The labyrinth is a special prayer path the church has used for many centuries (ours is based on the one built in the 1200s at Chartres Cathedral in France). The practice of walking the labyrinth is designed to help deepen your awareness of God’s presence and guidance.
It is a time-honored and powerful way to slow down and prayerfully listen to heart and soul — and a practice being rediscovered in our fast-paced culture as a healing and life-giving prayer ritual. We invite you to join this re-emerging practice as a way to quiet your mind and soul, and to prayerfully listen for God’s guiding presence — and new life being born in you.
“The first time I saw the labyrinth,
I didn’t take it very seriously,” says Mark Burrows, Director of Children’s Ministries. “In fact, my goal was to run the labyrinth in less than a minute. He laughs. “And that’s really hard to do in socks!”
“The second time I saw the labyrinth, I still didn’t take it seriously. The third time — same thing. The fourth time I thought, ‘Alright, Mark. You might as well just give it a chance. Slow down. Settle down. See what happens.’
“It was Ash Wednesday, 2010 — Wesley Hall. I had been in conversations with my buddy Cynthia McElrath about how it would feel if she passed the baton of Children’s Ministries on to me. I walked the labyrinth. In the center there were small tiles with words painted on them. The one I picked had one simple word
— ‘yes.’ That was the answer I needed, even wanted, to hear. I actually sat there and cried in the middle of the labyrinth — in my socks.
“A lot of people say you walk the labyrinth in order to ‘lose yourself.’ What if you end up finding yourself? Slow down. Settle down. See what happens.”
“I love walking meditation and the pattern of the labyrinth, as well as all the history and tradition behind it. I find a greater peace and focus as I walk. This can be a very special blessing at this time of year, when we want to ‘keep our mind stayed on love,’ but often find it crowded out by so many other seasonal concerns.”
— Sharon West
