- Theme
- General
- Age Range
- 14+
- Type
- Prayers
- Number of Participants
- 1-5
- Timescale
- 1-5 minutes
Quick Overview
A simple prayer for those who are already active in their prayer life. It is a nice introduction to helping people begin to pray for one another and becoming comfortable with letting God speak through them.
Requires
Roughly A5 or A6 pieces of paper; enough for every member of the group to have one each and for every member of the group to be able to write on a different piece for every member of the group, including themselves. One pen per person. Optional Candle. Optional Bible.
Group Size
While you can lead this prayer with many people, four is the ideal as it stops it going on for a protracted period of time.
Run through
Begin with the sign of the cross.
Start by having everyone write their name on separate pieces of paper, and then, folding their piece of paper up and putting it in the middle. Mix these papers up (possibly in a hat or bag) and then have everyone pick out a folded piece of paper and, without looking at the paper, put it in their left pocket.
Next pick someone in the group and, whoever you pick, everyone in the group, including that person, will pray for the person whose name is on the piece of paper in that person’s left pocket.
Do this separately and silently, asking God for a message to give to that person. When you feel God giving you something to say, write it down on another piece of paper and fold it up. As this is only a very simple form of praying for people, this silence is only done for a minute. When the minute is over all the pieces of paper with messages on are folded up and given to the person who was picked, who then puts all these papers unread into their right pocket.
This process is repeated until everyone in the group has had the person in their left pocket prayed for.
With everyone now prayed for, everybody takes out the paper in their left pocket and gives all the messages in their right pocket to the person on the paper. They do this by giving them the paper unread, as the messages are primarily for that person.
People are then welcome to share their experience and messages, but this is not required and is more about witnessing the actions of God they just received rather than an essential part of the prayer.
Variations
- If you have a candle, you may like to light it as a focus for the prayer.
- If you have a bible, you may like to read a bible reading about hearing the voice of God before you start the prayer eg: Jeremiah 33:3, John 16:13.
- If people need to come to a place of stillness before entering the prayer, you may like to do a decade of the rosary together before doing pocket prayers as the repetitive chant helps to still the mind and focus people on God.