We’ve travelled with Bishops College throughout this school year, and strangely, we seem to turn up at very important moments. It doesn’t seem that long since we were here making gifts to offer God, yet the school has asked us to return with two prayer weeks before Easter. And here we are.
This week, the Local Authority makes the decision on whether or not the school closes. And here we are praying. We’re inviting students to come during break and lunch, then throughout lent there’ll be a programme of lessons coming in, leading us all the way to Easter, with a final ‘invite only’ prayer week.
This week’s theme is Love. Fairly apt with Valentines day coming up. We spent hours constructing a giant tree in the middle of the room, with the central theme that if God’s love is planted in us, it grows, like the mustard seed into the largest of all garden plants, becoming a tree, a haven and home for the birds of the air.
The ever flittering and flapping lives of the students here need a home, and that home is in the sanctuary of God’s love, and our prayer this week, of all weeks, is that they’ll be able to find that home here in the prayer room – in the friendships built, the conversations, the prayers, in the presence of God.
Stations cover the room. Kids are filling the spaces. Friendship bracelets being made, fears being wiped away, prayers for the world, seeds planted, thoughts contemplated in front of the mirror – ‘I am the one that Jesus loves’ … all within the shade of this strange and ginormous tree made from chicken wire and newspapers!
We had about 50 students come through the prayer room. And later, a few members staff came by, some parents, then some vicars came after their deanery synod meeting! It’s been a busy day.
Please pray for us. We’ve had numerous technical problems (sorted, kind of), a lot of us found it strangely hard to get motivated yesterday. I had a real bad headache all day long, and had a tough time with a couple of roudy lads…“do you wanna fight sir?!?” … “no way! This place is about love man, we’re meant to be friends”
However, in the midst of this, there have been many more beautiful moments. Wowed faces at the room and the chilled out atmosphere. The student who’d got kicked out of a lesson and sent to the prayer room to calm down. He spent most of the time with Helen – one of the awesome team helping us from Redcliffe Bible College – they sat at ‘Love wipes away fear’, talking and praying together, they wrote and drew their worries, fears and doubts on the small white boards, then wiped them clean.
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