Our Labyrinth

What is a Labyrinth?

A labyrinth is an ancient symbol that represents wholeness. It combines the imagery of the circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful path. It looks like a maze but is not. A maze is a left brain task that requires logical thinking and analysis to find correct paths. A labyrinth is a right brain task involving intuition, creativity, imagery, and the search for possibility. Unlike a maze, a labyrinth has no dead-ends. You cannot get lost. You just follow the path to the center and out again. You walk a labyrinth to learn its lessons. The labyrinth symbolizes a transformative journey to your own center and back out into the world. Labyrinths occur in all cultures and have long been used as tools for prayer, meditation, and healing. Labyrinths bring people together on the common path mind is needed to solve the problem of finding the center. With a labyrinth there is only one choice to be made. The choice is to enter or not. A more passive, receptive mindset is needed. The choice is whether or not to walk a spiritual path.

Walk It!  Experiece It!

The Deep Mystery of Labyrinths???

Over the thousands of years of their existence, labyrinths have been used to energize many belief systems. The beauty of labyrinths is that there is really no dogma built into the labyrinth. There is no magic mystery from the ages that will transform you. For the labyrinth to have meaning, each person who walks determines what the experience will be for himself or herself at that particular moment. There are people who walk the labyrinth "for fun" and those who find it calming. There are those who walk "to get energized" and those who walk to assuage their grief. Yes, many people find that walking the labyrinth helps them to be more in touch with their "inner selves" - a time to be quiet and listen to the voice within. And many of our members who believe in the power of prayer will find, in the labyrinth experience, a significant opportunity to visit with our personal savior - to talk and listen to God.

Labyrinth Pilgrims

Medieval pilgrims, unable to fulfill their desire to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, went instead to many pilgrimage sites in Europe or Britain. In many cases the end of their journey was a labyrinth formed of stone and laid in the floor of the nave of one of these great Gothic cathedrals. The center of the labyrinths probably represented for many pilgrims the Holy City itself and thus became the substitute goal of the journey.

Labyrinth Geometry

The sacred geometry of the labyrinth involves the numbers four, seven and twelve, emerging out of the "paths" and "walls" themselves. The labyrinth is divided neatly into four quarters standing, in the medieval mind, for the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Seven is the  number of 180 degree turns there are in each quarter of the labyrinth. This relates to the seven Liberal Arts of medieval education, or perhaps the seven paths of the classic medieval cruciform labyrinths. Twelve is the total number of the labyrinth's paths and center, thus relating it to the twelve-month calendar.

The six "petals" of the center of the Chartres labyrinth (and, in our case, the six facets of the Columbarium) provide individual opportunities for symbolic representation and meditation. Moving clockwise from the entrance, they represent mineral, plant, animal, human, angelic and spiritual properties.

The Labyrinth at Eastminster Presbyterian Church

Our labyrinth is patterned after the Amiens Cathedral labyrinth in Paris, except the center area is larger and includes a very attractive free standing Columbarium - capable of holding the cremated remains of 144 people in 72 niches. The labyrinth and columbarium are part of a memorial garden with over 1000 plants, shrubs and trees.

Columbarium

The Memorial Garden Columbarium is designed to minister to the needs of Eastminster Presbyterian Church members and their families - providing a dignified garden setting for the cremated remains of members and their families.

The Garden is also a Celebration of Life

It provides another living space for our church family while serving as a revered resting place for those who have gone beyond. The garden is always a celebration of life! The garden is a celebration of Our Heavenly Father, His son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. There will be times when we visit the garden to have some quiet time with departed loved ones. There will be other times when we just enjoy the surroundings as part of a church activity.

The enclosed Garden is a verdant outdoor setting for meetings; for gatherings around the coffee brewer. There are lots of areas for sitting, for meditating, for conferring with associates.

This attractive, peaceful area will be available for memorial services and other church events. Tables and chairs and lighting can be added for both day and night functions.

The Memorial Garden-Columbarium extends the spiritual, timeless life of our church. It brings the country church yard of old into the practical modern world as a significant asset to our congregation.

What is a Columbarium?

The focal point of the garden is the columbarium - a beautiful granite structure in the center of the site containing 72 niches. "Columbarium" comes from the Latin name for the dwelling place of a dove (columba), which Christians believe is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Each niche has space for one or two urns for the inurnment of cremated humans.

Each Niche shows the name(s), date of birth and death of the deceased, and, if desired, a Bible reference. (ie. John 3:16)