Showing posts with label activity. Show all posts

I spent last week volunteering with the CYO team that host Sanctum (sacred prayer spaces in schools). This last week they were in a secondary school here in Colchester. I went just M W F, but we had so much fun. There were 12 different prayer activities for the kids to get involved in. They set the activities up, each in its own space. Some had to do with writing down a question you had for God, or something you were thankful for or sorry about. Another had the kids walk through this maze with mirror to help them with their identity or this other one that had sand so they could put their hands in it to learn about impressions. One of my favorite was this "calm" zone where they could chill and listen to music and think about God!

I made a little video about it... check it out and feel free to spend some time praying as you listen and watch! The music and glitter might help! :D

I help organize a few learning sessions for our community. I have this deep desire to see the Bible be really fresh for all people, no matter age, race, sex, culture, education or family. For people to see it, not as stories of generations past for generations past, but as stories from past generation that give incredible life to today's generations.

One practice I just did with our community was taking time to re-imagine the scene of particular Bible stories. This is done by reading a story from the Bible. Pausing to creatively imagine how those characters and places would be in our culture and experiences. Then writing down this imaginary take to help set up the scene and connection to story characters. This is done either by describing the setting through explaining smells, sounds, visuals, textures and tastes and/or developing the character through detailed description of physical appears, personality, emotional state of being etc. All based off our imagination.

Below is an example of this exercise. I highly recommend it as it worked really well in my experience.


Based on Raising Widows Dead Son, Luke 13:10-17

 ^11-15Not long after that, Jesus went to the village Nain. His disciples were with him, along with quite a large crowd. As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession—a woman's only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, "Don't cry." Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, "Young man, I tell you: Get up." The dead son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother.
 ^16-17They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful—and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, "God is back, looking to the needs of his people!" The news of Jesus spread all through the country.

2. Pause take the time to use your imagination to connect to the story.
Where would the place this story have taken place looked like? smelled like? would it have been light or dark? was it loud or quiet? what color could have been there? What would the woman have been like? Does she remind you of anyone you personally know? where would she have been coming from? What emotional baggage would she be carrying? What type of physical conditions would she be feeling? What kind of clothes would she be wearing? Write this down to create your fresh take on this bible story.

3. Then read your imaginary description based offer your personal experiences and culture out loud to begin to prepare you for a re-freshening of the bible and that particular story. You might need to repeat the music or choose a couple songs to last this whole process.
4. Then re-read the Luke 7: 11-15 and let your personal imagery bring this story to life.


5. Reflect on these three question to further deepen your encounter with Jesus through the bible.
  A. How do you relate to the character in this story?
  B. What does it tell you about Jesus?
  C. Can you see God's Kingdom in this Story?

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)