Recycling and Screwdrivers

On the way to 5 Senses to Prayer Book 2 - #23

Hi friends

I’m currently with my Dad so my Mum can have a little break away. My Dad is a practical man and loves to be busy. He especially likes helping others, so if he thinks he is doing something practical, useful, and helpful he finds great joy and meaning. The trick to supporting him with his dementia is to find tasks that bring that ‘just right’ sense of meaning for him.

Some of my sensory prayers are a bit like that too. We use practical, tactile items for prayer. In one sense, what we appears to have no meaning. What’s the point of using a screwdriver to screw in a screw into two pieces of wood that will never be anything other than two pieces of wood screwed together? Does that in itself make the screwdriver prayer irrelevant?

Of course it’s not always about the end product. The process of sensory prayer involves using our many senses to engage with the world around us in a tangible way. By using our senses we activated the use of our nervous system to help our brains settle into a space where we feel regulated and can pray. ‘Fidegeting’ has a new lease of life in our world today with many fidgets created for people of all ages and more of an awareness of the way our brains and bodies operate. The old, “stop fidgeting and listen,” is not how our brains work. It seems fidgeting, rather than showing how distracted we are, is our brain responding to the need to keep itself regulated. When we’re regulated we are more open to observing and focussing and being present with whatever is going on around us.

To be truly still, involves our senses. We can’t always just will ourselves to be still - it takes practice and an awareness of what sensory strategies work for us. Each person is different and responds to sensory information differently. One person may find a prayer involving a specific smell to be particularly soothing while the next person may not be able to concentrate on the prayer at all as their sensory preference means the smell is not supportive to them in anyway.

I’ve selected two prayers today that seem to me to be suitable for Lent. Recycling always brings up imagery of new beginnings and fresh starts. The screwdriver prayer invites us to check in with our connection to God. As we travel through this Lenten period with a focus on prayer and connecting to God, I offer these two very tactile, practical prayers. I have my Dad in mind. We always have good conversation when he’s doing something practical with his hands.

May your conversations with God this week bring meaning and purpose into your daily living.

On the journey

Caroline

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Recycled Ornament Prayer

Sense of Touch – Confession (C.T.6)

Gather a few small items that are about to be thrown away. Find lids, small pill bottles, small parts from packaging, tabs from cans and any other small items. Arrange them in front of you. Make a pattern and take time to look at the items and reflect on their uses before they became rubbish. Select one item and spray paint the ornament with silver or gold paint. Tie or glue a piece of string to your recycled ornament. As you recycle the old rubbish, pray a confession prayer to God about situations where you’d like the chance to recycle and have another go with a fresh sense of purpose. Hang your ornament on a branch or a hook or on a string along a window. As you hang it, give thanks to God for hearing your prayer. Keep your recycled ornaments and reuse them to pray again.  

Further suggestions and adaptations on using this prayer

Prayer Station

Set up a large branch without leaves and place it in a large bucket or pot. Keep the branch in place with sand or something heavy to stop the branch from falling over.  You could use make this branch tree something you use regularly in an ever-changing prayer room.  For spring use pink tissue paper blossoms, in fall attach leaf prayers, at Pentecost attach yellow, orange and red flames and for Christmas attach decorations.  Think up other things you could attach to the branch tree during the year.  You might like to leave it set up for people to ‘recycle’ prayers at any stage when the tree is not being used for a seasonal prayer station.

Individual

Adapt this prayer when you’re sorting recycling items for collection.  As you place each item into your recycling bin, pray for a situation where you want to confess your own shortcomings and ask God for a fresh chance to start again.

Small Group

Invite everyone in the group to bring along some items from their recycle bin.  Instead of bringing small items, accept items of any size. Work together to make something out of the recycling by gluing pieces together to make a contemporary sculpture.  Spray paint the finished piece with a single colour and put your work of recycled prayer art on display for others to view.  As you work together pray this prayer for yourself and also pray for each other.

Large Group

Set up several branch trees around your meeting space.  Pre-spray paint recycled items in a variety of rainbow colours and make sure each piece has a hole pierced or drilled through for a string to be added. Put them in trays next to each tree and string for participants to thread and pray before placing the ornament on the trees.  Finish by praying together for the confessions which have been made and ask God to allow participants to feel refreshed and recycled themselves in their own situations. Leave the trees on display for a period of time as a visual reminder of the recycling prayer you have prayed together.

Visual Images - Static, Projected, Live Props

·       Recycling symbols

·       Recycled items as rubbish

·       Recycled items into upcycled useful items or into artworks etc

Getting ready checklist

·       String

·       Hot glue gun

·       small items to be recycled