Contemplative Prayer Stations

This contemplative prayer stations purpose is to give worshipers an opportunity to see what transformations can take place when the “scales” are taken away.

The original idea along with the example pictures were found at www.crosspointings.org.
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Directions for Leadership:
You will need: “Scratch Paper” (Purchase at any craft or art store), Wooden Dowels ( or something to scratch with), A print-out of Acts 9:18 and a print out of the directions (Both Below)

Set out several sheets of scratch paper on the table and set out the wooden dowels of various weights near the sheets. Hang Acts 9:18 and the directions where they can be easily read. Make sure there is a place where people can put their images when they are done. Some suggestions that we use are hanging them up on clothes lines with clothes pins or pinning them up on a pin board or tapping them on a wall. Be creative!

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The story out of Acts:

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Directions:

Take time to quiet yourself and ask God into this time and into your thoughts.
Read the story out of Acts.
Take time to specifically ponder Acts 9:18, think about an image of transformation or redemption. how would the story be told if it were you? What would fall from your eyes?
Take a piece of “scratch” paper and a wooden dowel and etch that image onto the sheet. When you are done hang it up with a clothes pin.