Contemplative Prayer Stations

This contemplative prayer station invites people into the mystery of God by focusing on their view on certain paradoxes.
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Directions for Leadership:
This is a hard one to set up. We used 4 movable room dividers and set 2 up on one side and the other 2 up across from those… making a long hallway down the middle. About 5 feet of the ground (high enough to duck under, low enough for short people to reach) we strung a several ropes going back and forth across the “hallway". On one side of the rope we would put one side of a paradox and on the other side the opposite side of a paradox. People would take a cloths pin and put it on the rope where their line of thinking tends to sit. For example, I am a firm “free will” girl, so I would put my clothes pin on the side closest to that side for that particular paradox. On the floor along the sides put bibles for people to look things up along the way.

At the entrance of the Hallway put the directions along with a basket of clothes pins (enough for every person to take 6). At the end put the quote from the book Blue like Jazz.
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Paradoxes - conflicting ideas that are both somehow true

The Christian faith must include paradoxes, because it deals with God, whom no human mind can understand.

Directions:

Take 6 clothespins.

As you walk inside the “hallway” you will see an idea on each side of you and a rope overhead connecting them. The ideas are paradoxes from within the Christian Faith. Take a moment to think about each then hang a clothespin on the line above you to mark where you tend to believe.
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These are for printing up and putting at each end of the ropes….
Look below
Predestination
(God chooses who will believe)
Romans 8:29-30 Ephesians 1:5
Free Will
(God allows us to choose)
Revelations 3:20
Luke 11:9

There is only one God
Deuteronomy 6:4
God is three persons
The Trinity is the name we give to the concept of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit that is found through out scripture.
Matthew 28:19

Jesus was human
Luke 19:10
1 Timothy 2:5
Jesus was God
Matthew 16:15-16

God is infinitely loving.
Ephesians 2:4-5
God is infinitely just.
Acts 17:31

Saved by Faith
Ephesians 2:8
Good works
Matthew 25:31-46
James 2:18-20

God is Omniscient (knows everything, all our needs, thoughts, and actions)
Psalm 139
God tells us to pray
1 Timothy 2:8
2 Chronicles 7:14

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Put this quote at the end….

“Too much time is spent trying to chart God on a grid, and too little is spent allowing our hearts to feel awe. By reducing Christian spirituality to formula, we deprive our hearts of wonder…”
– Donald Miller in Blue like jazz

This contemplative prayer station uses photography/visual art to stimulate personal reflection and prayer concerning where we are in our faith journey both individually and communally.
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Directions for Leadership:

Set up a table with chairs. On the table place a nice cloth, candles, photographs, bibles (for people to look up the scriptures and the directions below.

Photographs should be of people in various actions. eg:
Running scared, gardening(nurturing), dancing, weeping, hiding, laughing, perhaps a person giving birth, dying, starving, gulping water, etc…

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Directions:

On the table are various photos, find one(or a few) that you feel represents where you in your life with God, right this moment in time.

Take time to sit and talk with God. Ask Him if where you are is a good place. Is it where He wants you to be? Is it just part of the journey or are you taking side trips?

Take time to sit and listen to what God wants to say to you through either the photograph or the passage of Scripture. Be attentive to God’s still small voice.

This contemplative prayer station uses photography/visual art to stimulate prayer for others.
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Directions for Leadership:

Set up a table with chairs. On the table place a nice cloth, candles, photographs of all sorts of whatever, and the below directions.

The way we did this station is by asking various people in the faith community/congregation to bring in some of their work (not family pics, rather people who have taken photography classes and therefor have a large range of various types of pictures). They needed to be copies that they didn’t mind getting fingerprints on, or in a frame to protect it. Or you can just take a bunch yourself or nab some of the internet…. but make sure they are ones that are open to the public.

Something to consider; using painting and other types of visual art instead of Photography… and when done with the photos or paintings(especially if you do the photograph series of stations) hold a silent auction for them over the a couple weeks and use the money raised for something missional!
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Directions:

Remember your childhood days when you would look at clouds and try and guess what objects they resembled? Sift through these photographs and look for images that symbolize or remind you of someone in your life.

Once you have found a few photographs that remind of you someone you know, or of a situation/relationship in your life, take time to sit and pray for that person or situation.

Make sure to take time to sit and listen to what God may be prodding you towards. Be attentive to God’s still small voice.

This contemplative prayer station uses photography/visual art to stimulate thought, emotion and prayer. Particularly in reference to scripture.
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Directions for Leadership:

Set up a table with chairs. On the table place a nice cloth, candles, photographs with the scriptural reference attached to it somehow, bibles (for people to look up the scriptures and the directions below.

The way we did this station is by giving various people in the faith community/congregation specific scriptures, ones that provoke visual images such as the psalms, a few weeks in advanced and used those. Or we would give all the people the same scripture and then sit back and be amazed at the different results! Something else to consider; when done with the photos (especially if you do the photograph series of stations) hold a silent auction over the next couple weeks and use the money raised for something Missional!
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Directions:

On the table are various photo interpretations of scriptures. Find one that intrigues, if you like you may look up the scripture it is based on. Take time to sit and listen to what God wants to say to you through either the photograph or the passage of Scripture. Be attentive to God’s still small voice.

This station was thought up by Scott Myer and Brandon over at:
http://whyonline.org/prayer-retreat-for-high-school-students/

“Ping-Pong Thanks”- This station is designed for thanksgiving. There are three bowls with 18 ping-pong balls in each one. On each of the balls is written something for which we can be thankful (i.e. shelter, family, food, friends, clothes, and Jesus). This idea came from our preacher, Scott Meyer, who also suggested the bowls be filled with water. We didn’t have easy access to water but I think it would have worked well. The students are directed in this station using these instructions and this Scripture to consider all the good things that God has put in their lives and give Him thanks.”

Instructions:
This area is designed for THANKSGIVING
Choose a ball out of the bowl and give God thanks for what is written on it. If you want, you can start thanking God for
whatever comes to mind.

FYI:
Did you know that happiness is directly connected to thankfulness?
A Thankful Heart is a Happy Heart!

Note: I (web admin) am assuming that people then throw/bounce/drop the balls into the water as they tell God about why they are thankful for that particular thing or person.