so i wondered.. what would one do with trying to provide some sacred space and contemplative nature to a raucous time of the church? well, i don't know.. but this is what we came up with.
opening.. we moved our youth to a single space, kinda small (for our size) and i said something of "in acts 2 we find the disciples and paul gathered wondering what to do with the church that Christ commissioned them to take care of. what happened after that is pretty remarkable."
move to video... I put together this video with black screen and stephen iverson's "surely God." then as the song closed we had some emerging text of Peter's speech to the people. i had coached the group that we would recite the text.. some of it moved kinda fast, too fast to read, so we laughed that one off. then following was the pentecost video from the work of the people. for some reason the audio wasn't jiving, so i plugged in jonathon's new song. it went over pretty well.
permission was given to move about the space.
Prayers... nothing major her, just giving the participants the opportunity in intercessory prayer. the meditation was to pray for someone to have similar blessings. lighting the candle is an obvious vigil to that prayer. found it interesting that one of the youth had moved the candles to spell "hope." this was something they experienced last week at our local relay for life.
your vision your dream... this one was very simple in giving paper and crayon. the one computer had a screensaver of images of pentecost. the projected screen was the opening video on a loop (though in pic one the video isn't running). the meditation was to take to the paper what their vision or dream of the church or kingdom is.
wow!!... this was the main focal piece of the room. mainly cause i sat down two foldable tables with a lamp with a black light bulb (though it never got dark enough in the room for the effect). the participation was painting, we picked up some cheaper canvas's and acrylic paints. the meditation was to think back to the movements of God & the Holy Spirit in their lives. then reflect those onto the canvas in an image or word.
extra... i set up a table that i thought i had planned for. then realized i had no need for it. so some cloth, candle, and a few bibles opened to our scripture readings. i am always amazed (not sure why) by the numbers of the youth that take advantage of reading the bible in this kind of setting. maybe it's an engaging the scripture in an open mystical setting.
like a strong storm... i brought out my "holy spirit" fan and picked up
a box fan. we had some dry erase markers and some different
translations, the message and the voice. the participation was to sit
in front of the fan and feel the wind while reading over the
scriptures. the meditation was to remember the movements around them.
then reflect on that by writing on the fan that particular experience.
then, if they wanted, they can turn on the fan to remember that
movement.
fun with pentecost... for this one set up i put the lamp with white/yellow/red covers, few bibles, & red candles. nothing more than that. the participation was to get into the pentecost sheet by cartoon church. there was enough in there to give a cool meditation and experience. plus, it's a little change up from the other things in that there is some guided learning.
closing... i think i reread our scripture of Saint Peter's speech, from the voice. then i bid them all shalom & then ran out the door for ice cream.
maybe you are looking for some prayer stations or a worship service for pentecost.. maybe not.. i'm not even sure if this hit the mark of being contemplative and still faithful to the chaotic experience of pentecost.
