The Reflectionary

For Harvest, here are some forms of prayer: a meditation with a potato, and two sets of intercessions, one of which links with the sketch, One P’tater, Two P’tater, click here for script..

There is also a Spud Power battery activity for an up-front demo, or for a Messy Church or youth group activity, click here.

I’m a free-lance writer, and my children keep asking me to stop hiring their rooms out on AirBnB. Apparently sleeping in the kennel is not as much fun as it used to be. Kids, eh?

If you find these free resources useful, would you consider supporting my work? The price of a coffee a month would be great [click here] or whatever you can afford. But don’t worry if you can’t. You are very welcome to help yourself for free. Thank you.

Look More Closely

This meditation helps us to look more closely, and see the extraordinary wonder of God’s creation hidden in the ordinary. Give everyone a potato to hold and look at during this meditation, and to take home afterwards to remember. Leaders say the light words, the congregation replies with the words in bold.

What is in your hand? A potato, nothing special.

Are you sure? Yes, it is ordinary.

Look more closely. See how all the potatoes are different from each other: different sizes, different colours, different shapes.
No other potato is exactly like yours. No other person is exactly like you.
Each one is unique. Each one is unique.

Look more closely. See the texture and shading of the skin: bumpy and pitted or smooth and fine, depending on how and where and when it grew.
Your potato has a past that makes it how it is. You have a past that makes you how you are.
Each one has their own story. Each one has their own story.

Look more closely. See what is under the skin: the starch and water that can transform to become tasty food to fill our stomachs and warm our hearts.
A potato can change and become something new. You can change and become something new.
Each one can be transformed by God. Each one can be transformed by God.

Look more closely. See, in your imagination, the cells inside: the invisible factories that build potato out of thin air and water and sunlight.
Once, this potato did not exist, but now it does. Once, you did not exist, but now you do.
Each one is a gift from God. Each one is a gift from God.

Look even more closely. See the atoms that make up everything: the whirling electrons and protons and neutrons, impossibly tiny and strange beyond belief.
This potato is made of magic and mystery. You are made of stardust and the breath of God.
Each one is amazing. Each one is amazing.

What is in your hand? A potato, something very special.

Are you sure? Yes, it is extraordinary!

 

---

 

Harvest Prayers

Response:
Loving Creator God, may we reflect your goodness.

God of creation,
thank you for potatoes that grow in the ground.
Please help us to look after the world you have made.
Loving Creator God, may we reflect your goodness.

God of mercy,
thank you the good food we enjoy.
Please help us make sure that everyone has enough to eat.
Loving Creator God, may we reflect your goodness.

God of justice
Thank you for the people who prepare our meals.
Please help us to treat every one fairly.
Loving Creator God, may we reflect your goodness.

God of compassion,
thank you for people with whom we eat our meals.
Please help us to look after those who are far from their families and friends.
Loving Creator God, may we reflect your goodness.

God of love,
thank you for our bodies that use the food we eat.
Please help us care for those whose bodies or minds are not working well at the moment.
Loving Creator God, may we reflect your goodness.

May we reflect your goodness in all we say and do.
Amen.

 

---

 

These intercessions use phrases from the sketch One P’tater, Two P’tater.
Each person has a potato to hold and move around during the prayers.

P’tater Intercessions

Let us pray to God, the best P’tater of the bunch. When I say “Creator P’tater”, please respond “there’s no greater ‘tater”.
Creator P’tater, there’s no greater ‘tater

We hold our potatoes high,
and think about people who are in charge:
in our schools, in our places of work, in our country and across the world.
Creator P’tater, there’s no greater ‘tater,
please help our leaders to be wise, kind and fair,
so that all people may live in peace and have all they need.

We hold our potatoes low,
and we think about people who feel small or weak:
young people and children, people who are frightened, or struggling with problems or illness.
Creator P’tater, there’s no greater ‘tater,
please help us all to remember that you care for the least of people,
and that we must do the same.

We hold our potatoes far away,
and we think about people far from their homes and families:
refugees, people in the armed forces, and people who work or study a long way from home.
Creator P’tater, there’s no greater ‘tater,
please look after everyone who is lonely, missing family and friends,
and help your church to be a family for those who need one.

We hold our potatoes near,
and think about people who are close to us:
the people we live with, the people at work or school, and the people we can see right now if we open our eyes to peep.
Creator P’tater, there’s no greater ‘tater,
please help us to be patient with the people we meet every day,
and help them to be patient with us.

Great Creator,
may we be a blessing to those around us,
just as the potatoes you have made are a blessing to us.

Amen

 

---

 

Other items on the theme of the ordinary being extra-ordinary.

from Auguries of Innocence by William Blake

To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower.
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.

From The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.