At the beginning of each new year, our church always sets aside a week
(including two Sundays) especially focused on prayer. Last year and this
year, the first Sunday of Prayer Week I preached on some aspect of
prayer, and then the second Sunday, our service included a very
truncated sermon with an extended time for prayer. This year I wanted to
do something a little more hands-on and creative, and this was what I
came up with that worked in our sanctuary.
I found some sheer ribbon in the floral section of Hobby Lobby ($6 for 60 feet) and purchased a roll each of silver, gold, and white. We used duct tape to adhere the ribbon to the little ledge at the bottom of our sanctuary windows, and hung the ribbon in varying lengths.
Then I clipped a bunch of clothespins to the ribbons (I got lucky and found a big box of them among our church's craft supplies!).
We made little prayer cards in varying colors, and stuck one in everyone's bulletin. Around the edge of the card, it said "Prayers for...family - friends - neighbors..." etc. (
Click here to download the PDF.)
Then, when we normally share prayer requests and I pray on behalf of our congregation, instead I invited everyone to write or draw their prayers on the prayer cards, and when they were ready, to bring them forward and clip them to one of the ribbons. If they wanted to add more than one card, there were more available next to the ribbons as well.
On Sundays, when all the kids came forward for the children's message, we would talk about where we were on the journey, and then a few of them would color in the squares from the past week. I think the kids especially enjoyed having something hands-on to do, and the visual of drawing closer to the cross and the resurrection was helpful.
