I am completely hooked on a little iPhone app called Instagram (as you will know, from some of my photos).  It combines my love of retro-style photography with social networking.  It incorporates details from many cultures which I find absolutely fascinating.  What I love about IG, is that everybody on there is really positive and encouraging.  Everyone supports each other and there are some hugely talented people out there.

We must never forget to innovate, but also to support innovation and to celebrate it.  The use of the# tag is becoming more and more prevalent in modern day internet usage.  Its purpose is to create a link between many different strands. This device was pioneered by Twitter, amongst others.

I was genuinely moved, when I saw a new #tag appear on IG entitled #prayforjapan, following the horrors of the huge earthquake and tsunami.

It is so easy to get caught up in tradition and a sense of ‘religion’ when it comes to prayer.  When broken down, prayer involves expressing to God what is in our hearts.  This is often through worship/thanks, contemplation, reflection, asking for forgiveness and asking for help.

Religion and routine dictate to us that this involves ‘saying stuff’ to God and perhaps closing our eyes and putting our hands together. It is easy to say to someone “we are all praying for you” but just imagine if you could visualise it? Wouldn’t it be so much easier to see, to feel and to understand?  A picture paints 1000 words, so rather than 4992 prayers, what if, as a resident of Japan, you SAW those prayers?  This is exactly what IG has achieved.

If you click on someone’s tag #prayforjapan, the most powerful set of 4992 images (and counting, fast!) come up. 4992 people who have sat and prayerfully contemplated the plight of this country,  taken their cameras and thoughtfully created an image that visualises their prayer.

Some images are really simple, like a post-it note saying “love and prayers to Japan”.  Someone had written “Pray for Japan” in the sand on a beach in America (quite symbolic, given that it was a tsunami that hit as well as an earthquake).  Some prayers had no words, but were a desperate cry for help.These images were from the Japanese, showing the destruction all around them.  Other members from Japan left messages saying “Japan thanks you for your prayers”.

Some images were really moving.  One showed some broken wooden boards, focussing on a tiny little plant growing through a knot in the wood to symbolise hope and new life.  Someone else had made some origami birds in bright colours, which simply said “pray”.  Many had found red on a white background to symbolise the flag and others had photographed blossom, as cherry blossom is a prevalent feature in Japanese art.  Another had taken a photo of Hokusai’s wave (1830ish), which is possibly the most famous piece of Japanese art in history. Many surmised that this could be a tsunami near Mount Fuji, although popular opinion suggests that it is actually a “wave of the open sea” (translated from some of the Japanese title notes).  There were also pictures of children praying, world flags congregated together and one flag simply said “the sun will shine again”.

Placed together, these images were incredibly powerful.  They were an image of prayer and solidarity.  I learnt something today and I am grateful. God bless Japan.

Some examples close up:

As an aside, wouldn’t it be a brilliant small group/cluster activity? To do a photo walk on a subject relating to prayer?