JULIE MINTER: What do prayers look like?

The student minister at Church of the Resurrection, Drayton, and St Andrew's, Farlington looks at how people pray
Student minister Julie Minter tries out some of the many ways to pray that will be available as part of Cre8ive PrayerStudent minister Julie Minter tries out some of the many ways to pray that will be available as part of Cre8ive Prayer
Student minister Julie Minter tries out some of the many ways to pray that will be available as part of Cre8ive Prayer

IF I asked you to explain what prayer looks like, what would you say?

You might suggest that it involved closing your eyes, putting your hands together, kneeling and saying some churchy words.

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You would be right, that is one example of prayer. But it is not the only way to pray.

Prayer in its most basic form is spending time with God, and there are actually lots of different ways to do that.

If you’d like to explore some of those different ways we’d love to see you for our new event, called Cre8ive Prayer.

Cre8ive Prayer is a space to enjoy lots of different ways of praying and it starts at the Church of the Resurrection, Penrhyn Avenue, Drayton on Sunday, from 4pm until 6pm and continues on the third Sunday of the month, except August and December.

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Each session is based on a Biblical theme. We start with soup, bread and drinks. The theme is then introduced. The theme for the first session is love.

There’ll be different ways to explore the theme through prayer, including Lego, adult colouring, candles, silence, discussion, arts and crafts, imaginative prayer and Lectio Divina – a traditional Benedictine way of meditating on scripture, updated here by using an MP3 player.

Cre8ive Prayer is for all ages and you are welcome to come and go as you please and take part in as many or as few activities as you like.

Prayer can seem quite scary. We can worry that we’re not saying the right words, adopting the right body position and so on, but I don’t believe that God worries about those things.

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Prayer is basically spending time with God and we hope that Cre8ive Prayer will enable you to explore lots of different ways of praying. Some may work for you and others may not.

Everyone is welcome. Perhaps you’ve been praying for years but are looking for new ways to pray, or perhaps you have never tried praying before at all. It doesn’t matter where you are at.

We’d love to see you there and do feel free to invite those you know too.

Church of the Resurrection is in Penrhyn Avenue, Drayton. To contact the parish office call (023) 9242 1849 or go to farlingtonparish.co.uk.