2019-03-15 Lent Friday. Finding the Center

I am thrilled to receive so many responses to the Daily Reflection. One thing I have learned in doing this Lenten discipline, I don’t have to worry about running out of things to share. When I first started, I wondered how I could possibly come up with 40 stories that might be worth your while to read. Now I find that you are helping me with this by the responses you share that stir more stories in me.

Cindy Boone Quown responded to my Reflection: Turning, Turning, Turning, which told of my relationship with my Beloved GrandFather Tree. Cindy shared that she has five GrandMother trees. She calls them the Great Sisters and is thinking about putting a Labyrinth in their shade. I promised her that I would write a reflection about my experience with Labyrinths.

When I lived in California, I attended training to become a Labyrinth facilitator at Grace Episcopal Cathedral. This means I know a bit about how to build Labyrinths, some of their history and stories, their importance in spiritual practice. I have had a Medicine Wheel and/or a Labyrinth in my yard and in the church’s yard at every place I have pastored since I can remember. For me, my spirituality lacks something if it isn’t deeply connected to Earth. These tools help to keep me grounded and focused on what is important.

Currently, I have a Medicine Wheel (to be the subject of another reflection) in my back yard. Together with the Medina First Christian Church FCC, HeartSpace Spiritual Community UCC built a very unique Labyrinth Prayer Wheel in their forest. It is a combination of Labyrinth and Medicine Wheel, hence the name. Here’s the story:

I knew the founding pastor of Medina FCC. I knew that on the original plans for the development of the property, there was a place for a Prayer Wheel, a Labyrinth. It is very important to understand that a Labyrinth is NOT a Maze. A Labyrinth is a continuous circuitous path to a center point that represents the Holy. There are no tricks, no dead ends, it is not a game, it is a path that represents the walk that is your life.

HeartSpace’s Dream Circle met with members of Medina FCC Church Board and determined that we would work together to build the Labyrinth as the original blueprints indicated. We agreed to meet on a Sunday after worship service to explore the forest and find the area indicated on the blueprints. It was in a virgin wooded area. There was no path in or out. One of the Board Members from FCC did some exploration before our meeting. He led us back through the dense woods toward the area he believed coincided with the prints.

In our caravan of walkers there were two men, Pastor Laura, with her daughter Lilah from

FCC and three women from HeartSpace UCC, my nephew who is schooled in Earth Spirituality and myself. When we arrived the first thing we noticed was the space. In the midst of the dense trees there was a natural opening. Very little ground cover, some poison ivy, two prominent trees inside the open circle with trees and shrubs all around creating a natural perimeter. This surprised us a bit since the shrub and ground cover growth was dense all around the perimeter of this naturally formed open circle. We began to pray, to thank the Universe and Creator for this beautiful spot. There was a thick silence covering us like a down blanket. Then we asked the trees and the land for permission to build a Prayer Wheel there.

While we were in the midst of the prayer’s solemn silence, Sandy, got my attention and pointed up. At first, I couldn’t understand what she was pointing at, and then I saw it. The day was sunny bright, there was no rain, however, on a high bough of one of the central trees, there were droplets of water forming and dripping slowly, steadily, consistently, obviously.

One by one, each of us watched this unexpected sight. For a time, no one spoke. There was no source from which the water came. We examined the spot where the drops fell and marked the spot with red fabric tied to a stick pushed into the ground where the drops were falling. Then from the depths of our prayer we understood. The Trees were shedding tears of gratitude that we had found this sacred place that they along with Earth Mother had been protecting for many years, awaiting our arrival. Waiting for this day when their sacred place would be lifted up and honored as a place of prayer. We were welcomed with their tears of joy.

Isaiah 55:11-13.
The words I speak are like that.
They will not return to me without producing results.
They will accomplish what I want them to.
They will do exactly what I sent them to do.
12 “My people, you will go out of Babylon with joy.
You will be led out of it in peace.
The mountains and hills
will burst into song as you go.
And all the trees in the fields
will clap their hands.
13 Juniper trees will grow where there used to be bushes that had thorns on them.
And myrtle trees will grow where there used to be thorns.
That will bring me great fame.
It will be a lasting reminder of what I can do.
It will stand forever.”

There is a song that I love to sing called “All the Trees of the Field” which comes directly from this scripture. The words go something like this:

The Trees of the field will clap their hands.
The Trees of the field will clap their hands
The Trees of the field will clap their hands
As we go out with joy!

It is about the joy of creation, as witnessed in the trees, the joy that cannot be prevented or muffled.
Our precious Tree didn’t clap her hands, she wept for joy.

Later my nephew went back to determine the center of the circle so that we might construct the Labyrinth Prayer Wheel, the stick bearing the red flag marked the exact spot where the tree had shed its tears.
It was perfectly marked.
The perfect center!
+++

Have you ever prayed with a tree?
Have you listened to the voice of its heart?
Have you heard the stones cry out?
If not,
why not?
It’s time.

As we go out with joy!
Carol