SPOTLIGHT ON ... DESIGNER
March 2007

Our featured designer for this month is Didi Smith On Beads of Prayer

Bede Means Prayer

On Beads of Prayer was founded in 2005 by Didi Smith, a parishioner at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, to create prayerbeads which would enhance the prayer life of Protestants and develop prayerbead ministries in churches around the country.

Didi had engaged in beading for many years, making beautiful necklaces for her friends and family. One day a Protestant minister friend asked her to make prayerbeads for his son who was going on a youth pilgrimage. Her response was, "Sure, but what are they?"

Internet research turned up the answer: Prayerbeads are an ancient aid to prayer. The name is derived from Old English in which the word bed or bede means prayer. The Catholic church created rosaries, named for the first such prayerbeads made from dried rosebuds. Virtually all religions have some form of prayerbeads. The Anglican form was only created in the 1980's. It takes a special form of an invitatory bead and four cruciform beads alternating with four sets of seven "week" beads, representing, among other things, the number of days it took the Lord to create the Earth. The thirty-three beads together represent the number of years Christ walked on Earth.

Two of Didi's first sets of prayerbeads were bought by the parents of young twins. One sat by the window at night so God could see her praying with the beads. The other hoped that having the beads would get the family to pray more together.

Since then, Didi and her husband, Bob, have made presentations all over the Washington area and beyond, to churches, church conventions, university students, middle-schoolers, not only Episcopalians but of several different denominations. They talk about the history and symbolism of prayerbeads, how to pray with them, and give instruction in bead-making. The beads are also on display at the gift shops of several churches, cathedrals and seminaries.

Last summer they began a ministry which stimulated many volunteers to make prayerbeads to send to the American troops in the Middle East and to patients in Veterans Administration Hospitals around the U.S. By the end of the year, they had shipped off about 750 sets to several bases in Iraq and Kuwait and to three VA Hospitals. The responses of gratitude from chaplains, officers and enlisted personnel have been heartwarming. One chaplain responded:

I can't thank you enough for your thoughtfulness and kindness in providing beads and crosses to those of us who are deployed. I have found that military personnel who are in harm's way do seek a deeper relationship with God and I believe that the spiritual aids you have sent will allow those of us who are deployed to deepen our faith.

Didi gets her bead supplies from gem shows, internet sources and bulk bead dealers. All her wire comes from Soft Flex. Given the wear and tear on prayerbeads carried by soldiers, children and teenagers, it is critical that the wire be sturdy at the same time that it is thin enough to string the beads.

There is no doubt that focused prayer has become more of a challenge for many people. Use of prayerbeads is a tangible means of facilitating prayer, drowning out worldly distractions. As one touches each successive bead in a strand, one is intentionally focused on the prayer message. As one completes a prayer and moves on to the next bead, one develops a prayer rhythm, achieving a meditative peace and calm.

Photos above:

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