My son Dylan and I snuck up to Lake Forest late last night, and were the first to quietly walk the prayer labryinth. I am so grateful to the team that put this together, under Jaye Soss' leadership. The labryinth is the prayer focus the team has gifted Lake Forest and the community with this Easter season. It represents a twisting, turning inward journey of reflection and assessment. A centering time on Christ our light. And an outward journey reflecting Christ to a dark world.
For the past three years, we've prayed the stations of the cross in our 'sanctuary' during Holy Week. I floated the idea of exercising this new, unfamiliar prayer muscle this year, and the team took it from there - many of the same prayer warriors and creatives who led us all through the powerful 24-7 prayer tent last fall during LOVE 10. It will be open from 8-4 this week, with extended hours some days and communion available mid-day and evening on Good Friday (check the hours here www.lakeforest.org ).
The labryinth is a twisting, unpredictable maze encompassing 12 distinct stations or prayer movements. Each spot provides guided personal reflection, an act of sensory response, and a brief prayer (often consisting of Scripture). The overall impact I had when completing my brief journey was this - "I've just been mentored into a deeper prayer life centered on Christ." I pray that same experience for you.
Praying the labryinth won't be for everyone, though I hope you'll try it as a way of focusing intently on the cross as you prepare for Easter worship. A few will simply think it weird, others have personal genuine scruples over the fact that not only Christians have used the pattern of a labryinth to order a guided prayer journey. Romans 14 applies - if you can pray through the labryinth in faith to glorify God, then do so; if you cannot do so from faith, then do not. This type of prayer is not designed to replace all other types of prayer, but often praying in a new way captures our heart in ways that repetitious or free-formed prayer won't always do.
I end with this description, from our lobby, of the essential metaphor of labryinth (thanks Jaye):
A labyrinth is a metaphor for life. Within the pattern of the labyrinth there are two underlying themes – journey and relationship.
The labyrinth in its winding path resembles a life journey. The pattern is full of twists and turns, making it difficult to plan too far in advance; yet there are no dead ends in the pattern, so the participant is guided to continue moving forward.
There are three relational components to the labyrinth pattern:
The inward journey – ‘letting go’ or shedding
The middle of the journey – centering
The outward journey – incarnation
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