The path of pilgrimage

'Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient path, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls'.   Jeremiah 6:16

You can walk on it, dance, sing and silently pray or meditate. Today you can even do it virtually, on the internet. I'm talking, of course, about the labyrinth, which has a long established spiritual history as a central focus for prayer and worship, and is currently undergoing something of a revival in popularity in the Christian community.

Over the last decade in Britain there have been labyrinths offered in conjunction with traditional styles of worship in places such as Liverpool and Peterborough Cathedrals, and for individual spiritual use at Christian Retreat Centres and festivals such as Greenbelt.

Here in the Oxford diocese a new Labyrinth has just arrived at the vicarage home of the Revd Sally Welch who plans to offer it as a resource for local churches to use as part of regular worship, or as a special worship event.

Measuring 24ft in diameter, the Reading Area Labyrinth is painted onto a one-piece octagonal canvas, and is a replica of one of the most famous in the world - that inlaid into the stone floor of Chartres Cathedral in France back in 1211.

Sally, rector of the Benefice of Cherbury with Gainfield, will travel with the labyrinth to explain and direct its use. She is a qualified labyrinth facilitator, having recently trained at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco under the Revd Dr L Artress, a world labyrinth expert and founder of the international labyrinth organisation Veriditas.

She admits that she herself was 'deeply sceptical' when she first walked a labyrinth on a pilgrimage holiday in France, and so was surprised to find the experience very moving:

'It goes against my personality for a start in that it is circuitous, so you can't look ahead, and I love forward planning. But there is only one route and as I walked, even though my family were around me, I began to pray and focus and experience a deep sense of peace.

'It’s a form of discipline to follow the path to the centre and follow it out again. I just found it was a wonderful experience, and a reminder that if we trust the path God has given us and follow it faithfully, we will end up where he wants us to be.'

Labyrinth walkers generally agree that it is a mystical experience. The journey in to the centre  for shedding and calming, then at the central rose  there is a time for stillness, prayer and contemplation (a time to be with God), before re-connecting with our surroundings as we follow the path back out.

Dr Artress in 1995 wrote: 'It is a sacred journey, a holy path which in its threefold structure of journey inward, centre and journey outwards again has been given the status of ritual, through “purgation, illumination, union”.' In 2003 Tarrant and Dakin wrote that the labyrinth had a symbolic ability to facilitate 'essential communication between human beings and God'.

Sally sees it also as a tool for churches to use not just for their regular congregations, but to reach out to people beyond:

'As with prayer stations, the labyrinth has enormous potential as a way of enabling the unchurched, and people on the fringes of the church, to engage with their spirituality in a non-threatening environment.'

She explains that, although the labyrinth has deeply Christian roots, developing in the 12 century as a substitute for pilgrimage to Jerusalem after the Crusades made travel difficult and dangerous, it links very well with contemporary culture, making it accessible to everyone;

'There are as many different uses as there are people. Whether someone comes with the intention of working through a problem and moving towards a solution, to connect with their spirituality, or just to spend time with God, the sacred geometry of the labyrinth seems to have a profound effect.'

Sally and her labyrinth will travel to any church in her area that has space for the 24ft canvas plus room for people to enter and exit the labyrinth. Two members of the hosting community will be needed to help set up the area and manage the space.

The labyrinth can be used as part of regular worship or as a special worship event, and can be offered at lunchtimes and reflection times on retreats or during workshops.

Sally will also give a dedicated labyrinth workshop or presentation for up to 20 people, including a talk, walking the labyrinth, and a time for processing and reflection, which can be adapted for a full day, half day or evening.

For more details and costs email Sally on benefice@gotadsl.co.uk or call Sally on 01865 821215. Or for more information on labyrinths see www.labyrinths.org