Still Small Voice Prayer Trail (Part 3)

Part 3 of the resources used in the Prayer Trail at SCM's conference..... feel free to adapt and use!

Springing up from the ground
Set up: Lollipop sticks stuck into plant pots or into the ground or gravel outside. Suggested verses to write on the sticks:

Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10) Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9) Believe in the light (John 12:36) Peace I leave with you (John 14:27) Out of the depths I cry to you (Psalm 130) My soul waits in silence (Psalm 62:1) To you I lift up my eyes (Psalm 123) I am with you always (Matthew 28:20) Make a joyful noise (Psalm 66)

“Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.” Psalm 85:11

Take a word of hope and encouragement from the ground and carry it with you.

A very simple prayer
Set up: magnetic alphabet letters and something to stick them to (e.g. a white board)

A Hasidic Tale retold by Anthony de Mello
Late one evening a poor farmer on his way back from the market found himself without his prayer book. The wheel of his cart had come off right in the middle of the woods and it distressed him that this day should pass without his having said his prayers.

So this is the prayer he made: ‘I have done something very foolish, Lord. I came away from home this morning without my prayer book and my memory is such that I cannot recite a single prayer without it. So this is what I am going to do: I shall recite the alphabet five times very slowly and you, to whom all prayers are known, can put the letters together to form the prayers I can’t remember.’

And the Lord said to his angels, ‘Of all the prayers I have heard today, this one was undoubtedly the best because it came from a heart that was simple and sincere.’

Pray a very simple prayer either by following the poor farmer’s example or by forming a single word from the alphabet letters.

Anthony de Mello (1931 – 1987) was a Jesuit priest from India who wrote and spoke widely about spirituality.

Just Sitting: The practice of non-meditation
Set up: place the prayer station near some comfy chairs

Sit for 20 minutes.

Don't get up.

Don't talk, write, get up or engage in any other external distractions.

Let your mind go wherever it wants.

There's no way to get this wrong. As long as you remain sitting, you're engaged in the practice.

Hundreds of ways
Set up: A small plate containing (approximately!) 100 grains of rice

“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” - Rumi

Where do you see, feel, experience beauty?

Where do you find sacred ground?

How could you celebrate what is sacred and beautiful through prayer and action?

There are a hundred grains of rice on the plate. Take one and think of one way in which you can ‘kneel and kiss the ground’ in everyday life.

Washed away
Set up: a bowl of water and some small stones or pebbles

Choose a stone and hold it tightly in your hand. Think about the stone and how it feels.

Reflect on one thing that distracts you from your relationship with God.

Imagine the stone is getting heavier and heavier, and after a few moments drop the stone into the water.