Hello, Friends!
    This week’s Wednesday evening reflections will focus on the ancient practice of praying by walking a labyrinth.
     In recent years thousands of contemporary Christians of all sorts have begun to reclaim some timeless, traditional prayer forms, especially those that are non-discursive, un-intellectual, and heart-centering.
    Breath prayer, centering prayer, movement meditation, and the labyrinth are all intended to free the mind from its usual linear, analytical pathways, so the heart’s intuitive wisdom can center the consciousness, and open the soul to Spirit’s inspiration and loving guidance.
     Many of us find these techniques challenging, if not downright inaccessible.
     “What’s the point?”  the practical mind demands.
   “How long is this going to take?”  the task-focused mind worries.
    “What if I don’t do it right, and someone sees me looking silly?” the perfectionist performing mind fears.
      All I can tell you is I’ve been playing at learning more about prayer (as opposed to being a diligent, disciplined scholar or practitioner) for years, and I still struggle with some or all of the above, any time I undertake an intentional prayer practice that isn’t about words or intellectual constructs.
     Here’s the thing:  what we’re really afraid of, I think, is how vulnerable we can become, when we allow our thinking minds to get still enough to hear the heart’s own truth.  All those “not good enough” voices, all those regrets, anxieties, mortal fears, ambivalent relationships, old and new sources of grief—all that stuff can get deafeningly, demandingly loud, in the silence created by spiritual opening.
      That’s why it’s important to practice with faith friends, as well as alone.   That’s why it’s important to practice, period.   The more familiar we become with a prayer path (inward or outward), the more we remember to breathe, trust, surrender in gentleness to the care of the One whose love will never let us go—the One whose Christ is our light, and our dearest friend, whose path we follow.
      I hope you’ll join us for prayer this week, and in weeks to come.
     I especially hope you’ll make time and space for God’s love and wisdom to speak to you through the Scriptures and worship services of this coming Holy Week.
     I look forward to praying with you this Sunday, this Holy Week, and all our days to come.

Shalom,
Sarah