a roof and sharing their love for God and faith in the Holy Spirit.
Annie and Patty design and hand-craft "Protestant prayer beads," a circle of beads and a soothing rhythm of prayers whose purpose is to bring its user into the quiet presence of God.
The women's prayer bead project started with scattered ideas that converged into a single mission -- God's plan, in God's timing.
A couple of years ago, Patty Keene could sense that her dear friend Ann -- whom she also calls "Grannie Annie" -- "was looking for something ... "
Patty, who had completed her once-in-a-lifetime "Walk to Emmaus" ---- an experience of Christian spiritual renewal ---- three years before, encouraged Ann to participate in a Walk to Emmaus, describing it as an opportunity to truly feel the Holy Spirit.
As Patty had assured her it would be, Ann said, her Walk was a life-changing experience.
Annie describes her "Walk to Emmaus" 21⁄2 years ago at Camp Norwesca near Chadron as a deeply meaningful, absolutely awesome experience.
A year later, a fire in Nebraska's Panhandle destroyed seven of the camp's 10 buildings and burned right up to the chapel door. Sitting in the chapel after the fire, Annie and her husband, Dick, learned from the camp director that they would need $10,000 to repair the chapel's water-damaged roof.
Dick said to Annie, "Write her a check." Annie said to Dick, "Sell an airplane."
Hmmm ...
Annie needed a way to raise $10,000 ...
Ann admits a fascination with Roman Catholic Rosary beads, and several years ago, asked a friend about her Rosary. "She gave me a Rosary and taught me how to use it," Ann said. "She told me to put it in my pocket and just reach in and touch it when I needed to talk to God."
Ann also learned about prayer beads being sent in "care packages" to military chaplains serving overseas. She got 25 from "Adopt-A-Chaplain" to send in the packages she ships to chaplains at Christmas time, and she squirreled away one set and its instructions for herself.
Later, Ann heard Pastor Corey Jenkins of the Methodist Church in Culbertson (now of the Methodist Church in Valentine) talk about prayer beads.
In the back of her mind, Ann was still mulling over how to raise $10,000 for a roof.
In the back of her mind, Patty felt that Ann needed another project ... ahh, she told Annie, prayer beads. (Patty is a native of Chili. She pronounces it "pray-er" beads.
At the same time, Ann sensed God's presence and a gentle tap on her shoulder ... "prayer beads" ... and she remembered the beads she'd tucked away at home.
Ann had "an 'a-hah' moment" and a math lesson: "If I sold 1,000 prayer beads for $10 each, I'd have enough money for the roof!"
Ann started gathering beads ... asking friends if they had broken necklaces, broken bracelets, loose beads they didn't want. She shopped at thrift stores and Good Will stores.
She bought supplies and enlisted Patty's assistance. Following the instructions on the beads from Adopt-a-Chaplain, the two women started designing and hand-crafting the 33-bead design.
Each bead and the number of beads is symbolic: The cross, of course; the large "invitatory" bead, to invite God's presence; another four large beads that represent the four points of the cross; seven beads in succession represent the number of days it took God to create the world; 33 beads in all, representing the 33 years that Jesus walked on earth.
To her own set of beads, Annie added charms, one for Dick, one for each of her children and their spouses, one for each grandchild.
Although Ann emphasizes, "There is no incorrect way to pray," there are suggestions for using the prayer beads. Holding each bead and moving in a counter-clockwise circle, offer a prayer to God. When Ann comes to a charm, she offers a prayer specifically for that family member.
Breath slowly ... invite God into your heart.
Moving unhurriedly around the beads three times represents the Holy Trinity -- the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
The repetition becomes a song of love and praise that enables the user to rest his/her mind, and for the heart to become quiet and still, and allow God to enter.
Conclude the ritual at the cross, saying, for example, "Thanks be to God." "God is great." "Praise God."
Ann and Patty both say that the beads are not a necklace; they're not meant, nor are they big enough, to slip over an adult's head.
They're to be held in the hand while praying and kept close throughout the day.
Patty created a child's prayer bead bracelet, made with 14 beads, -- 14 people to pray for. Patty likes the idea of creating a habit of prayer in young children. The beads are a tool "to teach little children to pray," she says.
Patty wears a bracelet herself, calling it her "on the go" bracelet, something she can touch as she stands in line or waits at a red light.
Both sizes have men and women, boys and girls in mind. The 33-bead design can be made with rustic, masculine beads. The little bracelets can include a football charm, a baseball or a softball. "They are not just for women and girls," Patty insists. "They're not all girly-girly."
No two are ever the same. "Each is different and unique," Patty said, as is everyone's prayer life and prayer concerns.
Ann has included her mother's beads in prayer beads for herself and for her own daughters, and then also in prayer beads for the Curtis Methodist Church, where her mother, Alice Tondreau, attended church.
Ann will custom-design beads, working with beads that mean something special to a user. "They can be so symbolic," Patty said. "You can have memories of your mother, or your grandmother, as your pray."
While Ann and Patty can't seem to work together productively -- Ann laughs, "We talk too much." -- each knows she's been deeply blessed by the shared prayer bead experience.
Patty says, "It's such a blessing to do these -- my cup runneth over. And I know that Grannie Annie's cup is absolutely overflowing."
Sales of the beads have raised $7,000 thus far for the camp roof.
To purchase Ann's and Patty's beads, contact Annie at (308) 340-3578. Or stop by the New Life Christian Book Store at 212 Norris Ave in downtown McCook.
The beads sell for $5, $10, $15, $20 and $25. All proceeds go to the Camp Norwesca roof project.