Week 12 - getting in a knot

Week 12 was at the start of the school holidays and so the option to have some prayer stations in the vestry wasn't available as the space was needed as an overflow from the cafe.

Instead, I put bits of blank paper and coloured pencils on the table and encouraged people to create and colour anything they wished and whilst they did this to pray for an individual or situation.

I also photocopied some celtic knots and suggested that indivduals should colour these in and pray at the same time. The drawing of patterns has long been used as a way of meditating. Celtic Knotwork,is a way of calming down and helping to focus on God. The emphasis on symmetry and repetition help to sort out cluttered minds and lives. 

Colouring in the celtic knots was especially popular with the children although it was quite difficult to explain to them what they were supposed to be doing because the environment was very busy and noisy. The colouring in is very relaxing and therapeutic (I ended up doing quite a bit of it myself as I tried to model what I wanted peple to do). Once more, it was the children who did most of the colouring.

This is the final (official) week of my MA pioneer project. The project has given me a lot of reflect upon.

My thoughts have included the following:-

• What constitutes a church?
• Does what I have been engaging in constitute a fresh expression?
• What prevents adults from praying?
• Why are children more open to prayer?
• How easy it is to enforce my opinions onto someone else regarding the way that I think others should pray.

Lots to think about. This is most definitely not the end ....

Week 11 - finger labyrinths walk away

In week 10 I placed some mini finger labyrinths on the tables in the Quench cafe. The following week I arrived at the cafe thinking that I would be able to set them out on the tables again because I had left them there the previous week. It soon became clear to me that the majority of the finger labyrinths were nowhere to be seen! All I can conclude from this is that at least 10 individuals must have taken them, hopefully as an aide to prayer! I see this as a really encouraging sign.

In Deuteronomy chapter 4 it says 'we have a God who is close to us and answers our prayers.' If people found it helpful to use the finger labyrinths and to pray at the same time or even wanted to experiment and pray with it, then there are plenty of possibilities.

I am also curious as to whether the labyrinths were taken by children or adults but I am unlikely to find this out.



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Week 10 - evolving and changing

On Thursday I tried something different again. Having deliberated over the success of The Station, when it seems to be very difficult for people to walk from the hall into the vestry, I tried putting some information relating to prayer on the tables in the hall. I felt that this was much more like following the principle of being incarnational, and going to where the people were, rather than expecting them to move elsewhere.

The response was subtle but still effective. I did a small heart shaped labyrinth and asked people to trace their finger around it whilst praying for a person or situation. I imagined that leaving them on the table might result in people picking them up to see what they were and then just perhaps doing it almost absent mindedly as they talked or listened to the people on their table and this is what happened. Several people I spoke to either did this themselves or told me that they had seen other people doing it.

I also made small business size cards that had little sayings on about prayer and on the back it said that people could take them away. It was just a way of encouraging people to think a little bit more about prayer and to maybe connect with it in a way that they never had previously.

In addition to the above, there were two prayer stations in the vestry; one of them asked people to roll two dice and to then move to a square on a board where they were asked to pray in a particular way eg giving thanks, saying sorry, praying for others. The idea of this is that if people are unfamiliar with prayer, they are given information on how to pray and what to pray for.The second one asked the individual to draw around their hand and then to think of anything they needed help with and to ask God for a helping hand.

Of the prayer activities in the hall and the ones in the Prayer Station in the vestry, I felt that those in the hall were the most effective. Who knows what might be taking place in someones life who engages with the labyrinth or takes away a prayer card? It meant that there was no embarrassment or anyone looking to see where a person was going when they got up out of their seat to go to The Station. I would really like to develop this further if the time was available to me and think that I could produce mini versions of some of the activities I have done before in The Station, eg Doodle Prayers.

The Psalmist says in Psalm 54, 'Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth.' I believe that some form of prayer in the hall could be very effective when people get used to it and realise that it can be done without embarrassment or fuss. People can make the choice not to do it but others might discover a God who cares for them and does respond to their prayers.

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.