Friday, February 6, 2015

Youth Prayer Room Help Needed

Parents, 


I am planning a 'Spiritual Disciplines' series with the youth during this upcoming season of Lent. As part of that series I would love to create a mobile prayer room experience, a sacred and quiet space, somewhere at Western for the youth to use during Lent on Sunday mornings,  

I'm thinking different stations: journaling, prayer, music, dry erase board, tangible items they can hold while praying, etc.. Similar to how Laura Fissel sets up the 24/7 prayer room, but not as extravagant since it will need to go up and down each week. 

We had a planning meeting this past Wed and below are the notes. In order to pull this off I need some help.
  • 2 parents to volunteer as the Prayer Room Champions to help organize this.
  • Parents to volunteer to help with set up and take down of the prayer room on Sunday mornings
  • Parents to pick an assigned 'prayer station' to be in charge of creating and executing.
Let me know if you're willing to do any of the 3 roles above. Thanks! -Drew



THEME: self-examination/reflection. This comes from Frederick Buechner's definition of Lent (*see end of email). We thought this might be a more accessible way for a teenager to consider Lent than using buzzwords like REPENT, SACKCLOTH AND ASHES, MOURN etc.
POINTS OF REFLECTION:
We thought we could ask kids an open-ended question at each station about how they view themselves/their life in some aspect. These questions would not be "leading" questions--worded to make them feel one thing or another--but broad questions that asked them to reflect honestly about where THEY are at on a subject.
Also at each station, we thought about providing a scripture (quoted or paraphrased) that shows what God says about the same subject. 

Suggested questions...
1. When did I feel closest to God this week? Furthest away?
2. When you look at yourself in the mirror, what do you see that you most like, and what do you see that you most dislike?
LOW-MESS PRAYER STATION IDEAS: (* denotes supplies that 24-7 already has) 
-"praying in color": put up a long strip of butcher's paper where kids can write down the names of themselves or others they need prayer for, and people can "pray in color" (looks like doodling) around those names. Need: *butchers paper, *tape/tacks, *markers
-stones: opportunity to "release" or "let go" of burdens/things we obsess over (ie: what people think of us/what we're wearing etc.) Need: *stones, *basket or bowl
-prayer book
-sand/"Buddha Board": confessional, where kids can write down things they need to confess and wipe them away Need: sand, *bowl, *chopsticks, *Buddha Board and its supplies
-Mirror: place to look at the self, reflect, and write positive messages back Need: large mirror, dry erase markers
-"Truth Cards": positive messages about self-worth/value that can taken with a person from the room. These can be printed off-line. Also, can have note-cards nearby for kids to write positive messages to each other that they can leave for someone else to take with them. Would need: note-cards, *markers
-"Check-in" at the door where kids remove shoes, leave cell-phones, and reflect on their week to prepare their hearts to pray (see reflection question #2). We considered maybe having a bead or stone there that kids can hold as they reflect and take with them to remind them to pay attention throughout the week or a certain spiritual discipline (confession, gratitude, etc). Need: baskets, beads/small stones 

AESTHETIC NEEDS:
-lamps for lighting
-*large pillows (we have 5)
-music (IPod doc/CD player/laptop etc.)



"In many cultures there is an ancient custom of giving a tenth of each year’s income to some holy use. For Christians, to observe the forty days of Lent is do the same thing with roughly a tenth of each year’s days. After being baptized by John in the river Jordan, Jesus went off alone into the wilderness where he spent forty days asking himself the question what it meant to be Jesus. During Lent, Christians are supposed to ask one way or another what it means to be themselves.
If you had to bet everything you have on whether there is a God or whether there isn’t, which side would get your money and why?
When you look at your face in the mirror, what do you see in it that you most like and what do you see in it that you most deplore?
If you had only one last message to leave to the handful of people who are most important to you, what would it be in twenty-five words or less?
Of all the things you have done in your life, which is the one you would most like to undo? Which is the one that makes you happiest to remember?
Is there any person in the world, or any cause, that, if circumstances called for it, you would be willing to die for? If this were the last day of your life, what would you do with it?
To hear yourself try to answer questions like these is to begin to hear something not only of who you are but of both what you are becoming and what you are failing to become. It can be a pretty depressing business all in all, but if sack-cloth and ashes are at the start of it, something like Easter may be at the end." from Whistling in the Dark by Frederick Buechner

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