Good morning everyone,
Our prayer team has turned the Friendship room into a prayer space. They have spread out the prayer labyrinth on the floor. The lights are low. Candles glow and soft music plays in the background. Just walking into the space feels holy and sacred, relief from the noise and the hectic pace of the world.
Have you ever walked a prayer labyrinth? The labyrinth looks like a circular maze. A path goes around and around and back and forth. The maze forces us to slow down and it offers space to think.
Enter the path and walk the prayer labyrinth. Eventually, you will reach the center. The prayer team has placed a bench there and you can sit and think and pray. When you are rested and ready, you take the path again, back and forth around and around, until you again find your way out.
Why do this? Last night as I was falling asleep, I had three or four issues rumbling back and forth in my mind. We had a minor disaster in our home yesterday. (Time will heal all; it just feels lousy now.) Our church is going through our stewardship campaign, that time of year when we each determine how we will financially support the operating budget of the church in the year ahead. It is a very important time. It is also an anxious time. Money has that effect on us. I am planning a sermon series for November addressing mental health. That issue has been on my mind and it is breaking my heart. And my mother’s glasses have disappeared. My 90-year-old mother has dementia and lives in a nursing home. Her daily experiences are limited, but she is generally content. She likes to look around the world. Without her glasses, she can’t do that. All of these things will work themselves out. I am confident of that, but right now, they crash around in my mind disturbing the peace.
So I am headed to the prayer labyrinth to take the path walking back and forth. Turning this way and that, remembering again that our lives are like that path, turning and circling. Making my way to center is like making my way to the heart of God. I am looking for rest and redemption beyond my own capabilities. Holy and sacred.
You are invited to walk the labyrinth. Whatever is crashing in your mind, take the path. Sit for a while. God is near.
The labyrinth is open all day today and Thursday.
Every blessing,
Pastor Cindy
Pastor Cindy Hickman
West Des Moines United Methodist Church
Like us on Facebook or visit us at wdmumc.org
We worship at 8:30 and 11 on Sundays and we would love to worship with you.
What’s happening this week at West Des Moines United Methodist Church? Lots!
Confirm, our program for youth inviting them into the life of the church begins tonight at 6:15. If you are a junior high student or a high school student who is wondering whether a life of following Jesus is the life for you, come tonight and being the journey with us!
Reggie’s Sleepout! Our youth will be supporting homeless youth and sleeping in Drake Stadium this Saturday night. Prayer for them and their leaders!
Pop-Up Potluck! Saturday evening bring a dish to share and we have supper together. Talk, laugh and play games. (Will there be dancing? Maybe!) The fun begins at 4. Supper at 5.
And Sunday morning—it’s time for omelets! Mits Wits, our adult Sunday school class will be cooking up breakfast. Come for breakfast, stay for worship!
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