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Table covered in red cloth with candle and additional orange, yellow, and red cloth.

Intergenerational Prayer Stations for Pentecost

Pentecost provides a lot of wonderful images to center interactive prayer stations around: birthday, fire, breath, and wind – just to name a few. Below are ideas for interactive prayer stations focusing on the symbols of Pentecost. The interactive prayer stations are meant to be intergenerational.

Station #1: Flame

Idea
Create a Pentecost candle to be used during worship or another event.

Materials
Large Candle, Markers, Wax Strips

Text
Christ says that we are to be like light for the world. What does this mean? Think about how a candle glows, a flashlight lights the way, and a lamp allows you to see. What does it look like to be light for the world? Think of a person you can be light for. Write their name on a piece of wax paper.

Station #2: Wind

Idea
Create a Pentecost prayer garden with pinwheels.

Materials & Prep
Pinwheel cut-out, Thumbtacks, Beads, Skewers, Water, Markers
*Soak the skewers in water to soften the wood and make it easier to push the thumbtacks through. Pre-cut the pinwheel pattern. Create holes in the skewers beforehand and mark it with a marker.

Text
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8:25, NRSV)
Do we know how to pray and what to pray for when we are on the crossroad of life? The answer is when we do not know how to pray or what to pray for, the Spirit blows through like the wind and intercedes for us. What would you like to pray for but have no words to pray? Write it down on a pinwheel. Follow the instructions on the flip side to construct your pinwheel.

Instructions
Take one spoke of the pinwheel and push the thumbtack through the hole from the back. Continue pushing the thumbtack through each individual spoke until the thumbtack is through all four spokes. Push the thumbtack through the hole in the center of the pinwheel, then slide the small bead onto the thumbtack. Then push the thumbtack into the green hole in the skewer. Keep pushing the thumbtack into the skewer until the skewer thoughts the small bead on the thumbtack.

Station #3: Creation Groans

Idea
Groan with creation as you tear a piece of cloth.

Materials
A large piece of tearable cloth.

Text
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now.” (Romans 8:22, NRSV)
The Spirit feels like the breath of the wind. The Spirit looks like flames of fire. The Spirit sounds like groans of unspeakable words. What unspeakable words do you hold inside you? What feelings emerge as you groan with creation? In the Bible, tearing of cloth is often done as an expression when no words can be found: times of grief, mourning, anger, distress, and repentance.

Instructions
Take a piece of cloth. Hold it in your hands. Sit with the groans you hold. When you are ready, tear the cloth. May the sound of the tearing remind you that the Spirit groans with you.

This article was originally published on Theresa Cho’s website in June 2019. You can find the original article here.

For more creative worship ideas for Pentecost, check out the Pentecost posts Theresa’s website.

All images provided by the author.

About the Author

  • I grew up in Reno, Nevada amid the casino lights, Sierra Nevada mountains, and vast desert land. However, I currently live in San Francisco surrounded by water, fog, and the bustling noises of an urban city. I am a west coast gal, meaning I love seafood, 60 degree weather, and the laid back nature. I graduated from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago with awards in preaching and theology. Before coming to St. John’s Presbyterian Church in 2003, I completed a full-year chaplain residency program at UCSF Medical Center, where I continue to serve as a member of the Professional Advisory Group for Spiritual Care Services. In 2019, I completed my Doctor of Ministry degree at Fuller Theological Seminary, focusing on leading congregational and organizational change. I love to teach and have keynoted, preached, and led workshops at a variety of different conferences: youth, women leadership, peacemaking, and worship. I am also actively involved in immigrant justice and affordable housing issues. I love to bake – partly to justify having a degree in chemistry and partly to tap into the creative side of decorating. Mostly, it helps me let go of intended outcomes when the cake doesn’t come out perfectly and fully celebrate when they come out just as I had hoped.

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About Theresa Cho (she/her/hers)

I grew up in Reno, Nevada amid the casino lights, Sierra Nevada mountains, and vast desert land. However, I currently live in San Francisco surrounded by water, fog, and the bustling noises of an urban city. I am a west coast gal, meaning I love seafood, 60 degree weather, and the laid back nature.

I graduated from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago with awards in preaching and theology. Before coming to St. John’s Presbyterian Church in 2003, I completed a full-year chaplain residency program at UCSF Medical Center, where I continue to serve as a member of the Professional Advisory Group for Spiritual Care Services. In 2019, I completed my Doctor of Ministry degree at Fuller Theological Seminary, focusing on leading congregational and organizational change.

I love to teach and have keynoted, preached, and led workshops at a variety of different conferences: youth, women leadership, peacemaking, and worship. I am also actively involved in immigrant justice and affordable housing issues.

I love to bake – partly to justify having a degree in chemistry and partly to tap into the creative side of decorating. Mostly, it helps me let go of intended outcomes when the cake doesn’t come out perfectly and fully celebrate when they come out just as I had hoped.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Talkhumril Ranglong

    Thank you, Madam, for the useful information which guided me to understand the depths of knowledge the Lord wanted to share. Hoping you would continue to do the good work more and more. With regards.

  2. Lola

    This is really interesting and I can see how I can use it for intergenerational worship on Pentecost. Thank you!

  3. Ruth

    Re: Pentecost
    Station #1 Flame
    Under pictures
    Change to read
    Christ says we are (to) be like light…
    (to was omitted)