Blessings hit home

Home blessings became a talking point at this year’s Methodist Conference – thanks to a new prayer resource made available exclusively from the MMHS stand.

CELTIC ARTWORK

People visited the Society’s display just to take away their own copy of Pocket Prayers For Home Blessing by Mary Fleeson. Illustrated with striking Celtic-style artwork, the collection offers prayers for every room of the home.

Some ministers said they’d been asked to conduct a ‘blessing service’ in church members’ homes, and had wondered which material to use. They claimed to have found the ideal resource when they saw Pocket Prayers on the MMHS stand.

Another Conference exhibitor took a copy to a friend’s house, and returned the next day to say, ‘It works!’ Their friend had felt much better after using blessings in the collection, which tells the reader, ‘Praying through your home and neighbourhood will make a difference’.

The Society sent copies to ordinands as a gift on their special day. One new minister expressed his thanks on Facebook. ‘It was a joy to receive a card and a blessing from MMHS on my ordination,’ he wrote.

Pocket Prayers was supplied by Lindisfarne Scriptorium, a family business run by Mary Fleeson and husband Mark. Based on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, the couple are inspired in their work by the early Celtic saints.

TIDAL ISLAND

Lindisfarne was key to the Christian faith being spread throughout the North of England in the seventh century. The tidal island was the location of a Celtic – later Benedictine – monastic community.

Brought up in a Methodist home, Mary Fleeson has another link with the Church – she supplied designs for use at the 2010 Conference. ‘We were really chuffed to have been involved,’ she said. ‘It was a real honour.’

Copies of Pocket Prayers For Home Blessing can now be purchased direct from Lindisfarne Scriptorium.