Remember: Youth Prayer Walk with Prayer Stations

REMEMBER!

A Meditation Prayer Walk

Invite your youth or young adults to come and take a prayer walk.  We set up the prayer stations in our Courtyard but you could set them up anywhere.   We placed bags at the entrance for small objects they would pick up along the way as an aid to remembering their journey of faith.

 Mission Bend UMC Courtyard

Supplies needed for all prayer stations:  enough tables for each station, material (we used cloth napkins at most stations because the wind was quite gusty that night), plastic stands for station instructions which are printed out, lots of various battery candles or lanterns (unless you prefer candles (again too windy for us that night), CD player and CD with instrumental music (no words),

 "You are Forgiven"

Station 1:  Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. When the Pharisees kept on questioning him, Jesus straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin … be the first to throw a stone.”   Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.       ~John 8:6–8

• Sin means “missing the mark” or “falling short of the goal.”  Where have you missed the mark when you think of what God expects of you?  Write a word in the sand to represent and confess your sin.  

• Wipe away what you have written in the sand as you ask God for forgiveness.

• Take a stone and place it in a bag provided to “Remember Jesus wipes away your sin. You’re forgiven”

Supplies for Station 1: container with sand (finer grain sand is easier to write in), small stones

"Remember your Baptism"

Station 2:  Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: "You are my beloved Son, in you I am well-pleased."     ~Mark 1:10-11

• Baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace and an initiation into a life of following Christ.  Touch the water, make a sign (+ on forehead) to “remember” your baptism. 

•  Immerse your hands in the water, swirl it around and sink into God’s love for you. 

• How does the water remind you of God’s love?

• Long ago, the one who baptized poured water from a shell. Take a shell from the water and place it in your bag to “Remember that you are the beloved of God.” 

Supplies for Station 2:  Clear container for water, shiny stones (blue, green, clear) around the container and in the bottom of container, shells in the water.  You could put paper towels and a waster basket if you are concerned about water.  Since we were outside it wasn't a high priority.

"The Bible as our Guide"

 

Station 3: Your word is a lamp before my feet and a light for my journey.                                                                                                                                   ~Psalm 119:105

• The bible is the story of God and the journey of God with human beings.  Throughout history people (even Jesus) received guidance from scripture.

• Can you remember a favorite bible verse or story you’ve read or heard?  How has that verse or story guided you, and shaped the way you live your life?

• If you can’t remember a verse or story, just open the bible and read until a word or phrase speaks to you.

• Take a compass and place it in the bag to “Remember God’s Word can guide you throughout your life.”

Supplies for Station 3:  A bible, small toy compasses (Click Here for Amazon),

 

"Created in the Image of God"

Station 4:  In the image of God they were created; male and female God created them.  ~Genesis 1:27

• After God created (and before sin/disobedience entered the world) God stood back and looked upon each creation, saying, “it is good.”  Mother Teresa said of this good she sought within each person she encountered, “I see Jesus in every human being.”  

• Take a long look at yourself in the mirror.  Who do you see?  God created you good and gave you a purpose.  What are the gifts you have to give the world?  

• Take a mirror piece and place it in your bag to “Remember that you are created in the image of God and people experience Jesus through you.”

Supplies needed for Station 4:  large mirror, small mosaic mirror pieces

"Love God, love self, love others"

Station 5: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength … and Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  ~Mark 12:30-31

• Many spiritual teachers say that it is impossible to love others if we don’t love ourselves.  When we don’t love ourselves, we become “self-absorbed,” constantly seeking love from others for a sense of worthiness.   When we truly love ourselves, we are open to God’s love and God’s love fills us and overflows into the world.  Do you truly love yourself?  How does God’s love manifest itself (or not) in the way you treat other people?

• Take 2 foam hearts.  Write your name on one foam heart and the name of someone you want to pray for on the other one. Stick them on the foam board as we create prayer.  Pray for others before you go.

• Take a clear heart and place it in your bag to “Remember to love God, to love yourself, and to love others.” 

Supplies for Station 5:  white foam board (afterthought: paint or draw a large heart in the middle that says "Love God" or "God loves YOU" or "God is Love"), lots of different sizes and colors of foam hearts, small plastic hearts ... You could also use a foam journal found in a craft store instead of the board ... OR you could even supply markers and have youth draw their hearts, praying in color.

"Abandonment to Hope"

Station 6: Jesus went to the olive grove called Gethsemane … he became anguished and distressed, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death.”   ~Matthew 26:36, 38 …    Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”   ~Mark 15:34

• Life is not fair. Life is filled with tragedy and bad things happen. Jesus died but that is not all. He was raised and appeared to the disciples saying, “I am with you always.” 

• When have you felt “crushed, anguished, and distressed” about life or felt that God had abandoned you in bad times? 

• Open the box and take out a piece of “seed paper.”  Plant it in the soil as a sign of hope.

• Take a garden mosaic piece, place it in your bag to “Remember to place your hope in Jesus” all the time.

Supplies needed:  pot filled with dirt, spoon or small garden spade, seeds (we used seed paper), small garden mosaic pieces (found in craft store)

"At the Cross"

Station 7:  God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.    ~John 3:16

• Can you comprehend this sacrificial love that God has for YOU?  How can you share God’s love with others?

• Pray this Affirmation of Faith to close your meditation.

We are not alone, we live in God's world.  We believe in God: who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit.  We trust in God.  We are called to be the church:  to celebrate God's presence, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.  In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.  We are not alone.  Thanks be to God. Amen.  (A Statement of Faith of the United Church of Canada, United Methodist Hymnal, 883)

• Take a cross & prayer card, put in bag to “Remember to share God’s love for ALL people in Jesus Christ.”

Supplies needed for Station 7:  A Large Cross, small individual crosses, prayer card with the Statement of Faith Prayer Card