Our labyrinth is a tool for prayer, meditation and mindfulness.
Depending on your goals and intentions, you can use a labyrinth to help heal your mind or body, grow closer to God, or simply relax. You are welcome to come use this tool any time. It may be especially helpful during this time of anxiety and isolation.
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A Word From Pastor Cindy
I recently watched the TED Talk, Embrace the Shake. I found it to be very inspiring and relevant to our current circumstances. The speaker was Phil Hansen, an artist who developed permanent nerve damage while in art school using extreme pointillism to create his works of art. The nerve damage caused a tremor that made his primary artistic technique impossible.
He was so devastated by his diagnosis, that he dropped out of art school and gave up on his plans for a career in art. For a long while he completely gave up creating any type of art but he continued to feel a longing to express his artistic impulses.
Things changed for him when a neurologist told him to “embrace the shake” and let his limitation teach him fresh ways to create. That’s exactly what he did. Today, Phil Hansen is creating art in totally unique ways that are inspiring artists and non-artists alike. He went from having a single approach to art to finding seemingly endless creative possibilities. His limitation paradoxically led to greater creativity.
Most of us have a very strong sense of what normal is based on how things were before the Coronavirus outbreak. Much of our grief and frustration in this current situation is that we can’t continue patterns of living and ways of expressing ourselves that feel familiar and comfortable to us. We could remain stuck in our original vision of how life should be and be angry about our inability to realize that vision, or we can be like Phil and embrace the opportunity to undertake new ventures and discover new opportunities for meaningful relationships, work and creative expression.
It has been exciting to see how many people in our country and around the world are “embracing the shake.” People are finding new ways to achieve their overarching goals. They are developing new products based on new needs. We are seeing generosity being expressed in unique ways with wonderful results. People are rising above their own suffering to show compassion to others.
Within the life and work of churches, pastors and Christian communities, we are being forced to find new ways to stay connected, be inspired and serve our neighbors. Experts in church vitality and evangelism are speculating that this crisis has forced pastors to learn new skills and make use of technology in ways that are necessary to remain relevant in the coming generations. It has forced congregations to try and to accept new things that they maybe never would have imagined just months ago. I think these same trends are true for other aspects of our culture and daily activities.
All this is not to say that Phil Hansen’s nerve damage was desirable. Nor is the coronavirus pandemic a good thing. With all the suffering and hardship it has caused in all aspects of life, we would not ever choose this situation. However, now that this crisis affecting our entire world is a given, we may need to accept that our future may look very different from our past. By embracing the shake, we might create a future much better than the one we originally envisioned.
Various research groups and polling agencies are finding that the majority of Americans are more united in their outlook today than any time since 9/11 and that this unity crosses political party affiliations. This shared perspective might become the basis for greater respect, compassion and cooperation.
The things we are frustrated by or discouraged about today may be opportunities to try new things that might open up positive possibilities and outcomes we never imagined.
He was so devastated by his diagnosis, that he dropped out of art school and gave up on his plans for a career in art. For a long while he completely gave up creating any type of art but he continued to feel a longing to express his artistic impulses.
Things changed for him when a neurologist told him to “embrace the shake” and let his limitation teach him fresh ways to create. That’s exactly what he did. Today, Phil Hansen is creating art in totally unique ways that are inspiring artists and non-artists alike. He went from having a single approach to art to finding seemingly endless creative possibilities. His limitation paradoxically led to greater creativity.
Most of us have a very strong sense of what normal is based on how things were before the Coronavirus outbreak. Much of our grief and frustration in this current situation is that we can’t continue patterns of living and ways of expressing ourselves that feel familiar and comfortable to us. We could remain stuck in our original vision of how life should be and be angry about our inability to realize that vision, or we can be like Phil and embrace the opportunity to undertake new ventures and discover new opportunities for meaningful relationships, work and creative expression.
It has been exciting to see how many people in our country and around the world are “embracing the shake.” People are finding new ways to achieve their overarching goals. They are developing new products based on new needs. We are seeing generosity being expressed in unique ways with wonderful results. People are rising above their own suffering to show compassion to others.
Within the life and work of churches, pastors and Christian communities, we are being forced to find new ways to stay connected, be inspired and serve our neighbors. Experts in church vitality and evangelism are speculating that this crisis has forced pastors to learn new skills and make use of technology in ways that are necessary to remain relevant in the coming generations. It has forced congregations to try and to accept new things that they maybe never would have imagined just months ago. I think these same trends are true for other aspects of our culture and daily activities.
All this is not to say that Phil Hansen’s nerve damage was desirable. Nor is the coronavirus pandemic a good thing. With all the suffering and hardship it has caused in all aspects of life, we would not ever choose this situation. However, now that this crisis affecting our entire world is a given, we may need to accept that our future may look very different from our past. By embracing the shake, we might create a future much better than the one we originally envisioned.
Various research groups and polling agencies are finding that the majority of Americans are more united in their outlook today than any time since 9/11 and that this unity crosses political party affiliations. This shared perspective might become the basis for greater respect, compassion and cooperation.
The things we are frustrated by or discouraged about today may be opportunities to try new things that might open up positive possibilities and outcomes we never imagined.