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By Lucy Chumbley
Washington Diocese
Vol. 72, No. 3, May 2003
 Where
to find labyrinths in the Diocese of Washington
An ambulance screams past the green garden of St. Luke’s
Episcopal Church, Bethesda, headed for Suburban Hospital’s emergency
room.
But under the churchyard trees, a different kind of
healing is happening.
Oblivious to the sirens, parishioner Sandra Smith Bjork
makes her way to the middle of the church’s labyrinth – a
large circle of stones and winding aisles of grass.
She pauses, eyes closed and fingertips pressed together, feeling the calm
at the center of the circle.
Then she moves back into the world and its traffic,
along the twisting path.
***
Why labyrinths came to exist is a mystery, but for more
than 3,700 years, they have been used as a sacred symbol by cultures and
faiths around the world.
Four churches in the Diocese of Washington now have
labyrinths – concrete, grass and canvas versions – and other
congregations use them from time to time for meditation.
 Labyrinths
come in many different styles, but most are circular in design. In the
Christian tradition, the pattern is often based around the shape of the
cross.
During the Middle Ages, labyrinths were built into the
floors of European cathedrals to offer those who could not make the journey
to Jerusalem another path to pilgrimage.
While they never really went away, labyrinths are now
experiencing a revival, thanks to the Rev. Lauren Artress, Canon of San
Francisco’s Grace Cathedral and author of “Walking A Sacred
Path—Rediscovering The Labyrinth As A Spiritual Tool.”
In 1992, Artress traveled to France to find the labyrinth
at Chartres Cathedral, constructed after the great fire of 1194. She copied
the design onto canvas and brought it home so others could walk the “Chemin
de Jerusalem” – the road of Jerusalem.
With Grace Cathedral as its center, the labyrinth revival
has been rippling out in waves.
***
Bjork, director of standards at the American College
of Radiology, first experienced the healing powers of the labyrinth five
years ago, on a business trip to San Francisco.
“I found it a very moving experience,” she
said – so much so that she wanted to take it home, to her church
in the midst of Bethesda’s medical community.
St. Luke’s – named after the New Testament’s
“beloved physician” – has always had a strong outreach
program, said Barbara Clarke, the parish’s priest in charge.
And the labyrinth offered St. Luke’s a new way to reach out to those
in need of healing.
“For many people, even if they don’t
use it necessarily as a spiritual tool, the walking itself is healing,”
Bjork said.
“When someone walks the labyrinth, the space just kind of gets transformed
into a holy space,” said Gena Adams-Riley, assistant to the rector
at the Church of the Ascension in Silver Spring.
Adams-Riley visited Grace Cathedral’s labyrinth on Valentine’s
Day, 1997, while she was still a seminary student.
“I remember that because I walked outside, and
someone was being proposed to,” she said. “I thought it was
a maze, but when I walked it, I realized it was not a maze.”
Labyrinths are unicursal, she said, with one path in and one path out.
Unlike mazes, labyrinths are not designed to trick or to confuse.
Walking the labyrinth offers people an opportunity to reflect on their
life’s journey, she said, and can help them see where they are and
where they’re going.
“It’s very journey oriented, and all our spiritual lives are
very journey oriented,” she said. “Your experience in the
labyrinth is a metaphor for your own life. You enter in the true contemplative
sense and you try to let things go.”
Fueled by Bjork’s enthusiasm, 12 people interested in bringing a
labyrinth to St. Luke’s formed a committee, and a plan quickly unfurled.
Funding for the approximately $25,000 project came from
the TYK Foundation, an Annapolis-based grant-making organization that
supports projects that connect the human and natural environments in Maryland’s
urban areas.
Construction began in March 2001, and the still-muddy labyrinth was dedicated
that Palm Sunday, with a service and a party that featured a green-and-white
cake frosted with the words “opening new space.”
“It all just moved as though it had been guided by the Holy Spirit,”
said Bjork.
***
When the towering gothic Church of St. Thomas burned
to the ground in 1970, the Dupont Circle parish decided to plant a garden
in its place.
Over the years the trees grew taller, and in 2001 the
park was renovated, to let in more light. A labyrinth was added as part
of the refurbishment.
“This is really one of the rare green spaces
in the neighborhood,” said interim rector Elizabeth Carl, noting
that the park – and now the labyrinth – attracts all kinds
of people.
“Most of the use of the labyrinth is not our members,” she
said. “People discover it when they sit down on a park bench.”
Carl’s window overlooks the labyrinth, and most of the time she
can see someone out walking, she said.
“It’s really quite amazing, just the way they’re drawn
to it and the way they’re willing to dive into the experience,”
she said.
Carl believes the labyrinth’s moving meditation offers people a
welcome break from the language of liturgy.
“Our Anglican tradition is so tied to words that sometimes it’s
a great relief to just be silent,” she said, pointing out that in
recent years, many Christians have been seeking spirituality outside their
own faith.
“I think it’s great that people are getting back in touch
with the spiritual and contemplative tradition in our own roots,”
she said. “I think it’s wonderful that the church is reclaiming
those things.”
***
Each Wednesday, two parishioners from Washington’s
Church of the Epiphany move the altar aside and unroll a heavy piece of
canvas.
The blue lines of a labyrinth are painted on the 25 square foot spread,
which the church’s Labyrinth Guild puts out and packs away each
week.
“This was a homemade project, but it’s been working real well,”
said the Rev. Randolph C. Charles, Epiphany’s rector.
A medieval chant plays in the background, and candles cast a soft light
on the labyrinth, offering Washington’s workers respite from the
stress of the city.
“I’d say most people who use this are not members of the parish,”
Charles said. “They work downtown.”
The church provides walkers with explanatory literature and a pair of
white socks, to help keep the labyrinth clean, he said. But more importantly,
it offers an open door and an opportunity for spiritual growth.
“It does broaden and lengthen the possibilities for Christian spirituality,”
Charles reflected. “As one walks the labyrinth… hopefully
that deliberate walking will be a way to calm down, to still, to become
centered.”
***
Two years after her dream became reality, Bjork and
fellow parishioner Anne M. Elsbree, a retired landscape gardener, greet
the spring at St. Luke’s labyrinth.
Bjork replaces winter-damaged brochures, while Elsbree pulls weeds and
picks up trash.
“The first year was really rough with the maintenance,” said
Elsbree, who took on the more physical side of the project. “There
were a lot of weeds – it was really rough.”
Plants gleaned from parishioners’ gardens – herbs, azaleas,
bulbs and a large clump of ornamental grass – surround the labyrinth
in a six-foot strip, awaiting her attention.
Two new benches are ready to be installed, and a wooden bench provided
by the TYK Foundation offers visitors a view of the labyrinth and an all-weather
journal in which to record their experience.
Taking a break from their labors, Bjork and Elsbree sit down on the bench
and open the bright yellow book.
Inside is a child’s drawing, done in crayons, of an angel floating
on a cloud above a circular earth.
Visitors from as far away as Michigan, Mexico, Canada and Paraguay have
recorded their hopes, fears, reflections and prayers for others to share.
“Life is circuitous and winding, but seen from above, is perfect,”
reads Bjork.
She gazes out over the labyrinth, where the grass is getting greener,
and smiles into the soft Spring sunshine.
Contact Lucy Chumbley at lchumbley@edow.org
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May articles ]
Where to find labyrinths in the
Diocese of Washington
St. Luke's Episcopal Church
6030 Grosvenor Lane, Bethesda, Md., 20814-1852
Tel. 301/530-1800.
* Special features: This 60-foot, 11-circuit outdoor labyrinth offers
a book where walkers can record their reflections. A Plexiglas finger
labyrinth mounted at wheelchair height near the entrance enables the physically
and visually challenged to share the experience.
* Open during daylight hours. Lighting for early evening use is planned
for the future.
The Church of the Epiphany
1317 G Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20005
Tel. 202/347-2635, e-mail: info@epiphanydc.org
* Special features: This indoor canvas labyrinth created by parishioners
covers about 25 square feet. The church offers clean socks and explanatory
literature to walkers.
* Open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each Wednesday
St. Thomas Parish
1772 Church St. NW Washington, D.C. 20036-1302
Tel. 202-332-0607
* Special features: Set on a street corner, this labyrinth is open all
hours of the day and night. “We’re the labyrinth for insomniacs
and night workers,” says interim rector Elizabeth Carl.
Washington National Cathedral
Massachusetts & Wisconsin avenues NW, Washington, D.C., 20016-5098
Tel. 202/537-6200
* Special features: This indoor canvas labyrinth features meditational
music with periods of silence. Walkers can attend evensong in the Great
Choir at 5:30 p.m. before walking the labyrinth and compline (night prayers)
at 8:45 p.m. afterwards.
* Open from 6 to 9 p.m. on the last Tuesday of each month
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