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GA NEWS: General Assembly prayer chapel offers a space for pause

Lisa Wraith, liturgical artist and recent graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary is the designer of the 218th General Assembly’s prayer chapel.  “I went to seminary because of General Assembly,” Wraith says, admitting that it is perhaps a bit unusual to receive a call to ministry through committee participation at GA.

In 1999 she was a YAD, about to enter college. Because of her experience at GA she decided to change her major to religion and then attend seminary after graduating from college.

“One of the most encouraging things for me during this General Assembly has been to see a group of YADs coming in every day, taking that time of quiet and of prayer,” she says.  Realizing how important the visual elements of the worship space were to her, Wraith became involved in planning the liturgical art at SFTS.

The chapel’s wall of prayer is a striking focus to those who first walk in. Visitors to the prayer chapel can write a prayer on a note card and pin it to the wall. “We intentionally made the entrance a hallway so that there was a physical representation of a transitional space between the business of GA into this place of prayer,” shared Wraith. Along that hallway wall is also a prayer cord given by former Moderator Joan Gray. Each piece of the cord, from the moderator’s prayer retreats, represents a prayer for the church.

The prayer chapel is located on the lower level of the Marriott side of the Convention Center.

 

 

 

 

 

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