peace . love . joy

This activity takes about an hour to complete.
It isn’t a brand new idea, but a salad of other ideas that I found really good. Thanks to those whose ideas I’ve incorporated =]

friday.
I asked God for an idea of what He wanted for the prayer session Yipeng had in mind for lesson time on sunday.
And He pointed me towards 2 ideas - "musical prayers" and (another which I'd forgotten the name of).
Out of both and another I found sometime back, a hybrid was born.
At first I felt it we couldn't pull this off because of the sheer complexity of it, and all other doubts and what-ifs roamed wild in my mind.
But then I felt God reassuring me, telling me to try it, and that it will work.
So I said okay, and asked Puiki and Daena to pray about it some more.

saturday.
prayed some more, asking for God's guidance and blessing.

sunday.
Well, we attempted the whole she-bang.
And from what I gather from the other leaders, and hearing comments from some of the youths, it went swell =]

Praise God and God alone!
Amen! Amen!

This is good especially for groups who have yet to grow a prayer culture \ habit, those who are unaccustomed to praying for a longer period of time in one sitting.

Materials needed:
- candle
- lighter
- aluminium tray
- ball of yarn
- post-it pads (have the same colors as those you've chosen for the paper, so for me, i had pink, green, blue and yellow post-its) (also, have another white pad)
- lecture pad
- 2 pieces of colored paper (I used 4 colors; red, green, blue, yellow)

I used 4 rooms (because I used 4 colors). On the door of each room, I stuck one sheet of each colored paper to let the youths know which room is which color.
Inside each room, I stuck the other sheet of the corresponding color (blue to blue, red to red, etc.).
On the colored papers stuck inside the room, I wrote prayer instructions for the youths.

Divide the youths into groups by giving them each colored (corresponding to the colors you’ve chosen) post-its (so if you have 4 colors, have 4 groups). Get at least one leader to follow each group.
Tell them to go into the room that had their color (blue to blue, etc.) and there they’ll find instructions of what to do in that room. After they’ve finished doing whatever they’re to do in that room, move on to the next (rotating rooms, so each group would have gone through all 4 rooms in the end).
Note that at all times, each room can only hold one group. So if the earlier group has yet to finish, the next group has to wait outside the room.
Tell them that at each room, each and every one of them will talk with God.

(red) “think of one sin that God has been convicting you of. Remember a sin is something you’ve done that displeased God (e.g. lying, disobeying your parents, being disrespectful). Also remember that a sin is also something you didn’t do, and because you didn’t do it, it displeased God (e.g. not being nice to someone who was simply different from you). Write that sin onto the post-it pad.
Now right a prayer to God with regards to that sin on that post-it pad onto the lecture sheet. Ask Him for strength, for courage, and for His blessings..”
When they’re done, the leader lights the candle and asks the youths to burn their post-it (with their written sin on it).
Tell them that they’ve taken a step to getting rid of their sin, to becoming more and more like Christ. But just because they’ve burnt it doesn’t mean it’s gone. And that’s why they’ve still got their written prayers on that lecture sheet. Every time they look at that prayer, they remember that they’ve given that sin to God; they’re no longer slaves to that sin!

(blue) “have one person start by holding onto the ball of yarn. Tell the group one thing you’ve learnt about God from the bible study sessions they’ve had together. After doing so, that person holds onto the end of the yarn before tossing it to another person. They cycle continues until everyone has shared.”
What results is a yarn-web. The leader then explains to them that this is what holds them together as a group – their love for God. The fact that they’re there learning together about God. Fellowship.
Then taking turns, each person prays for the Group for the next year (e.g. we did this activity at the end of 2007, so we prayed for 2008).

(yellow) “read Psalm 8. Think about your life so far, going back as far as you can remember. Now think about a characteristic, a trait, a truth about God that is so evidently displayed in your life. Tell God about that. Thank God for that. Praise God for that.”
Again, taking turns, each person presents his\her own act of adoration, by taking time and thanking and praising God for who He is.

(green) “think about this year (for us it was 2007) that you’ve spent together as a Group. Think about the friendships they’ve made, the lessons they’ve learnt, the time they’ve spent together in each others’ company. Thank God for those memorable times.”
Once more, each person presents his thanks to God.

...“Let us at all costs avoid the temptation to make our Christmas worship a withdrawal from the stress and sorrow of life into a realm of unreal beauty. It was into the real world that Christ came, into the city where there was no room for Him, and into a country where Herod, the murderer of innocents, was king.

“He comes to us, not to shield us from the harshness of the world but to give us the courage and strength to bear it; not to snatch us away by some miracle from the conflict of life, but to give us peace—His peace—in our hearts, by which we may be calmly steadfast while the conflict rages, and be able to bring to the torn world the healing that is peace.”...

Christmas is not a retreat from reality but an advance into it alongside the Prince of Peace.
~ David C. McCasland

Christ did not come to shield us from
The grief and pain of life;
But those who have His peace inside
Can thrive within the strife.
~ Sper

Jesus came to give light to a dark world.

(taken from RBC.org)