Week 8 - finding my way through the labyrinth

I keep reflecting upon how The Station fits in with the notion of emerging church. Could this be church in its own right? I think that potentially it could, but we are a long way away from this. There is no reason why the people who come to the Quench cafe couldn't experience it as their church. Someone described the cafe as being a community cafe with Christianity on the edges, I like this. 

I did three prayer stations on Thursday - the first was simply a pot of bubbles and people had to think about something they wished they hadn't done or were worried about. Blowing the bubbles was a symbol of the freedom that God brings and that he is a God of forgiveness.

The second was a large piece of paper and on the top it said 'If God was here today what would you ask him'? The third was a finger labyrinth and as people slowly traced the path to the centre, I they were asked to think of a person or situation.

Response was generally quite low on the whole, but a few interesting things happened. I  asked two women to go and take a look at The Station who hadn't been in there before as far as I knew. Later I talked to them both and one commented on the fact that she already knew and understood what was being asked of her and that she prayed every day. The other said that she wasn't religious and that they didn't do anything for her. Later on, a child came to have a look at the stations with her family. She started to colour in the finger labyrinth but when I talked to her about what she had to do she was really interested and started to trace the labyrinth with her finger.

The first woman couldn't see any advantage to spending time with God because she said that she already did this and wasn't open to exploring this further, the second was closed for different reasons and the little girl was completely open to doing the activity even though (possibly) she didn't fully understand what she was doing.

As Andy Freeman in Punk Monk says, 'sometimes we can't fix the problem, but our prayers can move mountains. Our actions must be accompanied by passionate and persistent prayer.' I need to keep praying and asking God to show me the best way of making connections with the people in the Quench cafe so that they can feel safe but can also connect with God.

Week 7 - moving on

Week 7 and fewer children were in the Quench cafe and The Station as they have returned to school. I'm still reflecting upon why people, on the whole, are reluctant to look at the prayer stations.

Perhaps, as someone suggested to me, the reason there was a better response from the children over the past two weeks is because it becomes more difficult for us to be open to God as we get older. Children have fewer inhibitions and therefore may be more responsive to an encounter with him through the different prayer activities.

I'm wondering whether next week we should put the prayer stations in the church itself. Due to the location of the vestry, anyone going into The Station can be seen by people passing by to go into the cafe and this may make people feel uncomfortable. If the stations were in the church those choosing to go into The Station wouldn't be seen but at the same time would have to overcome the obstacle of going into the church itself, a place which is unfamiliar to many.

I'm also pondering whether we could be brave enough (for at least one week) to have The Station in the cafe area itself. This could go either way, with a positive reaction from those who don't want to go into the vestry/church and maybe a negative one from those who view Quench purely as a community initiative and not a Christian one.

At the end of the day, I want people to experience more of God in ways that they feel comfortable, and hope that the prayer stations achieve this, but they have to be located in a safe space so that they can be easily accessed.

This week there were three prayer stations, Doodle prayers, where people could focus upon a person or situation and as they 'doodled' they were encouraged to pray for that individual. The second was a picture of a hand upon which individuals were asked to sign their name, a reminder that God has our names engraved on his hand and will never forget us. The final prayer station again encouraged creativity through Play Doh as people were asked to give thanks for different aspects of creation.

In Genesis chapter 28, following a dream, it says that Jacob became frightened and said, “This is a fearsome place! It must be the house of God and the ladder to heaven.” God is in every place, but for many people being in the 'church' could be described as a 'fearsome place'. I want people to experience God where they are, without fear. But how? .........

Week 5 - at The Station

The journey to The Station this week seemed to be fraught with difficulties, filled with questions and concerns.

The expectation that there would be lots of children due to school holidays certainly became a reality, and at times space was at a premium. This was anticipated so the inner doors of the church from the vestry were thrown open wide and the cafe spilled over into what for many would be seen as holy place, where people 'fear to tread', and therefore (possibly) an inaccessible place. The cafe has become a safe, secure and accepting place for many, but not a sacred space. Having said this, some people sat at the tables in the church and seemed to enjoy the relative peace compared with the cacophony of noise in the hall next door.

This week there were two prayer stations in the vestry for all ages, one which encouraged  individuals to think about people and situations that they wished to pray about and to draw pictures of that situation or to write a word which was then stuck onto a piece of Duplo. The pieces were then fastened together, the intention being that altogether they would represent a wall of prayer.

The other prayer station asked people to think about what their hopes were and to write or draw something on a piece of paper which represented this. They then dug a hole in the compost within a trough, placed their hope in the hole and then a sunflower seed on top of that hope. Individuals were then encouraged to share their hopes with God. When the seeds grow into beautiful flowers (hopefully) people will have a visual representation of what they are hoping for.

I spent a lot more time in The Station than usual this week, mainly because of the volume of traffic and also because the younger children needed some explanation of the activities. As I reflect upon the innocent responses of the children, hoping for a kitten or a bar of chocolate, I recognise that often as adults our hopes and dreams can be self centred and not necessarily kingdom building. What is our heart's desire? Is it the same as God's desire for his people?

Isaiah 40 v 31 says 'but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.' I hope that those sunflowers in bloom will be a representation of the people this morning who, in some small way, will be placing their hope in the Lord and recognising him as a God who provides renewed energy for the weary but is also a God of love, mercy and forgiveness.

Week 4 - news from The Station

Last week I wasn't at the Quench cafe so I have continued with this week being the fourth week.

The three prayer stations this week involved using scrabble pieces to identify feelings which people could pray about, looking at newspaper clippings and prayerfully considering the content of those clippings, and writing the name of individuals who required healing onto sticking plasters which were then added to a 'gingerbread person' type outline.

Once more, the dilemma over how much I should intervene reared its head. When one person was talking excessively whilst another tried to engage with one of the activities, it was difficult to determine whether to intervene. Who says that prayer has to be quiet? Maybe this individual reacted to the activity when she was talking loudly in ways that I hadn't considered? In the end I stood back and hoped that God would be the one to intervene.

Someone told me very clearly about why he had chosen a newspaper clipping about money and the need for money but also how it can be abused. He gave this a lot of thought and his clarity on the subject was good to see.

This made me think about the word's from Isaiah 40 - 'You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’' Not all the newspaper clippings presented good news but this person identified a positive message.
We have a message which is good news, not that it's enough to say this but we need to live it so that people can see how lives can be changed and transformed. Encouraging people to come into 'The Station' from the cafe still isn't easy though it is still fairly early days; I have seriously considered putting it into the cafe itself in order to eliminate the fear and anxiety of going into a separate room. 'The Station' should be a place where people feel they can stay a while instead of rushing through and I need to give this further consideration.

Week 3 - being a salt shaker

The third visit to The Station has raised a number of issues for me:-

• A number of mums/grandparents have visited The Station with children but sat back and watched the children take part in the activities. Is this because the activity is too child like? Is it because the adults are too embarassed to take part or uncomfortable about responding to the activity? Is it because the adults can't connect to the activities?
• Although I have tried to encourage conversations about the activities I feel that I now need to go one step further in helping participants explore their thoughts, feelings and responses to the activity and to God. I need to be more involved in order that others too can be more involved.

God is involved in our lives. He is interested in what we do, say and the way that we behave. He cares.

In Colossians Chapter 4 it says "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.  Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

I think that I need to sprinkle more salt in my conversations with the people using The Station. Finding ways of connecting with those who have little or no experience of church is a challenge but essential; not making assumptions, being loving and non-judgemental whilst at the same time pointing them way towards God.

Week 2 - being moulded and shaped

The second week of 'The Station' involved three activities, one of which asked individuals to create a shape with a pipe cleaner which would represent a person or situation, for example, shaping it into the initial of a person's first name who they wanted to remember before God. A simple yet profound exercise. People wrestled with trying to master the practicalities of how to represent that person or situation, and also with who or what they should remember in prayer. Some of the participants created something which looked quite remarkable from just a few coloured pipecleaners fastened together.

The Psalmist says, "You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body, and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvellous! Of this I have no doubt. Nothing about me is hidden from you! I was secretly woven together deep in the earth below, but with your own eyes you saw my body being formed." (The Bible - Contemporary English Version)

Engagement with the activity resulted in some conversations about who individuals wanted to pray for but was also a reminder that, in the same way that God formed and created us, wove us together and continues to love and watch over us, we too as Christians are called to hold the concerns of the world before God in pray - our pipecleaner people and places.

Week 1 - stay a while

The right name for this Prayer Project only came to me this morning - 'The Station'. A place to rest, to wait a while for whatever will move us on to the next phase. A place where refreshment (for the soul) is available.

Using the vestry at the Church for this project was a concern, is it a Sacred Space and therefore inaccessible to those to whom church is unfamiliar? Andy Freeman in  his book Punk Monk says, 'isn't God omnipresent. Doesn't "sacred space" sound a bit New Age?' The idea of a Sacred or Holy place is nothing new, returning to Punk Monk, Andy Freeman says that 'places can be special for their familiarity .... their peace or the memories we've created there.' The vestry is a spill over area for the Quench cafe when the Hall is full so is familiar to many.

Probably about 12 - 15 people went into 'The Station', most of them for a quick look, others to actually participate in one or more of the three prayer stations. A number of people with Learning Difficulties seemed to really interact with the activities. In the short feedback form I placed on each table, someone commented on how therapeutic it was to be able to roll Play Dough and to create something which made them think of God's creation.

The Celts called the holy places of prayer a 'thin place', a place where heaven and earth is more closely connected. Could 'The Station' eventually become a thin place, its sacredness being embraced rather than shunned? Could 'The Station' meet a need for those who attend that has never been met before?