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 6 - fizzy faith

Today was another busy day in the Quench cafe though fairly quiet in The Station.

In my conversations with people in the cafe I was looking out for anyone going into The Station but I don't think that I made enough effort to be pro-active in promoting it throughout the morning. I have to confess to feeling that people are now thinking 'oh no here comes that woman again, wanting us to do stupid things with play doh and vitamin tablets (more on this later) and although I wouldn't allow this to stop me telling people about The Station, it certainly does lurk at the back of my mind. Maybe persistence is the key, and this reminds me of how easy it is to give up when things don't work out as planned.

As it has been the second week of the school holidays and there have been additional people and children around, we decided to just do two prayer stations so that there was room for an overflow table for the cafe if the hall become too full.

The first station was fizzy forgiveness, previously used and very simple but also very effective in encouraging people to think about anyone who has hurt them and as the effervescent vitamin tablet fizzes in the water they are encouraged to get rid of the hurt they are feeling and begin to forgive the person.

The second station was based around the theme of being thankful and people had to look inside a box at a variety of different scenes, including a forest scene, snow capped mountains, a sunset and a picture of colourful fish. They then had to think about who it was they said 'thank you' to when they saw such beautiful scenes in creation.

Both were very simple prayer stations but encouraged people to think a little more about where God fitted into their lives.

Like last week, there was a bigger take up for the prayer stations from the children than the adults, though this wasn't helped by the fact that the overflow cafe meant that the vestry wasn't as quiet as it would have otherwise been and therefore wasn't conducive to quiet reflection and prayer.

As people shared with me during the morning about the activities and parties they had been involved in over the course of the recent Diamond Jubilee weekend, I couldn't help wondering how many people gave thanks to God for the things that they did and the events they attended. How easy is it for us to take each day for granted? How often do we really turn to God and thank him for our conversations, for the fun that we have with family and friends, for the beauty of his creation as we look out of the window? How can we encourage those with little or no faith to see God in the ordinary - in the laughter of a child, a piece of music, the news on TV? The effervescent tablet soon stops fizzing in the water and disappears and we, almost as quickly, forget to give thanks.

Jesus said 'I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.' There are many people who definitely don't feel that they live life to the full, for whatever reason. Recognising that a glorious sunset is a part of God's creation may seem small and insignificant but can be a step towards an understanding of the vastness of a God who at the same time cares for each one of us, loving us because we are his (very) precious children.