More Retreat News

The Bishop wasn't the only speaker at the Lively Lent retreat. In the afternoon, we had 3 workshops providing insight into ways to live more fully into Lent and into our baptismal vows and ultimately be more fully aware on the Road to Jerusalem and Emmaus.

Susan Hutchins shared her work in Columbus and Palomas with a slide show. She works with the poorest of the poor in these sister communities. The simplest items are warmly welcomed-blankets, gloves, etc. Women are empowered to begin cottage industry making baskets and other items from donated supplies.

Part of the ministry is the Shoebox ministry at Christmas gives the Palomas children (1000 last year) a chance to have something special. Recently she asked diocesan churches for blankets because families in Palomas did not have any. Her living room was filled with donations from across the diocese which she delivered to many families. One touching story was of the way a family handed the blanket down the line to the youngest child because he was the one who did not have anything to sleep under.

The Rev. Susan Collis, of St. Francis on the Hill, shared a series of hands-on ways to pray in untraditional ways.
1.      Write a card to someone you’ve been meaning to contact.
2.      Braid together 3 ribbons: you, God, issue while praying about the issue.
3.      Use play dough to form an image of your issue and manipulate it to see what happens. Or just play with the dough and see what emerges.
4.      Use bubbles as a medium to send your prayers heavenward.
5.      Create a prayer plaque or scriptural reminder to place on your desk or in your prayer area.
6.     (This last one is a little hard to describe) Take a rock. Hold and pray into it an issue while walking, kneeling, or standing. Offer it to God. We placed ours in a water basin on the altar.
Participants found these prayers very inspirational and shared some of their insights and experiences.

Finally, Cindy Davis shared some ideas for using journaling as a conversation with God and offered ideas for places where inspiration for jounaling can be found, including pictures, quotes, the Bible, music, nature, etc.

To close the day we had a time of brainstorming the future of women of the DRG. This conversation continued in Roswell with the ladies there. Check back for some of those thoughts.

Prayer Diary

Writing a note to someone is a lovely way to support them when they need prayer. There are often so many prayer needs that we can feel overwhelmed. If you try out even a few of the prayer aids suggested over the past few weeks of Lent, you'll have enriched your prayer life.
But...How do you keep track of your prayers and how they have been answered? One way is a Prayer Journal or Prayer Diary. There are many ways of doing this.
The simplest Prayer Diary is a spiral notebook that you list your prayer requests in. Once a month (or whenever you decide) go back and look over the prayers to see what sort of answer God has given. There will probably be an assortment of responses. Sometimes you will see that visible results have happened. At others it will seem that nothing has changed. Then there will be those times when the person you are praying for has gone to be with the Lord. At first that might seem like a negative answer, but rather it is the ultimate healing.

You can have a fancier notebook, of course. Your journal/diary can include clippings and pictures if you want. Sometimes I add drawings and other notes to mine. You can buy a nice book for your journal, but it isn't necessary.
Believe it our not (in keeping with the techno prayer aids earlier this week)-you can even find online Prayer Journals or downloadable ones-just do a 'google' search!