Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church
Labyrinth Service
Sunday, January 18, 2004

With the labyrinth successfully painted on the ground the prior day, the stage was set for the labyrinth service. Not only was this service to generate support and raise awareness about the labyrinth project, it would serve to educate the congregation about labyrinths in general.

Opening Words

Parable for All Ages

This morning in the “Parable for All Ages”, Joyce and Linda bring the children attending the service to the front of the congregation and, with the help from a couple of visual aids, talk with the children about labyrinths.

Joyce: Come and join us, children.

Linda: Good morning, children.

Joyce: This morning, let’s talk about taking a walk.

Linda: What kind of a walk are you thinking about?

Joyce: I walked in a park on a path to a beautiful lake.

Linda: Have any of you ever walked on a path?

Children respond.

Joyce: People have been walking on a special path for 5,000 years.

Linda: This morning after your RE class, you’ll have a chance to walk on this special path that’s 5,000 years old.

Joyce: How can you do that? Do we have a time machine at the church?

Linda: No, we have a labyrinth outside.

Joyce: What’s that?

Linda: Let me show you. On a couple of large poster boards poster, Linda shows a maze and the Live Oak Labyrinth. Here are two different kinds of paths: a maze and a labyrinth. You move to the center in both of these paths. But a maze is like a puzzle.

Joyce: I like puzzles. Let me try the maze. Joyce uses a marker to navigate the maze, deliberately taking dead ends, which draws lots of loud protests from the children as they try to help her get to the center. I keep bumping into dead ends. I can’t figure it out. I can’t get to the center.

Linda: This may not be your morning for puzzles. Would you like to try the labyrinth? The path twists and turns, but it takes everyone to the center every time you trace it. You don’t have to figure anything out. You just have to keep walking on the path.

Joyce again uses the marker to follow the path in the labyrinth, this time having a much easier time of it.

Joyce: I can do this. I made it to the center! And I didn’t get lost!

Linda: We have a surprise for you, children. We have a giant labyrinth just like this one for you to walk after your RE class. It’s outside.

Joyce: So you mean I don’t have to just use my pen? I can walk on top of it.

Linda: That’s right. And you can walk the labyrinth with your mom, or your dad, or your brother or sister, or your friends.

Joyce: Is there a special way to walk the labyrinth?

Linda: Walk in silence so you can pay attention. When you’re walking you can think about something that’s on your mind-a question, a problem, a worry, a joy. Maybe you’ll have some new ideas about it while you’re walking or after the walk.

Joyce: The center is a special place of peace, calm, quiet, safety, listening.

Linda: Then you’ll walk back out, remembering any special thoughts you’ve had. Maybe you’ll want to write or draw something about your walk when you get home today, or tell someone what your walk was like.

Joyce: It’s very exciting that we’re building an outdoor labyrinth hereat church.

Linda: May we walk in peace and love.

Reading

Dauna Markova

Sermon: The Labyrinth as a Sacred Path

The History by Susan S.

As far back as 2500 B.C.E., the labyrinth has been found to be a part of ancient civilizations. Despite the isolation these cultures had from one another only one archetypal design emerged over thousands of years. This design is the Classical 7-circuit labyrinth, or what has come to be known as the Cretan design. It is believed to be an earth-based design which evolved from the spiral pattern found repeatedly in nature and whose origin was in goddess-worshipping cultures. The term Labyrinth is credited to Herodotus born about 484 B.C.E

Although the classical pattern can be found spread throughout the Roman Empire from Britain to Eastern Europe to N Africa, they are also found in Scandinavia, Russia, Iceland and the Baltic Countries. India, China, Peru, and North America all have a history of labyrinth designs being created and used for a variety of reasons.

What exactly the reasons are varies only slightly, which is as amazing as the fact that only one archetypal design existed throughout these disconnected civilizations. Ancient labyrinths were associated with the protection of all that was central or sacred to the civilization, whereas in Medieval times they were walked for good fortune and protection; but always they have been thought to be symbolic of the cycle of life.

• The oldest surviving labyrinth design is a rock carving at Luzzana in Sardinia and dates back to between 2500-2000 B.C.E..
• Petroglyphs have been found in N. Italy that date to 1500 B.C.E., and those found in S. India date back to 1000 B.C.E.
• The earliest surviving design on a ceramic vessel was found in Syria and dates back to 1300 B.C.E.
• A clay tablet found in Peloponnisos, Greece has the labyrinth design etched into it and dates back to 1200 B.C.E.

But the oldest remaining labyrinth structure that was built to be walked was constructed by King Amenemhet III around 1800 B.C.E. at Fayum in Egypt; and remains of a classical 7-circuit labyrinth can be found on Mt. Knossos on the isle of Crete, Greece, as well as found imprinted on coins and traced into pottery and other ancient artifacts of that area.

In two early Christian churches, the 4th Century Basillica @ Reparatus, Algeria and 9th Century St. Lucca Cathedral in Italy, labyrinths can be found.

But it was in the middle ages that medieval Christians walked what is now known as the Chartres design, named for its presence in Chartres Cathedral in France, built around 1200 A.D.. It differs from the Cretan in that it has four quadrants that are walked and a rose pattern in the center. The four quadrants form a cross pattern that is visible and the rose center is a symbol for the Virgin Mary. It is believed that the pattern was a symbol of the Christian faith; symbolic of the ‘one true path to salvation’ and as such the labyrinth was used by the common man as a pilgrimage.

Three centuries ago labyrinths fell out of favor in churches and were covered up. Scholars have speculated that this could have been due to the fact that labyrinths encouraged noisy behavior among children disturbing church goers; or that they were often used for games and dances that the hierarchy disapproved of. But more than likely, that their disuse was due to a leaving behind of pagan traditions and that the labyrinth was viewed as a threat to the church in its invitation to a direct experience with the divine in a time when mediators (the priests) were seen as necessary to intercede between worshipers and the sacred.

Good fortune, protection, empowerment, spiritual insight, connection to the earth, to nature, to the eternal; the reasons the ancients walked are still relevant today and may well be a part of why so many are drawn to it. In walking the labyrinth you are following the same path with the same intention that others have for thousands of years. You become one with the pilgrims of the middle ages, the Hopi Indians, the walkers in Fayum, Egypt, the Cretans on Mt. Knossos, the Sardinians.

In your walk, may you join with those who have walked before you in their desire to remember and know the power and peace of this ancient sacred tool.

Reading

Walking the Walk by Linda W.

I stand at the entrance to the labyrinth. I pause to consider my walk.

What is my intent?

• I might ponder a question in my heart;
• take time for being quiet;
• or enjoy being outside.

I get to choose.

I cross the threshold onto the path of the labyrinth. I enter sacred space. My journey on the path of the labyrinth is also a metaphor for the path I’m walking in my life right now. What will I learn about myself and my life on this walk?

On the way in:

• I release what I don’t need to take with me on this walk.
• I pay attention to myself and my responses during the walk.
• I find my own pace of walking, whether fast or slow. Maybe I’ll pass other walkers; maybe others will pass me. It doesn’t matter. This isn’t a race.
• I don’t need to worry about getting lost on the labyrinth. If I keep walking, I’ll end up either in the Center or at the entrance. If this isn’t where I want to be, I simply turn around and walk the other way. And maybe I’ll think about times in my life when I’ve been “lost” and then “found.”
• Sometimes I love the turns, changing direction with enthusiasm, twirling and spinning around. Sometimes I love the straight-away path. It feels so good to move ahead without change.
• Am I close to the center? Am I far away? When will I get there? I don’t know.

Finally, I reach the Center.

• The place of stillness, the place of listening, the place of rest.
• The heart of the mystery
• The center of myself.
• I can stay as long as I want in the Center.
• What does the labyrinth say to me today?
• Usually the message is not in words, but in feelings of peace, joy, feeling at home with myself.
• One time I did get a simple verbal message. Walking into the Center, on a day that had been emotionally exhausting, my legs suddenly felt tired and achy. I didn’t think I could keep walking. And I started saying to myself: “I’m so tired. I’m so tired.” Then came the message: “Sit down and rest.” So I sat on the stone in the Center. When I got up, my legs didn’t hurt, and I felt refreshed.

I leave the Center. It’s time for me to Return.

• I take the same path out that I walked in. Yet, it usually has a different “feel.”
• As I walk out, I ponder what I’ve observed or experienced during the walk. For example, the wisdom of resting when I feel tired.
• I think about how I’ll incorporate this learning in my daily life.
• The labyrinth is a gentle-and persistent-teacher.
• I keep walking. Often on my way out, I am more aware of the other walkers. Who’s walking in? Who’s walking out? Who’s ahead of me? Who’s behind me? No way to know.
• I keep walking; and before I’m ready, I find myself at the entrance to the labyrinth. Why does the return journey always seem shorter to me?
  • Do I walk faster going out?
  • Have I accidentally taken a shortcut that nobody else knows about?
  • Does time fly when you’re having fun?
  • Is it easier to walk with a lighter heart?

My walk is over. Before I leave, I face the Center one last time, say my thanks and blessings, and return to my everyday life.

Since walking the labyrinth is a metaphor for our own individual life journeys, I hope that you’ll explore the labyrinth for yourself. You’ll find your own truths, have your own experiences, and walk in your own way.

Reading: Sometimes by Susan S.
Reflections from a Labyrinth Walk in the Company of a Two-Year Old

Sometimes we walk, sometimes we run. Sometimes we hold hands, sometimes we walk apart, but we are sharing the same journey regardless. Sometimes we stumble and can get back up on our own, sometimes we need help getting on our feet again, sometimes we need to be carried. Sometimes we stop to see life’s treasures, sometimes we need to sit to rest. Sometimes we get impatient and choose to cross barriers; we either find ourselves on a prolonged journey or closer to completion. Sometimes we choose to wait, sometimes we choose to go on ahead, sometimes we chose to be left behind, sometimes we refuse to go on until someone offers us a hand. Sometimes we accept each other’s choices, sometimes we try to force our own. Sometimes we mind our steps, sometimes we look ahead, sometimes we look back. Sometimes there are obstacles; sometimes we go around them, sometimes we go over them, but one way or another we have to decide what to do about them. Sometimes we feel lost, but we aren’t; we are exactly where we are meant to be at that moment. We could choose to quit before we’ve completed our journey, but today we don’t … today we walk forward, trusting along the way that we will end exactly where we began.

The Power of the Labyrinth by Joyce P.

So what makes this Walk any different from other physical exercise like running or biking or walking around the mall? Where does it derive its power?

The Labyrinth seems to have evolved from that universal symbol of growth and transformation, the Spiral. Spirals have been inscribed in stone the world over since Ancient times and have served as boundary markers between secular and sacred at holy sites.

The spiral is encoded into the universe. It’s found in the chamber of a nautilus shell and in our own bodies. Trace the whorl of hair at the crown of your head, the point of contact with the divine in spiritual traditions around the world. We carry spirals from the winding code of our DNA to the cochlea of our inner ear to the whorls on our fingertips, those spirals that are uniquely our own.

The labyrinth, echoing the spiral’s transformational theme, has invited journeyers and spiritual seekers through the ages to contemplate the mysteries of life.

Part of the power of this sacred journey stems from defining and using the labyrinth as Sacred Space. The labyrinth is a physical location which contains us by giving us a place to be safe, nurtured and supported in body, emotions, mind and spirit. These common elements of sacred space form the physical and energetic foundation for the labyrinth. By being in a sacred place it allows us to access all that we know to be sacred and with all that we hold in the sacred spaces within us. Reaching center in the labyrinth is about reaching a focus of spiritual power and grace, the still point in the center of a chaotic world.

Circles, centers, spirals, all embody an ancient discipline called sacred geometry, the form which derives a great deal of the labyrinth’s proportion and power. There are lots of people who walk the labyrinth and don’t know anything about sacred geometry. What they do know that something very powerful is going on and they are deeply touched by but don’t understand.

Two important components of sacred geometry have a direct bearing upon the labyrinth: Transcendental Numbers and the Golden Mean.

Transcendental numbers, such as pi (the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle) and the square roots of 2, 3 and 5 form the basis not only of sacred geometry but of sacred space and architecture throughout the world.

The Golden Mean, called by many mathematicians the most essential pattern of wholeness found in creation, is an expression of relationship. A pattern whereby a smaller part of the pattern is in the same relationship to a larger part of the pattern as the larger part is to the whole.

The golden mean is also the matrix for organic spirals in nature, determining the distribution of seeds in a sunflower and the proportion in the spiraling a snail shell. It represents both the unfolding of life itself and the invisible sacred pattern guiding this transformative process.

Perhaps the circular paths of the labyrinth form a kind of lens for focusing the power of intention and attention that is brought to the walk. On some level, labyrinth walkers, either consciously or unconsciously, go into a labyrinth walk ready to receive something even if they are skeptical. The meditative and symbolic discipline of setting one foot in front of the other, of honoring the journey itself and what it has to teach is very powerful. The mind can be stilled and attention paid to the body, the wisdom of the heart and the graces of being rather than doing. There is a consciousness that grows out of the labyrinth because it is a sacred space.

People understand this kind of meditation because it has a structure in physical space. Walking the labyrinth path allows for a deepening spirituality with inwardness and connection to soul. It opens a way to access our intuition and creativity. The simplicity of the walk, (there are not obstacles to overcome, no dead ends to retrace) allows for integration of body and spirit. It provides a space for intimacy and community connection helping us to understand we are all on the same path, just in different points on the journey.

The labyrinth holds up a mirror, reflecting back to us not only the light of our finest selves but also whatever restrains us from shining forth. As you choose to enter the labyrinth you are choosing to walk a sacred path and access that power within us all.

Moving Inward Chant

Closing Words

Following the service, a majority of the congregation walked the painted labyrinth, making the labyrinth committee members very proud. A great many t-shirts were also sold, almost recouping the original cost.

The following week, the labyrinth committee was not idle. Susan made some comparisons and discovered that they could save $436 by purchasing the stone from Baker Stone Supply. Mike looked into getting a Dedication Stone for the entrance from B-Remembered Monuments. Finally, Susan sent out a e-mail on the Church’s membership list asking for volunteers to build the labyrinth.

There would be only one more meeting of the committee before the heavy lifting began.