climbing Holy Hill
Susie at Nueva Cantora, these are for you!
Songbird asked below if the experience of stations felt like liturgy. I have to say honestly that it didn't, but I'm not sure that I would rule it out quite yet. We did the stations at the end of three hour (!) workshop. I think in a setting with music going, and reserved for worship (there were a lot of side conversations going on), some of these activities could have been quite reflective.
I would like to use something like this for Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, where the idea of prayer/activity stations would merge very well with the journeying motion from station to station.
Interestingly, one feedback I heard from a participant was that he found it stressful to do the 'arts and crafts' stuff. I have to remember to be sensitive to those feelings (kind of like me playing volleyball--I just have too many bad memories from adolescence to easily find that a fruitful experience).
posted by Emily @ 4:23 PM
5 Comments:
I'm a little more relaxed about crafts nowadays, but there was definitely a time they would have felt like a ripe opportunity for failure rather than a ripe medium for praise or reflection. At Small Church, I've noticed many people fear being put on the spot, particularly in the older segment of the congregation. This was sad for me when we got the Kerygma series on Acts and the class was not excited about doing art or writing activities.
Can I chip in here, - as those stations look so much like the sort of things I am trying in my prayer trails at St M's....and the general experience seems to be that they are indeed worshipful (though the fact that mine were happening in a dimly lit space, with candles all over the place and plainchant playing quietly in the background might help)
But...I met this sort of worship for the first time amid the noise and excitement of Greenbelt festival about 8 years ago,- and it knocked me out then and still does. There they engineer things so that either the room is silent, or you are provided with a walkman with suitable music/commentary, so again you are protected from the hubub.It's not an alternative to regular liturgy...but it is, for many, a very beautiful and direct way of communicating with and hearing from God, without any predetermined agenda.
The thing that is helpful about prayer stations of this sort is that people can (and do)work round it on their own, and don't need to engage with things they find unhelpful...e.g there were very few takers for the station involving clay during "Into the Wilderness" last Lent... Clearly it's in no way corporate,- think of it more as an interactive guided meditation, and I think you'd be on the way.
Oh, wish you were both close enough that we could try and create something that worked for all of us (but positively no volleyball!)
Dumb question, are these stations (which look outdoors, and on the Hill) permanent?
(You're telling me things about a place I've lived in for years that I didn't know!)
Hi Charlotte,
Sorry the photos and the bit about the stations don't actually go together. The stations were from the post below. I just enjoyed taking pictures to break up the walk up the Hill. (Had to catch my breath!)
Thanks. Now I won't be wandering around the Hill looking for them ;).
Post a Comment
<< Home