Light: All Age Worship with Prayer Stations

Theme:

Light, with a particular focus on Jesus as the Light of the World

Story:

The story used symbols and pictures to combine the first day of creation "Let there be light...", with Isaiah's prophecy "The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light" and Jesus saying "I am the Light of the World."

Bible reading:

John Chapter 1 verses 1 - 14

Adult reflection:

A reflection on the Light of the World painting by Holman Hunt.

Station 1: "I am the Light of the World..."

Words:

I am the light of the world... Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life... We also had a selection of quotes and sayings about light for people to read.

Activity:

You might like to paint or draw a picture to show the Light of the World... You might like to decorate a candle holder and take a light home...


We also had the laptop set up with a variety of images to illustrate the theme of the Light of the World.

Station 2: The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light...

Words:

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined.

Prayer activity:

We had a couple of prayers using the symbolism of light on the board. People were invited to pray one of the prayers and to light a candle as a symbol of their prayer.

(This station was manned.)

Station 3: Jesus, the Light of the World

Activity:

This station was left bare, with an invitation:

"What would you use to create a prayer station that shows Jesus as the Light of the World?"

A variety of symbols, toys, coloured underlays etc were around for anyone who wanted to create their own prayer station on the theme.


Three children chose to do this; their responses are shown below, together with what they said about their prayer stations. Everything they used had some kind of symbolic value, for example representing the darkness or the desert.



Jesus is the light of the world.

That's Jesus, the yellow figure. His light is the light in the desert, in the river, on mountains – everywhere. He is also the light for people and animals and plants. (10 year old boy)









All the darkness in the world: animals being captured, prisons, wars, hurricanes. A tiny bit of light can change all that.
(8 year old girl)







These are the little Christian boys. This tower is the house of darkness. Light comes down from the sky. The Christian boys are cheering. Everyone is happy. The darkness is going back into the sky.
(5 year old boy)