This is a wonderful tool for meditation that I have grown to love. i was given this at Christmas and it is one of my favourite presents of 2008.
It is a simple olive wood cross smooth and designed to sit comfortably in your hand and it is held when you pray. This one came from Spurgeon’s College and says that after Charles Spurgeon founded the college he saw one of these in a book and made it the college motto, “I both hold and am held”.
Where do you go to recharge?
Where are your special places where you feel close to God.
Glastonbury Tor is one of mine but before the first time I climbed it everyone warned me that it wasn’t a nice place, that withcraft was rife and the such like.
Labyrinths date back centuries and are thought to have been used as a way to pray. Pilgrims would follow its path sometimes oÂn their knees as a means of prayer or to mark the end of a pilgrimage. Some in cathedrals are elaborate others can be simple.The popularity again comes largely from the modernised version by Jonny Baker and it combines the path with stations to pause at and do something at. This is all done whilst wearing headphones and listening to guided meditations and ambient music.I first set up a labyrinth for a youth weekend and was blown away by the reponse from the young people who visited it throughout the weekend. It was so succesful that we then opened it up to the wider church and it stayed for 3 months and has done to more stints.As a spiritual habit it forces you top stop, lay aside the destractions of the day and focus oÂn God.A simple form can do this and I have used a small chalked oÂne often in my garden with out the stations.You can buy a kit from Proost and you can also get an PC version which is also helpful.I encourage you to discover this practice oÂn a personal level but also to use in your youth work.Buy yourself the kit (and I’m not oÂn commission) as you will be amazed at how it engages people.
Most of us can think of places that we go that help us connect with God oÂn a different level. <p>
This could be any number of places or more than oÂne. <p>
The habit is to visit this place oÂnce a month, a week or year depending where it is and make it a deliberate time to spend with God. <p>
This could be called a mantra but that may instil panic among certain people, but in actual fact this is a simple prayer you repeat with your breath and it focuses you o�n God quickly and easily.The prayer is simply this Father, I belong to You.You say it in your mind “Father” when you breathe in and “I belong to You” when you breathe out. If you practice this o�n a daily basis it becomes an integral part of you and really can help when things are tough, before you speak, what ever the situation, by reminding you that you are a child of God.It might sound really simple, but in my experience the simple things are usually the best.Give it a go.
