Small Group Prayer Night

Our small group is made up of four couples.  We all knew each other fairly well before, so have made an easy transition to being a bunch that enjoys our weekly time together.  We had talked about wanting to do a prayer night together, when our time wasn't filled with visiting and eating and watching a teaching video and discussing it and prayer, but simply prayer (...and food and visiting).

I wanted to share with you what we did; it's a great experience, doesn't take much to put together, and is a very worthwhile addition to what your small group does together.

We started with visiting and getting our coffees while everyone arrived and got the kids settled with the sitter, then met all together for a few instructions and an opening prayer.  We moved into a time of personal confession, getting our hearts right before God before we moved into praying for all the other areas.  As each one finished that, they moved on to the stations set up around the house.  We had two of our 8 missing, and with 7 stations, there was always a free one to move to, even though most were set up to allow more than one to be there. 

Each station was for a different area of life that we should be praying for.  We had:

• Children
• Marriages
• Church
• Family & Friends (including work relationships)
• Stress
• Current Events
• World (Global Church and World Governments)

 Most stations had lists of "How to pray for..." that I found online.  The world station had a big atlas, and the current events station was at our computer, open to news sites.  The friends & family lists were mind maps I made using a free site online.

We came back together for our last half hour, and had a time of communion together.  Our teaching video last week was on communion and left us thinking we should do that together; this was the perfect timing and setting.  We had a loaf and juice and talked about what it represents and why we gather together - it was very casual, but very real - and then we kept eating of the small feast we had spread on the table.

It was a very good night.  Everyone seemed quite positive about the experience and want to do it again, even setting it up exactly the same.  I do have a few ideas to expand or tweak it, but they're right - it doesn't have to be re-invented each time.  I have done prayer rooms that had more hand-on involvement, but this way worked well for this type of group.  We may invite others to join us next time we do it, and we would be willing to set it up at the church for the whole church to participate at some point. 

I hope this sparks a desire in you to share a time like this with friends, and gives you an idea of how to go about it.

-29 and thankful

I am thankful because I have the flexibility to work from home; I took that opportunity today, so I have not had to go out in the COLD!

I am also thankful for how beautiful it is outside, and that sitting here at the kitchen table, I'm almost blinded by the sunshine off the snow. Blue skies and lots of light. I like it almost as much as I need it. Soon enough blue skies and sunshine will mean really warm, not really cold. Thankful for that, too!

I am thankful that my homework is coming along well, and for the many chances I have to learn.

I am thankful to have a job where I am encouraged to pursue my strengths.

I am thankful for my family. Sean and Madeline are really wonderful people to be around, and I learn so much from being in relationship with them.

I am thankful for opportunities to do neat things. My friend runs the Big Sister program in this city, and she's asked me to lead a scrapbooking evening for them. I've had the same idea for a while - glad it's going to happen. For me, scrapbooking is primarily a creative outlet, but it can be really significant for people to put important things down on paper to remember. I've seen it be an affirming process for people to put their stories down in this way. I want to go into this Big Sister event with those things in mind, and will pray that it is more than just a fun event for them.

I'm thankful for others who put together important events - there is going to be another prayer house and 40 days of 24/7 prayer starting up soon. I love that idea and am thankful that it didn't have to wait for me to do it!

a thought from our prayer room

I picked up a small candle from the pile. One of many. This one was a little dented around the edges, and the wick was a black stub. Perfect, I thought. The candle was supposed to symbolize me - I was supposed to light it from one of the three large candles symbolizing the trinity and place it around them, reflecting on how God's light in my life should and will make a difference in the world around me.

I'm not starting with a perfect untouched little tealight - I have lots of life left, but there's some that's been used up. I've got the marks and scars that show that life hasn't always been fair or kind. But that wick will still light - isn't it true that it is easier to light a candle once it's already been lit? Once you've seen the power of God in your life, it's easier to give him that space again.

Another parallel. So I set my candle down on an overturned metal tray - it was a beat up old christmas one, so we were using the shiny flipside. It, too, was scuffed and there were dents in the edges. Just like my neighborhood. It's not the prettiest. But God loves the people around me. And for now, that's where He has placed me. And that's where my light will shine. The bent and used tealight shines on the old scuffed tray with a light that is pure and that can't be changed. It is just like the big candle it was lit from. The flame is the same.

Amazing how something so simple can mean so much and sink so deep.

I picked up another one to symoblize my kid - to pray that her life would be a shining light on our street and wherever she is. The one I picked up that time was unscuffed and pure, but sitting beside mine on the tray, we cast more light together. More of that same flame.