Path to tranquility
South Congregational Church creates a labyrinth for the communityBy AMANDA PARRY
Concord Monitor staff
April 3, 2004
© Concord Monitor
One by one, students from the confirmation class at South Congregational Church started a slow walk around a dark room lit by candles. Their stocking feet shuffled on a purple canvas as they followed the path of a labyrinth painted in blue. They started out uncertainly, tip toeing and looking to their teachers to see if they were doing it right. By the time they made it to the center, their bodies had gone limp and some were crying.
The ancient tradition of walking labyrinths for spiritual enlightenment is getting a revival in Concord, with the creation of a labyrinth at South Congregational Church.
The project was the idea of church member Eleanor MacLellan, who became interested in labyrinths after seeing a TV program on them.
On Good Friday, the labyrinth will be open to the public from 4 to 6 in the afternoon. McClelland hopes people come take advantage of what she said can be a useful tool for meditation and prayer.
Although labyrinth walking is just coming back into fashion among Christian congregations in America and Europe, for centuries it was used by Christians and pagans alike.
From mazes, which have several paths meant to confuse the walker, labyrinths have just one path to the center. The simple acts of putting one foot in front of the other and following the twists and turns are meant to center the walker and provide time for prayer and reflection.
When more than one person walks the labyrinth- as was the case at South Congregational Church Wednesday night - they enter at intervals, but often pass each other on the path.
“I was surprised at what a sense of community I felt,"said MacLellan, who did the walk along with her husband, Ignatius.
When the five adults teaching the confirmation class passed each other on the walk, they often stopped to hug each other, or reached out to hold hands.
Historians don't know when the first labyrinths were built, but evidence goes back to the Bronze Age, according to The Way of the Labyrinth, a book by Helen Curry. Not all were used for religious rituals. Labyrinths provided race tracks for young men at spring festivals in England.
Many medieval cathedrals in Europe had labyrinths etched in the floors, usually behind the pews. Over time, many were ripped up, some because they were seen as too pagan, others because they proved too distracting to youngsters in church, according to Curry.
But some remain, including the most famous one at Chartres Cathedral in France. That labyrinth is still lit with candles and open for walks.
MacLellan based her design on the Chartres labyrinth.
An attorney and a painter, MacLellan got the idea to build a labyrinth after she was given a homework assignment by her son's school.
Her son, Patrick Holmes, attends the Hyde School in Bath, Maine, which requires parents to get involved by doing a senior project. While looking for a project to do that "used her talents" but also challenged her, MacLellan discovered labyrinths.
Or, as she puts it, they discovered her.
First, she saw the TV program about them. Then, while on a business trip to Reading, Pa., she passed a church with a sign advertising its own.
"I went in to talk to the staff," said MacLellan. "And they were telling me theirs was open from 4 to 6 on Fridays. A lot of people would go every week because it helped them transition from the work week to the weekend. I really liked that idea."
And finally, on a trip to the library she happened across a book on labyrinths. MacLellan decided she had found her project.
Fellow members of South Congregational Church loved the idea, and a group of women set out to design and make one.
Building it proved difficult. The women wanted one that could be picked up and moved, in case other churches wanted to try it or they ever wanted to put it outside. But they also wanted it large enough so more than one person could walk at once.
In the end they settled on painting the labyrinth onto a 33-by 33-foot canvas they had specially made for the project. They then enlisted the help of other parishioners in painting.
The group tried to make the experience as spiritual as possible. Before they began work painting, they would light candles and talk about who they were dedicating to.
Becky Levick, who painted with her two teenage sons, said she was surprised when her younger son, Scott, said he was dedicating his work to his parents.
Painters also wrote in special messages which they then painted over.
Scott Levick, a member of the confirmation class, ran his toe over a spot where he said he wrote his message. The Concord High freshman said he was surprised at how he felt walking the labyrinth.
"You kind of lose yourself," he said.
Sixteen-year-old Alicia Pickett-Hale said the experience was intensely spiritual.
"The silence, the candles, it reminded me of a youth retreat I went to in France," she said.
MacLellan said it was a treat to watch the students enjoy the experience. She hopes the labyrinth will become a community resource.
Pickett-Hale said she would definitely do it again.
"I have such a busy schedule that it's nice to just be able to relax and focus on something else," she said.
Labirnyth committee in prayer before beginning work.
This giant compas, invented by Ignatius, was used to lay out the concentric circles.
The painters at work in the early stages of the project.
Working on a corner as the canvas is laid out in Fellowship Hall.
Workers on the canvas wrote prayers, blessings, wishes, and dreams in the paths that became one with the labirnyth when the paths were painted over them.
Working toward the center, the painters contemplate the center rose yet to come.
There were many, many who contributed to the effort, in prayer and under Eleanor's direction.
