If prayer is communication with God, then it means a two way dialogue. If this is the case, then it could be argued that the only true form of prayer is the typical, getting on one's knees, hands together and eyes closed, whilst talking to, and then waiting to hear from, God.

Having a prayer life like this, however productive it may be, also undermines the fact that we are made in the image of our Maker - that is, in the words of Rob Lacey, "Let's make people: like Us, but human. Flesh and blood. Skin and bone..." 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, "Pray Continuously". At first this is a seemingly impossible task, but as you begin to explore what it means to pray - that is, to be in communication with God - then things take on a whole new dimension. Things we have never thought could be an encounter with God suddenly become a liberating new way of understanging and communicating with our Creator.

There are many different ways to express relationship with God through prayer - song, dance, Bible study to name some of the obvious ones. If our God is a God of creativity, then we should believe that He gives us our talents and passions in these areas - it's therefore only right that we give back to him. This can mean, then, that if you are a painter, then paint - why? Because God gave you the brush strokes and the sense of colour, contrast, texture, depth of field, etc. - this is Him communicating to (and through) you. As you put this into practice you are giving back to God. Feel God's pleasure as you do this.

This is all well and good, but what about when life is getting you down, or you want to acknowledge the big mess all around us in this world? Paint what you're feeling - it may help others, too - 'A picture paints a thousand words'. It may also be that if others see the painting that they would see something different in your work - does this really matter? If it makes them think and meditate on life, then this is God again working in another person's imagination in a different way - it's no more or less relevant than your original meaning.

Creative prayer doesn't just mean being artistic, though. Creative in this case can mean being able to use different things in life to come to a point of communication with God. There are so many people who would say that they are not creative - this usually means, though, that there are extremely artistic people within a church who are always seen to be doing things because of their 'talent' or 'gifting' - so often others don't get a look in either because others are better or because they feel that they cannot do justice to God. The truth of the matter is that we are all creative - just in different ways. So exploring how to pray is an important part of discovering a person's human identity in Christ, and for bringing a brand new dimension to a chuch community.