We've been running our annual Winter School of Prayer over the weekend. About 30 people attended at it was an excellent experience on the theme "Take Back Time". We started the weekend with 5 stations that people could experience/explore:
1. Matthew 6:25-34 on "consider the lilies of the field" with a clip from Microcosmos of slow motion plants blooming and insects. People were invited to take a seed bulb and invest it with their worries for tomorrow and then to plant it in a pot of soil, putting aside these concerns for a time and inviting God to do God's work with it (thanks Cheryl, this idea just keeps coming back.)
2. The "Time" sequence from the 1 Giant Leap DVD.
3. The amazing Hand Clock with Psalm 39:4-7, 12-13. The reflection was about memories - that our lives are more than fleeting moments. People were invited to write significant dates from their lives of slips of paper, to cut out a picture that symbolised the event (from a pile of stock photo books) and to place both in a bowl, offering a prayer of thanks, for healing, etc. They took a blessing from A Book of Blessings by Ruth Burgess.
A Blessing
May you stop and see
the way light falls and rocks glow
and may God bless you with
little, big moments that make your heart dance.
Moments when you suddenly become aware of all the
overwhelming beauty and wonder and richness and love
living in the middle of where you are standing already.
Moments when you gaze around understanding:
the kingdom of God is now.
4. The clip I made for U2's "Stuck in a Moment" with Psalm 40:1-3. People were invited to reflect on a part of their lives that felt stuck. They were invited to choose a scrap of fabric and glue it to a canvas. As with the seed activity above, we invited them to sit with the stuckness over the weekend and allow God the opportunity to work with it. They were invited to say this blessing.
A Blessing
Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless God’s holy name,
who raises us each morning to a new day
bestowing on us its freshness, its promise,
that we may not be captive to the past
but walk in the assurance of forgiveness, which proves
as dependable as is day succeeding day.
5. I shortened my syrup time poem and linked it with Song of Solomon 2:10-13. People were invited to eat some syrp on fresh bread and then to write their own poem of praise using magnetic poetry. If I did it again I'd add some late harvets riesling and apple cider and chocolates to the table.
We then headed over to the chapel for a gathered worship time. I wanted a "cosmic" feel so I draped fairy lights over the round communion table like a tablecloth, along with candles and some purple cloth that Ann provided.
As people came in the lights were dimmed with Geoff's White Lady clip playing and music from Angels of the Universe. I have to say it was pretty stunning and I don't have a photo. Here's a sample of the White Lady as a DivX Avi - 6.9 mb and as a Quicktime MP4 - 6 mb.
We used the latter part of Isaiah 40 as the text while the video clip and music were playing, along with some prayer and a Taize song.
Anyway the input sessions were good as was the other worship led by Ann and Geoff, who incorporated the Signposts cards into a series of stations on the Saturday morning. I'll see if I can turn Philip Carter's session into an mp3 and make it available.