Upcoming Events
Worship on Sunday’s at 10:00 AM, followed by Fellowship Coffee Hour
Worship is recorded and posted on our YouTube Channel
Sunday School is at 10:00 AM. For information contact mmcevoy33@aol.com
Weekly Prayer Group is on Wednesday’s at 10:00 AM. For information contact elizabeth.lizzieb718@gmail.com
Advent Vespers/Evening Prayer – December 1, 8, 15 at 7:30 PM
Annual Toy Drive – December 12, 11AM-12PM drop off toys in the church parking lot
Migrant and Refugee Sunday – December 19, 11:15 talk with Amy Robertson- Hearts and Homes for Refugees
Walking the Labyrinth of Life
Labyrinth? What is that, asked one of our parishioners while we
were on retreat at Koinonia.
The Director unrolled a huge cloth pattern on the floor, the size of
the room. On it was drawn what looked like a maze but this is no maze,
she said. There is no getting lost. You can always see the center. The path
that leads us to God, may bring us nearer to God’s presence at times, and
sometimes further away, while still being on the path.
The labyrinth offers a time to hold up a particular intention to God. It is a time of opening yourself to God without
an agenda.
So each of us began quietly to follow the walk with
ourselves and with God, wherever it led.
In the beginning, as we passed one another, sometimes
on the same path, sometimes on a path nearby, you could feel
the presence of others and feel the years we have known each
other through St. Luke’s. How we have touched each other’s
lives.
First, we saw each other’s faces, felt the nearness. Then, absorbed in watching the
path on the ground, it was like spirits passing by.
Walking parallel to my wife Pat and passing each other, I became aware how short
life is. In friendships, marriages, and partnerships God lets us walk together for only a short
precious time. Knowing that we will all part someday, we are all on God’s path.
Nearing the end of the labyrinth, like life, you wonder if maybe you’ve gotten lost!
Maybe you’re circling back? Maybe you stepped off the path you thought you were walking.
Maybe you’ve felt sometimes that God wasn’t there because you couldn’t see Him or didn’t
want to be seen. But then you see the end of the path coming, which was the beginning, and
are heartened that you are going “home.”
No matter how lost you think you were, God was there in lovingkindness.
I left the labyrinth and sat down. It would be easier not to have walked the Way but
to have just walked straight across to the center. But then, that is not life, is it? There are no
direct lines. It is more like rambling roots and branches of a tree finding their way. There is
relief that whatever journey life has brought us, God is in it. Whatever in the world could
keep Him out?
The first Sunday in November is All Saints’ Sunday. We remember the people who
touched us and still do, though they are on another part of the Way. The brief time together
reaches into our hearts and becomes a part of who we are. They are not just memories. We
absorb one another and carry them within us and on to others. It’s who we are.
The end of November is Thanksgiving. We give thanks for all the blessings God in
Christ has given – the blessing of people. Of a single day. A blue sky. Of passing time and
the miracles of the everyday. For the arrivals and departures and most of all for God who
gave his only Son and walks the path with us, inviting us to the Kingdom now and the one to
come. God is leading us forward to the next mystery of grace.
For all our journey, what else can we say but “Thank You.”
Reverend Dr. William J. Damrow
Pastor