Some prayer stations we set up around our backyard, if you’re interested in this as a resource just post your email address in the comments and I’ll send it through (or email me directly if you know me). Set-ups aren’t meant to be prescriptive, use whatever you have lying around… the numbering on the stations isn’t significant, you can do one or two, or them all in any order…
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Welcome
Please come around the side of the house
Just in case you haven’t come across them before.
Prayer stations are essentially several points of “focus” that invite you to encounter God in some way. You can spend all your time at one or make your way around several, or all of them, as you like – spend as much or as little time at each of them as you like.
This space is for silent, personal reflection.
You are welcome to come inside for a cuppa, catch up, time of sharing afterwards or you can go – however you feel…
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Station #1
Set-up: A bicycle propped in a bush so the wheels were free-spinning.
“Spin the wheel of the bike fast, then watch it slow… more of the detail comes into focus instead of being blurred. Is there an area of your life where things are moving fast right now? They will slow. Think about your breathing. Be present in your own body… become aware of where things feel tight, or weighed down… This time, spin the wheel again, then close your eyes and breathe more slowly and deeply as the wheel slows. Do this as often as you need.”
Station #2
Set-up: Cut bird templates and a birdcage.
“We can sometimes feel bound by the things we feel we ought to or should do… there are roles we play ‘responsible mother’, ‘dutiful daughter’, ‘reliable helper’
In your mind, complete the sentence “I would love to ____________ but I can’t because…”
Give freedom to that part of you today that feels bound.Take a piece of paper out of the birdcage as a symbol of release/freedom from this captivity. Write on it.
Pray for the thing that binds you, or for freedom from that.
Choose.
Do you take it with you or is it left behind still stuck?
Station #3
Set-up: Video footage/photo of the desert with soundtrack from Beirut playing
“This video footage is of sunset over the Nullarbor.
We can often think of the desert as a bleak, harsh, a dry, desolate and deadly place.
Hosea 2:14 says “Therefore, behold, I will allure her [Israel] and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly and to her heart.”
The desert is not where God isn’t, where life isn’t… but where God is, where life is…
Watch and listen to God soeak tenderly to you. What life-giving thing is God calling you to?
Station #4
Set-up: Chair set up facing a corner with pictures of women posted all around (different ages, different nationalities, different religions, different social class, different capacities, different life stages…) and a mirror.
“All around you are images of normal everyday women – made in the image of God… rest in these images and feminine words and phrases from the bible and know also that you are made in the image of God. Blessed are you among women. You have found favour in God’s sight.”
Station #5
Set-up: Fireplace/brazier
“Fires can be captivating sources of light and warmth;
Feed the fire.
Feel the light and warmth pour over you
Feel the nourishment of the Holy Spirit
pour over and around you.”
Light of the world, we confess that you are here
Shine your light into the hidden places of our lives
and bring warmth to the cold places of our hearts.
Station #6
Set-up: Small stones and a cross
“What is weighing on your mind/heart right now?
(locally, globally, personally…)
Hold a rock as you pray for these heavy things you carry
Then put them down as a symbol of giving these concerns into God’s care.”
Station #7
Set-up: Some blankets and pillows laid out under a night sky
lift up a stone and
you will find me there
I am the hole of your doughnut
the spaces between
the stars
I am down behind the sofa
cushions with the lint and
loose change
I can be seen in raindrops
sliding down the window pane,
smelled in Johnsons baby shampoo,
heard in the drawer opening
to put away your clothes.
In the soft folds of the wrinkles
at the corners of your eyes
I am there
Lie back.
Look at the stars, the bats flying overhead
Listen… what can you hear?
Be present to the God that is with you always.
itellyouarise 
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[…] As has been done before, in a Seeds small group and a Women’s Circle at Surrender, images of women doing sacred ordinary things are blu tacked around the room with bible verses referring to women, where God is speaking to women and where “feminine” metaphors are applied e.g. God: “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 66:13) or “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:27). […]
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