Minecraft Place of Worship

Many people associate praying with going to Church or another special place where they can feel at peace. Although we can pray to God anywhere, you might find going somewhere that is set aside as being 'for prayer' helpful in focusing your mind.

But where do you spend most time? It could be a good idea to think about how you can make that into a place for prayer.

My son spends large amounts of time on the computer game Minecraft. So we wondered - could Minecraft be somewhere you can pray?

So this experiment involves creating a prayer space on Minecraft (or another world building game).
Think about what your ideal place for prayer would be. Where would it be? What would it look like? How big would it be? What would you do there?

Now go online and have a go! Once you've built it, try spending there praying. Is it any different to being in a chapel, church, or prayer space in the real world? If so, how?

Noah's Review:

I didn't want to build a massive cathedral but I wanted something fairly big. I made it look like a traditional church, because that is what my church looks like: I was sort of trying to create my version of our local church. Because its a nice church and makes me think about God, because its got the right kind of atmosphere.
So I made a church building, with a nave and the altar, choir stalls, at least 50 pews, a bell tower and stained glass windows. I built it facing East-West, so the sun would come up through the big window over the altar.
During the build dad and I were more thinking about what to build, but towards the end I was thinking about the stuff in the church when I was putting in the details - the pews, and the pulpit, and so on. I was thinking about how it is all designed to face the front and wondering whether that is a good thing or not. It makes you focus on what the vicar has to say, but because it makes everyone focus on the front they might miss some of the other lovely bits of the church that people put lots of effort into building.
At the end I had a little bit of pray. I got a vicar skin (costume) for my character, and did a short service in the church as the vicar. It was just me and my younger brother, with him being the congregation. First, we sang one verse of 'Nearer my God to thee' (which we remembered from the film Titanic). Then I went up into the pulpit and told the story of Jesus asking the Samaritan woman for water at the well (we'd done that reading in Junior Church that morning), and I ended by asking my brother a question about the reading. He answered, and then he left and I went and stood in front of the altar looking at the big window. Then I took my hands off the keyboard and said a few prayers. When I was praying I wasn't looking at the Minecraft screen, I was praying in real life.

Marks:
Ease of use: 2/10 It took me two hours to build it even with help from my dad!
Spiritual value: 7.5/10 It did make me pray, but during the building I wasn't thinking about god but about the details of the building.

9. ACTS 2: Confession

TPE 7: ACTS 2 - Confession, or 'Owning up'

'Confession' has two distinct meanings. The first is the one you are probably most familiar with - owning up to what you've done wrong. Normally, this includes saying sorry, and promising to try not to do it again - though we all know that is a promise we often don't keep! Most church services include a 'confession'. This is a time when the whole church congregation says sorry to God for not living up to the standard of human life that the Bible and Jesus' life set out for us.

The second meaning is again 'owning up', but this time to our faith. Standing up for what we believe in. We often literally stand up for what we believe in, as everyone stands to say a Creed (from the Latin 'credo', meaning 'I believe'), or other statement of faith: a short summary of what the church believes about God.

Confession is the second element of the ACTS pattern of prayer. In our personal prayers, the very fact that we are praying is a 'confession' of sorts. We are 'confessing' that there is a God who hears and answers prayers, just by praying at all. So in our personal prayers we don't very often say a formal 'statement of faith'. But for as long as people have been praying, owning up to what we've done wrong has been an important part of prayer.

I wonder what you think this owning up achieves? God, of course, already knows everything that we have done. So by owning up, we aren't letting God into a secret that we could otherwise keep to ourselves. It's not like telling your mum that it was you that broke that plate, when she thought it was probably the cat! But God seems to like us to admit what we are doing wrong. (Even if your mum knew perfectly well it was you that broke the plate, she is likely to be pleased with your honesty if you own up). Why?

Well, if we don't own up to what we are doing wrong, we can't change it. If we pretend that there is nothing at all wrong with how we are living our lives, then we are saying we don't intend to change anything. Sometimes we don't want to own up to things that are wrong because we are ashamed or embarrassed. But if we make a practice of regularly admitting that everything isn't perfect, we can help ourselves to focus on what changes we'd like to see.

This isn't because Christians are miserable, but the opposite! Even for those who wouldn't call themselves Christian, it is a really important part of any spirituality or self-improvement programme. No athlete gets to the top of their game by deciding they are so good there is nothing they need to work on, and the same applies to all of our lives.


The Experiment:
Get some stones (gravel, stones from the garden, or even twigs or leaves, or maybe coins). Have at least 3, and up to say 6 or 7. Put a bowl of water in front of you, and the stones in a pile. Sit down, and pick up the first stone. As you hold it, think about one thing that is not as good as it could be in your life. Own up to it. Then put the stone into the water: you are giving it to God, not holding its weight any longer. And it is being washed clean. Pick up the next stone and think of something else, and repeat as many times as seems right. When you have finished, you might like to end by simply saying 'Amen', or you could repeat this traditional prayer: 'Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.'

[A health warning: It is really important, when you confess as part of your private prayers, to remember that confession and God's forgiveness go together. One of the things Christians believe about Jesus's death on the cross is that as he died, he took all the blame for anything we might do wrong. So we don't confess because otherwise God won't like us: God has already forgiven us. If, when you pray, you find that you still feel guilty after confessing, and you can't shake off a feeling that God didn't mean to forgive you, then please go and talk about this to someone you trust from church, perhaps your vicar or youth worker.]

8b Adoration: review

Ease: 9/10
Spiritual value: 7/10

To do this I had to think 'what reminds me of God?', and I had to really think about it to choose the pictures, so that made it higher spiritual value. I chose the mountains because they were majestic, and the rocket because it was a world breakthrough. I chose a picture of my cat because cats are the best thing ever so obviously God made them! The Christmas tree is something that's meant to remind you of God, but most people normally forget about the true meaning of Christmas.
Doing it electronically meant it was easier to find the pictures.

8. ACTS 1: Adoration

There is a well known suggestion for a balance prayer life: ACTS. This stands for

 1. Adoration (adoring God, standing in awe at God, praising God)
 2. Confession (admitting all the ways we are not perfect, and resolving to do better)
 3. Thanks (saying thank you to God for all that we have and are)
 4. Supplication (asking God for things we need, asking for help for ourselves or others)

The idea is that a balanced prayer life consists of all four elements. Many people find that they actually just do 4, with not very much of 1, 2 or 3. But think of them like the food groups. A balanced diet of prayer will have all the different elements.

For the next four sessions, we will focus on one of these at a time. Often, you will want to make sure you do all four each time you pray. But for now, we will split them out and just look at each one at a time.

So, this week we begin with ADORATION.

What makes you think about how amazing God is? For some people, it might be being at the top of a high mountain; or a beautiful sunset; or the ocean waves; or a huge storm. You might be filled with awe at wild animals; or tiny insects; or vast crowds of people; aerial photographs of the world, or even space and the stars and planets. And what about God's story in the Bible, or in the world around us? Maybe beautiful churches; a soaring cathedral spire; music, whether a soloist or a rock concert; pictures and youtube clips of charities working to relieve hunger and poverty and suffering; pictures of Jesus being born on a Christmas card, or pictures of the crucifixion or empty tomb?

After thinking about this, make an adoration collage. You could either do this with paper, scissors and glue, using pictures from postcards, magazines, newspapers and printouts from your computer: or you could do it electronically, searching for the images you want and making a digital collage. Print it out at the end if you do it digitally, though.

Write 'I adore you, God' or simply 'Adoration' in the middle, and surround it with images that each make you feel awe, wonder, or love for God and for all that God has made and done.

Then, stick it up on your wall so that it is a reminder for you of how amazing God is.

7b: review of Colour In your Prayers

I enjoyed doing this, it was really fun, but the picture I was doing did not make me think about the bible passage that was written on it (For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him will not be lost but will have eternal life, John 3:16) but it did make me think about the picture itself.

A hand to me means feel or touch so a hand, to me, means God feels for us with his whole heart. The sort of rainbow pathway indicates the pathway to Gods love, heaven.

I like colouring in, but to me this wasn't really a prayer experience.

I think part of the problem might have been that this was a Bible passage I know well, and I've done some Ethics and Philosophy work on it at school. In a few weeks time I'd quite like to try doing this differently, by drawing the picture myself.

Ease of use 7/10
Effectiveness  4/10

7. Colour In Your Prayers

One way that Christians sometimes use the Bible in praying is to focus on a short passage and just stay with it for quite a long time. Sometimes people say that reading a passage once, or twice, is just words. But read it three or four times, and suddenly something about it might jump out at you, or you hear it differently.

I have been thinking about how we can do this in a way that isn't just reading words on a page, and someone on Facebook (thanks Rosalind Rutherford!) said a teenager in her church had enjoyed using a special meditative colouring book (from the Lindisfarne Scriptorium) as a way to think and pray.

That book has to be ordered online, but there are several similar activities that you can try for free.
Have a look, and see which catch your eye, then print one of them off and have a go.

There are various options.
1. The first idea is to have a colour-in version of a short Bible passage. As you are colouring in the words and images, you will be able to think about them for quite a long time. And the fact that you are concentrating on colouring in means you won't be too focused on the words: your conscious mind will be occupied, leaving your subconscious to meditate on the passage without thinking about it too much. The best I have seen are at Flame Creativekids ; scroll down and choose one, print it out and get colouring!

2. Secondly, you could of course make your own. If you enjoy art, try choosing a passage - maybe one of the ones you've seen elsewhere on this site, or one you find by flicking through a Bible, or one you remember from somewhere else or from church this week perhaps. Enjoy deciding the best way to lay it out on the page, what style of writing fits it best, how you might illustrate it. Use the whole page, decorate every centimetre, take at least half an hour and make it as beautiful or dramatic as you can.

3. Another way of engaging with a Bible passage in this way, particularly if you prefer more specific questions or don't like colouring in much, is to try a Cartoon Church cartoon worksheet. Again, there are several different ones available on that link, scroll down and choose one you think looks interesting.

6b. Review of bedroom door prayers

I made two Post-It notes for my door. As I came in I had 'God be in this place', and going out I had 'God be with me wherever I go'. I read them each time I passed, though the sticky notes fell off the door after two days! But by that time it came naturally to keep saying it each time I went through the door. The effect wasn't very noticeable though.  I preferred the activities like the Lego where you interacted with something else. Just saying something was not as powerful. It did make me think about God though, not every time I walked in but quite often. When I went to bed, for example, I found I usually said a prayer because it had reminded me to.

Ease of use: 10
Effectiveness: 2.5