This week, our service reflected on the stories of the disciples hiding away in rooms with barred doors - with a slight detour into the second ending of John's gospel, which we'd looked at on Easter Sunday.
We noted that Thomas simply said the things and asked the asked the questions no-one else was brave/daft enough to voice (noting that we don't speak about Doubting Peter even though he clearly didn't believe the testimony of the women). We thought about the place of questions, about the fears that stop us being more bold, and touched very briefly on persecution and religious freedom.
For our intercessory prayers, people were invited to write/draw/symbolise their prayers based on prompts by me. We then folded the papers so that the prayers were hidden inside, and did some very simple origami to make 'houses'. These houses of prayer were then brought together to build a village of prayer.
It all went well, with high levels of participation. A simple activity, but one worth keeping in mind for a future occasion.
