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Stations of the Cross

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When people as early as the 4th century began to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land from Europe and Asia, they wanted to walk the route Jesus took from the place of his death sentence by Pilate to the place of his crucifixion and burial. This walk became known as the Via Dolorosa or Way of Sorrows. At each stop along the way, pilgrims sang hymns, read Scripture, and said prayers.

Stations of the Cross are a way people can experience this journey of tears without traveling to Jerusalem. Many churches have paintings or sculptures of these events or stations on their walls. Over the centuries the number of stations depicting Jesus’s journey to the cross and death has changed.. Fourteen is the common number for many churches now. Each station offers an opportunity to enter into the story, to contemplate, and to pray. Holy Week and especially Good Friday are typical times for praying the Stations of the Cross.

If you are unfamiliar with this practice, you can explore websites with the history of Stations of the Cross. There are thousands. Also look for Images. There are many examples of Stations of the Cross liturgies with prayers and readings. Click here for one example.

Below is a template for you to make your own Stations of the Cross journey with Jesus on paper. Each of the fourteen cloud shapes has a sentence for the station and an empty space with a cross. As you imagine yourself in Jerusalem on this sorrowful walk to the cross, add your own images, doodles, or words. Read. Sing. Think. Pray. Be there.

Download a pdf. or .jpg template. Download it first then, print. The sequence of stations is left to right, row by row, starting at the top of the page.

Two Weeks of Lent–A Visual Diary

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I love this one-day-at-a-time, one tear-at-a-time journey through Lent. Lent for Everyone–Year C by N.T. Wright is a thoughtful combination of Scripture and reflection. The devotional includes a daily reading from Luke followed by a meditation from the author. As I look back at the growing pathway of words, I remember the stories from the Gospel. (Or on Sundays, a Psalm) Some of the words I chose are from the Luke reading itself: others are from the reflection piece. Both readings challenge me to rethink my relationship with Jesus. I’m trying to read not to confirm the opinions and beliefs I hold so tightly and arrogantly, but to receive what God might be asking me to consider or rethink or affirm.

The word combined with the doodles has been a helpful prompt to remember, review, and refresh my thoughts and prayers about the readings from a particular day.

How I’m Using the 2019 Lenten Calendar Template

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This year I’m combining the Tear Drop Spiral Template with a daily devotional called Lent for Everyone: Luke, Year C: A Daily Devotional by N.T. Wright. In many liturgical churches, the Gospel readings for the Sundays of Lent this year (Year C in a three-year cycle) are from Luke. Wright’s devotional takes a daily small chunk of Luke and goes through the whole Gospel during the Lenten season.

Each day I read the passage from the Gospel of Luke and Wright’s reflection on it. From either the gospel or the reflection I choose a word that jumps out at me. Sometimes the choice might require more than one reading. Then I write the word in a space on the calendar. Yesterday’s word was seed. I wrote it in the starting tear drop dated March 6. On a separate piece of paper I wrote the word seed and started brainstorming about the word. I call this a data dump. I wrote down everything that came to mind when I thought of seed—no editing. What I write about a word might be silly or serious: I’m just clearing my mind of all preconceived ideas to make room for new ones.

When I feel empty, I stop writing and start doodling around the word of the day. The doodling can be abstract or realistic. It doesn’t matter. But I stop overt “thinking” and just listen to the word. “What does it have to say to me today? What might God be saying to me through this word?”  I doodle and color and try to get still on the inside. For me, this is taking a single word and praying it, or letting it pray in me.

If words, phrases, or feelings come to me while I’m drawing, I write them down—on the same page as before or on a new page (or even on the calendar). When I finish drawing, I might sit with the word/drawing or look at the brainstorm page again. Sometimes insights come; sometimes silence and quiet are enough. Time spent with the chosen word and with God helps to frame my whole day. I love this simple, day-by-day process of staying in touch with God and orienting my outlook on life.

Baby was my word for Day 2.

It’s not too late to download a template. See the March 4 or February 15 post.

The Journey Through Lent on a Calendar Template

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Using a calendar template is a simple, daily prayer practice for making the journey through Lent. Each day choose a word to ponder or a person to pray for. Write the word or name in the allotted space with a pen and draw or doodle around it. Add color with colored pencils or markers. Let the word or name speak to you. If words come to you as you draw, pray them. If not, just continue to draw, stay quiet, and let the word or name burrow into your mind and heart. Returning to the calendar each day establishes a hallowed time and a place to be present to God and listen.

Think of each mark of the pen or stroke of a colored marker/pencil as a small non-verbal prayer. The goal of the doodling and drawing is not to make a beautiful work of art, but to create a visual prayer. Drawing/doodling invites the body into the prayer, gives the eyes and hand something to do, and helps to focus attention on the word or person.

Praying on the calendar is a visual and kinesthetic Lenten discipline. The accumulation of words or peoples’ names on the calendar creates an emerging tapestry of your spiritual journey through the forty-plus days of Lent.

BELOW are three templates to download. Choose the one or ones you like and click on the link below the calendars. Download the template first, then Print. Below the templates are some suggested ways to use the calendars. Since the spaces are small you can take the template to a copier and enlarge it (129%-132%) onto an 11″x17″ piece of card stock. Although Lent is officially 40 days, there are 46 spaces on each template to include the weekends. Further down the page are some finished templates from previous years. Feel free to Share this post and the templates with others. 

Spiral of Tears Calendar .pdf
Box Calendar .pdf
Stained Glass Window w/Lily Calendar. pdf

Ways to Use the Calendars:
1) Pray for a person each day of Lent.

2) Use a daily book of Lenten meditations. Read the mediation for the day and select a word that jumps out at you. Meditate on the word as you draw and color around it. Let it enter your heart and mind. Ask God what you need to hear from the word.

3) Follow a daily lectionary and choose a word from one of the Scripture readings.

4) Read the same Psalm each day and choose a daily word. Psalm 51, for example, is a penitential Psalm with lots of juicy (sometimes depressing) words in it.

5) Read a different Psalm each day and choose a word.

6) Use nouns or adjectives that describe the nature and character of Jesus: savior, redeemer, healer, radical, obedient, forgiving,…

7) Since Lent is a time for reflection and self-examination, scatter your confessions, character defects, regrets, worries, fears, and sorrows on the template. Ask the Holy Spirit to be present as you reflect on these. This is not meant to be an exercise in self-flagellation, but a way to be honest with yourself and draw closer to God and god’s unconditional love. Mix in some dreams, hopes, and thanksgivings.

8) Create a visual gratitude list. Each day add a word or an image. The items on your gratitude list can be important and profound or simple and fleeting: a cup of coffee, a walk around the block, a smile from a child….

Here are three examples of finished calendars from previous years.

Thanks to Lynne M for permission to use her calendar in the middle from 2011.
Thanks to Connie D for her Lenten calendar in the top row of calendars, second from the right.

Wild and Cry–Advent Words

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For the first nine days of Advent I have really enjoyed combining praying in color with #AdventWord. Everyday #AdventWord (adventword.org)  sends  an email with a new word and a reflection on the word. The chosen words are based on the Advent lectionary from year C. Most of them are familiar, returning Advent companions. But Sunday’s word jarred me and my thoughts went wild. The word was WILD. Instead of just drawing, I started writing:

WILD
Jesus tames the wild, but Jesus also wilds the tame. For people like me who seek the safe, easy, and comfortable way, he discomforts. I choose the path of the good-girl Christian. She’s the one who follows the rules, wants to be perfect, memorizes the Beatitudes and Ten Commandments, respects authority, doesn’t make waves, tries to please, goes to church every Sunday, smiles…. I don’t think Jesus objects to any of those things; they are good things– except if they get in the way of following Him. For me, it’s easier to follow rules. It’s hard to follow the Jesus who calls for wild, sometimes risky discipleship.

“I am the Way,” says Jesus. Possibly, the wild way, the unpredictable way. Jesus steers me off the 8-lane highway of comfort and conformity, asks me to unbuckle my seat belt, and takes me onto the narrow path through a forest of thickets, roots, and brambles. The only navigation tool is Jesus Himself. My mother warned me about men who said, “Follow me.” “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:14 NRSV). (But this is Jesus, mom, okay?)

He is the Way. Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness; You will see rare beasts and have unique adventures. These are the stunning words of the poet W.H. Auden. This wild Jesus who calls me beyond my familiar boundaries is the one I want to follow–but I am so afraid to do so.

 

Monday’s word was CRY.
CRY
I almost never cry. Not at funerals, not at weddings. Except recently, at the drop of a hat, at the movies, at pictures of my granddaughter, at funerals…. I have wondered: “Why all the crying? Did I have a stroke? Or is my heart actually softening?” In one of those strong, rare, inaudible voices I heard: “Doesn’t matter. Trust the tears.”

 

 

Leslie Lepage is also combining #AdventWord with a calendar template. Here are her visual prayers/meditations on the words.

More Advent Calendar Ideas

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Besides drawing an Advent Calendar using the templates for this year (see the bottom of this post), here are several other ideas for creating a daily visual Advent calendar.

Draw your own calendar. My first praying in color Advent calendars were drawn one-day-at-a time. From one day to the next, I never knew what shape I was going to draw. I had a large piece of paper and prayed for a new person or prayed an Advent word each day. I loved paying attention to the improvisational inspiration of the new day.

Start with a large blank piece of paper. Every day, draw a shape: square, circle, triangle, rectangle, blob…. Write an Advent word or phrase in the shape. Or pray for a person. Add lines, arc, dots, squiggles, color….Let this be an opportunity for reflection and silence in your day.

Create an Advent tree calendar. Use paper shipping or merchandise tags. Each day write an Advent word, a “hope”, a thanksgiving, or a person’s name on a tag. Draw around the word or name as you ponder and pray. Add doodles and color. Tie the tag on the tree. This could also be an #AdventWord tree. See November 26 post about #AdventWord.

Make a clothesline calendar.  Attach small envelopes to a rope or string with clothespins. Each day ask one family member to choose a word or name for the envelope. Doodle and color around it. Put dollar bills or loose change in the envelope of the day. When Advent ends, send the collected money to an organization or charity of your choice.

Make a participatory Advent Calendar/Wreath. Place a piece of white butcher paper or poster board on a table. Add four candles–four blue or four purple (or three blue/purple and a pink one).Use some artificial greenery or greenery from your yard to decorate. Each day invite someone (or everyone) in your home to add a word or name or piece of “artwork” to the calendar. Provide stickers, markers, ribbon, and colored paper. Give small children a chance to scribble or draw. At the end of Advent a wonderful, intergenerational collage of doodles, prayers, words, and designs will announce the arrival of Christmas.

Plant bulbs in stones or water. This is the time of year to buy Paperwhite narcissus and amaryllis bulbs. You can practically watch them grow. I like to plant them in a clear container so I can see the roots grow downward as the plant grows upward. This is a great way to teach children about waiting but not waiting in vain. Daily watering can be the task of a child.

Here are this year’s templates and the links to download them. For more information and instructions, see the November 12 post.

Gratitude Gobbler 2018

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“Let us come before God with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” (Psalm 95:2 NIV)

For a family activity on Thanksgiving Day or during the holiday weekend, hand out colored pencils, markers, and a turkey template.  In the spaces within the turkey and on the sides of the page, write, doodle, and color your “gratitude list.”  If that seems too daunting, just notice the small things you are  enjoying from the weekend–the smell of turkey, the colored leaves on the ground, the football games…no matter how small or insignificant they seem.In the center of the turkey choose a name for God: “Loving God, Gracious God, Holy One, Jesus….” Recite the above Psalm as you write words and color. Add more lines, dots, and designs to the page.

Below are examples of finished templates from past years and a template for this year.

The black and white turkey is this year’s template.  You can download it by clicking on the link below it. Click on the .pdf or.jpg version below the template. Download first, then print. Feel free to make multiple copies and to share it with others. You can Share this post on Facebook, Twitter,…. If you receive this post as an email, you will need to go the actual blog site to Share. (https://prayingincolor.com/blog)

Expand it to 11×17 card stock and pass it around the table as a group project.

Happy Thanksgiving.

2018 Gratitude Gobbler

.pdf    OR    .jpg

Templates for earlier versions of the turkey are available for download on my Handouts Page.

Advent Calendar Templates for 2018

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If I had to choose just one Advent discipline or activity, it would be a doodled Advent calendar. If you have never done this before, it is a simple, daily but satisfying spiritual practice. This kind of calendar is different from the Advent calendars you buy in a store. You create this one with words and doodles. Instead of opening the door of the day with pictures or retrieving small gifts or candies from pockets, the calendar marks the daily journey to Christmas with your prayers and simple drawings.  I like to think of this calendar as a “count-up” to Christmas rather than a “count-down.” It is a building up, rather than a tearing apart. The finished Advent calendar is a colorful reminder of what was in your head and on your heart each day. It is a record of the daily spiritual journey through Advent.

Advent calendars are for adults and children. This year’s calendar templates at the bottom of this post are downloadable for free.

Ways to Use the Calendar Templates

1) In a space or shape on the calendar, write the name of someone for whom you are praying. Doodle around the name, add color. Think of each stroke of color or each doodled mark (line, dot, arc, spiral…) as a wordless prayer. If words come to you as you draw and color, pray them. Squeeze them onto the calendar in the shape or along the margins if they feel important. When you have finished with your daily entry, say “Amen” or recite a short passage of Scripture appropriate to Advent like “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” (Psalm 27:1)

2) Combine your calendar with one of the many wonderful Advent books of meditations and reflections. Read the entry for the day. Choose a word from the reading that jumps out at you. Write it in the shape and start to doodle and color around it. Marinate in the word. What is the word saying to you? What does God have to say to you about the word? Listening + doodling+ coloring = praying.  Keep a computer or notebook next to your calendar so you can write any insights or “ahas.”

3) Write and ponder an Advent word––prepare, wait, pregnant, hope, watch, darkness, longing, light…—as you doodle and color.

4) Advent is a season of hope. Write something you hope for each day. Offer that idea to God as you draw, write, and color.

5) Advent means “coming,” and specifically the coming of Jesus. Write one of the many names for Jesus in the daily box. Here are a few of the many ways we refer to Jesus: savior, messiah, friend, Prince of Jesus, Emmanuel…. Use the Bible, Handel’s Messiah, Christmas carols, and hymns to uncover those names. Pray and ponder how that name for Jesus stirs, affects, annoys, delights, or inspires you.

6) For smaller children, print the calendar on 11″x17″ paper and just let them color. Light a battery-powered votive candle and give them a quiet, secret place to work. The Tree template might be a simple one for a child to use.

This is not supposed to be a great work of art. Enjoy the process. The words, marks, and color end up creating a beautiful tapestry in spite of your skill level! Advent calendars can also be just black and white. No color necessary. Here are some samples of completed Advent calendars from past years. Thanks to Cindy O. and Connie D. for their calendars.

Candles–Connie D, Box Calendar–Cindy O

Cindy O

Sybil

Here are six 2018 Advent Calendar templates in .pdf  form.

Click on the links below the pictures for the one you want. When the image appears as a  google doc, click on the download button at the top (the square with the downward facing arrow). Download first; then print. Feel free to share the calendar templates with others, for individual or group use.

 

Notes:

  • Advent is short this year. It starts on Dec 2 and lasts 23 days.
  • Each calendar has a space for Christmas. On the Tree Calendar it is the star. The Box Calendar has a space dated Dec 25. The area surrounding the circle and/or the circle itself on the Stained Glass calendar can be used for Christmas. The Double Arc calendar has its own space in the center for Christmas. The Star Calendar has the large Star of David in the center.
  • I like to enlarge the 8.5″x11″ format to 11″x17″ card stock. It gives me more room to doodle and color and consequently more time and space with the person or word.
  • Thanks to Cindy O. for the 2018 Box Calendar template. Notice the Sundays of Advent are larger than the other spaces.

P.S. If you have trouble downloading the template, send me an email from the Contact page and I’ll send a calendar template to you directly. Sometimes school and church computers or accounts will not allow you to download things from unknown sites on the internet. If you contact me, use your home email instead of a school or church email. If you would prefer a .jpg, contact me.