Live your faith

Creative Prayer:

We have been learning about different types of prayer, and different ways to pray.
Below are a few examples of creative prayer. Use them this week to help you experience prayer in a new way.

Centring Prayer:

This prayer is a silent prayer.

Sit somewhere comfortable perhaps light a candle.
Choose one of these suggested words or one of your own: 'mercy', 'aroha', 'Jesus', 'love', 'spirit', 'peace',
Gently close your eyes and relax
When you are still - think of your word, and hold it in your mind.
If you feel your thoughts wandering don't worry just silently say the word again, you may have to repeat it over and over.
At the end of your prayer keep you eyes closed for a few minutes and listen for God's voice.

Praying with Scripture:

Choose a piece of scripture and read it out aloud
Pause after and think about any words or phrases that stood out for you.
Read it again, slowly this time, pausing and listening for the silence between each thought.
Pause and think about how this might be talking to you about your own life.
Talk to God about this.
Be still and quiet and listen for God's response.

Wordle:

We are all familiar with wordle pictures we see on the web. This prayer is a little like that.

As a family choose a topic or a person that you think needs prayer.
Take out your scrabble set and turn up all the letters.
Play some reflective music then take turns creating words that come to you about the topic. You can link them together or just lay them out in the middle.
As you finish this prayer ask that God holds this person or situation close and to comfort those who are involved.

Nature Prayer:

As a family take a walk to the park or along the beach and ask everyone to collect a treasure on the trip.
Talk about the shapes, textures, colours, smells and sounds of your treasure.
Thank God the artist and creator for all of our natural treasures.
You may even like to take along a rubbish bag and collect up some junk as you go!!

Arty prayer:

Put on spotify or listen to some worship, reflective or popular Christian music and just dance!!! If your kids find this challenging you can give them paints and paper and allow them to just paint as they listen. Encourage them to not think too much about what they are painting, just encourage them to listen to the music and enjoy it!

Online prayer resources you may find helpful:

www.pray-as-you-go.org/home/

www.sacredspace.ie

https://social-spirituality.net/

Praying with Scripture suggestion:

Ephesians 6:18 NIV

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.