Erica Schemper

In a worship series focused on justice, the best concrete actions are, of course, acts of justice. These stations are not meant to be the end of the response. They are meant to reinforce worship and serve as additional motivation for working toward justice beyond the walls of the church building.

One of the foundations of Christian justice is the recognition that God has abundantly provided for creation. Stated more simply, there’s enough to go around. This four-week cycle of ideas for worship and accompanying interactive prayer stations focuses on abundance as our Christian motivation to do justice. It runs from beginning to end: from creation as the root of God’s providential care to the anticipation of the new creation as the hope that keeps us active in our pursuit of justice.

Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity Sundays deal with heady theological stories and themes, so it’s especially important to reinforce them in concrete ways that interact with our senses. We learn best when not just our brains but all of our human capacities are engaged.

The liturgical church year and the “programmatic” church year often feel most at odds in the weeks when we celebrate Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. In the midst of children’s and family ministries winding down for the season and church staff and worship leaders beginning to sigh with relief after the holy (and blessed) busyness of the Easter season, it’s easy to lose sight of the significance of these important Sundays of the church year and the unique opportunities for teaching and worship they afford.

The lectionary cycle for Lent in Year A includes incredibly rich psalms. As poetry, psalms are full of sights, smells, tastes, touches, and sounds. They are a great launching pad for engaging all our senses in worship. This cycle of prayer stations takes advantage of that opportunity.

Prayer stations are a wonderful way to engage all the senses in meditation, reflection, and prayer. And while they are often used as a separate experience for youth groups or special events, I’ve started to wonder about using them in the context of Sunday morning worship.

Reprinted from the column “Sunday Morning & Beyond” in Fidelia’s Sisters: A Publication of the Young Clergy Women’s Project, September 2008, www.youngclergywomen.org.

This article originally appeared in the March issue of Fidelia’s Sisters, a magazine for and about young clergy women (www.youngclergywomen.org) and is reprinted with their permission.