Labyrinth | thebereancall.org

TBC Staff

The contemplative movement is growing as witnessed by this excerpt from a church website:
 
Walking the Labyrinth
Another interactive part of the Sanctum Gathering is the labyrinth, an ancient walking path for prayer and meditation. Please remove your shoes as a symbol of this being holy ground as well as to protect the canvas. Before entering the labyrinth, you may wish to sit or walk around the perimeter and collect your thoughts. Ask God to open your mind and spirit to a new experience with him. Think of people, situations, or concerns in your life that you would like to release to God in this time. Pause along the way and in the middle to pray and receive grace, clarity, direction and healing and return to the world renewed. The labyrinth is a place of presence; allow yourself to be present to you, your fellow travelers, and to God. It is also a tool for learning; let God use it to teach you of his mysterious power (http://www.lbcc.org/templates/cla23bl/details.asp?id=22545&PID=318602).
 
TBC: There is no need for labyrinths. As Paul pointed out in Acts:17:27, God is "not far from every one of us." David wrote Psalm 139 which presented similar thoughts: "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me" (Psalm:139:7-10).
 
If we do not hear God, there is also a simple scriptural explanation: "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" (Isaiah:59:2).
 
The emerging church movement does a great disservice to the church through it's failure to address sin. No wonder labyrinths and other contemplative prayer paraphernalia are trotted out to replace God's provision for humanity. We do not need gimmicks, we need repentance.