By the Rev. Dr. Sandra Bochonok (Revsandyb@aol.com)

Opening prayer

"Dear God, so far today I’ve done pretty good. I haven’t gossiped or lost my temper. I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, rude, selfish or over-indulgent. I’m very proud of that, thank you! but in a few minutes, God, I’m going to get out of bed and from then on, I’m gonna need all the help I can get. Amen."

Scriptures

"In God we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:28a NRSV (Paul is speaking in a public area where many ancient philosophers were gathered, eager to hear of new ideas and beliefs. He is addressing a gathering of Greeks, Stoics and Epicureans. It was Epicures who said, "It is never too early or too late to care for the well being of your soul.")

"Where could I go from your Spirit? Or how could I flee from your Presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there! If I make my bed in darkness, You are there! If I soar on the wings of the morning or dwell in the deepest parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your Love will embrace me. If I say, "Let only darkness cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to You, the night dazzles as with the sun; the darkness is as light with You." Psalms for Praying. An Invitation to Wholeness, by Nan C. Merrill. Continuum Press. Psalm 139:7-12

Welcome

Welcome to our day of pilgrimage with the labyrinth. We are all pilgrims seeking something. Phil Cousineau, in The Art of Pilgrimage. The Seekers Guide to Making Travel Sacred, writes that Bushmen recognize that human beings have two kinds of hunger. We need food for the body and food for the spirit. Faith can deepen through care-fully-planned periods of fasting or eating. Let today be full of nourishing food, nourishing words, nourishing moments and nourishing steps to empower your faith journey. Enjoy a day of spiritual simplicity. Rest and relax, retreat and revitalize, refocus and recharge your spirits. Enjoy a quiet reflective day.

Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, Zoroastrian, Wiccan--we all are pilgrims and seekers on a sacred journey. Today is dedicated to finding our sacred center and finding God. And if you can breathe, I guarantee you will experience varying degrees of spiritual success through beloved community with strengthening moments of inner solitude.

Today is dedicated to the most basic of all ancient pilgrimage arts. That is simply breathing with the Holy. As we journey in faith with our DOC (Deity of Choice), be ready for adventure, achievement and the greatest of all Romances.

Getting centered--what does that mean? And how do we find God?

There is a wonderful story told about the Kotzker Rebbe, who was asked by his students, "Tell us, rebbe, where is God?" Came the Rebbe’s response, "wherever you let God in." We can let God in by cultivating the inner chapels of our hearts. I am not here this morning to tell you what or how to believe. But I am here to help each and everyone find ways to let God in and find their center through time tested and cherished quiet spiritual practices that can empower us for life.

In Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World, the late Henri Nouwen writes that the number one enemy of the spiritual life is not fame, fortune, prestige, power or status. The enemy we all face is self-rejection. Belovedness is to be the core of our being, our center in life. However we understand the Sacred, we are called to live as the Beloved one day at a time. If we can do this, we can handle anything life throws our way. And Helen Hays wisely noted the toughest years are between 7 and 70.

The five excellent practices suggested by Confucius can help us reclaim our belovedness and defeat our common enemy of self-rejection. Our faith journey can be enhanced with these simple practices. They are:

1. Practice the arts of attention and listening.
2. Practice the arts of renewing ourselves daily.
3. Practice meandering walking to the center of whatever place you may be.
4. Practice the reading of sacred texts.
5. Practice of praise and singing.

But how do we do these things? Here are some suggestions.

1. Practice the arts of attention and listening.

We begin letting God in through practicing the arts of holy listening and paying attention through our breathing. Contemplative people from many different religious and non-religious traditions breathe in life with every breath. All of us can breathe slowly, a little more deeply, with a centering word to symbolize our desire to mediate, reflect, relax, and reclaim empowerment. Each spiritual tradition has cherished centering words and phrases to enhance their breathing experiences.

A wonderful story is told of a spirituality seeker who sought instructions from a Hindu guru in the art of prayer. The guru said, "Concentrate on your breathing." After about five minutes, the guru said, "The air you breathe is God. You are breathing God in and out. Become aware of that, and stay with that awareness." Another ancient said God is "as close to us as our breathing, nearer than our hands and feet."

Breathing is the simplest way to center, focus, and become quiet and still. Breathing helps us listen to our bodies. We can breathe, feel and listen to our heartbeat. By sitting silently and in stillness, quiet breath mediations can get us in touch with our hidden, buried feelings. Breathing can help us come into inner healing and transformation, a goal worthy of all pilgrimages.

Breath is a symbol of life and is fundamental to our physical and spiritual being. It is real and powerful. Breathing cleanses, enlivens and calms us. The most fundamental breath exercise is simply slowing our breathing. Slowing our breath is one way to be more open to our spirit. We can become very still inside ourselves through intentional breathing.

This is very easy to do. Simply rest for a moment. Listen to your breathing. Notice the rise and fall of your chest. Perhaps you are nervous and breathing rapidly. Simply breathe normally for several minutes and accept your breathing for what it is. Now consciously alter your breathing for several breaths. Breathe a normal breath. Then slowly exhale, emptying your breath a bit more than usual. Feel the tension for a moment. Then slowly fill your lungs with air. Breathe in more than usual and feel the tension. Slowly exhale and then inhale again.

As we prepare for the labyrinth walk, simply be aware of your breathing. Consider using simple breath prayers for your walk, with words such as love, peace, courage, faith. Or use a mantra: "We journey by faith, not by sight." "In God we live and move and have our being." Perhaps a question, "Where can I go from your Spirit, O God?"

2. Practice the arts of daily renewal.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said, "If I do not spend a reasonable amount of time in meditation early in the morning, then I feel a physical discomfort. It is worse than having forgotten to brush my teeth."

Whether we are day or night people, our bodies accompany us on our faith journey and can help us experience daily renewal. The popularly used Greek word for body is "Soma." Soma refers to the whole human being of body, emotions, intelligence and will. Soma includes all our feelings, personalities, spirit, and physical experiences of hunger, thirst, sexual desires, fatigue, pain, pleasure and joy. Tasting, feeling, seeing, hearing and feeling are part of our Soma vocabulary. If we are feeling tired, we probably are. Exhaustion and fatigue can be the "SOS signal the body gives us before total disaster." Sleep is not only a time for healing our body, but a time for healing our spirit.

Many are surprised to learn that learning to live peacefully with our imperfect bodies can help us mature and grow in our faith. Often our first memories and awareness involve our bodies with feelings of pleasure, shame or other feelings. We were never meant to live as disembodied people. Our bodies can help us get grounded and centered. "Our bodies are companions to be loved and heard with passion and discernment." For better or worse, through sickness and in health, through poverty or riches, as long as we live, we are embodied sacred beings with the bodies we have.

Often we are at war with our bodies. We want a different face, eyes, nose or body shape. We feel too fat, too thin, too old, too whatever. Our bodies carry our unhealed inner hurts and affect our emotional selves. "Our feelings are doors to our souls. They are our friends and lead us into much larger aspects of ourselves." When we are teased, rejected, criticized, stressed and exhausted, our bodies show symptoms and reflect a spiritual concern. Attention to our bodies is essential to our spiritual lives.

How we relate to our bodies profoundly influences our faith and relationships with others. If we have contempt for even one small part of our body, it is deeply damaging to the whole.

Posture, breath, movement, gestures, clothing and diet all affect our inner being and spirit. Even when our bodies betray us through illness, physical suffering and aging, they can help us live grace-fully, peace-fully, joy-fully. But here is the bottom line: Soma care is good for our souls.

3. Practice meandering walking to the center of wherever you may be.

There are many different ways of becoming centered. Breathing, stillness, silence, body awareness and movements offer spiritual empowerment that money cannot buy.

Centering breath meditations

Breath meditations with centering words, phrases, images and mantras can be done anywhere. We can center in our cars, on the bus, as we wait in doctor’s offices, ride the elevator and commute to work, do household chores and even calm ourselves while having dental work done.

Meditative walking

Our souls love to stroll. Some of us meander with our feet, but we can also let our fingers do the walking as with a finger labyrinth (or drawing one, please note that easy directions for doing are found at the following website www.labyrinthsociety.org). We travel with our imaginations and thoughts while reading. Who has not traveled with the eyes of faith, including the eyes of our hearts? Many meditatively stroll with their souls through virtual retreats. This is as simple as a click of your mouse (http://www.soulfoodministry.org/docs/English/EmberDayRetreat.htm).

Long walks, short walks, morning walks, or evening walks—they are good for us. The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said, "Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts. Fredrick Nietzsche remarked, "Never trust a thought that didn’t come by walking. St Augustine sagely commented, "It is solved by walking." Thich Nhat Hanh, a famous Buddhist monk and peace activist, teaches many wonderful walking meditations that help people walk in the present moment. He encourages people to smile like a Buddha, walk like a tiger and enjoy peace with every step. Consider doing these in the labyrinth!

4. Practice the reading of sacred texts.

There are many different ways to read non-homophobic sacred texts that can open our minds and hearts to an intimate and loving relationship to the Holy. Reading empowers us. Sacred words help us find our center, find God and experience the holy in extraordinary ways in moments of renewal through silence, stillness and solitude.

Lectio divina

Lectio is an ancient form of holy reading and rereading of sacred texts with moments of silence. Lectio can be used with sacred words from any tradition. Some read an entire chapter while others linger only with a sentence, a phrase, a paragraph. With the practice of lectio, less is best. Rather than clutter our inner being with many words, we linger with a word or so. Rather than read ten chapters, read ten words. Read them again and again with rich moments of silence between readings. Let God guide your prayer. This is very easy to do in sickness and in health with a bit of practice. Lectio also helps us carry these words in the portable, inner chapels of our hearts.

Lectio can even be used to help us pray through our illnesses (Diabetes), tragedies (broken heart) and life situations (money, health, relationships, etc).

You might want to try lectio divina in the labyrinth. "We journey by faith, not by sight." "We journey by faith." "By faith." "Not by sight." "In God we live and move and have our being." "Where can I go from your Spirit?" Let those brief words guide your prayers.

The Psalms for your journey

Consider the Psalms as part of your lectio adventure with God. The Psalms are wonderful for people on a journey. They help us be attentive and listen to the holy in our lives. These profound words bring us into healing moments of renewal while finding our center in God. These sacred words, phrases, or and images empower prayers in ways that other sacred words might not.

So what are these "P-P-salms?"

These fabulous writings have sustained people of faith throughout the centuries with good reason. They are our common heart cries in life’s struggles, mistakes, disappointments, oppressions and heartaches. The Psalms help us lament and rejoice, weep and praise. Confession has always been good for the soul and the Psalms help us confess individual and corporate sin, and make great statements of faith.

Through reading the Psalms, we find both individuals and communities appealing to God for justice, rescue, and revenge while voicing their bitter complaints. Real cries to God are as simple as "Help!" by people in distress, sickness, adversity, betrayal, abandonment, sin and guilt, while experiencing slander, false accusations, persecution and oppression by enemies and wicked people.

We find community prayers during national disasters, defeat, exile and tragedy. These prayers are pleas for help as people honestly describe their physical and emotional suffering. Almost every page of the Psalter is drenched with tears as people around the world and throughout time have found help in their times of greatest need.

Through these wonderful words of faith, hope and love, we realize God is in control through all the mess and confusion. God sees. God cares. God walks with us. In all situations, God is enough. The Psalms teach us that God opposes the proud and ruthless and is the ultimate executor of justice. God knows every deed and the secrets of our hearts. God is God of the humble, the needy, and the poor, the widow, refugee and orphan. Through the Psalms, we learn God will never abandon us.

If you’ve never read them before, they are worth reading. They help us talk with God and respond to God, when God seems silent. We learn prayer by praying them. The psalms and their prayers are not easy, but understanding comes with use. The Psalms help us during crisis of faith. They help us make leaps of faith when our faith is being tested. They help us pursue faith and live faithful lives with a faithful God.

Icons

Many people from a variety of faiths are rediscovering ancient icons as prayer resources. Icons are powerful images, helping us become quiet and still in loving, holy presence. No words are needed for your prayer. Quietly sit still before the icon. Gaze at it. Close your eyes. Look again. Linger.

The icon I have provided for today is the most beloved in Mother Russia. She is the Theotokos of Vladimir, also known as the icon of loving-kindness and "Our Lady of Tenderness." (You can find her on the Internet (http://www.geocities.com/russian_icons/theotokos.htm and www.ocf.org) as well as buy inexpensive copies at the Icon and Book Service, 1217 Quincy Street, NW. Washington, DC 20017. Tel. (202) 526-6061, Fax (202) 526-3316), Toll Free (800) ASK-IKON (275-4566, except in 202 and 301 area codes in the U.S.A.).

The late Henri Nouwen writes about her, in Behold the Beauty of the LORD. He encourages people to notice her eyes, her hands and her child. Her eyes look both inward and outward with the eyes of faith. Her hands hold the child and extend in invitation to experience her child and discover God in a fuller way. She is one whose heart has been broken by sorrow, who has been poor, oppressed, a refuge, uncertain and confused of the future, someone who has stood under the cross and suffered with thoughts and feelings that cannot be shared with anyone. She is patient and strong, loving and compassionate. And her child is not an infant. He represents the Word of God made human, source of all wisdom, the Alpha and Omega, God from God, Light from Light. Notice the light in the icon that illuminates and give warmth and intimacy.

Center for Pilgrimage at Washington National Cathedral--a house of prayer for all

Sacred reading is not limited to the Holy Bible. Learn to read poetry and prose from contemporary and ancient spirituality writers from various traditions. An excellent and free resource for reading such materials is found in the Washington National Cathedral on NW Mass and Wisconsin Avenue. In their lower level are several rooms called the Center for Pilgrimage. These rooms are dedicated to silence, meditative reading and prayer. They offer a wonderful library for browsing; staffed by volunteers, so you might want to call the Cathedral and see if those rooms are open before going. Enjoy a virtual tour at www.cathedral.org/cathedral.

Write your own sacred words.

The palest ink is better than the best intention to remember your thoughts, prayers and feelings during pilgrimage. Consider writing your own prayers and reflections in a spiritual journal. How do you think we got the Psalms? Imagine what the world would be like if people had not taken the time to write their nourishing words that were divinely inspired? We would be spiritually impoverished without them.

Last year, an Australian minister visited me and she wanted to walk a labyrinth. And so we did again and again. She said, walking the labyrinth for her was like unpeeling an onion. The more she walked and wondered, the more she learned about herself. She is still writing in her journal about those experiences.

There is a major difference between journal writing and keeping a diary. A diary keeps record of daily events in our life. A journal may begin there, but looks much deeper into how we are affected by those events. Journal writing helps us sort through feelings about daily life, our relationships and the events in the world around us. Journals help us "talk with ourselves." In ink or pencil, we see what our minds think and hearts are feeling. Anne Broyles suggests journal writing be greatly helped with the following questions: "Who am I? What am I doing and why? How do I feel about my life, my world? In what ways am I changing or growing?"

5. Practice of praise and singing.

Our fifth and final excellent spiritual practice is that of praise and singing. Let today become a gratitude day. Count your blessings as you experience them. Be aware of the goodness today brings to you through the ordinary of life. Praise God in your hearts and be uplifted in your spirits. And sing. Singing helps us pray twice. The Psalms are wonderful for singing. Earlier we sang, "Spirit of the Living God" and "Walking in the Light of God." Consider singing Walking in the Light of God and change the words, such as, "We are praying, centered, breathing, in the Light of God." We have many songs in our hearts. Sing today. Sing silently. Sing aloud. Sing a word, a phrase, and a sentence and let it empower you for today’s journey.

The labyrinth meets people where they are and gives them what they need for spiritual transformation.

In your handouts, a labyrinth handout is provided for your use with prayers and mantras for your meditations. In that handout, you are encouraged to fill in the blank of a sentence. "I am a pilgrim seeking ______________________." What is it that you are seeking today? What do you need from God? Jot down words, phrases, images, and memories, symbols that come to your awareness today as you walk the labyrinth. Let these things become part of your prayer and meditation.

Remove your shoes unless you need them on for medical reasons. Walk in your stocking or bare feet. Let this symbolize holy ground.

A labyrinth helps us hear the voice of our hearts. The sacred geometry helps slow and quiet our minds. It is a quiet form of body prayer without words. People walk them for special events, decision making, grief resolution, conflict resolution, prayer, meditation and many other reasons. As one walks the sacred path, everyday thoughts begin to fade and the deeper mind becomes very focused. Deep inner thoughts are able to emerge and often we find answers within ourselves.

In the center of the labyrinth is an area where we may linger as long as we need to be there. The only instruction is to keep an open mind and open heart to receive what is there for you to receive. Take all the time you need. When you are ready to leave the center, simply follow the same path out of the labyrinth.

As one walks out of the labyrinth, often we realize if there is an action to be taken, we are the ones to initiate it. We can gain inner strength with each step as we return to our lives.

Sometimes we will meet other people in the labyrinth and it is like walking on a two-way street. Be silent, polite, and courteous. Do what is natural. Perhaps you will be moved to step aside and let the fellow pilgrim pass you. Or they may step aside first. Perhaps eye contact, a nod, a whisper, a blessing may be breathed. Let your pace be what is comfortable. Consider talking with someone about your experience. "Do what you need to do to bring your experience to completion." As you exit the labyrinth, listen to your heart. If you feel called to re-walk the path right away, do so.

Consider using some internet labyrinth meditations, 30 Days of Labyrinth Love and Wisdom, at http://www.soulfoodministry.org/docs/English/30DayLabyrinth.htm for your continued faith journey.

Possible prayer and a blessing for our labyrinth journey:

"Dear God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end…But I believe this…You will never leave me to face my troubles all alone." Thomas Merton