Today is the day before the Lent season begins. Pancake Day, as it is known to many. But what is up with this idea of eating pancakes on this particular Tuesday? Pancakes are traditionally made on this day because many Christians believed in giving up things like eggs, butter and fat (the main ingredients of the beloved pancake). But there is more to this day then just eating pancakes...
It is also know as Shrove Tuesday. Shrove comes from the ancient word "shrive" which means "to confess".
Today our community is gathering to celebrating the eating of pancakes, as well as introduce the idea of confession.
Below is an interactive prayer activity on confession. It links together the growing obsession with PostSecret (an art initiative that involves people anonymously mailing in homemade postcard with a secret written on it) and the value of confession (telling God the wrong things we've done).
This prayer activity can help people understand the concept of confession from the understanding of "keeping secrets"...
Materials Needed:
Paper/Printer: to print pictures of PostSecret postcards
postcards
pens/pencils/markers
some container or box for confessions to be posted in (I painted a red box and set it on a low table)
(I also just printed out the blow fact/statements and hung them on strings around the "postbox" in our communities prayer room, so people could read for themselves how to walk through what confession is and how to engage... but really it could be set up whatever way suit your group)
Post Secret
What it
is?
PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail
in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.
PostSecret,
13345 Copper Ridge Road, Germantown, MD 20874, USA
See for Yourself
What
people are saying about it…
…is one
step towards affirming that it's a positive and healing thing to get one's
hidden issues "out there" and hopefully, examined. P. Miller (DC)
I am a
huge fan of the website…Every single postsecret is riveting. A.K. Johnson
(Texas)
manages
to evoke the feeling of not being alone - it's stunning to see people's secrets
that they have finally decided to entrust to the entire World. Bruce Wilson
(Australia)
Not to
be sappy, but in each card a stranger reveals something so pure and unique, you
can almost envision their daily lives. And wonder about how to express your own
secrets. Travis Pelts (DC)
The
secrets are daring, soulful, and riveting. Some we have seen before on the
PostSecret website, but that doesn't make them any less amazing. There's
something that changes you by the honesty of the cards. I highly recommend
this… MeepMeep (California)
Review found on http://amzn.to/yMsIDt
What its
letting people do? Why do people love it?
It give people an
OUTLET FOR CONFESSION
Confession
ISN’T primarily about you being DIRTY OR HORRIBLE OR AN OUTCAST
Confession
IS about getting HONEST,
BEING LOVED,
TELLING
YOUR SECRETS
SAYING SORRY
AND
BEING FORGIVEN!
The people
we can be honest, loved by and secretive with are the people we count as are
most VALUED RELATIONSHIPS…
In the same
way God wants us to realize WE CAN TRUST HIM with the good AND THE BAD parts of
who we are.
With God
confession DOESN’T start by pointing fingers…
CONFESSION
starts with God saying, “I Love You, come… tell me what’s wrong…”
But equally
it takes us having the guts to take those steps toward God to honestly tell him
the good and bad in our lives.
And it ends
with God STILL SAYING, “I LOVE YOU” and he promises to forgive the things we’ve
done wrong and make our lives free.
SHROVE
TUESDAY is a day to
confess any wrong in our lives… This is not to separate us more from God, but
to give God and us the space to be honest, build better relationships with each
other and be forgiven.
WANT TO
GIVE IT A TRY?
Grab a
postcard and think about your life.
Consider if
there are any wrong, hurtful and/or negative things you are doing in your life.
Write the
things you are sorry for doing down on your postcard
Take your
postcard and “post” it into the “PostConfession Box”.
As you post
your confession tell God you are sorry for what is written on the card and ask
him to help you be free from them.
BIBLE VERSE
Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.
Posts
