Pots and pans have been around in different forms since ancient times. The universal experience cooking food over heat in various pots and pans crosses cultures, countries, cuisines and generations. The pots and pans I’m visualising in the prayers I offer today are the stainless steel variety that I have in my kitchen, but pots and pans can be made from many different materials. They just need to be able to cope with heat.
Even if you always eat out, or are in a living situation where your food is made and delivered to you, this food will have been cooked in pots and pans. We share an understanding of pots and pans. Right from a young age, our children learn about pots. How many small children have been handed a wooden spoon and a pot to play with while their adult cooks dinner? With a pot or a pan hundreds of different dishes can be made. I wonder what your favourite ‘go to’ meal is made in the pots or pans in your kitchen? The possibilities for variety and diversity are likely almost endless.
When I first started creating and writing sensory experiential prayers I didn’t allow any consideration for sensory preferences of individuals. In recent years I’ve learned far more about how our brains process sensory information. We each have unique preferences and find some of our senses more supportive for our nervous system than other senses. This knowledge has changed the way I now present sensory prayers.
The auditory sense is one which can have a polarising impact on a group of people. What one person finds supportive and therefore enjoyable can be excruciating for someone else. I’m mindful that today’s prayers are mostly noisy.
When my children were small I invented a game called ‘the kitchen dance band’. It was a sneaky way of getting them to help with the dishes. Our kitchen had a large floor space and the distance between sink and cupboards was a walk across the room. We turned it into a dance time with pot lids banging, whisks scraping saucepans, tapping wooden spoons and fish slices together like drumsticks and flicking teatowels in the air to make a whipping sound. This prompted the Kitchen Dance Band prayer you’ll find below. I still use this prayer myself sometimes when I’m clearing the dishwasher.
Shout praises to the Lord,
everyone on this earth.
Be joyful and sing
as you come in
to worship the Lord!Psalm 100:1-2 (CEV)
Feel free to adapt and use these prayers as suits you and your sensory preferences. If you know noisy prayers aren’t for you, take some time this week reflecting on your senses and considering which of your senses is your most supportive and preferred sense.
On the journey
Caroline
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