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Prayerful Pouches

A Mini Movement Chaplaincy Toolkit

Electric tea light, stones and wooden ornaments on a decorative cloth

This small pouch offers a portable and versatile kit for fostering contemplative moments on the go. Whether it is for yourself, another student or a group, we hope this pouch will be useful for you as part of your Movement Chaplaincy work.

Contents

  • Electric tea light
  • 3 stones
  • Wooden ornaments
  • QR code to this page

Optional:

  • Decorative cloth
  • Other items (feathers, shells, driftwood, etc.)

A few rituals that make use of the items in this pouch

Ritual 1: Gratitude

  1. Have participants be seated in a circle.
  2. Lay out decorative cloth if you have (or scarf, etc.)
  3. Place the electric candle in the centre.
  4. Ask people to reflect on three gratitudes. While they are reflecting, read the poem "Three Gratitudes" by Carrie Newcomer ()
  5. Ask participants to name a gratitude as they are willing and able. Place the 3 stones to represent them symbolically.
  6. Close with a minute of silence and a blessing, e.g.:

We are so grateful for this time,
to renew our spirit,
to share our trials,
to find new strength.

Ritual 2: Listening to Things Rather than Beings

  1. Have participants be seated in a circle.
  2. Lay out decorative cloth if you have (or scarf, etc.)
  3. Place the electric candle in the centre.
  4. Read opening poem by Birago Diop
    "Listen more often
    To things than to beings
    The voice of the fire can be heard
    Hear the voice of the water
    Listen in the wind
    To the sobbing bush.
    It is the breath of the ancestors."
  5. Select a wooden ornament: a leaf, an owl or a butterfly
  6. Read aloud (or ask participants to read) a short text or poem related to the ornaments
    Butterfly: [From :] "Butterfly, with its graceful emergence from chrysalis to butterfly, reminds you that transformation does not have to be difficult. As Butterfly flits about in its maiden flight without a thought to its old life, you too can trust the strength of your own new wings to carry you to a new way."
    Owl: [From Maya Angelou:] "A bird does not sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.鈥�
    Leaf: [by Norman T. Schlechter]
    "Trees seem to speak on windy days.
    Sometimes I think they say,
    "Though shadows ever come round us.
    We look up and away."
    "We love the stars and the beaming sky;
    We never look below;
    We trust in heaven to send us rain
    And sun enough to grow."
  7. Allow participants time to contemplate the messages we can receive from nature. Play music, , or remain in silence.
  8. Stand up and close with a walking meditation [from Thich Nhat Hanh]:
    The mind can go in a thousand directions.
    But on this beautiful path, I walk in peace.
    With each step, a gentle wind blows.
    With each step, a flower blooms.

Ritual 3: Praying

  1. Have participants be seated in a circle.
  2. Lay out decorative cloth if you have (or scarf, etc.)
  3. Place the electric candle in the centre.
  4. Read opening poem by Mary Oliver
    It doesn't have to be
    The blue iris, it could be
    weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
    small stones; just
    p    ay attention, then patch
    a few words together, and don't try
    to make them elaborate, this isn't
    a contest but a doorway
    into thanks, and a silence in which
    another voice may speak.
  5. Allow participants time to pray in their own way. Play music () or sit in silence for a few minutes.
  6. Stand up and join hands. Say Amen together.
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