The Dynamic Journey

“No one ever steps into the same river twice. For it’s not the same river and they are not the same person.”

When the ancient writer Heraclitus wrote this many centuries ago, he was probably not speaking of labyrinths. He was describing the human condition, that life is always changing, and we are always changing as well, navigating the vicissitudes of life and hopefully growing as we draw ever closer to God. Though we may enter a river at a familiar spot, a favorite bend that’s good for swimming or rock hopping, the experience in that moment is something that has never actually happened before and will never happen again.

Those of you who have walked a labyrinth know a little something about this: no two labyrinths are quite the same even when they are the same pattern. The setting and the space are different, the texture underfoot and the sights and sounds of the environment distinguish each. Yet even a single labyrinth means something new every time. Though the turns may have been taken a thousand times or more, the twisting journey (much like the path of faithful life) has something new to teach or show or impart every time we embark.

This Saturday May 6 is World Labyrinth Day, and folk from Trinity will be gathering at 12:45 p.m. to “Walk as One at 1” at 1pm. We’ll join others in our time zone, while following and preceding pilgrims in other time zones on the same day. If you can’t get here, or if walking is difficult, you can even participate by printing a copy of a labyrinth and tracing the path with a stylus, or even your finger. You can register for a free finger labyrinth here.

No river, no person, no labyrinth, no church, is ever quite the same space as even just a moment before. In that lies the surprising grace of the Holy Spirit.