Worship and learning for the whole Church – wherever you are
Resources for families with school-aged children to use at home
Welcome to #faith at home with ROOTS. We're delighted to be part of the Church of England's #faithathome initiative working with Oak National Online Academy.
Prayers and prayer activities to use during the week.
A prayer at the start of the day
Give me strength, Lord, to keep on trying.
Trying to follow your ways,
trying to listen to you,
trying to help others
and trying to get it right.
Amen.
Prayer build
As each line of the prayer is said, place one fist on top of the other
Help us, Lord, to build our lives on you.
Help us to build up our faith.
Help us to build up our friendships.
Help us to build up our families.
Help us to build up our community.
Help us, Lord, to build our lives on you.
Amen.
Rock of Jesus
Everyone has a cardboard box. Use boxes of various sizes. Play some quiet, reflective music. On each face of the box, write one of these things:
- a name or symbol to represent you
- a gift you bring to the Christian community
- a source of strength (this could be a person) who supports your faith
- a difficulty you face in being a Christian
- a person or people you want to pray for in the current situation
- something you want to give thanks for.
Clear a space on the floor or a table and put something in the centre to represent rock or stone. Pile up the boxes on it to build on the rock of Jesus. It is not important what the structure looks like but with largest boxes at the bottom it should stand!
Then pray together:
Jesus, you are our rock.
Your words and actions should be the base of our lives.
Help us to be strong and loyal as we try to build your kingdom in our own community.
Amen.
Truth
Write down on a small piece of paper a rumour that you believed to be true at the time but which later turned out to be untrue. Place the pieces of paper in the middle of the group and pray for the strength not to place trust in rumours.
'No man is an island'
Read the famous piece by John Donne, beginning at ‘No man is an island, entire of itself: every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…’ as far as ‘…And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.’ Either one person could read it or several people read a section each. Have a short discussion about what this means. Can you rewrite it in contemporary English? Now use your version as a meditation. You could also find pictures of people suffering, rejoicing, going about everyday things, from all over the world. Meditate on being in the current situation, which has affected the whole world. What does this mean for our response and relationship to others and to building God’s kingdom?
A prayer at the end of the day
Lord, when we are sad and lonely,
when everything seems to be going wrong,
and it's hard to see a way out,
stay beside us.
Give us hope and faith
to see it through with you.
Amen.
Last week 5-11 June we explored Patience.
Next week 19-25 June we explore Kindness - Find prayers to use during the week.
Back to the #faithathome with ROOTS landing page.
Find more ROOTS at home resources for families worshipping together while schools and gatherings are suspended.