Hand-Crafted Prayers
A group of kids on the school playground chatter excitedly during recess. One voice can be heard above the others singing joyfully about Jesus. Soon others join in, running and singing with delight across the play area as they exclaim their love for Jesus.
One of the children, Teresa, attended the Easter Prayer Vigil with her parents earlier that week. Her excitement about the experience couldn’t be contained so she shared how much she enjoyed it at school the next day. Two of her friends were delighted to hear about it and said that they knew Jesus too. Soon the trio was singing about Jesus and telling other kids on the playground about Him.
While at the prayer vigil, Teresa and her mother, Jade, made bracelets to remind them to pray throughout the day. This station was Teresa’s favorite, and it was her new bracelet that started the conversation about Jesus with the other kids on the playground. Teresa loved it so much that she started making more prayer bracelets during school craft time and at home. She shares, “I like making Jesus bracelets. When I wear them, they remind me of God, and the different beads make me think of different things about Him.”
At the Easter Prayer Vigil, the stations are designed to help people pause and draw near to God throughout Holy Week. Maps of the world are spread across tables, paper chains are laced across windowpanes, drawings and journal pages suspend from clothes lines – each hand-crafted moment of prayer a reminder of God’s personal relationship with every one of us. Jade shares that she loves participating in the Easter Prayer Vigil with her daughter because “I want her to see all the different ways that you can pray. It doesn’t have to be this one-time thing. You can do this on your own everyday too.”
Prayer is not about saying the perfect words. The posture of our heart is what matters. The innocence of our children coming to God in prayer reminds us of that. Jade shares, “I get to see the way that God is talking to her and her own spiritual experiences as a little kid. There are times when I’m not directing it and she’ll surprise us with the things she says about God all on her own.”
Sometimes all we need is a reminder to see our faith with childlike wonder. It doesn’t have to be complicated or curated to be meaningful. Come see for yourself at the Easter Prayer Vigil March 30 – April 6. Book a one-hour prayer slot at hppres.org/easter.
