Please pray with me: “O Lord, open our eyes to your
presence; open our minds to your grace; open our lips
to your praises; open our hearts to your love; open our
lives to your healing; and now, open our ears to hear
your message for us today. In Christ’s name we pray.
Amen.”
As we move deeper into Lent with its emphasis on
repentance, spiritual insight, self-examination, and self denial
we tend to look for ways to increase our feeling
of connection with God. Many in and around this
church have commented that our Lenten Prayer
Devotional Booklet has helped inspire a regular daily
prayer time. We are thrilled to see the work of the Holy
Spirit in this way.
This week we are offering the prayer labyrinth,
another way our church is inviting you to explore a
deeper faith in Christ through prayer this Lenten
season. One of my favorite memories growing up on
the farm was my Dad sitting outside in the dark on a
lawn chair every night after dinner under the bright
stars and smoking his forbidden cigarette because he
was not allowed to smoke in the house. I would often
pull up a lawn chair beside him, and we would talk
while looking up at the twinkling constellations and
occasional falling stars in the pitch black sky. It was a
beautiful sight.
The origin of the first labyrinth is a mystery, but
some think it may have been drawn and developed
according to ancient geometry and astronomy based on
the movement of the constellations. Maybe that is why
I love walking a prayer labyrinth.
Our Labyrinth Prayer Walk has been organized
through the Congregational Health Ministry and is set
up in the gym of the Parish House. Our health ministry
has provided this as a tool to explore a holistic way of
praying with the body, mind and spirit all at once.
Walking a prayer labyrinth is a physical way to pray.
It helps some of us who tend to be a bit hyperactive to
focus on prayer by moving our bodies along the
labyrinth path at the same time that we pray. You may
be wondering, “What exactly is this prayer labyrinth all
about and why should I even consider taking 30
minutes out of my busy schedule to walk it?” The idea
of praying for more than five minutes makes some of us
very uncomfortable.
To take time to pray requires a sense of humility, a
feeling that we need intimacy with God, and a trust in
God who is ever present with us. Having a sense of
humility is tough in our comfortable world. Our pride
makes us feel that we can control our own lives and
that turning to faith in Christ and prayer is for the weak,
or used only as a last resort when all else fails.
Our Old Testament reading shows that humility and
really trusting in God has been a lifelong human
problem over the centuries. The Israelites had already
experienced steadfast protection from God as they
traveled through the wilderness. I love the imagery
painted in Deuteronomy of God going before them and
then carrying them in his arms as a parent carries a
child. Many promises from God had already been fulfilled, and yet, they still questioned if God would
really be with them as they journeyed forward. They
did not trust God fully even though God made Himself
visible as a fire by night and a cloud by day so they
could clearly see the path to follow.
It is easy for us to judge the Israelites as ninnies
and ask, “How could they be so dense after all the proof
God gave them of his presence?” But how often are we
just as dense today? These scriptures truthfully reflect
the struggle we all go through in life over and over.
Being humble and trusting in the power of God are
vital conditions for faith along life’s journey. Yet, we
often doubt God’s presence with us and fail to pray
along the way.
As theologian Henri Nowen so aptly puts it:
“Prayer requires that we stand in God’s presence with
open hands, naked and vulnerable, proclaiming to
ourselves and to others that without God we can do
nothing.” Yet, this attitude is difficult in our present
day social climate where the predominant way of
thinking is: “Do your best and God will do the rest.”
When life is divided into our best and God’s rest,
we have turned prayer into a last resort—to be used
only when all our own resources are depleted. Then,
even the Lord has become the victim of our impatience.
Nowen goes on to say: “Discipleship does not
mean to use God when we can no longer function
ourselves. On the contrary, it means to recognize that
we can do nothing at all, but that God can do
everything through us.” As disciples we find not just
some but all of our strength, hope, courage and
confidence in God. Therefore, prayer must be our first
concern.
A woman had an encounter with God in a very
unsuspected way (described in the book, Deep Prayer:
Healing for the Hurting Soul by Dr. Paul De Blassie).
The woman traveled many miles to visit a monastery
where she was seeking spiritual consolation. She felt
convinced that visiting such a place of spiritual
grandeur would surely settle her restless heart. Once
she arrived, she initially felt relieved, only to find
herself restless again after a few hours.
That night she had a dream in which she heard the
words: “Leave all and come follow me.” As she talked
about this dream later with her Christian counselor, she
gradually realized that she had been clinging to external
things in an attempt to find the kingdom within. Only
by humbling herself, forsaking all except Christ, would
she be able to satisfy her longing. With a humble heart
she now found Christ not in the monastery but within
her own soul.
Humility is a key condition that not only enables us
to be aware of our need for Christ but also to trust that
God is present and calling us to be in a close
relationship with Christ as we travel along life’s
journey.
Our gospel story today is a classic one that shows
us how being humbled can bring us home to God when
we get off the path and go astray. This parable,
commonly known as The Prodigal Son, is one of three
parables told by Jesus in Luke 15 that symbolize our
relationship with God. They all speak of the joy of
finding that which was lost—a persevering Father/God
who doesn’t give up on us even when we go astray.
While examining this parable in Luke again, I
realized for the first time that prayer comes into this
story at an important turning point in the son’s journey.
Where does the prodigal son pray? Look in your Bibles
in verses 17-19:
But when he came to himself, he said, “How
many of my father’s hired hands have bread
enough to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I
will get up and go to my father and I will say to
him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and
before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your
son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’”
There it is—a humble prayer to his father; and he
repeats it again in verse 21. His father answers his
prayer the same way your Father in Heaven will
answer you whenever you humble yourself and get back on the path of righteousness. It says his father ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then they
ate and celebrated and had music and dancing. This is
what God does when we have found our way back to
Him after we have gone astray.
Like us, the son was given free will, but he
impatiently chose to follow his own selfish desires, to
be in control and to make his own way in the world.
The boy suffered much and it is surprising he did not
die. He lived about as low as one could live, begging to
eat with the pigs. Yet, when he failed and was
humbled, the merciful father was waiting with open
arms and forgiveness.
Fred Craddock, in his writings about the gospel of
Luke, emphasizes that this parable is more about love,
forgiveness and joy than about the darkness that befalls
the prodigal son. William Barclay states that this
parable “should never be called the Prodigal Son
because the son is not the hero; it is more about a
father’s love than about a son’s sin. Most of all, this
parable illuminates the concept that there is a fate
worse than death—-and that is to be lost. There is a
condition better than life—and that is to be found.”
The Labyrinth Prayer Walk can be used to enhance
a sense of seeking and being found or reunited with
God. It can also be used to deepen your prayer
experience and to spiritually center your path on
Christ’s way of living. But what do we mean by the
path? What is Christ’s way of living? If you are sitting
here wondering what it means to live the way Christ
teaches us to live, you are not alone in this country. An
article in USA Today said many in our country assume
we all have a basic knowledge of religion. But sadly
only 40% of Americans can name five of the Ten
Commandments and 50% of high school seniors think
Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple.
It takes a humble spirit to turn to the scriptures
these days and to be aware of the need to learn what
the path of righteousness really means for our daily
lives. If you have never read or cannot remember
where the Ten Commandments are in the Bible, read
through Exodus 20 for the Ten Commandments and
begin with the gospel of Mark to get a basic
understanding of the life of Jesus Christ.
Last week Dave mentioned the “Shema” as a
beautiful Jewish prayer. It is in Deuteronomy 6. The
faithful Jews were to recite this prayer twice daily. The
Shema is a declaration of faith, a pledge of allegiance
to one God. It is said upon arising in the morning and
upon going to sleep at night. It is said when praising
God and when beseeching Him. It is the first prayer
that a Jewish child is taught to say and it is the last
words a Jew says prior to death.
There are real advantages to having a ritual or
spiritual discipline of memorizing scriptures and
prayers. The commandments and prayers provide
overall well-being, as explained in Deuteronomy 6:18:
“Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord so
that all may go well with you.” These scriptures are
written to help us find a healthy, moral, prayer-filled
righteous path of living that keeps us away from the
self-destructive ways of sin and evil.
It is the hope of the Congregational Health Ministry
that during Lent your prayer life will be enhanced
which will ultimately benefit your whole body, mind
and spirit. The labyrinth can be utilized as a prayer
tool that symbolizes your journey in life towards the
center which is God.
Walking to the center of the labyrinth can represent
a pilgrimage toward a sacred and special encounter
with God. Walking out from the center can represent
the act of taking what one has received in prayer out
into the world. Many have found this type of prayer
very healing and a way to tangibly experience a sense
of God’s love and mercy.
Rev. Lauren Artress, an Episcopal priest, wrote a
book about labyrinths entitled, Walking a Sacred Path:
Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool. (Our
own Rev. Lawrence actually knows Lauren Artress.
They were in Princeton at the same time when she was there completing her Doctor in Ministry degree.)
In her book, Dr. Artress tells the story about a
woman who is afraid to walk the prayer labyrinth
because she is worried she will cry and not be able to
stop. She had experienced a double mastectomy and a
divorce all in a year’s time. She walked the labyrinth
and cried long and hard, but afterward she was radiant.
Artress explains: “The heart cries for us as we
recognize our wounds and our human limitations.”
She quotes a Sufi verse that connects well with our
gospel parable today: “When the heart weeps for what
it has lost, the soul rejoices for what it has found.”
Walking a prayer labyrinth can give comfort to an
aching heart and solace to a weary soul. Those who
walk a labyrinth may be seeking a sacred path while
trying to answer life’s big questions: “Why am I here
on this earth? What gifts do I have to offer?”
Dr. Artress describes us all as seekers—like
pilgrims who feel that we missed our opportunity, that
we have lost our way or our chance at meaning and
purpose in life. She says: “To live a life of regret is
painful and difficult. But here lies the great gift from
the Holy Spirit, though we may have lost our way—
when we come back to focusing our body, mind, and
spirits on prayer we discover the path once again.”
Richard Neibuhr was an American Christian
ethicist who wrote often about Christians relating to
others and to God as we journey through modern life.
He said the feeling of being “lost” is common among
modern day pilgrims. He defined pilgrims as “persons
in motion, seeking something we might call
completion or clarity, a goal to which only the Holy
Spirit’s compass will point the way.” This yearning
for clarity about our life’s journey is one of the
reasons the labyrinth was developed many years ago
and used in the tradition of the pilgrimage. In the
Middle Ages the labyrinth was called “Le Chemin de
Jerusalem.” In French, that means “The Road to
Jerusalem.” The center of the labyrinth was called
“The New Jerusalem.”
The tradition of pilgrimage is as old as religion
itself. Christian worshippers often traveled to holy
Easter festivals in Jerusalem. Ancient pilgrimages
were a mixture of religious duty and holiday
relaxation. The journey was often taken in groups with
designated stops along the route for shelter at night.
Christians in the Middle Ages made a vow to make a
pilgrimage to the Holy City of Jerusalem once during
their lifetime. But during the crusades in the 12th
century, the travel became dangerous and expensive.
In response, the Roman Catholic church designated
seven pilgrimage cathedrals to become “Jerusalem”
for the pilgrims. A walk on a labyrinth laid out in
these cathedrals marked the end of the journey. It
served as a symbolic entry into the celestial city of the
New Jerusalem described in the book of Revelation.
Just in the past 20 years, the Labyrinth has been rediscovered
as a useful spiritual tool for all
Christians— Protestant and Catholic alike.
In the conclusion of his book on deep prayer, Dr.
DeBlassie recommends a way to abide constantly in
the presence of the Almighty. He advises us that to
live in deep prayer is simply to utter “Lord, Jesus”
throughout the day. With the name of Jesus always
upon the lips, God gradually but definitely heals and
transforms the soul. Health of body, mind, and spirit
flow from God’s presence into the human heart with
every utterance of the name, Jesus. This is so simple,
yet so profound.
I will close with a beautiful ancient prayer written
by Saint Isaac the Syrian who served as the bishop of
Nineveh in the 7th century. It provides a very real and
sincere example of how to humbly pray to God.
Let us pray: “Holy Spirit, dwell in me, that I may
become prayer. Whether I sleep or wake, eat or drink,
labor or rest, may the fragrance of prayer, rise without
effort in my heart. Purify my soul and never leave me,
so that the movements of my heart and mind may,
with voices full of sweetness, sing in secret to God.
Amen”
