0

Category: Prayer

Common Prayers

Last week I discovered the work of Michael Leunig, cartoonist, poet and writer.  I quickly fell down the rabbit hole and became hooked.  FuelledByTea pointed me towards Leunig’s prayers.  The rabbit hole deepened.  At Harvest Festival at Holy Nativity on Sunday we used this one during the service:

Dear God,

We rejoice and give thanks for earthworms,
bees, ladybirds and broody hens;
for humans tending their gardens, talking to animals,
cleaning their homes and singing to themselves;
for rising of the sap, the fragrance of growth,
the invention of the wheelbarrow and the existence of the teapot,
we give thanks. We celebrate and give thanks.

Amen.

After I had discovered the prayers, Jon Birch fell into the rabbit hole with me on Facebook and the whole thing escalated.  Dave Walker joined in and mentioned Leunig’s books.  Well here we are.  The post is arriving and I have replaced the Book of Common Prayer with Leunig’s A Common Prayer.  Spiritually uplifting.  A tonic for the soul.

My New Prayer Device 

How do you get naughty boys to pray?  I have a bracelet of knots around my left wrist that a turn around in my fingers. If I’m feeling extravagant I have this set of orthodox knots that keep my mind focussed enough to engage with the Divine. 

Meet my new prayer divice!  Fidget cube!  Given to me by a friend. Modern day naughty boy prayer time!  And it really works. And it fits in my pocket too!  

Let us pray….

Clicketty clicketty talky talky time!

DIY Prayer Dice

As we have journeyed together through lent as a community at Holy Nativity, people have been asking how we can grow as disciples.  One thing I keep being asked about is prayer.  There is a universal truth about all people who believe;  every single one of us thinks we’re rubbish at praying.  By listening to what people are asking I have been developing different ways of helping people to pray.  So during the parade service yesterday morning, we made giant prayer dice.  And this is how we did it.

Last week I went to eBay and bought 50mm wooden craft blocks.  You can buy as many or as few as you need and as we’re a small community I bought enough for everyone in the congregation.

The scouts handed them out to everyone.  As we passed them around we talked as a congregation about what prayer is.  I led the conversations and asked what we would like to pray about.  As the conversation progressed we wrote them onto the dice.

We came up with:

Friends, Family, Ourselves, Thanksgiving, Saying Sorry, The World

Then I asked about how to begin a prayer.  As a congregation we discussed names for God.

And then we talked about the word “especially”.  We talked about how if we rolled our dice and prayed “Father I pray for the world.  Especially I pray for…” it opens up into a whole conversation.  And then we discussed the importance of listening to the other side of the conversation during prayer.  What is God saying to us about those places in the world we’re praying for?  What is God saying to us about the homeless people in Halifax?  What is God saying back to us in the conversation we started with a little block of wood about our family and friends?

And that’s how we do sermons together at Holy Nativity.

Paper Chain Prayers

At the Christmas Rock Mass we prayed for Jesus to bring light into the dark situations around the world and in our lives.  I bought a couple of paper chain making kits from eBay.  With suitable music playing, people wrote their prayers on the back of their links and added them to the chain.  It was really powerful as our prayers joined together and we all gathered around the altar together.  We all took a glow stick (or many as some of our kids saw fit) and made bracelets to symbolise the light of Christ entering into the world.  Then the president brought all of the prayers together at the end and offered them before God as they were placed around the crib scene.

Photo 21-12-2015, 12 23 45

Photo 21-12-2015, 22 12 35
Yes, that’s Richie Sambora on the telly.