Prayer Maze

Journey into Easter

St Mary's Church, Wednesday 22 March and Saturday 25 March 2006

There were 10 bases around the church and the visitors could go round as many as they liked and take as long as the liked.  Each taught us something of Jesus.

On Wednesday 22 March the children in Years 3&4 at St Mary's Junior School were invited to visit the Prayer Maze.  The pictures below were taken by Fr Grant Bayliss on this occasion

1. Bitter – taste vinegar or lemon juice, then drink water Jesus experienced hardship for us Consider whom we could support during hard times
2. Bread – eat broken bread as in the  Emmaus meal His disciples didn’t recognize the risen Jesus straight away Jesus’ work goes on beyond Easter but it can be hard for us to notice it
3. Burdens – place worry stones at foot of cross Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry his cross We don’t have to carry our worries and our fears alone, God will help us
4. Dead End? – make a “dead end” road sign, change to cross if you think life goes on Two lines as representing life and death, death is inevitable but does life go on? A chance to express one's own feelings about whether death is the end
5. Forgiveness – Shrek DVD clip Forgiveness is vital to friendships. Jesus forgave Peter. Communicating is important, forgiving others, being forgiven by others, forgiving yourself. God can help us with this
6. Justice – balance scales of English vs. African income, add a brick to wall of change Jesus before Pilate = “that’s not fair!” Think about how unfairly the world’s resources are distributed, encourage a personal promise to make a change for the better
7. Rubbish – glue rubbish bags into shape of heart Jesus being put to death in a place outside the city walls, his standing by those whom society rejects, God’s love for all Pray for those treated as rubbish and all who live on rubbish tips today
8. Time – listen to the ticking clock and watch a PowerPoint display (busy images with Jesus’ face interspersed) Life so busy we often don’t make time for God but he’s always there in background Make quiet time for thinking & sitting still
9. Washing – wash and dry one another’s hands Focus: Jesus washing his disciples feet as a sign of servanthood Consider whom we could help out in practical ways
10. Welcome – rip material Focus: tearing of Temple veil = the barrier between people and God has been taken away Be confident to talk to God about anything no matter what situation we are in

This is what some of the children wrote about their visit to the Prayer Maze

On Wednesday 22nd of March, Years 3 and 4 from Prestbury St Mary’s Junior School were doing Easter workshops at Church to do with the Easter story. We tasted bread to represent the Last Supper (it was very nice). Then we tasted some vinegar and lemon water to show us how sour life can be (it was horrible). Then each one of us wrote down our fears on a piece of paper, stuck it onto a small rock and put it by the foot of the cross. This way Jesus can help us not to be afraid.

We had very good time doing the workshops and it taught us all that when life starts to get sour we can trust God to help us always.

Hannah C Aged 8

The Prayer Maze at St Mary’s church was for celebrating Easter and we were thinking about all the things that happened at Easter. I learned lots of things about how things were bitter and sweet at that time. For that activity we tried vinegar to resemble bitter times and after we had water to resemble the sweet, only I didn’t want to have water because I liked the vinegar. I also learned that Easter isn’t just about Jesus dying and rising again. It’s about Palm Sunday and Passover too. We watched some of Shrek to think about when Peter asked Jesus for forgiveness. The Prayer Maze was extremely fun and I think that is was a great opportunity for children to think about Easter. I can’t say what my favourite part was because it was so fantastic. Overall it was a brilliant day and I am glad that I did it.

Rebecca L Aged 9

On Wednesday March 22nd Y3H went to church to do some Easter activities. We were split into groups and given an activity to start with. There were eight different things you could do altogether.

I enjoyed it most when we ate the bread because it was nice and fresh, this was like when Jesus broke the bread at the Last Supper. The activity that I thought helped me understand Easter the most was The Dead End. We moved a red line and a white line to form a T. The white line formed the stem of the T, we moved the white line on after the red line so show that there was life after death: †.

Another interesting thing was when you got a stone and a sticky label and on the sticky label you wrote something that scared you or worried you, then you stuck it on the rock and put it on the table with the others.

At the end we got given a flag and you had to wave it and shake an instrument while you sang Hosanna. I really enjoyed this prayer maze and I thought it would help me remember on Easter day that Jesus died and rose again.

Lydia B Aged 8

The prayer maze was celebrating Easter. I liked the part where bread represented the Last Supper. I also enjoyed singing the song at the end. I learnt that Easter is a joyful time. I’d really like to repeat the experience. It helped me to understand the meaning better, and what Jesus did for me and the world.

Ben H Aged 9

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