For children
Bandage prayers
Pray for people in hopeless situations.
You will need: strips of cloth or thin paper, e.g. toilet roll; pens; pictures of people whose situations seem hopeless.
Show the group a set of pictures of people in hopeless situations — the poor, homeless, destitute, victims of war, famine or drought. Talk about how they might feel. Is there anything we could do to help them? The one thing we can all do is to pray for these people. Lazarus was dead, his situation was hopeless, but Jesus did something unexpected and brought him back to life.
Invite the children to pray and ask God to help these people too.
Give the children time to write or draw prayers on the strips of cloth, like Lazarus’ bandages.
When all the prayers have been written, have a time of prayer, and invite the children to read out their prayers if they want to. Finish the time of prayer by praying that God will be with people whose situations seem hopeless, and do something unexpected for them.
Pray
Thank you, God,
that you can do things we don’t expect.
Help us say Yes, Lord, I believe.
When we don’t know what to do or say
help us say, Yes, Lord, I believe.
When we see people who are suffering or sad,
help us say, Yes, Lord, I believe.
When we don’t understand what is happening,
help us say, Yes, Lord, I believe.
And when believing in you is difficult,
help us say, Yes, Lord, I believe.
Amen.
For young people
Let there be life!
Simple active prayer.
You will need: a dark room; large candle; a small candle per person.
Beforehand, prepare wax guards for the small candles or ensure they are not going to drip on the hands of the young people.
Place the large candle centrally in the darkened room, preferably raised up from the floor and on a wax-and heat-proof surface.
Invite the young people to gather and each take a small candle and wax guard.
Say ‘Lazarus is dead’ and pause before saying ‘Lazarus, come out’.
Light the central candle, then light your own small candle from the centre.
Light the candle of the person next to you as you say ‘Name, come out’.
Invite them to do the same with the next person.
Close with a prayer.
Lord, we thank you for our lives.
May we use them for you.
Amen.