Prayer can take various forms, not all of which are verbal. As our prayer class continued to meet, we explored praying through artistic expression, using coloring pages, free-form drawing and sculpting with modeling clay. We practiced centering prayer, silently focusing on a single word, such as gratitude, joy, hope or trust. We used phrases from hymns and the Scriptures to express ourselves in prayer. We listened to meditative music. We practiced praying through movement. We explored simple hand motions to express our prayers, placing our palms up, reaching toward God in praise; palms facing out, reaching toward others; then palms facing inward, as we prayed for ourselves. We took a prayer walk through the neighborhood to help us notice beauty around us and give thanks to God. As we walked, we also prayed for all that was broken, hurting and in need of God’s healing.
This message is excerpted from “Prayers of the people” by Julie A. Kanarr in the May 2020 Gather magazine.
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