Prayer floating

Hosted our first Cre:ate event last night, an opportunity for folks to explore spirituality. Its amazing what some soft lighting and music can do to create atmosphere in an otherwise bleak and dingy church hall. Creatively, we explored prayer, setting the scene by relaxing with music and some beautiful projected images of creation. We made prayer chains from old buttons and created prayer groups out of clay. But my favourite bit was the creation of these prayer flowers. Most adults like to colour in, so they were quite happy putting some silent thoughts and prayers and reflections into their colouring. We then folded all the petals into the centre of the flower and, as part of our closing meditation, floated these folded petals onto water. They all opened out and floated serenely around, jostling each other. Thanks to Tune in, chill out by Baker and Ratnayake and Proost for this simple but effective idea.

Its always good to get the first of something out of the way, so last night ended with a sense of relief. But also with the desire for more. More opportunity to engage in this gentle interactive way with things of the Spirit, and the affirmation that deep within all of us lies a creativity that's struggling to escape from the place to which we have banished it in favour of more cerebral pursuits. Already looking forward to putting together the next Cre:ate.