As we have journeyed together through lent as a community at Holy Nativity, people have been asking how we can grow as disciples. One thing I keep being asked about is prayer. There is a universal truth about all people who believe; every single one of us thinks we’re rubbish at praying. By listening to what people are asking I have been developing different ways of helping people to pray. So during the parade service yesterday morning, we made giant prayer dice. And this is how we did it.
Last week I went to eBay and bought 50mm wooden craft blocks. You can buy as many or as few as you need and as we’re a small community I bought enough for everyone in the congregation.
The scouts handed them out to everyone. As we passed them around we talked as a congregation about what prayer is. I led the conversations and asked what we would like to pray about. As the conversation progressed we wrote them onto the dice.
We came up with:
Friends, Family, Ourselves, Thanksgiving, Saying Sorry, The World
Then I asked about how to begin a prayer. As a congregation we discussed names for God.
And then we talked about the word “especially”. We talked about how if we rolled our dice and prayed “Father I pray for the world. Especially I pray for…” it opens up into a whole conversation. And then we discussed the importance of listening to the other side of the conversation during prayer. What is God saying to us about those places in the world we’re praying for? What is God saying to us about the homeless people in Halifax? What is God saying back to us in the conversation we started with a little block of wood about our family and friends?
And that’s how we do sermons together at Holy Nativity.
