Find the missing piece

A new prayer station has just been installed in our prayer space at St Stephens, Redditch, in the side chapel at the front of church.


















The prayer is focused around jigsaw pieces, reflecting on what we need to complete our life. The words written on the large jigsaw piece include the Trinity & the fruits of the Spirit.

In the basket, the jigsaw pieces available for writing on are an incomplete children's jigsaw from a charity shop.

Visitors can write what they need on a jigsaw piece and then either take it away to remind themselves or leave it for others to pray for.

The Bible verses to help reflection are: 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  Phil 4:6

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matt 11:28

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

plus a quote from St Augustine:

“You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.”

With the jigsaw theme, it seemed appropriate to have a large, 1000-piece puzzle available for people to add to.

St Stephens is a lovely cool place to spend time - a real blessing during a hot Summer - so we're hoping we'll get lots of help to complete this picture of Noah and the animals leaving the ark.

We've also got a new set of toddler puzzles in the children's corner. An activity sheet might appear if time allows.

Celebrating Pentecost

The week before Pentecost, we celebrated Ascension when Jesus tells his followers to wait for the Holy Spirit. It seemed like a good Sunday to start the Pentecost prayer station.

The cellophane ribbons were cut from rolls and hung from a curtain rod. The red fairy lights are powered through USB connections so are plugged into phone chargers on a timer. The ribbons hanging from the candlesticks look pretty but had to be removed as I hadn't realised that these particular candlesticks are used during funeral services (oops).


Visitors are invited to think about people that need the Holy Spirit, including themselves; write the names on flames or doves and stick them on the cellophane with sticky buddies.
As always, they are encouraged to spend some time thinking/praying for those people.

Even with just a few on, the "wall of flames" is beginning to look effective. I'll try to post a final photo before it's dismantled.

Instructions with Acts 1:8

Children's Corner

The same cellophane ribbons were hung from a hula hoop suspended from the ceiling tiles above the children's corner. The doves and flames available here are larger and the ribbons come to just above adult height. I was aware that it was too tempting for children to tug on the ribbons so adults are needed to do the sticking...
I also managed to find a children's book on Pentecost with the story told in rhyme. It's a bit old fashioned but I do like to add to the book collection.

Lord's table

For this prayer station we've been particularly blessed by Karen who used to do a lot of flower arranging. She offered to help and I set her loose on the Lord's table that's in the side chapel (with permission from the vicar).
I'd had the idea of draping red fabric from the cross with a white dove at it's centre but Karen made it come to life with some gold voile and ribbon spiral flames. She also made a foot-piece that finishes it off but I didn't get a photo of that.
The existing real candles have been replaced by (safer) battery candle lights. They are effectively weighting the fabric to stop it slipping off but I think they add to the design.
This table is the focus of the quiet time & morning prayer that happen most weekdays 8.30-9.30am so it will be interesting to get some feedback from those people that attend.

And here's the final curtain of Pentecost ribbons - a lovely, bright celebration!

Baptism Activities in the Children's Corner

We have baptisms in St Stephens 2-3 times a month, usually on the 2nd, 4th and 5th (if there is one) Sundays after the main morning service.

There are often 2 families and their guests so the numbers of people in the church for the baptisms can be anything from 20 to 200. Many of the people are unfamiliar with a church setting and there are usually several children.

During the service, parents with restless children are welcome to move to the Forum at the back of church and so it is important that the Children's Corner is a friendly, welcoming place for them. We have a low book shelf with a variety of books, some toddler toys and paper & crayons for colouring. Bethan, our church warden, is great at keeping it looking up to date and attractive.

The plan is to have colouring sheets available that match the Prayer Space theme.

This week for a baptism Sunday I've created these special sheets that can be folded into a card. Having coloured it in, a child can then give to the person being baptised, with the hope that the family will want to display it, if only for a short time.

I got the colouring artwork from http://catholicmom.com/ & http://www.biblekids.eu/

The verse inside the card emphasizes one of the points that the vicar makes as he goes through the service:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,

for all of you who were baptized into Christ

have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Galatians 3:26-27

As I usually act as verger during baptisms, I'll be able to see first-hand what the response is. This week there was only one family present and very few guests so I wasn't needed & I left the sheets out.  I'll review how they are received when there's been a larger group of people present.

Watch this space...

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