A new place for prayer?
When the flash fiction movement was born, I embraced it with great enthusiasm. When its cousin, flash-point fiction,came on the scene, I loved it even more. The whole idea behind flash-point fiction was to render a location different, even on a temporary basis, by creating a piece of site-specific fiction and leaving it behind. I tried this with a post box, and a rubbish skip. The stories would not last – either weather or people would carry them away. Before that happened, though – somebody would surely see them and smile, or sigh, or think.
What if we could apply those same principles to praying? The church where I work has approximately 500 visitors every week. They come to give blood, play football, read books, learn to dance and many other things. What if there were some gentle way of letting them know that every guest is treasured and prayed for? Last night, during a prayer evening, members of the church set about the building with a pad of sticky notes and a pen each. As each note was written so each location was prayed for. The notes will not last. Some off them will fall down very quickly. Until they do, though, they will stand as a visible reminder of those invisible prayers. There are two pictures below. One shows the prayers in situ, and the other allows you to read a selection of them.
CLICK for bigger size
CLICK for bigger size
Here is my question. Could this start a new ‘flash-point’ prayer movement? Could you leave a prayer at the bus stop, or on the gate post, or at your seat in the cafe for somebody to find? These little prayer notes could make all the difference to somebody today.
Care to try it?