We wanted to bring the journey to the cross alive for the confirmation group this year, to actually make this a time of encounter with Jesus not just an hour of rote prayers that teenagers struggle to engage with.
We started with a guided meditation on the Garden of Gethsemane, blindfolds on and led them out from here to the stations. The evening ended so prayerfully that i thought it might be a blessing to you to share if this is the ministry you are called into.
Print each station and place them around your space. It involves some amassing of stuff, however, they can be brought out each year, so once it’s done, pop it in a box for each Lent. Please leave a comment if you’ve tried it, would love to know how it went or any suggestions for improvement. You can download the whole lot here…
Garden of Gethsemane guided meditation – download here
You will need
A bowl of warm water
Post it notes
Towels for drying the hands
Pens to write the questions with
You will need
Crucifixes
Cord to thread them on to
scissors to cut the thread
You will need
Image of the prodigal son or similar
Examination of Conscience sheets suitable for the age group
A candle
Purple is great if you can, but white or gold is fine too
You will need
Some Rosaries (great if there’s enough to take them home at the end)
Tea lights or (Led ones if you have a super keen H & Safety officer…we do)
Someone to lead.
As each Hail Mary is prayed, light one of the tea lights and arrange in the shape of a rosary that is completed by the end. Its lovely to have your final prayer in the same space with the illuminated Rosary.
You will need just the sign, you can have a sheet and a pen for the resolutions to be written down if you think its needed
You will need
A cloth with Jesus’s face stencilled onto it
A mirror
A3 sheet of paper with the words at the top “I will love my…….” and at the bottom “Neighbour”
encourage them to write the people they struggle with, that they find a challenge to love. Chat that these are exactly the people we are called to love. The discussion makes this station more impactful.
You will need
Finger traps (Amazon or similar – pretty cheap)
They usually want to take them away with them.
You will need
A4 Sheets of Magnet with self adhesive
Printed list of prayer words – download here
A radiator or tin tray/ fridge something for the magnets to stick to. Stick the words onto the magnet sheet, cut them up into individual words and place them in a bowl for the prayers to be created.
You will need
A Crucifix
Candles, Cloth
It’s better if this is in a quieter area, even better if each person does this station alone with time to reflect without feeling watched.
You will need
Either metal tags or wooden blank bookmarks or squares.
Alphabet punches
Hammers
board for hammering on
This is a bit noisy but one that they are all really keen to do!
We gathered everyone back together into the room with the lit rosary, we led them into a place of quiet and stillness to read the last guided meditation. Again the Blindfolds really help to keep them engaged with the words rather than each other.
Some of our photos
