Temporary Labyrinth

Temporary Prayer Labyrinth Journal

By David Drury

Labyrinth Journal s Labyrinth Stations s Labyrinth Pics s Labyrinth FAQ

10 March 2006 Entry

Picture of the Labyrinth are up now

Click here for pictures of the labyrinth and a description of each station. And you can click here for the labyrinth FAQ.

8 March 2006 Entry

Report on Labyrinth Weekend

Wow… it was a really incredible experience. I’m not sure I’ve done much here at our church that has elicited such deep-felt appreciation. People were really doing spiritual business in there! All weekend people were coming for the prayer time and then allotting about 15-20 minutes to go to the prayer labyrinth, even if they had no clue what it was. Here are some of the most common reactions that summarize what most people said are here:

¨ “It was such an amazing time.”

¨ “I set aside 15 minutes to do it but had to stop because I knew it would take me an hour. I came back two more times.”

¨ “It was one of the best prayer times I’ve ever had.”

¨ “Where in the world did you get this idea?”

¨ “This reminded me of the stories in the book Red Moon Rising.”

¨ “Maybe some of my school friends would do this with me.” (from a teenager)

¨ “I wish you could keep it up permanently.”

¨ “Could I get copies of the station signs—that was some cool stuff.”

¨ “I loved how we could participate in the prayers—writing names of God on the wall and posting praises on the cork wall.”

It was definitely a great time. I took the middle school class (about 20) and then the high-school class (about 15) through it on Sunday morning and I hope a few bold ones in that group decide to do one of their own with a more uniquely “teen” slant someday. Pray with me that they catch fire. I counted up the sign-in sheet and 118 people signed up as having gone through it in just that weekend! Not sure how many went through that didn’t sign in. Also, at the Communion station we had a box for giving to the poor, and $144.13 came in (and people would not have been planning to give.) There were several twenty dollar bills in there too!

2 March 2006 Entry

Labyrinth Stations

Click here to find the stations for our temporary labyrinth at SLWC. Nearly all the “slots” to cover for the 24/3 weekend of prayer are filled. Many people are asking what a “labyrinth” is because I’ve not promoted it nor have I really described it in full to staff members. I kinda like that sense of “buzz” rather than “hype.” It seems to me that the things that are unique and special create buzz. The things that are run-of-the-mill and same-old-same-old require hype to get people to appreciate them (or simply show up to them). Hopefully the buzz will be enough to get people to come and experience this unique prayer journey.

24 February 2006 Entry

Planning Coming Together

The Labyrinth idea is coming together. (Read the first entry below if you aren’t up-to-date yet on what we’re doing.) I’ve secured a room that will work and I can keep it set up all weekend during our 24-3 prayer vigil at the church. In fact, the room is usually used for a teen class taught by Julie Collins that takes teens deeper into their spiritual walk—which is a perfect tie-in with the Labyrinth. So she’s going to take her class through it on Sunday morning. I found some great white ropes that should work for laying out the path on the floor – I may use some black lights in the room to make the white rope jump off the floor at you and keep you on the path.

I did decide to a 7-ring classical Cretan style because it’ll be easiest to lay out in a small room. Pastor Dennis & Pastor Pete both are into the idea. I think it will be a good supplement to the prayer weekend. I’m thinking through stations at this point along the path. I’ll decide that on Monday during my Day Alone With God. Will report back after that on the progress.

By the way – our Prayer Architect, Mary Beth Witte (who works with me at SLWC), sent me this link which has some more good info on Prayer Labyrinths: http://www.lindenwoodcc.com/labryinth/labryinth.htm

20 February 2006 Entry

Preliminary Research

My church is doing a 24/3 prayer vigil during our 40 Days this year. People are signing up for certain hours of the day or night to come to the church and prayer. A good idea. We’ve been heavily influenced by the 24-7 prayer movement and the book Red Moon Rising. Our daughter church plant, Watermark, did a week long prayer room thing and their ideas are also helping us figure out what this looks like.

For my part I hope to set up a temporary prayer labyrinth and so this is the ongoing “blog style” journal of that process. Perhaps you can track with my journey in setting this up and someday build your own temporary or permanent labyrinth.

I have always been fascinated by Labyrinths. Whether using the online prayer labyrinth for my own meditation, visiting a cathedral that had one on its tile floor, or a visiting a garden with a hedge-labyrinth I’ve always been drawn to walk the path and focus in prayer. Like so many others, I need something to concentrate myself on when meditating on the word or in prayer. Traditional eastern meditation has been described as “clearing your mind of any thoughts.” It is my perception that Christian meditation is not in fact this “emptying” but instead involved focused concentration on one simple thought, scripture or simply on the mind of God. I keep in mind here that Christianity is not in fact a “western” religion, and if anything started as an eastern one (within Judiasm) but my hope is that Christianity is not limited by either way of thinking.

A labyrinth is a maze-like path designed to facilitate meditation and prayer. It can be formed three dimensionally with walls or shrubbery or by a pattern made on the floor or ground. There is one path into the center of a labyrinth and one path out of it. A maze is designed as a puzzle but a labyrinth is not intended to be difficult to navigate. Its singular path is merely a way to physically engage in prayer and worship experientally.

I think the best choice for our temporary labyrinth might be the 7-ring classical Cretan style. Because of it’s simplicity I believe I can lay one out on the floor in our church with ropes and tape. We can also set up stations along the way. I believe I’ll use the Lord’s Prayer as a rubric for the stations, which will match the teaching focus of our church’s 40 Days: God Blog theme. I’ll come back here and update the progress as I get closer to constructing this temporary prayer labyrinth.

For now, here are some interesting pics of temporary prayer labyrinths others have constructed for similar purposes: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

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