How to Make a Table Labyrinth

New to Ministry

I was green when I came out of seminary.  Completely unexperienced in the ways of pastoring a congregation.  My first week in full-time ministry a woman in her early forties sat in my office weeping.  She poured out her life’s story to me and asked how in the world it was ever going to matter to anyone but herself.  I worked to console her, I reminded her

that even just her sharing her life’s tale with me was a gift she alone gave.  But I struggled.  I wanted some meaningful way to help her express her pain and to explore her questions but I was at a loss.

Then, I was re-introduced to the Labyrinth.  A local colleague had founded a consulting firm, Turning Point Consultants( TPC), that used labyrinth and pilgrimage to help individuals, groups, and whole communities to transcend problems and trauma.  Through volunteering with TPC I was introduced to real time transformations of soul and spirit.

There are many different tools we can use and opportunities we can take to share our stories. Carrying crosses to give away, blogging, creating a small group for support and prayer etc.  However, there is none I have seen or experienced so effective as Labyrinth. Transformation always begins with a willingness to name your story, though sometimes this naming begins first with symbol and rather than verbal articulation.

A Story Telling Tool

The Labyrinth is a tool that we can use to better articulate, experience, and understand our personal, communal, and faith stories.  It is equally a powerful way to engage in the larger meta-narrative of The Bible. It is a tool to help us on our spiritual journeys.  One key to using this tool well for our spiritual maturation is to be sure to face the aspects that are uncomfortable, ugly, messy, or shame-inducing.  The minotaur was the embodiment of the shame of infidelity between the Pasiphonea and the Bull in the ancient labyrinth myth. Just as Theseus was forced to face his own potential death and traverse the darkness of the underground labyrinthine lair so too, Jesus faced the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, the crucifixion of the crowd, the apathy of the magistrates, and the bounds of hades.  If we are to follow Christ we can only do so if we face the darkest parts of ourselves.  The shadows and the underbellies of our innermost selves are essential to transforming our stories into meaningful expressions of our fullest selves.  Episcopal Priest, Seminary Professor, and author Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor discusses the shadow side in her book Learning to Walk in the Dark:

“I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again, so that there is really only one logical conclusion. I need darkness as much as I need light.”

Today, people from varying backgrounds use the labyrinth to tell their stories, walk through their pains, and to discern their next steps in the meta-narrative of faith.  There is nothing too this or that for this spiritual tool called the labyrinth. We can all use it, no matter what our background and stories are to learn from our lives and to better identify their intersections with the greater narrative that is God’s good news.  While we can’t always access a labyrinth for walking we can create a labyrinth anywhere, anytime.  This simple form of labyrinth is called a Table-Labyrinth and it is incredibly simple to create.

How to make a Table Labyrinth:

1.) Following the Seed Pattern, draw a labyrinth on a piece of paper.  Then, using your finger, trace the path from the outside in and back again.

2.) Gather a small grouping of rocks, stones, small toys, and any other small item that you can use to place on a table. Again, following the seed pattern place the objects in order of your spiritual story. [For help on writing your spiritual story click here.]

3.) Then, using your finger, trace the path from the outside in and back again.

Application:

L1: Think of a particular aspect of your spiritual journey that you struggle with and with it in mind create a table labyrinth.  Next, trace the path of the labyrinth from the outside in.  Once at the center of the labyrinth, pray over or meditate on this aspect of your spiritual ca.  When you are ready, trace the path with your finger back out again.

L2&3:  Create a Table Labyrinth with a friend or family member and use it to tell part of your spiritual story.

May the Road Rise Up to Meet Y’all,

Rev. Wren Clanton