Last week, we held Quiet Spaces at Melrose.
In these sessions we transform a classroom into a quiet and reflective space. Draping throws and covers over the bookshelves and counters, we set up prayer stations with relaxing music in the background.
This time some of our stations were :
Friendship flower – The students created a beautiful flower by adding a petal each, on which was the name of a friend and why they are grateful for them.
Children wrote things such as this on their Friendship flower petals:
“My sister is loving”.
“Mummy cooks for me”.
“My friend is kind and helpful and makes me smile”.
Sorry sand – The students trace ‘sorry’ in the sand and think about how Christians pray to God when they are sorry and with the other hand wipe the sand smooth so it is all fresh and new and what they were sorry for has been wiped away, the slate has been wiped clean.
Fizzy forgiveness – This is where the students think about how they feel when someone is mean to them (sad) and by taking a fizzy tablet, dropping it into the water, they learn the importance of letting go of the sadness and watching it all dissolve and disappear.
Being brave – The students find the first letter of their name and write down “Dear God help me to be brave when….. “
Some of the brave prayers were :
“Dear God, please help me to be brave when I am scared or sad.”
“Dear God, please help me to be brave in the dark.”
Helping hands – Thinking about kindness and ways to help others and writing ideas of ways to show kindness on a paper hand (helping hand) that they keep to remind themselves to be kind.
The teachers said the Quiet Space was very timely as they were raising money for charity by wearing a loud tie or bright hair and imaginative hairstyles, and lots of noise and excitement. The teachers said it was lovely to calm down for half an hour to do this.
PACE attended the Guernsey Youth, Children’s and Families Network which this time was kindly hosted by Vazon Elim Church. This is a get together with other youth, children’s and family workers across the island.
We were all treated to delicious pastries, muffins, fruit and more as we arrived.
We started our time with fellowship over breakfast and moved into a lovely time of worship led by Alex on guitar.
Leigh-Ann shared with us some thoughts from the recent Elim Conference she had attended along with her team and people from other churches in Guernsey. She had been struck by a talk about busyness and turned our thoughts to how much we are doing in our week and how much is back to back allowing little space in between. We were challenged with thinking about as leaders in church ministry, when was the last time we were sat in the service with the congregation or took time to ensure our faith was being fed.
This opened up discussion about not becoming burnt out, also realising that God gives us the strength that we need for what we have to do. Discernment and wisdom from God is needed for us to know what to say yes or no to.
We finished with a time of prayer in small groups. It was a refreshing time and a reminder that we are not alone.
Please pray for us this week for the following:
- The OT and NT Mini courses currently running – for the presenters and children receiving these sessions
- Those presenting our Year 11 lessons on War this week
- Give thanks for all our volunteers and the hours they give to serving the schools of Guernsey alongside us
- All students and staff at our local schools
