Prayer ideas

We want to provide resources to help other communities explore their own faith and spirituality together. To this end, Sue has written two ``ideas'' book for groups which find that praying using just words does not meet their needs. The first, entitled Multi-Sensory Prayer appeared in Sept 2000, the second, Multi-Sensory Church in Sept 2002, and the third, Mult-Sensory Scripture in Aug 2005. Both are published by SUBTLE (an imprint of Scripture Union), and should be available in your Christian bookshops. Alternatively, you can buy it online.

Prayer Ideas

Here are three of the prayer ideas from the book, that we have tried and tested in our services. Like all our stuff, we hope you find these ideas useful, but don't forget you can do your own thing, modify the ideas a bit, or ideally come up with something completely new that suits you better!

1) Incense

This prayer ritual can be used in a variety of situations and with a variety of themes. It can be particularly good when interceding for friends who are ill or going through difficult times and when all the information cannot be publicly broadcast. It is also good for people who are shy about praying in public.

Resources needed

• A small barbecue (clean off all traces of fat beforehand)
• Some charcoal (church charcoal should work fine)
• Grains of solid church incense (this is available from an ecclesiastical bookshop as is the charcoal)
• pencils and pieces of writing paper
• a large, lit candle.
• A large, or well ventilated venue (this can get a bit smoky!)
• It might also be a good idea to have a fire extinguisher handy (just in case!!)

Method

About five minutes before this ritual is due to start light the charcoal and give it time to start to glow red. If you wish to speed this process up, using a thurible will help get air to the charcoal. (see below for instructions on how to make one if your church hasn't got one) When you are ready to begin the intercession light the candle and place it beside a bowlful of incense grains near the barbecue. Give the pieces of paper out and the pencils and explain that the idea is to write our intercessory p rayers down on the pieces of paper.

When all these have been written allow people to go up, in their own time, wrap some incense grains in the paper, light the paper from the candle and place in the barbecue. You may wish to read a a passage of scripture such as ps 141 or Rev Ch 8v4.

Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder.

Give plenty of time for people to write their prayers on the pieces of paper. You will probably find that some people wish to write far more than others. As people burn their prayers on the barbecue the grains of incense melt and the smoke rises towards the ceiling. Watching this can be very moving.

2) Broken Dreams

This prayer ritual was originally produced for a service based on the Parable of the Ten Virgins. We talked about how, for some people the lamp of hope had gone out and why that might be so. We talked about shattered hopes and broken dreams. This ritual is a way of expressing those broken dreams and disappointments before God, and asking God to make them into something new.

Resources needed

• Broken pieces of pottery or tiles. (Bathroom or kitchen tiles work particularly well)
• Tile grout and tile adhesive
• A simple wooden cross (two pieces of wood nailed together is fine)
• Pencils

Method

Ask people to write their broken dreams and disappointments onto these broken pieces of pottery. Give them time to think about these things, and to have a chance to pray that God would make something new out of them.

Then, when everyone is ready, spread tile adhesive over the cross, and let everyone place their broken piece of pottery where they wish to upon the cross. When everyone has finished, allow the group to fill in any spaces in the tiles as they wish, allow the tile adhesive to dry, and grout the whole thing together (and varnish afterwards if you wish). Colour may be added to the grout if you want. When the mosaic cross is finished use it as part of a communion service at a later date.

3) Pray-Doh

Resources needed

• A large lump of Doh, modelling material or clay.
  See recipe for how to make some Doh for yourself.
  (If real clay is to be used make sure it has been thoroughly "worked" first to remove excess water.)
• Bowls and towels for washing with afterwards.

Recipe for Pray Doh

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 2 cups water
• 2 tsp. cream of tartar (this is very important)
• A few drops of food colouring

Doh-making method

Put all your ingredients into a pan and mix together. Heat gently, stirring continually until the mixture gradually starts to go gooey. When the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan it is ready to use. (If you heat the mixture too long it will be too hard to work easily. If you don't heat the mixture long enough it will be too gooey to use easily). When you have finished heating your mixture knead it quite well, allow to cool and it will be ready to use.

Method

The first time this method of prayer is used it can be quite daunting. Explain that it doesn't matter what the finished article looks like, it can be quite abstract. What is important is our feelings as we work the clay or dough. These are our prayerful expressions to God. Sometimes people find it helpful to work the clay in the dark,which makes them less self-conscious about their artistic abilities. The first time this is used as a method of prayer it is best to confine it to a specific theme that is not too inward looking, such as intercession for areas of conflict in the world. On later occasions it may be appropriate to focus more inwardly, or on difficult themes, but it is wise to bear in mind that this may bring up painful memories for some people who may need prayer or counselling afterwards.

Give a lump of clay or dough to each person and a tray or plate of some sort for them to lean on. Then give plenty of time for people to express themselves in prayer using the clay. At the end of this period of prayer you may wish to have a procession of some sort when the trays are taken to the foot of the cross, or placed near the communion table. You may also wish to finish with some sort of hand washing ritual, so that people can serve each other by washing one another's hands as they will probably be a little dirty.