Tuesday 17 May 2016

Building the Labyrinth

Some of you will be aware that over the last few months we have been building a labyrinth at the side of our church in Margaret River. The piece of land that it now sits on is the hoped site for a future hall of some sort for the church. Until recently, however, all it was doing was successfully growing weeds. It was decided that in the meantime we may as well make use of this space and build a labyrinth that can be used by the whole community.

We called for donations of rocks, plants and any benches or quirky garden ornaments that could be used in the area. We were thrilled at what came out of the woodwork. Even those who didn't fully understand what we were trying to do brought along what they could offer.

On our construction day, we had people aged 6 to 80+ lending a hand. Those who couldn't haul rocks helped oil the wine barrel that acts as a seat in the centre. When some got tired, they made cups of tea for everyone. It was a real team effort. By the end of the day the labyrinth was almost complete.

We decided to open our labyrinth for the first time on World Labyrinth Day - May 7th. With a bit of hard work the day before, everything was ready. The local newspaper wrote a great article about the labyrinth and our open day which gained a lot of interest in the community. ABC Radio South West were also keen to let the public know what was happening and conducted an interview on their breakfast show.

The open day itself was quite overcast with regular showers - not the best weather for an outdoor event. But this did not stop people coming to have a look. We had some wonderful conversations with people who were local and visiting from elsewhere. Some were familiar with labyrinths, some were curious and some wanted to bring their grandchildren to look when they visited.

I feel we have built far more than a labyrinth at our church, it is a connection point. It is a way to open up conversations with people about their spiritual life that may not have happened otherwise. People have noticed, shown interest and come to see. I am looking forward to the opportunities in the future.

No comments:

Post a Comment