Lent Prayer Station: Seven Places

By Dietrich Kirk
This prayer guide is perfect to use for your youth group during Lent or as a part of a special Holy Week service.
In the 90s, there was a Christian band called Seven Places. They didn’t last very long, but their band name and a song on the album inspired me to write this guided prayer meditation. Jesus bled from seven places during the crucifixion—each hand, both feet, his head, his side, and his back.

  1. Create five stations around the room: hands, feet, head, side, and back. A small altar should be placed at each station.
  2. Provide a printed guide for each station that participants can pick up when they come to that station. Participants can do the five stations in any order.
  3. Prepare your volunteers to be ready to respond as participants experience the emotions of the crucifixion and encounter God’s grace. These stations will create the feeling of a Good Friday service in the participants. They will become reflective. Most participants simply need space, but some may need help processing their feelings.
  4. Close with a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s grace extended to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Supplies for each station:
Hands: nails, bowls, towels, and soap
Feet: baby powder, baby wipes, and a roll of black or tan paper or plastic
Side: spear or pictures of a spear, javelin, or something similar
Back: whip
Head: crown of thorns (you can order one online or borrow one from a liturgical congregation if yours does not own one)
All stations need pictures of the crucifixion, candles, tissues, and copies of the station-specific prayer guide.
 
 

FREE DOWNLOAD- SEVEN PLACES PRAYER STATION

 
About Dietrich Kirk:

Dietrich“Deech” Kirk has been in youth ministry for 20+ years. He served as the youth minister of Brentwood United Methodist Church for six years before becoming the Executive Director of the CYMT in 2006. He continues to serve as one of Brentwood’s associate ministers. He is the author of Raising Teens in an Almost Christian World: A Parent’s Guide and one of the co-authors of Now What? Next Steps in Your New Life with Christ. When he is not leading the CYMT, speaking at youth events, or training other youth workers, Deech enjoys spending time with his wife Keeley and daughters Carlisle and Hallie.