A Creative Time of Prayer
I hold 4 prayer meetings every year, one per quarter, for our church Fine Arts Teams. We have found that 1 hour is a good length and that if we can engage everyone in activities that bring our relationship with Jesus to "life" in a tangible and real way, the experience becomes much more meaningful. So, this morning during our prayer meeting, we set up 5 stations throughout our church sanctuary and invited everyone to stop by each one and complete the activities at their own rate of speed while taking the time to pray between each one. There were lots of tears, lots of reflection, many smiles and everyone seemed to leave with a lighter heart and a sense of having connected with God.Here are the stations that we had today:
1. Communion
Remembering the Cross
of Jesus
A loaf of bread and a
challis of juice – dip the bread into the juice
I eat this bread to
remember your body, Jesus, broken for me, and I drink this wine to remember
your blood poured out for me.
For God so loved the
world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not
perish, but have everlasting life
2. Giving Thanks for Every Blessing
Like the one leper
who returned to thank Jesus for his healing, how is your gratitude to Jesus
lived out in your daily life? After a few moments, take a grape and eat it,
savoring the sweetness and the gift of Christ’s love. Say a prayer of thanks to
the Lord.
3. Shine Your Light
I am a part of the body of Christ – a light in the darkness
Write down 3
character traits that you like about yourself – good things about you
Light a candle and
place it with the others to symbolize your light in this community
Ask the Lord to help
you to truly use your talents and gifts for Him and to realize how important
your part is in the body of Christ.
4. Sitting At Jesus' Feet
As
you “sit” on the floor at Jesus’ feet like Mary,
consider the value of simply
soaking up his presence.
Take a floor tile and write a word representing the
gift you receive
by simply sitting and listening or the feeling you find by
reflecting upon his company.
Then place the tile on the floor, as others add
theirs to yours, a floor of gifts.
Take time now to let this find a home in
you. Invite God to keep this alive in your faith journey.
(We set laid out a large rug and scattered it with throw pillows and bean bags
and invited all who passed through to sit as they prayed)
5. Forgive Our Enemies
“But I (Jesus) say to
you who hear, love your enemies,
do good to those who you hate, bless those who
curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you.” – Luke 6:27 & 28
Meditate on the above
verses out of scripture and as you do ponder who some of the people you
consider “enemies” are. When a name (or “names”) pop into your head, pick
up a stone and use one of the markers to print the person’s initials on the
stone.
While holding the
stone in your hand, say a “prayer of blessing” for the person you wrote
down. After the prayer, wash the stone in the water and allow God to wash
away the grudge you hold against that person as the water washes the ink
off. If you are able to set in motion the blessing for the person you
prayed for, take the stone home with you to remember to do so, otherwise just
put your clean stone back into the pile.
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