September Prayers | Walking your prayers
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.”
Dear friends.
This summer, I had the chance to walk a prayer labyrinth at a retreat center I had visited 20 years previous. It’s called Rivendell and it fits its Narnian-name - nestled high on a little mountain, overlooking Snug Harbor cove, on a small island just north of Vancouver where my husband and I attended seminary. Prayer walking and labyrinths are ancient expressions of embodied prayer that help take us out of our heads and into our lived experience. Perhaps you can find one this month or create your own meditative route.
- Christy
Labyrinth; A Poem
I walk the labyrinth to you.
Catching sight of your smile,
as though across a room.
I make my way but
my feet are slow,
tied to the ground.
While you are there, I realise I am far,
and the labyrinth that I walk
turns me away,
that I must cast
a look behind,
to see your face.
And I must go back
to where I begin,
again.
But you’re still there,
your gaze a beacon of light
in which I’m held.
And as I walk,
I realise both in shadow
and in sun,
this path is a spiral
leading on,
though I might appear to retrace my route.
And my heart all the while
is safe in yours,
in this grace which surrounds.
And I see how
this centre I’m seeking,
this face I love
is my own looking back
in the bosom
of your love.
-Ana Lisa de Jong