On Monday June 3rd we hosted a ‘Prayer labyrinth’ in our church as part of the ecumenical prayer initiative ‘Thy Kingdom come’. Labyrinths can be found in many historic churches all over the world. The aim is to encourage people of faith to set aside a short period of time to go on a spiritual journey of prayer. A labyrinth is simply a place to walk and pray. It gives you the freedom to walk around while focusing on God – and not worry about getting lost!
Our labyrinth (pictured), was made on the floor of our church vestibule. It is a simple walking path to the centre and then back out again. It has many turns, but unlike mazes, does not have dead ends.
On entering our labyrinth, the pilgrim came to a series of numbers on the path. These took the pilgrim to prayer stations outside the labyrinth where different aspects of prayer life were explored.
There was a steady flow of people from a number of people throughout the day. All who came said they found the prayerful atmosphere very helpful. Our local volunteers enjoyed it so much that we are already planning to repeat the exercise next year!
Richard Grocott