"Do You Want to Build a Labyrinth?"
One of my favorite sermon and life illustrations is the great Disney Epic of 2013: Frozen! It is also a favorite movie and soundtrack of my nieces in Boston and New Jersey. In the opening sequence, a younger sister named Anna does everything she can to compel her older and somewhat cold sister, Elsa, to build a snowman. She sings over and over again, “Do you want to build a snowman? What are we going to do? Do you want to build a snowman?” In the end, they do end-up with a magical, talking snowman named Olaf who saves the day and provides some formative spiritual insights:
“An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart!” -Olaf, Frozen
“Some people are worth melting for.” -Olaf, Frozen
The question for First Church now being repeated over and over isn’t about building a snowman…at least not yet. Rather the question circulating right now, with the formation of an exploratory group, is: Do you want to build a Labyrinth? Like Anna’s constant refrain for her sister, there is already great excitement around the possibility of building a labyrinth and for the spiritual insights it could provide.
The promise of spiritual insights isn’t an empty promise. A subset of the larger category of Sacred Geometries, labyrinths in their many incarnations, can be found around the world in various ancient cultures. While we think of their role in pilgrimage practice in France (Chartres Cathedral in particular), labyrinths are actually part of a much wider tradition of using a "built environment" for prayer, meditation, and centering. Additionally, labyrinths can be used for many different forms of worship, personal prayer, and community gatherings. They signal to the wider community that a place is serious about Faith and Spiritual Formation.
In a time when so many sacred spaces speak to or reinforce division, building a publicly accessible labyrinth is a sign of peace.
In college, in graduate school, as a hospice volunteer in Colorado, on retreat at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico… in every setting of my life I have found labyrinth to be a place of great learning. Not all of us are good at silent, sitting, still prayer. Labyrinths make meditative practice accessible for kinetic extraverts as well. If you want to learn more about labyrinths, the history, and how to use them, click here to view a great website for the Veriditas Labyrinth advocacy organization. They even has a map of where to find established labyrinths in our area.
At the end of the day, Elsa and Anna would have their snowman. In turn, the snowman, Olaf, offered them new community, spiritual insights, and renewed connection to each other and the world. I am looking forward to walking with First Church through conversations about possibly building a labyrinth of our own to share with Guilford. It might not be as cool as a talking snowman, but it is still pretty cool. Do you want to build a labyrinth?
In Hope for Snow and a Labyrinth,
Jake
Minister of Faith Formation