The word labyrinth often evokes images of maze-like winding paths with dead-end passages designed to confuse. The spiritual practice of a labyrinth prayer walk, however, has an outcome that is quite different. Rather than being confusing, many find clarity and direction as they pray their way through the paths.

What Is a Labyrinth Prayer Walk?

It is an active spiritual practice of walking prayer done through the paths of a labyrinth. Unlike a maze, a prayer labyrinth is one orderly path that winds around and leads to a center point. You then follow the

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same path back out. There are no dead-ends or tricks to it.

In his book The Sacred Way, Tony Jones states that these paths have been around since at least 1200 B.C.and that Christians began using them in the early centuries following Christ’s resurrection. One of the most famous that still exists today was built between 1194 and 1220 A.D. at Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France.

Fortunately for us, many other countries now have prayer labyrinths open to the public, so hopefully you won’t have to travel too far to try out this incredible method of prayer — although I would love to visit a few ancient labyrinths. Use this WorldWide Labyrinth Locator by Veriditas to find one close to you. I was very excited to find several fairly close to my home.

How-To: Labyrinth Prayers

While some of the ancient labyrinths have survived, no literature did as to how early Christians used them. So, the following suggestions are all based on more recent use of them. Ultimately, there is no one “right way” to offer labyrinth prayers; you can pray through the paths as you desire. There are, however, suggestions to try, all of which can enrich your prayer life and draw you closer to God. These are also from Jones’ book.

1. As you are beginning the labyrinth, ask God a question and then listen for the answer as you are praying.
2. Pray for yourself on the way in. When you reach the center, stop for a while and just soak up God’s love. On the way out, pray for others.
3. Recite scripture or the Lord’s Prayer as you walk the path.
4. As you walk toward the center, let go of distractions and worries that keep your focus off of God. In the center be aware of God’s presence and reflect on your relationship with Him. As you leave, praise and thank God for all He has done, naming specific things. Be aware of taking Jesus back with you into the ordinary places of life.
5. And here is my recent experience while walking the prayer labyrinth at the Fatima Retreat Center in Indianapolis. I entered the path with the specific purpose of praying for the junior high retreat my
   son-in-law was helping lead as the worship pastor. *I picked up several stones to take with me. As I slowly walked the path, I asked the Holy Spirit to show me how to pray. As I received a new item to pray for, I stopped and placed a stone on the path where I was. When I was finished with the labyrinth, I looked and saw the stones as reminders of the three things I had been given to pray about. I then wrote them down so I could continue to pray specifically throughout the week.

*When outdoors, people often like to choose a small stone and leave it at the center of the labyrinth; others will carry it out with them as they leave as a reminder of their time with God.

I encourage you to try this beautiful, peaceful practice. Don’t worry about the how-to so much as just focusing on the presence of God. As long as you show up, He will too!

Have you ever done a labyrinth prayer walk? Feel free to share your experience in the comments.

Pray on!

As 2011 has kicked off, I’ve been evaluating my life and what I want to do for this year. I’d already been thinking about this for a few days when I was in church on January 2. My pastor Dave Rodriguez introduced a type of praying that was perfect for the mindset I was in. It’s called the Prayer of Examen. Richard Foster has a chapter on this type of prayer in his book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home.

Basically, the Prayer of Examen is an inward spiritual practice, where we analyze what is going on inside of ourselves. It has two components:

1.     The first is where we examine how God was working in or through us throughout our day and how we responded to Him, and

2.     We examine our conscience to see where we need to be cleansed, purified and healed. See Psalm 26:2,3.

An important thing to remember, however, is to do this with God. Prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to reveal things to you. God can help us to see the truth, but also He will do it in a loving way.

So, as I was in church, Pastor Rod suggested we all go through the Prayer of Examen in the context of looking over the past year of 2010. Here are the questions he suggested we answer.

1.     Looking over the past year, for what am I most grateful or thankful?

2.     When or where in the past year were you cooperating most fully with God’s action in your life?

3.     When were you resisting?

4.     Beginning today, how do you want to live your life differently?

Take some time to prayerfully answer these questions. What do you want 2011 to look like for you?

While my church did this in the context of one year, many people pray the Prayer of Examen on a daily basis. You can ask yourself these same questions using the last 24 hours as your context. Here are some ways it may help you to do this on a daily basis, or at least semi-regularly.

Perhaps you take a walk every evening; you could answer these questions as you’re walking. Or maybe you like to journal, and you can journal your answers. Perhaps you want to mentally run through the prayer as you’re lying in bed at night.

Whatever way you decide, incorporating the Prayer of Examen into your life may help you to grow spiritually as you invite the Lord to help you analyze your heart.

Pray on!

Resource

Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home By Richard Foster / HarperOne