Prayer Station: Confession

While this is a familiar way to do an interactive prayer of confession, this particular set up worked really well the night we did it. People reflected on Ephesians 4:30-5:2 in the worship space. No time constraints were placed on folks while them sat with the scripture verses. The band played instrumentally underneath.

Everyone was invited to react to the passage in writing on 3x5 cards. Once they were done, people moved outside where we had a large chimenea set up inside of a prayer space.

Written instructions (this was all done in silence) invited all to confess their sins to God in prayer and then to ask God for healing and a changed heart/life. They were then to burn their 3x5 card(s) in the fire while reflecting upon the fact that the sins represented on the cards existed no more.

Finally, as an assurance of pardon, everyone dropped a few pieces of incense into the fire as a symbol of the prayers reaching heaven and of their desire to live as a fragrant offering for God.

As we threw our 3x5 cards into the chimenea, the fire just smoldered. Nothing really burned outright (yes, I was getting nervous), but as I stood to deliver the ending assurance/prayer the cards all burst into flame and the incense caught fire. The burning incense delivered this incredibly thick plume of white smoke that shot 100' feet in the air. Visual symbol trumped words so I kept my mouth shut. Amen.