Saturday 29 September 2012

Prayer circles

There's something very special about circles;
they have no beginning and no end
there are no sharp corners
nothing is straight or stiff

It's no surprise that they have been a symbol of the eternal and ethereal for as long as people have been pondering the big questions in life.

We talk about prayer circles being groups of people who join together in prayer and become greater than the sum of their parts.  I love praying with kids this way, it's supportive and strong and friendly, it allows the kids to be focused together and know that no one is more or less important than anyone else.

We are thinking about our outside space at church right now.  We are looking at having a garden space for the kids - celebrating creation and encouraging a nurture of our environment.  We'd like a prayer labyrinth for everyone to be able to use, ad a different way of being deeper with God.  And it'd be great to have places where you can sit and pray.

That's where this prayer circle has come from.  Playing with rock and stone of different types I made a circle pattern which I felt captured the variations of life and could be a focus for prayer.  I'd love to allow the kids to create some of these in different places in the church garden as an outpouring of their creativity and a focus for prayer.

What do you think?
Have you ever made or seen or used anything similar?


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