I have just had the most amazing week at Bishop Luffa secondary school here in Chichester. As part of their arts festival the Religious Education department invited a team from our church to set up a lunchtime creative prayer zone for students. It was amazing to get such an invitation and great to return to the school Lottie, Smiles, Melon and I set up a prayer space in a few years ago. After much short-notice preparation and frantic trips to pic up materials (I'm not lying when I write in 24-7's Prayer Room resources that giving yourself plenty of time to organise is a good idea), we arrived last Monday morning to set up the Guildford Boiler Room's loaned caravan and many outdoor prayer zones.
The prayer activities we set up included places to express yourself with paint, meditations to listen to, a place to write any question you want to ask God, somewhere to tie a pink piece of material onto a large net whilst offering up a prayer for someone you know, a cross with holes in where people could write their petitions and put them inside (see below), videos, card making and much, much more. There's something about utilising art, media and activities in prayer that opens up new possibilities and languages of expression...
For most students I think this was a fun place to whittle away a lunchtime, for some it seemed to be somewhere they could be honest and talk to God about the things on their mind. It was such an honour to be involved in it and we received such a warm welcome from the staff at the school. It was interesting how this time differed from the last prayer space we organised in one of the school's class rooms. The outdoor venue meant that the more interactive zones were well used but the contemplative ones were sometimes over looked or disrupted by noise. Having said that there were many students who came two and sometimes three lunchtimes in a row so they must have enjoyed it. I did somehow manage to get really sun burned on the last day. I hadn't quite realised how strong the sun was and I so rarely burn... I was foolish... now I look kinda ridiculous with some rather impressive white strap marks. Oh well it was a small price to pay to be part of something so fun :)