Saratoga News
News
Labyrinth at Westhope Presbyterian offers more than a walk in the park
By Emilie Doolittle
It's covered with dirt, wood chips and tanbark, so community members might need sneakers to walk through Saratoga's first labyrinth, located in the orchard next to Westhope Presbyterian Church.
The labyrinth, constructed in the summer of 2007, follows a similar design to the one at Chartres Cathedral in France. It is about 26 feet wide and consists of 11 circuits. The single, foot-wide pathway is bordered by stones.
Westhope partnered with the Taiwanese American Presbyterian Church and the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church to create the labyrinth. It took one month to build.
Like many modern labyrinths that are designed as a substitute for pilgrimages to Jerusalem, the Saratoga labyrinth is a symbol for a pilgrimage toward God. It is a prayer labyrinth.
The Rev. Erik Swanson, pastor of the Westhope Presbyterian Church at 12850 Saratoga Ave., gave some tips about walking through the labyrinth.
"As you enter the labyrinth, be at one with yourself, the world and the holy," he said. "As you walk out bear that unity, that wholeness into the world."
Westhope Presbyterian member Ann Burriss wanted to keep the labyrinth beautiful during Easter. "I took it on as my task, my promise to keep it weed-free," she said. Burriss crawled on her hands and knees through the quarter-mile labyrinth picking weeds and praying.
"It took quite a journey to get to the center," she said. "It's a real sense of connection with God and the earth. It's a very spiritual thing, and it's hard to have words for that."
Burriss goes to the labyrinth every week. She often meets people who walk through the neighborhood and decide to walk through the labyrinth.
Sometimes the labyrinth walkers will find themselves walking side by side on the circuit pathways until the paths diverge and they venture separately.
"We note those seasons of life where we walk alongside people and then go our separate ways," said Swanson. "But then we share our communion with each other for that particular amount of time."
Alicia Swanson walks the labyrinth every Sunday with her children, ages 2 and 4. "I learn to slow down, which with two little kids is a hard task," she said. "It helps me to be more contemplative."
"We have such a fast-paced culture that when walking through the labyrinth there's a sense of our pace--a slowing down, leaving behind guilt and brokenness," said Swanson. "It gives us a sense of groundedness and something old. It's an old spiritual practice."
When people finish walking the labyrinth, they come to an open center.
"If we put something in the center, the focus would be on reaching that and that would be a distraction from what's happening in their inner lives," Swanson added. "The journey toward God is rarely an outer journey."
"It's been a great addition to our sacred space," said Burriss of the labyrinth. "I felt quite honored to be part of the project of putting it there and keeping it weeded."
"It's an outward sign of the new life going on at the church," said Alicia Swanson.
