Last week we held a Prayer Spaces event at La Mare Primary as we have been doing the past few years. The focus this year was “Being Kind to Others and Being Kind to the World.”
The stations we set up were:
Plastic Planet – where we discussed the plastic pollution in the sea and looked at how we can increase our use of reusable products instead of single use.
Helping Hands – the children could put acts of kindness into an order, thinking about which they thought were important to them and then choose one to do during the next few days.
Quiet Area – our bubble tube tent where many nearly fell asleep!
Carbon Footprints – a brand new station discussing how we can save energy in the everyday things and reduce our carbon footprint.
Thankful Ribbons – reflecting on what the children were thankful for.
The children responded very well to each of these stations and reminded us how aware they are of current issues in the world including the Ukraine conflict. Many commented on being thankful for their freedom whilst thinking of these and Liberation Day. The older children thought more practically about helping with beach cleans, turning off the taps and lights more as well as taking the brave step to be kind to someone when it’s not always easy.
A huge thank you to the school and to our wonderful volunteers who helped us over the three days. Next week we are at Vale Primary for three days too. We’re very excited as it’s been a few years since we last held a Prayer Spaces there. Please pray for a positive response from the school and children.
We also had a great week at La Mare High School exploring ‘Evil & Suffering’ with their Year 8 – good discussions and some very thoughtful contributions from the 4 classes of almost 100 students. We talked of the mixed blessing(?) of ‘free will’ but left them with the promise that ultimately all wrongs and injustice will be righted with the promise that ‘….God will wipe away every tear’ and there will be ‘no more death or mourning or crying or pain’ as ‘God will make everything new’ (Revelation 21:4-5). Amazing to have the opportunity to share such a message of hope in such difficult and challenging times. This year has seen a new breakthrough at La Mare High as we have so far been involved in teaching Years 7, 8, 10 and 11.
