Article by Cary McMullen
Photos by Scott Wheeler
LAKELAND - The floral scent from white votive candles is heavy in the large, bare room. Through the perfumed air, several people walk in a circling, shifting pattern - now bunched together, now moving way like planets in orbit.
Except for soft, meandering music from a tape player, the only sound is the occasional whisp of a bare foot brushing against canvas as these pilgrims make their way through the prayer labyrinth.
Here in the Lake Hunter Room at The Lakeland Center, an ancient spiritual practice is being rediscovered.
During this week’s meeting of the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, a newly purchased prayer labyrinth has been laid on the floor for the benefit of delegates and others who want some moments of peace from the hurly-burly of reports and resolutions.
A prayer labyrinth is not a maze, since there are no false paths, no dead-ends. Rather, there is a single path that winds in a symmetrical pattern from the starting point on the perimeter to the center. The idea is to walk the path in, then back out again, praying or meditating as you go.
It sounds too simple, but labyrinths have an appeal that borders on ecstasy among devoted followers.
“I think it’s a mystery that works,” said Jill Mackavey, a certified labyrinth facilitator and member of First United Methodist Church of Tavares, Calif., who is leading workshops this week to introduce people to the experience of walking the labyrinth. “It offers a direct connection. It puts you right in touch.”
Patricia Brown, director of spiritual formation for the Florida Annual Conference, said she first walked a labyrinth at a conference on spirituality and was immediately captivated.
“I realized the artistic piece of it. It’s for people who are not linear thinkers. It’s a way to empty yourself and be present with God,” she said.
Labyrinths date back to ancient times. The labyrinth on the floor of the Lake Hunter Room is a copy of one inlaid on the floor of the Chartres Cathedral in France.
“At the time of the Reformation, many of the mysteries of the faith were set aside because Luther and Calvin no longer trusted them - the church had used them to control people, ” Brown said. “They purged the faith of our icons, even our candlesticks. Only now are we reclaiming so may of the beautiful things of the faith.”
In her workshop on Wednesday, Mackavey said there is no right or wrong way to walk the labyrinth. She suggested the walkers ask themselves what they are seeking or what they need before entering the labyrinth. “Walking in is about letting go. Think of the things that are troubling you,” she said.
About eight people removed their shoes and one at a time followed the twisting single path. Occasionally they paused or stepped aside to let someone pass. At the center, shaped like a six-petaled flower, the pilgrims would stand, sit or kneel before beginning the walk out again.
Not everyone who walks the labyrinth for the first time has a deep spiritual experience. The Rev. Hollis Boardman, pastor of Faith United Methodist Church in Hudson, tried it, then said, “I found it calming and pleasant. I’m not sure I found any great meaning in it, but it was a nice thing to do. It’s something I would do again.”
At Brown’s request, the conference purchased the portable labyrinth for use at special events and for loan to the churches of the conference. It is painted on three sections of canvas fastened with Velcro and measures 36 feet across. Tracing the path in and out again covers a third of a mile.
Labyrinths are growing in appeal for Christian and non-Christian groups. Veriditas, a project of Grace (Episcopal) Cathedral in San Francisco, offers books, educational materials and workshops on labyrinths. It also sells labyrinths, from permanent terrazzo tile versions to lap-sized wooden ones that can be traced with a finger. The cathedral’s web site (www.gracecom.org) has a link to Veriditas.
Brown purchased the labyrinth for $3,500 from the St. Louis Labyrinth Project, an organization not affiliated with any religious group, which has as its mission putting labyrinths into all sorts of places, including parks, schools and prisons.
The Florida Annual Conference has plans for a large permanent labyrinth to be built at its Life Enrichment Center in Leesburg, a conference and camp center. The path of the outdoor labyrinth will be laid in brick and will be 100 feet in diameter. Brown said it will be the only labyrinth in the world that will be wheelchair-accessible.
It will be dedicated on Jan. 31, 1999, when there is a global labyrinth event planned.
Brown said the idea is to bring in the new millenium, but she is careful to insist that Methodists are not engaging in New Age spirituality.
She said, “Although others may not be, our’s will be Christ-centered.”