lenten prayer stations

ok..i've been rather slow in getting into lent this year...started out ok...but due to work and travel, my rhythm hasn't been it's best.

maybe that's true for you too. the grace factor is that lent used to just be the 7 days before Easter, not the forty days before Easter!

so if you have had a slow start...don't despair...just start again!

here are a few prayer stations and ideas to use with your group or family.

let me know what you think.

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Prayer station ideas for Lent

 

 Lint Brush Station…

Lint or Lent?

When you hear the word lent what comes to mind?

Many people don’t know the difference…LINT OR LENT?

Is it something in your belly button or your dryer?

What about a season of the church year designed to bring you closer to jesus?

 

Using a lint brush as a prayer tool…

Set up a station with a couple of lint brushes or use as a group prayer response

With lint brushes to pass around.

You can also save lint from your dryer to have as a part of the décor.

( a favorite Lenten prayer practice of mine is to use cleaning the lint trap in the dryer as  time to ask God what needs to be cleaned out of my life…putting laundry in the dryer becomes a prayer of confession)

 

The Lint brush is used as a prayer of confession…

God removes the “lint, “ the junk that is stuck to us…

The sin that so easily entangles us…

As you roll the lint brush over your clothes talk to God

about the Lint, the junk, in your life you need him to remove.

Ask God to show you any lint that is blocking your relationship with him..

as you roll the lint brush on your shirt/ jeans, picture the junk being removed.

And know that God loves you and forgives you.

 

DESERT STATION

Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness….

Fasting.

Sometimes we think that it was the Enemy, the devil, that drove him into the wilderness…

And sometimes we think that the wilderness itself is bad.

But remember, it was the Holy Spirit who led Jesus into the wilderness…

God was present with Jesus the entire time…he wasn’t alone, he wasn’t’ abandoned.

Jesus fasted for 40 days…that’s a number of testing…

 

OPTION 1

Sit down

Where are you on your journey today?

Are you feeling lost in the wilderness

Are you feeling dry, hungry, alone?

Are you feeling tempted? Or tested?

Have you felt like life has become filled with temptations?

Talk to Jesus about this….

Allow Jesus to be present with you in the wilderness.

 

OPTION 2

Sit down and consider what Jesus felt in the wilderness..

READ the story. Picture Jesus there.

What temptations are you facing today?

Talk to God about these.

What are you hungry for in your life? …..

Talk to God about this

Are you tempted by hungers, hunger for power, popularity, wealth, what else?

Talk to God about this and allow Him to talk to you…

WRITE THESE IN THE SAND…then brush them out as you ask for forgiveness.

 

What are you hungry for in your life? …..The Good things…

Talk to God about these things and feel his love and comfort.

 

 

Set up a desert area… lay down a painters tarp …fold up edges to create rim

(looks best if it’s not a square) pour sand on top and spread out to create a layer.

Add a couple of camping stools a few large rocks. 

Allow students time to be in the desert…

This station can be very large ..we once created a desert space in the center of our chapel …everyone had to cross the sand to get to their seats and then we had everyone sit on the floor around the sand to focus on and consider Jesus’ time in the wilderness.

 

BOWL OF SAND….

The Lenten Season is the 40 days before Easter

Where do you want to go in the next few weeks?

What do you want to be like by the time Easter arrives?

How can you choose to fall more in love with Jesus over

The next few weeks?

 

As you begin your Lenten journey…

wash your hands in the bowl of sand as an act of repentance…

As a reminder of the wilderness where jesus spent his forty days of fasting and prayer.

Talk to God about where you are and where you want to be in the next few weeks before Easter.

Now wash your hands in the bowl of water and allow God to refresh you and allow the Living Water to encourage you as you journey with Jesus during the days before Easter.

YOU ARE CLEAN…YOU ARE LOVED…YOU ARE FORGIVEN

 

OPTION 2…after washing in the sand and then the water…write down on a cut out or printed out heart…a way that you will choose to fall more in love with jesus during lent, during the weeks before EASTER….

Examples…spending more time in silence

Spending more time reading the bible

Spending more time serving others..

 

TAKE HOME THE heart and place it where you will see it each day and be reminded to fall in love with Jesus each day.