When she’s not behind the pulpit, Rev. Janet Waggoner of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church hangs up her clerical collar and laces up her New Balance sneakers.
She’s training for the Shelton Prayer Walk, which will be Aug. 28 and 29.
The 31-mile walk, she explained, is a way for the church to pray for issues the community is concerned with – such as finances and education.
The idea for the prayer walk stems from a historic Anglican tradition called beating the bounds, in which priests would walk around with their parish and pray for their community.
“In March I was thinking and praying about all this and I thought, ‘What would happen if I walked all the way around town?’” Waggoner said.
So on her 46th birthday, Waggoner began exploring Shelton – where she has lived for about three and a half years.
“I was wowed by the incredible diversity of our community,” she said. “Go north and you have the rolling hills and farms, and down to the river and all the houses have boats in their yard. These people have different patterns of life, different interests but it’s the same community and they have the same issues and needs.”
Not a marathon walker, Waggoner went online and found a plan to begin training for the prayer walk.
She started by walking only a few miles every couple of days. Now she’s up to walking 15 miles on training days, parishioners often joining her for at least a portion of the journey.
She keeps an updated training schedule online.
Besides being an Anglican tradition, Waggoner said the prayer walk is a way for one’s mind, body and spirit to connect with God and with the community.
“For me the prayer walk is a profound way to listen to out community and to see what’s actually going on and to interact with people we normally might not have contact with” she said.
Since she’s been training, Waggoner has chatted with moms at school bus stops, has met her neighbors and has become a familiar face to many morning commuters. She plans to pray for them all.
Karen Nash, of Trumble, is on the vestry of St. Paul’s and has been training with Waggoner.
“Anything that has to do with prayer is right up my alley,” she said. “You can never pray enough.”
The prayer walk will be similar to a Stations of the Cross procession.
Waggoner has 28 stations mapped out and the group will stop at each one and pray the neighborhood.
Each station will also have a designated prayer – one for farmers, one for school, one for families, and so on.
Waggoner will walk the entire 31 miles, but people are welcome to walk whatever they feel comfortable with. There will be support cars available to taxi short-distance walkers.
Waggoner will be tweeting (@rev_janet) from her iPhone to let people know where she is.
The walk will begin at 5:30 a.m. Aug. 28 at the corner of Canfield Drive and Nichols Avenue.
On Aug. 29 the walk will begin at noon on the corner of Cornell and Canal Streets.
For information call (203) 929‑1722.
Tracy Simmons, a former reporter for the Republican-American in Waterbury, publishes Creedible.com, a site focusing exclusively on religious news in Connecticut.
